Why Jump The Shark?

In my part time spent in the equestrian world, there is the old expression about how a horse can get the bit in his (or her) teeth, take off running full speed and it’s darn hard to get the horse to stop. It doesn’t happen very often, but the image conveys the point.

So, I found myself spontaneously running a thought experiment on the way into work this morning. Suppose himself had accepted the election results, retreated to his Florida enclave and gone back to what he was doing before. Wouldn’t his life be quite a bit more pleasant? And less of a major league (and legal) hassle?

There is a human tendency that many of us have to over-reach. I remember the columnist and former Presidential speech writer, Peggy Noonan, once wrote that Ronald Reagan never jumped the shark. Perhaps it was his actor’s sense of timing. He always held back a bit. I once read that Reagan remarked, “Always leave them wanting more.” Reagan was much more intellectually adroit and emotionally intelligent than he ever received credit for. Read his radio commentaries (which he wrote) and you’ll see my point.

Reading the news accounts of yesterday’s guilty verdict regarding himself’s organization, it is clear to me that what the organization was convicted of was on a rather large scale. However, aside from the scale of it, it isn’t as if businesses have never before buried questionable/improper expenses and deducted them.

Not jumping the shark would have meant accepting the election result and keeping one’s head down at least some. You know what took place instead.

Please don’t tell me that there is a larger cause that is being served here. That is clearly not the case. (It’s all about him. Always has been. And it’s not as if no one warned us.) If you think there is some greater good, please do both of us a favor and unsubscribe.