Talking turkey: Still much to be thankful for during our civic crisis

I’m tempted, on our first Trumpsgiving, to focus solely on what is most personal.

This is the first holiday without my father topside on planet earth, and, like all of you who have lost parents, I could easily mark this occasion by remembering my time with him and what I’m thankful for. He introduced me to politics when I was a very wee lad, allowing me to stay up past bedtime to watch a Kennedy-Nixon debate (way less fun than a cartoon); he talked politics at home (as a staunch Nixon voter in ’60 and ’68); and he introduced me to the wonder of newspapers (a weekly trip to the “country store” to buy the Sunday New York Times, a bulky behemoth with the world bursting in prose on every page). So thanks, Dad.

But as I hinted earlier, this is a unique Thanksgiving. We’re in the throes of a national civic emergency, a clear and present threat to western democracy; today, we don’t have the luxury of dwelling on the personal at the expense of the political. So I’m going to talk turkey:

I’m abundantly thankful for Robert Mueller, a free and independent press, and our resilient checks and balances.

And I’m thankful for clear-eyed Republicans like John Weaver — a veteran strategist who, like many others in his party, is lighting a lamp in the darkness. His tweeted holiday message:

“I love Thanksgiving & its American uniqueness. We will get past this dreadful fever washing across us & survive this ‘president’ & his fellow travelers. Hard to see that now, but we’ll be stronger for resisting & winning. I’m so thankful for family, friends & patriots.”

Bon appetit!