“Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let us go out into the field.’ Now when they were in the field, Cain turned against his brother Abel and slew him. … And the Lord said, ‘What have you done? … [N]ow cursed are you in the soil which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. … [A] fugitive and a wanderer shall you be on the earth.’ Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is too great to bear. … I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Not so! Whoever kills Cain shall be punished sevenfold.’ So the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest anyone should kill him at sight.”
- The Book of Genesis 4:8, 10, 12-15.
The Genesis verses cited above were read worldwide at yesterday’s Catholic Masses.
I expressed a deep regret yesterday in these pages for the federal employees whose careers are being mindlessly destroyed by President Donald Trump “and his acolytes” – i.e., Elon Musk and his minions. The Scripture passage made me reflect on the potential consequences for another group that I had not previously considered.
If numerous reports I have seen are accurate, Mr. Musk is doing a large share of his culling of federal workers through a force of elite college graduates in their 20s. Those of us with a little more seasoning realize that when you’re in your early 20s, it doesn’t matter how academically bright you are or what school you went to; you don’t even know what you don’t know. These youngsters probably think that these heady times are going to last forever. But if rational democratic forces do stage a return at some point in the future, and the ways of Messrs. Trump, Musk, and their MAGA lot are cast aside, it almost certainly won’t affect Mr. Trump personally; he’ll be insulated by his Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling and grateful benefactors who will ensure that he has a cushy existence to the end of his days. It likewise won’t affect Mr. Musk personally; he’ll be insulated by his fortune and will be able to live wherever in splendor for the rest of his days.
It is Mr. Musk’s young vigilantes who have long lives ahead, and who won’t be protected by court rulings, fortunes, or benefactors. It is these youngsters who will ultimately face the wrath of their republic.
The priest who said yesterday’s Mass chose to characterize the Lord’s action as one of mercy toward Cain – that He could have destroyed Cain, or let others kill Cain, but instead chose to let Cain go forth to walk the earth. (Let’s put aside the obvious question as to whom Cain feared would kill him – after all, his parents were the first people, and he and Abel were their first children.) Although I have very high regard for this priest, I was not so sure I agreed with his interpretation of the Lord’s action; I wondered whether the Lord didn’t instead punish Cain by ensuring that he had to wander the earth for his sin – as a “fugitive,” presumably for decades – when death might have been the more merciful sentence.
If the MAGAs aren’t successful in establishing an American Apartheid and these young Musk minions haven’t broken any laws, they, like Cain, will be left to wander the earth. Given the enmity that Messrs. Trump and Musk have now engendered among so many throughout the democratic world, where will they be able to go to fulfill the potential they had the day that Mr. Musk first laid eyes on them?
While of no consolation to those whose careers they are ravaging, these young vigilantes may find that “DOGE” is ultimately their Mark of Cain. Some, as they grow older and wiser and no matter the fate of the MAGA crusade, will find that it is indelibly branded on their psyches; on their souls.
McCoy's Noise 
Pretty dramatic writing you’ve done here. Personally, I’m just sitting back and watching…while initially Trump gets everything he wants…and then I’ll be watching when the consequences of those actions manifest themselves. I expect a huge day of reckoning when people who voted for Trump lose their jobs, when the cost of the eggs they buy continues to skyrocket, when red Southern states who get a disproportionate amount of federal dollars start to feel squeezed. When they also learn that tariffs have reciprocal effects…sometimes outlasting the tariffs. I want to see every crackpot idea that the MAGA folks have talked about for years enacted…so they can finally learn the hard way what they were too stupid to comprehend when they voted. I know you can’t fix stupid, but sometimes stupid people can be slapped into recognizing reality. I’m not even going to bring up potential bird flu consequences if mishandles like Covid was.
(While Trump is the immediate villain here, Joe Biden and the gutless Democratic leaders who not only hid his severe cognitive problems, but refused to tell Joe the cold hard truth that his days were over bear huge responsibility for putting us in this position.)
Edk
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