Donald Trump and Stephen Stills have being scared shitless in common?
“This is the second time we've ever played in front of people, man, we're scared shitless.”
The quote was from legendary musician Stephen Stills. It was August 17, 1969, and his band, “Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young”, was about to start their set at Woodstock. Their first performance was the night before in Chicago. Their manager told them the next show would be at Woodstock, but they didn’t know where it was or what they were about to get into. Even for veteran musicians, having your only second gig be in front of hundreds of thousands of people must have been heady stuff. No wonder Stills said he was “scared shitless.”
But, from there they moved on to the music with Steve and the boys playing an acoustic version of “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.” Their set went okay (after all, it was only the second time they played in front of people), and it did lead to decades of music, both as a band and as solo performers.
The reason this is relevant now is last Tuesday, Donald Trump went into a federal courtroom, in Miami, after being indicted by a grand jury. He faces thirty-seven counts of basically taking classified documents and not returning them when asked multiple times. To put it in layman’s terms, the dude is a thief.
There have been plenty of reactions to this, but my favorite one came from his former Chief of Staff John Kelly. He said Trump was “scared shitless.” It makes sense. If you’ve ever been in a courtroom, even for a driving ticket, it’s an uncomfortable place to be at best. It’s easy to see why anyone would be scared, even a former president of the United States. Hell, maybe especially a former president of the United States
What if Trump had taken the Stills route and admitted it instead of his usual ‘witchhunt, they’re out to get me again, you’re next’ yada, yada, yada bullshit act? What if he had walked into the federal courtroom, stood up, and instead of pleading not guilty, said, ‘Your honor, this is only the second time I’ve been indicted. I’m scared shitless.’ Maybe the court and the public take some pity on him for showing his vulnerability. But, he could never do anything like that because it would show a sign of what he considers weakness and that’s not the way he rolls.
But, guess what…Don is going to get more chances to tell us he’s “scared shitless.” Probably in Atlanta, Washington D.C. and a few more places. Pretty soon, Trump and Stills won’t have that second gig commonality. For Donald Trump, it’s going to get to the point where it’s not fun anymore.