Originally created as an astrological term in the 17th century, the Supreme Court decision Griswold v. Connecticut, 1965, introduced the meaning of penumbra as the individual's right to privacy and as a legal metaphor for constitutional powers of the United States' government.  The reasoning goes that the implied powers are granted from extant (or existing) powers — thus the penumbra. 

Trump's penumbras extol the reverse: an insistence that structural power resides in the citizenry — a citizenry from whom power is delegated to government in exchange for an orderly society, free from harm, and bestowed with the bundle of rights contained in our founding documents.  In other words, the center of power gets its energy from the people surrounding it.

While President Trump is no longer in power, the power of his leadership pounds mightily in the hearts and minds of his followers.  Unbowed by two sham impeachments and a totally biased press, they know he is on their side.  For all his pugnacity and self-promotion, he delivered.  He delivered on his campaign promises, and he never wavered in problem-solving for the betterment of the American people.  That Trump loves America and has held a decades-long consistent vision of how to make the American citizens' life better cannot be denied.  He has also pulled back the curtain on the deep nastiness and brutality that hallmark today's Democrat Party.  For that, D.C. will never forgive him.

Blinded by dysfunctional, obsessive Trump-hatred, the Democrats operate in a parallel universe.  Laws are trampled; their words have no meaning as their facile lies consistently obscure truth.  Their deception is enabled by a dishonest press, who lied and mercilessly hounded Trump for years.  The contrast is all the more apparent when juxtaposed against Biden's benign coverage.  Bereft of access and monolithically loyal, the press gush over Biden's love affair with his wife, his dogs, and ice cream. 

Meanwhile, Biden has closed the pipeline — cravenly slashing up to 100,000 jobs at one stroke and many more elsewhere, overseen a month of an inept COVID vaccine distribution, opened our border to illegals who are not required to take a COVID test while the rest of America rots in COVID jail, defined a return to government-run schools as one day per week in-person learning, and realigned with America's enemies rather than allies.  And the press writes not a word. 

While calling for unity, Biden has radiated divisiveness.  He has allowed the second illegal impeachment; he has allowed Big Tech's cancel culture to continue unabated; he has allowed people to be fired for their opposing viewpoints; he has remained mum as Pelosi and Kerry have derisively told the fired energy workers they could find high-paying green jobs; and he has stopped construction of our southern border wall, while fortifying D.C. with not only a wall, but over 20,000 National Guardsmen.

Now when Biden announces energy and foreign policies inimical to America's interests, one will always wonder, "What was the payoff?"  When one sees pro–climate control officials jetting around in private planes, one will always say, "They have no shame for their hypocrisy."  When one hears teachers say, "It is for the children," one will know they are lying.  When one hears celebrities and government advocate for gun confiscation and defunding the police, one will push back, knowing they have private armed security and gated residences — also knowing that the Democrats have barricaded themselves in D.C., mistreating the National Guard as their private servants, working under terrible conditions. 

When the Democrats talk of Trump's so-called insurrection, eyes roll.  The Democrats are masters of collective amnesia and projection.  From Trump's Election Day on, they have been disruptive and abrasive.  A faux comedian held up a faux dead President Trump's bloody head; an aging singer spoke of dreaming about blowing up the White House; an elected official exhorted the military to take action against Republicans; riots, arson, and looting raged on unabated for ten months in Democrat-run cities — officials did nothing; then–vice president candidate Harris helped imprisoned rioters make bond and vowed htat the violence would not end; and folks defending their invaded homes have been charged with serious crimes.  None of this can stand. 

Most revelatory were the Republicans who turned tail and sided with the Democrats.  The Democrats, however, never break ranks. 

In 1963, Maurice Sendak wrote in Where the Wild Things Are:

And when he  came to the place where the wild things are
they roared their terrible roars
and gnashed their terrible teeth
and rolled their terrible eyes
and showed their terrible claws ...

We must steadfastly push back against the anti-American,  freedom-killing  regime now in power. 

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License.