Crossing the Line

Often we hear the expression, "You have crossed the line." This can apply for a number of contexts or circumstances. For instance, my daughter and the man she married were co-workers and friends several years before they went out on their first date. Finally, at some point, they "crossed a line" that changed their relationship into a romantic one. What happened? What exactly was that point or moment where and when the shift occurred? And what internal bell inside one's head goes off that informs them that how they view another person is no longer the same nor in all likelihood ever will be?

Of course, crossing such a line does not always relate in a positive way as it did with my daughter. Many times "crossing the line" pertains to a negative turn of events. A sadly spectacular example is fresh in the news these days. It involves President Trump and his decision to fire James Comey, director of Federal Bureau of Investigation. Trump claims the reason or his action revolved the manner in which Comey dealt with his investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails during the 2016 presidential campaign. Never mind that for months and months now Trump and his representatives have been highly complementary of Comey. This abrupt decision runs smack in the face of all that. Further, to my mind, it represents a crossing of the line by Trump.

Particularly since Trump entered the political arena, the public has been subjected to an unending array of purposeful distortions and lies fro this man. For reasons I still do not understand, many folks have accepted this trait of Trump's without letting it cause their decision to support or at least accept him. Time will tell as it always does, but my sense is his firing of the FBI director and claims that he did so because Comey had lost the trust of the general public will be a line-crossing in the minds of folks in unprecedented numbers. Whatever credibility Trump had with the great majority of the general public is now gone. He will not get it back.