We miss you, Dana Rohrabacher!

Just kidding, bruh. We most definitely do not.

Dana Rohrabacher traded in flip-flops, khaki shorts for ski cap, trench coat.

So I’m way late to this, but I learned yesterday that, back in 2021, among those marching toward the Capitol was Dana Rohrabacher.

Yes, our Dana Rohrabacher!

Wearing a Five Below discount ski cap.

And the trench coat he usually reserved for playgrounds and elementary schools.

Bruh!

We knew you were crazy. But …

Bruh!

And what I love about the above photograph (taken that day), as well as Rohrabacher’s mostly dead social media feeds, is that as soon as he lost his 48th Congressional District seat to Harley Rouda in 2018, the man vanished. Poof! Left our state. Moved to Maine. Set aside politics for a gig to pitch weed legislation and protest fair elections and do whatever it is that oddball Maine-based kooks might do these days.

Again: A man who, literally, served from 1989 to 2019 packed up his shit, sold his house and took off.

To me, this isn’t just the story of one person. It’s a reminder, to all of us fighting for democracy, that what oftentimes seems to be frustratingly permanent is entirely fleeting. Rohrabacher was an entrenched as an office holder can be, and we got rid of him. So when you’re irked at the far-right fundamentalist school board member, or you’re fed up by the MAGA hat-wearing city council member, or you can’t stand Pam Bondi or Elon Musk or … whoever …

Trust me: Channel Charles De Gaulle, who long ago noted that the graveyards are filled with irreplaceable men. Roll your sleeves up, talk to your neighbors, build up momentum, attend a march, make some plans.

There are plenty more Danas out here, and we can put an end their political runs.¹

We can send them to Maine.

1. I wanna make clear: I am 100 percent not endorsing or suggesting violence. Against anyone. Ever.