America is Fonzie. The coolest, the toughest, the sharpest, the strongest, able to make miracles happen with the snap of its fingers. He was #1.

What happened to Fonzie? Late in the run of the classic ‘70’s show Happy Days, the writers had Fonzie water skiing. And jumping a shark.

It was ridiculous. You knew instinctively Happy Day was over as popular force. The creative tank was empty. And Fonzie? He was as good as done. The show would drag on a while, but Cool Fonzie was finished.

From this inglorious moment in television history, we get the term “jump the shark.” When someone or something commits an act that instantly turns him from relevant to irrelevant. From special to ordinary. Like “crossing the Rubicon,” but falling in face first.

Yeah. America is Fonzie. And tomorrow we’re set to strap on the water skis and jump the shark.

We Just Don’t Do That Here

At  2:15 p.m. Eastern, a former president of these United States and the chief political opponent of the man in power, will be arraigned for a crime that exists only in the mind of the D.A.: “Show me the man and show me the Soros money, and I’ll show you the crime.”

We just don’t do this in the United States. Persecuting political opponents — particularly on trumped up charges and with the stated aim of targeting the man — is what they do in other countries. In 1776…or more accurately, 1787 with the composing of the Constitution, we went a different way. Equal justice under the law, due process, civil rights, deciding political battles not with guns or might, but by trusting the people to decide.  

Booking a former president and leading presidential contender… while on those same Manhattan streets murderers and rapists and child sex traffickers walk free … turns our great experiment into the ordinary. Our leather jacket into faded, shredded cloth.

The Great Fade

The petrodollar is rapidly losing its power, the dollar will take it on the chin, major moves are happening around the world with no consideration or worry about the United States. I mean, China flew a spy balloon over sensitive American sites … and we let it. And then shot down some hobby balloons with $400,000 missiles. Iran thinks so little of us, it lobbed a bunch of suicide drones at our troops last week. But don’t worry, our troops are up to date on CRT, gender ideology and their useless COVID vaccinations.

When El Salvador is mocking the absurdity of Trump’s indictment — El Salvador — you know you’ve got problems.

Like Fonzie, America was laughed with. Now we’re laughed at. Perhaps worse, the world is changing the channel. Or in today’s El parlance, dropping the subscription.  

We are no longer the coolest, the toughest, the sharpest, the strongest, able to make miracles happen with a snap of its fingers.

Go to the moon? We’ve got a president who can’t even go up a set of stairs.

Are We Still #1? Is There Hope When We Land?

Are we still #1? Yeah. But not for long. The powers that be are weakening us on every front, domestic and foreign. The political persecution of Trump remakes us in the perfect image of a two-bit banana republic.

Most ominously, China’s sharp teeth are out and they and our other foes smell blood in the water. They are circling, ready to devour.

But here’s the thing people tend to forget.

Fonzie actually did successfully jump over the shark!

He pulled it off. Soared right over them. Landed safely on the other side. The predators were denied their feast.

And here’s where America’s got it better than Fonzie. You and I — the American citizens — drive the boat. We’ve just been letting those who would write our demise steer for a while. For too darn long.

We can pull America back into the boat and steer in the direction of our choosing. Not into the rocks. Not into the sunset. But toward new prosperous shores. With every stand we take, with every ballot we cast, with every time we shout against injustice and insanity, with every time we hold leaders to the fire for betraying our principles, when we strike down the pitch forks and torches of political witch hunts, we make the choice. Our boat. Our call. Our future.

We don’t have to sink into oblivion or drift into irrelevance. We can slip on that leather jacket and once again bring about those Happy Days.

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream, chief barista for The Brew and co-author, with John Zmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration. You can follow him at @StreamingAl at GETTR, Gab, Parler, and now at TRUTH Social.