Category: Trump

Move Along. Nothing to See Here

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It must be nice to belong to a cult. Imagine having the ability to outsource all of your thinking. You just have to accept what your cult leader tells you, and even if the cult leader contradicts himself within a single setting, you can refer to his definitive posting is later on when he’s had the opportunity to correct reflect on what he said.  Never have to do your own processing of reality – you get reality spoon fed to you via regular dosage of your cult leader on your favorite media.

You do not have to have a functioning memory. So your cult leader can talk about how much respect has been lost internationally due to the feeble flailing of the current leader. You can eagerly forget the 2018 United Nations General Assembly meeting where the diplomats representing the nations of the world openly laughed at our dear leader. We should just get rid of the United Nations anyway. What use do we have of an organization that does attempt to set standards across international borders, anyway. We just need to go our own way and forget about the rest of humanity.

Oh, to revel in the selective memories of the cult leader. We do not need to proclaim our positions on any issue. We choose whatever the leader wants as a point of emphasis, and we will obfuscate, obliterate, and annihilate any attempt at the serious job of governance. We believe he is at the pinnacle of moral leadership. Witness the exploits of some of his most ardent supporters, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren “Boom-Boom” Boebert.  There has been enough ink spilled about Lauren’s latest adventure in high culture, but here’s a bit more. Nothing can demonstrate overt hypocrisy better than tweets about church services being preferred to drag shows by a member of Congress, than the public fondling by the selfsame member of Congress of a new boyfriend who happens to be the owner of a bar that takes part in a civic festival which includes hosting drag shows. But our cult leaders have spread their wings over these two exemplars of common sense and cocktail culture.

Soon we will be privy to one of the great spectacles of Federal governance. The total failure of one house of Congress to keep the lights on in said government. To the nihilist class, this represents a crowning achievement. We will put these overreaching, unelected bureaucrats in their places, and we will prune the branches of government down to the roots. Who needs any efforts at curbing the excesses of the excesses of corporations. After all, without some oversight of global corporations, we would all be wandering about in the wilderness, wondering where our pollution controls and labor standards went. If we are really lucky, the convulsions of one party (the party of the cult) will result in the decapitation of the leadership of the house. What is the over/under on the number of ballots it will take to select a new speaker? I myself think the number is over 50. Can you bet on this in Vegas yet?

I’m not certain we ever need to revert to reality again. It is so comforting to live in the adulation of our dear cult leader. We can snuggle up under our covers whenever someone brings up unfortunate facts. We can officially refuse to listen to them because they are coming from all of the fake media sources that somehow manage to exist outside of the control of the cult. But just wait. Because the cult leader has promised retribution against all who have waged war against his holy cause. We do need for someone to get control over the evil world that insists we are victims of a cult leader. How else can we expect his Pax Americana to take hold if there are any voices in opposition? I know, there may be a few eggs broken in the transition to a more perfect union, but will we really miss hearing from the voices of those who persist in saying such horrible things about our dear leader? I am quite certain that we will be much better off when we have such a wise leader back on the seat of power he had been expelled from in the last “election”.

I know there are those who exclaim that our dear leader has lost a step or two over time. But I am here to exclaim to you he has always been consistent in his personality, and has never had any propensity towards saying things that can be factually corrected by checking against previous statements. Any media source that would bring those things up are candidates for retribution when our dear leader resumes his reign. Again, I say to you, there is so much peace you can have by placing all of your trust into this man who inhabits a 6’3”, 215-pound body. He uses the Harold Hill school of exercise. If you just think about it, you don’t need to actually exercise to maintain fitness. Besides, if you exercise, you take away energy you may need in future years. You only have so much energy in your life. Remember, everything is transactional, and we live in a zero-sum world. We can only aspire to hold on to what we once had, and when that is gone, we don’t have a country left.

I wish I had more time to share with you the wonderfulness of our dear leader. But they are ringing the dinner chimes, and soon I will be led down to the room where they will release me from my strait jacket, if only for a while, so I can enjoy the meal provided by my dear leader.

Put Me In, Coach!

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Put me in coach. I’m ready to judge his guilt.

Ah, the dreams we can come up with when a hint of a trial relocation is made. Just transfer a case from the District of Columbia, to West Virginia, where we are “more diverse”. First time I’ve ever heard a reference to my current state having any sort of diversity in it. I guess what is meant is a conviction is less likely in this state since this state voted for him by a margin of greater than 30%. But I can dream, can’t I?

I could just see being impaneled in this state for his trial. Never mind that I have a history in this blog of bashing him mercilessly, and my main complaint is that his record is a too target rich environment. Like late show comedians, these past few years have been a bonanza of material just waiting to be mined. Of course, I recognize I am atypical in this state.

I realized that shortly after I moved here in the mid 1980’s. One of the first issues I voted on was an amendment to our state constitution enshrining the right to bear arms. When my side lost by a 6-1 margin, I knew I was an outlier, even with a hugely democratic legislature. Well, over the decades that margin has melted away, and this state has had Republicans in charge of state government for nearly a decade. During which time we’ve been swimming in the fetid pool of culture war items, you know, the sort that declares transgender athletes are an existential threat. Of course, they are only worried about males who transition to female. I’m not aware of any concerns about the athletic prowess of females who transition to males. Wonder why that is?

It is amazing. I’ve made it to nearly 69 years of age, have voted in almost all elections I was eligible for, but have never been impaneled on a jury. I did receive a summons for service – from Memphis, about 6 months after I had moved to West Virginia. I never even responded to that request. I imagine any issues arising from my lack of response has now been wiped away by the statute of limitations. So I make my case right now to be impaneled, but only in the event that a change of venue is granted to go from the DC district to the southern district of West Virginia. I’ll even offer to forego any compensation for the chance to be a juror on his trial.

My biggest problem will be to limit myself to consideration of the facts brought up in court. There are so many other crimes that come to mind, I have no doubt but that I will be able to find him guilty. Oh, well. Since it is extremely unlikely that the trial will be moved, and even more unlikely that I would be accepted as an unbiased juror once the existence of this blog is made known, this just is another pipe dream I have of being one of twelve avenging agents of justice.  Besides, the trial won’t be televised, so it would hardly be worth it to participate.

Say Riddikulus!

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The world has gone mad today,

And good’s  bad today,

And  black’s white today,

And day’s night today

Cole Porter’s words were written nearly 90 years ago, but much like the words of H. L. Mencken, they resonate with honesty in today’s world. Indeed, much of what is viewed as classic literature over the years is classic because the emotions it describes are still applicable today, regardless of the age of the composition. We went to a Spoleto show recently of a one-man performance of his adaptation of the Illiad. It transported us to the universal human emotions of Homer’s characters, brought forward through time and space.

So maybe it is appropriate to view the world we live in as a single episode in a ballad yet to be written by the Porter, or Mencken, or Homer, or Shakespeare of today, who is able to take the events of the last decade and convert them to a universal meme we can all accept as representative of the world as we are experiencing it.

Certainly I could never conceive of a world where everything became topsy-turvy. Character traits assumed to be virtuous are ridiculed as being out of style and superseded by the need to worship at the feet of our fearless leader. Not only do we need to disparage our predecessors, but we need to actively disrespect them by hiding their secrets in bathrooms. Maybe what we are missing is that Mar-A-Lago is severely short of toilet paper, and the unwritten instructions were to use classified documents as a cleansing aid.

After over seven years, it becomes evident that this movement has a staying power beyond anything I could imagine. My problem is that I’ve tried to understand the logic behind the movement. Like many of my peers, I am unable to understand the movement through any sort of logical analysis. It just does not make sense logically. Therefore, I must assume all of the reason behind its success is due to its appeal to an emotional need on behalf of its adherents.

So we shall try to understand the emotions behind the movement, recognizing I will necessarily do a poor job since I do not share the emotional state of many supporters. I must assume that following a charismatic leader fulfils some deep, unmet need within the psyche of those who have succumbed to its wiles. Since many of the most ardent adherents are those who profess a firm and literal belief in God and God’s word, it is necessary to assert that following someone as an infallible figure is more emotionally satisfying than trying to get that same emotional satisfaction in raising your arms and hollering hallelujah.

There is nothing that stirs the soul up more than feeling you are minimized by the dominant culture. And certainly the culture wars stirred up by this movement reflect the minimization felt by these people over the past 60-70 years. Ever since an imperious Supreme Court told people they had to open up their schools to “those creatures”, removed prayer from school, enabled hussies to obtain abortions, and declared that the Constitution meant what it said when it was amended to ensure all people were covered by its clauses, they awaited their opportunity to wreak revenge. Owning the libs became more important than any economic accomplishment that might be simultaneously torn down. Though most couldn’t define the word, they became nihilists.

Yes, that describes the fault line running through the heart of the United States. Those who have more education, and are more comfortable with critical thinking, are more likely to lean Democratic in their vote. Those who prefer to be told what to think, who react emotionally to expressed threats, especially directed against their young, now tend to lean Republican in their political positions. So we are in a battle where logic must fight emotion, and throughout human history, emotion has prevailed far more often than logic. I am convinced it is not possible to convert someone who acts on the basis of their emotions, to suddenly see the errors of their way through exposure to a logical argument. One must fight emotion with emotion.

One of the fantasy spells in the Harry Potter books was “Riddikulus”. This spell was to be used to destroy the deepest fear buried deep in the person’s psyche. The magical creature Boggarts would assume the form of the deepest fear of someone, and it became necessary to cast the spell “Riddikulus” while simultaneously imagining some ludicrous idea that the Boggart would assume to obliterate the fear. What we need is a national spell of “Riddikulus” where we would convert the form of the fearless leader to an object of derision. Given the many foibles of the once and hopefully never future leader, it is easy to conjure up an image capable of inspiring loathing. Indeed, some of the endless parade of candidates who have declared for the Presidency sense this, as they tout their athletic prowess as a way of contrasting their fitness to the would-be returner to the throne. Does anyone find it abnormal that the only person drawing any physical taunts from the pulpit bully is Chris Christie, the only other candidate who may have more visible fat than does the Donald?

So pick your image. You might choose the sight of those magnificent buttocks as he attempts to return a tennis ball. You might pick an image of him driving his golf cart down the fairway as he solves the world’s problems on a course. You might have the image of him waddling down a ramp (now that’s really unfair. I had two bad knees and could empathize with him not dealing well with uneven surfaces.) But I think my very favorite “Riddikulus” moment was early in the pandemic, where he was suggesting the ingestion of antiseptics while flooding the body with cleansing light. Would that he would have taken his own advice, we would not be in this position today.

So. Many. Boxes

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Photo from Justice Department

Hundreds of docs. Thousands of docs. Millions and billions and trillions of docs. Like many others, I had a mental image of the documents in question stored at the Mar-A-Lago resort. That image did not include a stage filled with boxes, a bathroom where the reading of choice could have included nuclear secrets, a wall filled with banker’s boxes of documents. The sheer scale of the illegally retained documents forced an unanticipated gasp from my throat. Of course, there are millions of people who will deny the evidence presented to them, and who defend the indefensible.

By this time, it is apparent it is impossible to shame any of Trump’s defenders. What we have here is the divine right of kings personified in a hugely unfit blob of protoplasm. If you look at Donald Trump through the veil of royal prerogative, his actions become much more understandable. He has been accorded the divine right, thus he is incapable of doing anything wrong. All of the moralists of all time have it wrong regarding Trump’s actions. You cannot hold him accountable for any of his actions because he was forgiven by the divine right he possesses. Thus it is not a problem for him to have pontificated for better controls for classified materials in 2016, and then claim total and complete innocence when his own issues dealing with classified materials were revealed in 2022-23. Then the victims of Trump Derangement Syndrome go on the offense, defending the man’s actions since it is clearly evident he could never do wrong.

No, what is evident to those of us outside of the Trump cult is the complete idiocy of his positions, and those who support him. What one must keep in mind is this quote from Charles MacKay: “Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one.” There will never be a single event which will cause the true believers to abandon the object of their affection. All you can ever hope for is that you have a slow and steady erosion of his support as the steady drip, drip, drip of his wrongdoing keeps getting exposed.

I’ve read the 49-page indictment. It is abundantly clear that the object of Trump’s obsession with his documents was a misguided belief they belonged to him, and him alone. Never mind his insistence on deceiving his own attorneys into swearing to his veracity when saying he had turned over everything of interest. How could he be held accountable for retaining items post-presidency when he never actually entered post-presidency. After all, he won the election, didn’t he? It’s not his fault that the reality-based view of everyone outside of his cult is that no, he actually lost the election. He’s been totally consistent in his insistence that the election was stolen from him.

The problem is now he is dealing with those who are mentally disturbed who still belong to his cult. And many of these (as Kari Lake points out) believe in second amendment solutions. That is, over and over, those who believe violence is justified are simply awaiting their opportunity to demonstrate loyalty to their fearless leader by committing some act of violence with their plethora of second amendment weaponry. In their warped minds, anyone who dares to express any statement of disloyalty is just asking to be upbraided with a 9 mm solution. If they can take out a transgender supporter at the same time, so much the better. In other words, the entire political discussion has now become more than toxic. It has become dangerous to the vast majority of the nation, since it is only a relatively small minority who still believes in Trumpal infallibility.

I for one am sick of this charlatan who has hijacked the national discussion. There are so many real issues we need to deal with, yet we keep getting stuck on discussing this toddler who commands the loyalty of so many who are brain dead. Sooner or later, they will discover it was never about them. It was always what can we do for Donald? How can we give him the honors and fealty due him? If we give him what he wants, then everything will be all right, because of course, his magnificence will solve all problems we have. We just need to return The Donald to the seat of power and all will be right with the world. Gahh!

What Did We Talk About Before 2015?

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Again and again, the national discourse is being hijacked by an unworthy person. The gift of rotting fish just won’t go away. He obviously is incapable of taking a hint, or even 80+ million hints as of the last presidential election. No, what he insists is that he is incapable of making a mistake, and all of the past times when he was captured, in video or on calls violating the laws of the nation, those were just perfect human interactions. Perfectly normal for someone to insist they received five figure vote totals higher than he actually did. I am sorry he feels so persecuted and put upon by the citizens of this nation who were repulsed by this overweight hulk of a man who is nearly incapable of walking down an inclined plane. Surely people should have gotten the message (carefully crafted by his cabinet lackeys) that he was not guilty of collusion with Russia during his original political campaign. Maybe not guilty of legal collusion, but certainly he was intertwined with his Russian counterpart through less formal means of obtaining foreign assistance to help in his initial election.

It continues to amaze me so many still rush to defend this toddler. So many are caught up in his cult of personality, vulgar as it is. I guess that is his appeal. He does not avoid vulgarities, in fact, his entire adult life has been a series of vulgarities and they continue to this day. How can you stand to support someone who is the antithesis of all things patriotic. The image of him literally embracing the flag at some convention of losers was obscene on so many different levels. Perhaps the most obscene was that the person who wanted to claim the literal image for himself (hugging the flag) is the same individual who denigrated and denounced those who had actually sacrificed for this nation. When his generation’s opportunity for military service came about, he manipulated a physician to provide a diagnosis of bone spurs. That has to be the 20th century equivalent of paying someone to take their place, something wealthy New Yorkers were accustomed to back in the civil war.

I still subscribe to the quaint belief that a President should be a moral example to those he or she leads. As in so many cases, that belief was shattered when we elected a moral klutz, incapable of behaving in a consistent, upright manner. Looking at that perspective, it is not necessarily the recipient of the votes who we should be denouncing, but those who so willingly gave their votes. So we will call out those who are determined to be Old Testament and Letters of Paul Christians. They seem to love the tones of vengeance prevalent in the Old Testament, along with the homophobia and misogyny evident in Paul’s letters. The Jesus of the Gospels? Never heard of him. All of this woke, touchy-feely stuff about loving your enemies, and welcoming the stranger is not meant to apply in this day and age. No, if you can’t demand a good smiting of those you disagree with, what good is it to belong to an Evangelical congregation?

Unfortunately, those who feel ill-suited to exist in this nation in the 21st century have shown an ability to project their voices stridently and to shout over those who disagree with them. Since they found a hero who gave voice to their sublimated desires to express their racism, you hear expressions of racism spoken proudly in our public spaces. Those of us who are opposed to these cretins are dependent upon people being reasonable and thoughtful to sway them back to a shared reality. We keep running up against the vitriol of those who insist upon terrorizing anyone who deigns to disagree with the mob who denigrates wokeism. If their leader insists the election was stolen, then by gum, and by golly, it must have been stolen. Anyone who says otherwise is itching for a fight.

I consider myself to be a fighter in this war for the conscience of this nation. I pay for my own platform in the form of this blog to put my own thoughts into the public sphere. I realize I am influencing almost no one, since I have a small readership, and those who disagree with me often will not bother to read anything requiring an attention span greater than a typical Tik-Tok video. Still, I am able to express my thoughts and am willing to put myself out there for hearing opposing points of view.

We are in grave danger of totally losing this experiment in representative democracy. If those individuals who demonstrate antipathy to morality manage to find their way back into power, we will soon find ourselves in a dystopian world where Orwell’s creatures would be totally comfortable. “Who controls the past, controls the future”. “War is peace”. And “The best books … are those that tell you what you know already”. All of these are sentiments just waiting for reemergence in a new administration. After all, we’ve already suffered through alternative facts. We see the extreme efforts aimed at erasing the past, so that we can all read the books that only tell us what we already know. Once we have a totally ignorant generation brought up in these beliefs, it will be nigh unto impossible to reverse the downward spiral we seem determined to impose upon ourselves.

Thus Endeth This Cycle

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 So the mid-term elections are over. We hear all of the pundits now either crowing about their prescience on their absolute knowledge of the coming lack of a red wave, or bemoaning the fact that the electorate did not wish to continue the trek towards authoritarianism represented by the MAGA wing of the Republican party.

Some trends continued. In North Carolina, which voted 50% Republican to 49% Democrat in the 2020 election for state legislators, but had a 69-51 margin in legislative seats, continued their trend of unrepresentative selections. Republicans won 71 seats in the North Carolina house in this election, although the actual votes for the two parties is not yet available. In my state of West Virginia, almost a complete wipeout of Democratic legislators occurred. 16 of the 17 Senate seats in this state went to Republicans.

But for those of us who like to live in a democratic republic, the national election results did provide some hope. We saw what happened when a drop of Trumpism was placed in a peach tree dish, causing the Republicans in the dish to flee. All Secretary of State candidates who pledged to overturn election results if they were not to their liking, ended up on the scrap heap of electoral losers. We shall see if the Democratic lead holds up for Arizona, where Katie Hobbs is holding on to a razor-thin margin over everyone’s favorite Trump toady, Kari Lake.

In the US House, Kevin McCarthy (or whoever takes the speakership) will find out how difficult it is to herd cats. The House under Democratic control was a messy place, but the Progressive Caucus at least found it possible to hold their noses and vote for policies which they disagreed with. Somehow, the Freedom Caucus does not seem inclined to follow the lead of the Progressives, and have pledged always and every time to put ideology over governing. Good luck on holding a majority together. Expect to see one or two changes in party over the next several months as it becomes evident how difficult it is to govern the rowdy crowd of Republican legislators.

It was in the US Senate where the most interesting results were recorded. Not only did the Republicans fail to take over control, they actually have the potential to lose one seat due to the “quality” of their candidates. It certainly appears that the only ability Herschel Walker possesses is his ability to hit the hole. We will find out in early December whether the Republican denunciation of intellect and ability will overcome the erudition of Rafael Warnock. I’ve had just about enough of the Republican’s overt campaign against people on the right hand of the intelligence bell curve. Republicans do believe in affirmative action. They gather as many as possible who lack mental capabilities. Witness Ron Johnson, Tommy Tuberville, Marjorie Taylor Green, and Matt Gaetz as poster children for needing affirmative action. It is only due to fortune that they will not have to share the stage with Louie Gohmert, and Madison Cawthorn.

So we will end up with nearly the status quo on the national level. Yes, the Republicans will likely have the ability to stuff the House agenda full of nonsense legislation and pointless investigations, but the flame of Trumpism does seem like it is flickering, threatening extinguishment. Just remember. The embers will stay hot for a long while, and it is very possible for flames to reignite from the remains.

It Was A Perfect Raid

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So, it is possible that both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were correct back in 2016. Donald, for his infamous claim about being able to shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose any followers. And Hillary, for her astute observation about the nature of many Trump followers – that they were truly deplorable people. Of course, being as that statement came from the enemy, it was adopted as a badge of honor. I still remember middle-aged women wearing Adorable Deplorable t-shirts to announce their affiliation. In the end, it was a statement that undoubtedly contributed to her defeat. It doesn’t detract from the veracity of the observation.

If nothing else, the events of this past month show that Donald truly does not care about anything but himself. No one else would take the issues about secret files and weave them into a conspiracy blanket of victimhood for himself. As Maya Angelou said, when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. Donald Trump has shown himself to a national audience since the 1970’s. The prime example of someone who has failed upwards, he never has had to face consequences for his actions. His multitude of business failures occurred upon piles of borrowed money, so once the debt was restructured, Donald ended up in a nominally better position than when he started. That the epitome of his success is a private club in a soon-to-be submarine barrier island is fitting. He doesn’t even realize his peril in the future. Of course, for him the future is irrelevant.

What we see in his frenzied communications is a refusal to accept responsibility for any problem he faces. In fact, he seems bound and determined to deny he has transgressed at all. And his quislings are more than happy to provide ever more fantastic justifications for his actions. No, there is no problem with storing top secret information next to a country club ballroom. What could go wrong? And in legal filings, we see that we should consider the entire matter as nothing more serious as overdue library books. Gaah!

Of course, the world view of the cult leader and his followers is totally consistent. When you look back at the pitched battle to gain access to the Capitol Building on January 6 as normal political discourse, then seeing top secret information stored at a country club is nothing more than an overdue book. At least he is consistent, although many view him as a self-caricature He thinks he is an alpha male, and his strutting and preening emphasizes his manliness to his fallen admirers. They are the ones with the Rambo images, that head affixed to an assault-weapon wielding savior of the race.

All of these admirers are so far beyond the pale that they perceive any criticism as “divisive”. As if his words and actions brought people together. No, these people not only do not accept criticism, they have convinced themselves that criticism is blasphemy. How do you reason with people who share no elements of rationality with you? You can’t, that’s how. The only way this cult will go away is through repeated repudiation at the ballot box, though the stage has been set for the cult members to reject any such repudiation as just another stolen election.

Indictment is coming. Like it or not, the event that can draw his followers into forming an army of brown shirts with MAGA lettering is just ahead. We know what actions his deluded followers will take, they’ve announced their intentions on all media forums where they hold sway. Those in charge at a Federal or State level must hold firm to their convictions so that we can finally get a conviction for the egregious behavior we’ve seen over the past 7 years. His true followers? They are so far gone it may take a generation for the damage wrought by the orange one to disappear. After all, we have a world full of real problems to face as a nation.  We’ve lost far too much time worrying about the actions of the unhinged. It is time to move on.