Harder and Harder

It is getting harder and harder to conjure up words to convey how I feel about the Trump. I know how difficult it must be for the bank of comedians who strive to capture each day’s inanities. I realize that the comedians can at least just play back stuff he has said, or really any words his administration has uttered. I mean when one listens to Sarah Huckleberry lecture the Press, it’s like listening to “Can You Top This?”

And then there is the bank of Fake News correspondents—you know the CBS, NBC, ABC, NPR/PBS, CNN, BBC, ABC, CBC, The Guardian, NY Times, et al, who have to write for a living and who have a responsibility to those of us who read/listen to these particular Fake News outlets. But I should stop joking here.  We all understand that Fox is the main Fake News Outlet in the world, and all the other outlets continue to at least attempt to bring real news, facts, truth, etc. to the world each day.

But what is becoming even more difficult than listening to the idiot Trump or his idiotic underlings, is listening/reading to the MAGGOT-Heads out there who continue to say, “Trump is the best president we have ever had”. Really . . . they actually say that.  And I keep wondering . . . what ever do they mean? They actually cheer when President Stupidhead says that he admires Congressman Gianforte’s body slamming of a Guardian reporter.  They cheered! Now, how is that possible?

I have thought for some time now that Trump has simply opened the closet doors throughout the land wherein we had stored our crazy, racist uncles.  I mean, St. Ronald of Reagan made it possible again to be a racist in America via his comments on Welfare Queens.  But he at least maintained some coding. Trump cheers them on with his running commentary.  He thinks there are surely some good folks among the Neo-Nazi and KKK crowds out there.  And I keep- wanting to shout . . . “No, you dumb shit, there are no “good folks” within the crowds of Neo-Nazi’s and KKK supporters. They are all domestic terrorists.” They need to be shut down, or locked up, whichever comes first.  We fought actual wars to defeat such nasty little people. Men and women of America died to keep them out of power.  You are not allowed now to cheer them on you little cretin.

But he goes on and on. Each day he commits some new idiocy. Now he is apologizing for his BFF the Crown Prince of that failed autocracy Saudi Arabia.  Or he is telling us that he is “in love” with Kim over there in North Korea—did Kim promise to let him build a new hotel in North Korea I wonder?

On the Saudi debacle, we know that the Saudi’s invited 15 thugs to enter their consulate, just after the reporter arrived. They came equipped with a bone saw, although how we know that is beyond my ken. We appear to believe that they killed the reporter by sawing up his body while he was still alive. Think of that. And then understand that this is an official Saudi Arabia act of terror. They lied about it, and now have invented a fake story about Khashoggi getting into a fight with the 15 thugs, leading to his death.  And apparently the 15 thugs have left town, and have been “arrested” within Saudi Arabia (likely they are being held in a Trump hotel and served smuggled Scotch and some new wines as punishment).

And Trump buys into their explanation—well MBS is his new BFF after all.  I wonder whether Trump will now visit Riyadh and be roomed with some of the prince’s lady friends, where he can pee on some Saudi linens, before getting blowjobs. Or maybe just a new Trump Hotel in Riyadh, or maybe even Mecca.

But, I suspect that in a few days, the murder of Khashoggi will be forgotten because Trump will have created some new bizarre event. I keep waiting actually, for Trump to actually get himself a gun, visit Manhattan, walk to Fifth Avenue and just shoot someone . . . just to test his theory that his poll numbers would increase among his MAGGOT-Head supporters.

See, it is becoming a world of total absurdities. Can You Top This will be the name History applies to his Presidency.  Can we actually survive the Trumps, who seem to represent existential threats to the survival of this once great nation, and perhaps to the globe itself? Short of Trump succumbing to a heart attack, stroke or some other natural threat, to which he is err, perhaps our best hope is for Trump to himself decide that he does not wish to pursue a second term, since he did not really want or expect a first term.  It does seem clear that he does not wish to govern, or perhaps he simply does not understand the governance thing, i.e., what he should be doing to actually serve in the post of US Presidency.  He seems to spend his time playing golf, or campaigning for someone, mostly himself, but secondarily some other MAGGOT-Head.  Mainly, he seems to love this campaigning thing. So, perhaps the best course for this nation is for him to step back from the presidency, and allow the system to select someone else, hopefully some thinking human adult who prefers governance and rational discussions among thoughtful people to warring and insulting other people.

Short of that course, I assume we will be treated to Trump going to war with Iran, or some other unfortunate, hopefully not with Vlad the Impaler, or with the Chinese folks, either of whom could easily annihilate the entire world.

Now, if The People decide to get out and actually vote the current fools out of office (and you know who the fools are, don’t you), that might facilitate the Trump withdrawal thingie.  He might decide he no longer wishes to play if the other side actually possesses some power. So, folks, it’s up to you. Become educated about the political process, learn something about the actual issues and candidates and then go out to vote. It’s the only course for a safe and sane world.  And please, do not go the course of,

“Oh, I don’t vote. My vote would not matter, plus I have no idea who I should vote for . . . I mean, you wouldn’t want me to just randomly select candidates, would you, like a dart board?”  That was actually told to me by a young woman working at a local restaurant. And I walked away thinking, woman how can you be so lazy, so uneducated, so uncaring? Are you simply that lazy, because your folks did everything for you and now you are simply a useless piece of protoplasm? That is how Donald Trump became our 45^th President, you idiot.

Caligula

Caligula[1] keeps appearing in my mind, every time I have to observe the Trump doing something asinine, well doing anything actually.  We briefly stopped in to see our granddaughter the other day, and I asked her whether she had ever heard of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire[2]. Because, I said, we may be witnessing the same thing here, the Decline and Fall of the American Empire. And, I told her, I expected, when she turned 18, she and her brothers would have to begin rescuing our once great nation from the dismal state into which it has fallen. She was fascinated by the comparison, but declined the honor of assuming responsibility for our rescue. She thought, since we messed it up, it would be up to us to solve the problem(s).  Seems fair, actually.

But, then we have Caligula.  Our Caligula has been either playing golf, or speechifying at some campaign rally full time, ever since he was elected . . . that is, when he isn’t making love to some brutal dictator, like Kim. I keep wondering what his “Days in Washington v. Days Elsewhere” ratio is, if compared with any other president.  But, we should have known this was coming. He really is just an amateur entertainer playing at being President, with heavy stress on the term “amateur”.

I keep wondering whether, now, we have so lowered the bar, that we have effectively eliminated any notion of qualifications for the post of American President. Remember the Clown Car in the circus? Would we care any longer if one of the clowns got out of the Clown Car and announced that he was now president of the United States? Would we cheer and yell, MAGA???

The Kavanaugh hearings, with McConnell grumbling nasty things, and the idiot from South Carolina yelling about how we the people had carried out such a foul attack on this wonderful man that we were guilty  of crimes against humanity. This from Mitch, who denied Mr. Garland even the opportunity of a hearing.  Mitch, you and your kind are the disgrace.

That hearing, resulting in the appointment of a second sexual pervert to the High Court, now completes the work of the republican government. They have now corrupted the Congress, the Presidency, and the Supreme Court.

But how are we to recover from this onslaught of thoroughly corrupt, indecent pseudo-humans, who now occupy our government?  Well, yes, VOTING is the first and best step towards that end. But what comes next? What is wrong with our Nation, or perhaps just our Government, that we can produce such a corrupted result?

Well, it would seem that we need to proceed systematically to begin unraveling the systems by which we have become this corrupt.

1       1. Money: first things first. Money may indeed be the root of all evil. But, at a minimum, we need to get big money out of politics. They say power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. But I think it is money that corrupts and “absolute” money that corrupts absolutely. So, we need to elect a Congress and President that will take on Citizens United directly, and find some way to get that kind of money out of our system of government.  Maybe we need a system under which all political financing is public, and no other funds are allowed.

2      2. Term Limits: we have term limits for the Presidency. Maybe these “lifetime” appointments to the Supremes needs rethinking.  I know there are advantages to the lifetime thing—it theoretically frees the justices from the petty partisan political thing, but we now have evidence that our Supremes are definitely not free of partisanship –see Tony Scalia, and now see Brett Kavanaugh.  Then, perhaps we need to consider term limits to the House and Senate. Maybe three terms for the House and two terms for the Senate should be it.  Then let these folks go back to real jobs.

3       3. Gerrymandering: I have thought for some time that we need an independent body to design and then create voting districts that are independent of partisan advantaging. I am not sure how to create such districts, although I am certain that it is technically possible, and that the political parties –neither one—will ever be capable of creating such independent districts.  So, first we create the independent body (or bodies) and then we set them to work creating the districts. Perhaps we will need a constitutional amendment to support such work, but it would be worthwhile. Otherwise, we are doomed to the eventual Decline and Fall of the American Empire. And say Hi to Caligula should you see him on some golf course.

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[1] Caligula (/kəˈlɪɡjʊlə/;^[1] Latin: Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus; 31 August 12 – 24 January 41 AD) was Roman emperor from AD 37 to AD 41. The son of the popular Roman general Germanicus and Augustus' granddaughter Agrippina the Elder, Caligula was born into the first ruling family of the Roman Empire, conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Germanicus' uncle and adoptive father, Tiberius, succeeded Augustus as emperor of Rome in AD 14. There are few surviving sources about the reign of Caligula, although he is described as a noble and moderate emperor during the first six months of his rule. After this, the sources focus upon his cruelty, sadism, extravagance, and sexual perversion, presenting him as an insane tyrant. While the reliability of these sources is questionable, it is known that during his brief reign, Caligula worked to increase the unconstrained personal power of the emperor, as opposed to countervailing powers within the principate. He directed much of his attention to ambitious construction projects and luxurious dwellings for himself, and initiated the construction of two aqueducts in Rome: the Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus. During his reign, the empire annexed the client kingdom of Mauretania as a province. In early AD 41, Caligula was assassinated as a result of a conspiracy by officers of the Praetorian Guard, senators, and courtiers.

[2] The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire^[a] is a six-volume work by the English historian Edward Gibbon