LIfe in Today's America

 And so, 2025 draws to a close, and this newbie, 2026 enters our scene.  We don’t know what this year will bring, except that Donald Trump remains alive. Well, technically we don’t really know whether he will make it through this new year, but should he leave, there remain so many awful creatures appointed by him that good things seem unlikely. JD Vance, Miller, Kristi Noem et al seem so terminally awful that I would wonder the outcome should Trump fall by the wayside. It’s a bit odd I guess, saying that a Trump departure would not necessarily improve our political world.  But he really seems not to know any ethical, intelligent human beings.

I still have memories of me at about age 6, sitting on our front room floor, by myself, listening to FDR tell us on the radio about Pearl Harbor. Or about, heaven forfend, me voting in my first election for Dwight Eisenhower –yep I actually voted for a republican my first time out.  But it was Ike.  And he was more than OK. He was Ike.

But then the world began resuming its situation normal. Nixon, Bush, Reagan (aargh). Yeah, republicans resumed their norm – Terminally awful.  BUT, and this is a BIG BUT, none of the prior awfuls even resemble Trump. In fact, they all look pretty damned good in comparison to Trump. I mean, Mussolini might fit into his class—Hitler?? No, probably not. Hitler was in a class all by himself.

But, it is difficult to drop Trump into the class of prior officialdom. Some raters just toss him into the class of Worst-ever US President. And that seems OK with me, although to be fair, I  really do not know enough to make such a judgement. I do know that I have never observed a President who routinely was the joke of the room, as well as being simply evil. He is dumb and grotesquely evil, while still making people laugh at him. I cannot imagine folks laughing at Nixon or Reagan, unless they were telling an actual joke.

So, it is hard to know what we are supposed to do when Trump enters our presence. Now the problem with all that is the damage he is doing while he continues to serve. Our global reputation suffers daily. We have a huge military and nuclear weapons, so it is difficult not to take us seriously. But then Bobby Jr. walks on stage and tells us how he is going to dismantle our vaccine programs. Huh??? Or anything Steven Miller says, which seems to bring back memories of Adolph.  So, should we be laughing or arming ourselves?  I no longer know what to think. But him having a heart attack, or him being shot in the head, seem to be plausible possibilities – and how awful is that America?

I find myself, at age 91, wondering whether I will ever again live in an America of which I am proud. How sad that will be, as I move into my sadly aging existence. How sad indeed.