Iran Accord & Trump

So, he’s done it. He has broken the contract that required us to abide by the same terms as Iran and all of our European allies.  So, now we are alone in abrogating the contract.  And now the folks who don’t know anything will begin to weigh in on Facebook and other social media forums. That includes me of course, because most of us have little access to high quality information about Iran’s behavior relative to the agreement. On one side, Benjamin Netanyahu claims that Iran has been systematically cheating and that they are moving closer to having a full nuclear capability, including a bomb and a means of delivery. On the other side, most of our allies, including the UN inspection brigade that has been overseeing the deal, claims that Iran has largely operated within the constraints of the agreement and has not cheated. Who to believe?

From my perspective, Netanyahu has moved closer and closer to a fascist mentality, emulating the very people that created our Second World War. I believe firmly, that Netanyahu is not a credible source of information within the Middle East.   I am certain that Trump’s advisers, Bolton and Pompeio, have argued to strike the accord. And now, he has sided with them and with the Israeli’s.

From an American public perspective, we must simply choose sides depending on whom we choose to believe.  And I have grave difficulty believing our President, mainly because he is a congenital liar. He lies, we know, whenever it is convenient to him, or whenever a lie will benefit him. In this case, a lie (that Iran routinely cheats on the accord) benefits him by drawing attention away from his myriad personal difficulties and from his potential legal difficulties with the Special Counsel, and places the Nation on a possible war footing. He has not yet declared war on Iran, but he is only a minor step away from such a declaration.  Under such a scenario, fewer people than normal may be drawn to continuing the critical commentary, although we will simply have to sit back and wait, watch and observe the ebb and flow of arguments that are sure to follow his lead here.

His timing is interesting here, since he is also moving towards North Korea on essentially the identical topic—how to prevent an authoritarian regime from possessing nuclear weapons capability.  He can and will surely deflect attention from the Iran mess, by arguing that he is entering a new era with a dangerous regime, one that has remained troublesome to the world for the past 65 years.  If indeed he and Kim succeed in reaching a successful accord, it would be a very large milestone towards peace in Asia, one that would certainly take away from the criticism of the Middle East mess he seems to have created.

Plus, he always gets to blame Obama for whatever mess results from his decision today.

It is all too early to say anything with certainty. Now, most of the next steps are within the decision halls of our allies, and within the Iranian regime itself.  One question is whether this will push the Iranians closer to Europe, Russia, and China, and therefore away from the USA. What the USA will do should that occur (impose sanctions on our European allies?) remains to be seen.  It seems clear that Trump’s decision will create a whole new game, with uncertain rules and highly uncertain outcomes for us and for our allies. Whether we still have allies after the dust settles is another of those, “remains to be seen” things.  It all gives me goosebumps thinking about a USA operating on the world stage without any serious allies.  But, as Trump keeps saying, “we will have to wait and see what happens”. 

 Because, given his inability to think beyond the next five minutes, he surely has no clue what will happen.

Post Truth

An interesting and disturbing series of articles this morning in the Sunday Times.  One was on what they are calling our “Post-Truth” era, thanks to our President who apparently cannot tell the difference between truth and fiction.  But the article attempts to explain the continuing support for him, even when he is clearly lying. They attribute the support to folks’ ability to think, “well, it could be true” . . . sort of a “wannabe truth”.  For example, Sarah Huckleberry engages in this kind of explanation routinely, since she is the chief splainer for the Liar-in-Chief.  Her explanation for his lies about having the biggest audience ever for his inauguration. “Well, it could have been . . . had the weather cooperated”.  In other words, in another universe, his audience might have grown to the largest ever.

Now the problem I have with the explanation, is that it implies that nothing anyone does or says has any relationship to fact or truth. If we are to follow that logic, then nothing anyone says or does also has any consequences. For example, if someone runs a red light and strikes a pedestrian, the driver might say, well, my light could have been green . . . ergo, I am guilty of nothing.  And of course, that explanation could well have been used to justify the invasion of Iraq . . . “well they could have had WMDs”.

And if that explanation is the rationale being used by his supporters to eliminate any issues concerning “truthiness” by The Liar-in-Chief, then it truly no longer matters what he says or does. But I wonder about such an explanation. I understand that Sarah Huckleberry might use such a rationale. I mean, she lies for a living and so has to construct whatever rationale works for her.  But I wonder about his supporters at large. Could it be that they simply no longer care what he says, or whether his words have any relationship to the Truth? I am brought to the belief that his supporters simply like what he is doing or saying, and the truth, to them, is irrelevant. If he proposes to ban all Muslims, and they don’t like Muslims, then whatever his rationale, his supporters will cheer, regardless of whether he is truth-telling or lying.  And if he is bashing Gays, or people of color, and they don’t like such folks, then again, it matters little his rationale.  What happens as a consequence, of course, is that the Nazi’s are allowed out of their closets and can now proceed to demonstrate for Nazi-rights on our streets . . . you know, the freedom to kill people they don’t like, just cuz.  And the Evangels of our Land, our very own Christian Taliban, can also yell and scream and try force as a method of shutting down programs such as the Planned Parenthood clinics, because they could be providing abortions.

And nobody does anything.

We could vote I suppose, but even that drastic course (well, remember, at least half of our voting age public does not routinely vote) is subject to the rules dictated by the Republican Guard in many of our states and precincts. First they gerrymandered, then next they try intimidation at the polls.

But we have apparently simply given up on demanding anything of our President. We now accept his behavior, regardless of what he says or does.  He lies about something, and now, our collective response seems to be, “OK so who needs a beer?” And so life goes on, and we no longer have any standards of behavior.  See, it isn’t really any longer about just Trump. A large change is occurring, or perhaps, has occurred in the American people. If we no longer care about “truthiness” then we are no longer a worthy people.  And are we now ok with that assertion? Are we really ok with no longer being a worthy people?  Because the Nazi’s in the 1930s Germany were no longer a worthy people. And the slaveholders in the 16^th-19^th centuries were no longer worthy people.   We imagined that we had grown more civilized, at least I thought we had. I imagined that the Civil War, and World Wars I & II meant that we had standards of morality that were better than what I see being demonstrated on a daily basis here in America of 2018. Maybe we have retreated now and, although we can blame Trump, it really is ourselves we must blame. We allow his behavior and tell him repeatedly that such behavior is actually ok with us.  He continues because he is allowed to continue.  And my question is . . . are we really ok with that position? If so, then we really are finished as a Nation and we only need a new Edward Gibbon to document the “, The History of the Decline and Fall of the American Empire,  So, think hard American people. Think hard.

And I also began thinking about our Liar-in-Chief and his constant campaigning.  He avoided the White House Correspondents dinner in order to campaign in Washington, Wherever. Two things: first, he avoided the dinner because he is incapable of listening to any critical commentary about himself—that’s his extreme narcissism in action.  But second, and perhaps more important, he has never actually stopped campaigning since he won the Electoral College vote. No president on record has ever done that. And I wondered. But finally, I have concluded that it is because he never actually wanted to be president. He simply wanted to campaign for president, Campaigning delivers large crowds (yuge crowds . . . the biggest ever on record anywhere in the universe) that cheer him on.  The crowds deliver smiles and that is what he needs, all the time. So, maybe, instead of governing, he intends to continue campaigning. And maybe there could be worse things. Whenever he actually attempts “governance”, we see one disaster unfold after another.  So maybe we should encourage him to continue campaigning. He will do less damage to the world.  The government will be on hold for a few years. Couldn’t be worse than having him actually making decisions.

So, ta ta folks. And do think about that voting thing. If you check out instead of voting, then you don’t get to complain.

Weirder & Weirder

We seem to be continuing on our path to either an actual Civil War, or a Civil War without guns.  Our now totally weird President continues on his path of wandering narcissism, where he runs down and labels anyone who criticizes him, while ignoring even the slightest hint of civilized behavior.  After promising to “drain the swamp”, he is instead populating his own dismal swamp with creatures no one even dreamed of to run Federal agencies. Mr. Zinke is busily trying to sell off all of the nation’s protected park lands to the highest bidder, and doing it as quietly as possible, so as to attract no attention. He has in fact no appointees who are remotely in synch with the missions of the agencies they are appointed to manage.

He continues to tweet in synch with the Fox Fake News programs, to the point that Fox appears to be directing our main policy positions.  He might as well appoint Hannity as his senior policy advisor, maybe even his foreign policy advisor (Hannity as Secretary of State??).

The news about the president, generated mainly through his inane tweets in the middle of the night/morning, and by the onslaught of news about his private lives that are hopelessly intertwined with his presidency, not merely dominates the news, but has become THE NEWS. It’s as though there is no other news around the globe.

And yet, I note the ongoing commentary on Facebook and in published articles in the news media, is filled with vitriolic comments about either the articles, or, more often, about the left side of the political aisle support for opposing this destructive president. The right wing has emerged from its closets and is now in full, righteous anger against those in the country (folks like me) who seem to despise our president.  For the most part, the right wing anger and resulting commentary contains no new facts to dispute any of the indictments against the president. They apparently, like Fox News, do not engage in facts.

But why, I keep asking myself? Why/how could these folks continue to support this destructive clown, who practically reveals his idiocy and his biases every time he opens his mouth. He lies with such frequency that he simply is useless in any discussion venue in which policy positions are to be discussed.  If one cannot trust meeting participants to speak from facts and to voice truth, then there is little point in the discussion.

But the fact that our president has now practically destroyed  the norms by which we govern ourselves, setting new standards of behavior that leave truth behind, seems lost on his supporters. I had serious questions during the election process and immediately after, about how anyone in the country could have voted for him, since we knew almost everything that was needed to declare him totally unfit to be president (of anything, no less our nation).  But those questions not only continue, but have enlarged to the point that I have difficulty treating any of his supporters with anything but total disdain. Still, I do not even remotely understand these folks. They are ostensibly American, with some American value system operating. I understand that many of his supporters are racists, and that they voted for Trump because they really hated that we had a Black President. Yes, they disliked, maybe even hated Hillary, but I always thought that was just an excuse to partly disguise their hatred of our Black President, and that they continue to hate anyone who supports that Black President. Their ongoing support of Trump seems to be a way of dismissing their own inadequacies as people who actually voted for our current president.  I was going to again say our “clown” president, but I now understand that use of the clown label demeans any and all actual clowns in the world. Trump is not a clown. He is a mean-spirited, bigoted, narcissist, who is also arguably one of the most ignorant humans on the planet.  He is apparently ignorant because he cannot or will not read. It may be that his ADHD is so serious that he cannot focus on reading anything more than a few paragraphs.  Or that his narcissism is so severe that he cannot read anything that fails to mention/focus on him. So, we should not call Trump a clown. He is way more serious and destructive than that playful term suggests. Trump is not funny, or even faintly amusing. I realize that our comedians all find great and ongoing material provided by him every day. But they are in the business of providing comedic relief to a world bordering on mental collapse from the daily raging of our idiotic president. I think many people are close to being terrified all the time, at the thought he could simply end the world. His close colleagues are certainly busy destroying much of that world built up over the centuries by our forefathers.  And, when people are terrified much of the time, comedic relief helps to maintain sanity.  Maybe our comedians are the court of last resort for a population ready to explode.  See, I think that, while the right wing racists of our world (Trump supporters especially) always seem angry, and always on the edge of violence (see Charlottesville), there could come a time when the terrified left wing actually does explode in a fury of righteous anger.  And then we may have an actual Civil War, with guns ablazing and all that.

In the past, I have always been gratified that our nation’s people could come together around righteous causes. I think of World Wars I & II. Even for the Korean War, we were less united, but still we remained a solid block. But I also remember the 1960s, and Vietnam. That coherent, unified stance that brought us together in the past failed to unite us. That war, built largely on lies and Cold War rhetoric, began dismantling our nation, and we came to close to a Civil War.  And the fracturing that occurred during those tumultuous years never left our land. The left and right separated along rhetorical lines and, though the yelling diminished, the differences of opinion never left. Then came Reagan and the 1980s. I always though Reagan made it ok again to be a racist, so some folks left their closets.  And the schisms continued to widen throughout the Reagan, Clinton, and Bush years. But then the nation elected its first Black President, and the fracturing broke wide open. It did not matter that President Obama was an intelligent, decent, thoughtful human being, whose every effort was intended to better our nation.  Still, the right wing persisted and expanded its efforts to discredit him, even to the ongoing lies about his heritage, and even his beliefs. They would credit him never.

And that schism remains today and is, I think, responsible for what we observe in the ongoing support for arguably the worst, most potentially destructive president in the nation’s history.  And the calls for impeachment, whether warranted or not, will continue to fall on deaf ears, even if the evidence begins to support those cries.  Whenever I think about impeachment, and its frivolous uses in the case of Bill Clinton, I believe it could introduce actual armed rebellion.  I understand that the ongoing case of Russian interference could yet produce the evidence needed to impeach Trump and even convict him.  But such an ending, however deserved would never provide the closure we need as a nation.  

Only if we go to the polls and vote him out of office will the nation have a pathway to peace. Only then could Americans begin again to walk and talk without hatred of “the other”.

We will see which path America follows.  The pathway is not clear at the moment. And many opponents of America (Vlad the Impaler come to mind) desperately wish for us to fail and to fall apart.  

I continue to hope. But hope is in increasingly scarce supply at this stage.

Liars Beware

And so Stormy “testified” against the Drumpf on Sixty Minutes. And, the Donald denies everything.  And how would we know whether The Donald is lying? Well, the sure test is:

“Whenever The Donald opens his mouth and words come tumbling out, he is lying.”

See, that is the problem Mr. Trump has with everyone.  He acknowledges that, while meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, he lied to him. And he more or less blew it off.  And therein lies the problem. He lies to everybody; ergo, nobody can believe anything he says, even when he is being truthful.  Apparently, the only way to know whether he is being truthful is if someone you know/trust certifies that he is being truthful. Because, see, all of his colleagues/paid serfs/family serfs, lie along with him.  So, it is only if someone you actually know, or someone you can absolutely trust, will say he is truthful that you can sigh and relax.

But what does that mean in practical terms? Well, it means that Trump is useless in any conversation in which agreements are sought.  So, if, say, an arms agreement were being negotiated, one would not want to have Trump in the room. He would screw it up simply by being present.  So, for example, Trump heading off to negotiate with China, or with his buddy Kim Jung Un about nuclear disarmament, is a total waste of time. Mainly, neither Trump nor Kim could be believed in any final agreement. Even if Trump agreed to some final solution, it would not matter, because he might change his mind tomorrow.

The scary thing about Trump and his lying is that it is not actually clear, when he says something, that he knows he is lying, or even knows that he is being truthful. He simply says stuff that he imagines people want to hear, or stuff that he imagines will make him look good.  He may say something not even knowing whether it is truthful. Accompanying his constant lying is his apparent ignorance about most subjects. I guess because he doesn’t/can’t read anything, he really doesn’t seem to understand anything in any detail. Maybe he just deals in headlines, and never reads or understands the accompanying text.  Like when he called his buddy Vlad the Impaler to congratulate him on his election, he perhaps did not understand that Vlad had rigged the election, in ways that most American Presidents would disapprove of. Now, to be fair, he isn’t “most American presidents”. He isn’t like any previous American President, but is rather, in a class by himself—a class of awfulness to be sure.

In any case, what this all means, is that Trump should not be an active participant in any agreement, or conversation leading to an agreement.  His staff should be allowed to negotiate all such agreements without Trump being present. He can sign the agreements, of course. Just don’t let him read any of them (oh, but I forget, he really cannot/would not read them anyway).

The other problem for Mr. Trump is that, because he cannot and should not be believed when he says something, no one will/should believe him, even if he speaks the truth. So, he will lose, even in the unlikely event he is actually saying something truthful.

His lying, his palpable ignorance about most subjects, and his willful behavior really explain his utter lack of success about almost everything he has ever attempted. Three failed/failing marriages, six bankruptcies, the development and then failure of seemingly fraudulent enterprises like Trump University are all explained fully by his standard behavior patterns.  He seems not to understand how anything runs, so he cannot really take charge, or “manage” anything. He needs to have others manage his enterprises, or they would all surely fail.  Having him pretend to be our senior executive over all of our government is way beyond just a horribly bad joke.  His assertions that he would assign responsibility for reorganizing government, and then also resolving the Middle East mess to his son-in-law Jared was so startling that it seemed that he must surely have been joking. But, no, he was as serious as he ever gets, at least at that moment. He simply did not understand what he was saying, because he understands almost nothing.  His constant hiring and firing of the heads of his cabinet posts also is consistent with his standard behavior practices. He hires people now who seemingly have not the slightest understanding of their intended positions or the agencies they are being asked to run.  Then, eventually, he tires of their ineptitude (by his definition of aptitude) and fires them.  It makes one wonder whether he is truly in process of destroying the entire US Government.  I am confident that his supporters would applaud such a finding, but they are as ignorant as our president.

It is difficult to now imagine how this all ends.  He will not be impeached I would guess, because the republican party no longer has any ethical standards at all. In the unlikely event all republicans are voted out of office in 2018 and 2020, I suppose we might depose him and his henchmen.  I no longer have any belief in such an outcome. The seeming constancy of his support, 40% and holding, makes me fear for what that says about America.  I might think/imagine differently were I a 30-something. But I am now in my 45^th 39^th year and my trust in America is now failing. I hope I am wrong and perhaps the youngsters—the teenagers who have behaved so wonderfully and made their “adults” look so tragically awful—perhaps they will rescue all of us from ourselves.  One can only hope, I guess.

So carry on teenagers. Our future is now in your hands, as soon as you can pry it from your adult ne’er-do-wells.

Darkness Descending

Lately I have become even darker than my usual cranky old man demeanor.  Partly, I guess, it is a function of aging. The closer to an ending, the darker is my hue. Partly, obviously, our absurd political situation is to blame. To observe this destructive clown (apologies to clowns everywhere) wreaking havoc on a daily basis, because he is both too stupid to understand what he is doing, and also because he simply doesn’t care about the effects of his actions on others, including on the Nation as a whole, is frankly more than disheartening.

And then, of course, one need only look abroad at the continued carnage in that place formerly called the Middle East, and now called Murderers' Row, to see that much of the rest of the world is an absurdity.  People there kill partly out of religious absurdity and partly just because they get off on killing.—sort of like the NRA here.

I have been thinking about our very own home-grown idiocies, and I have difficulty understanding how the moron’s support continues. He carries out some ridiculous action via his 3-4 AM Tweets, and the rest of us just gasp in disbelief. He appoints people to high level positions who are, purposefully, opposed to the very idea of the agency’s they now run.  He appoints people who seemingly know nothing, and we are expected to applaud.  And his supporters do just that.

How? How can they? Are they simply residents in Hillary’s infamous “Basket of Deplorables”? How could that be?

And then, upon ruminating a bit more, I finally conclude that his supporters are like him in attitude. They no longer care. Every time he does something terminally stupid, and his opponents gasp in anger and disbelief, his supporters smile, and perhaps even cheer him on. Because, they are now like bomb-throwers. They are getting someone else to do what they really want to do themselves—burn the place down, blow it up, and whatever comes as a result, let it come, because it couldn’t be worse than what they have been observing with the so-called rational folks in charge.  Many of his supporters are racists who hated the thought of Obama, and the idea of Hillary made them want to throw up.  Hillary and the Dems never really understood the level of hostility generated by Hillary every time she opened her mouth.  So, when the Trump yelled “Lock her up” they cheered in response.  Partly, they were being given an outlet for their rage about Obama, and partly, Hillary just provided a convenient target for their abuse.

And now, they seemingly just don’t care what happens.

So observing this mess that is now our country is dispiriting at best.  

Partly, too, the fact of the ending, now coming into view, pulls me into a worldview that is no longer optimistic and filled with possibilities. I see the missed opportunities more than I see the possible openings, because the openings seem fewer and less plausible. I watched a film the other day with Ben Stiller about Life’s missed opportunities called  Brad’s Status. As I watched, I began thinking back to all the career life mistakes I had made, and the missed opportunities that lay therein. Would’a, could’a should’a wandered through my head all night. Guaranteed to make your day.

But then we return to the wonderful world of Today.  Between The Donald-Doofus-in-Charge, the NRA death-mongrels, and the Facebook thieves of Cambridge Analytica (needs to be shut down) we have a real mess here in Amurrica. Enough to make one wonder just when we plan on descending into some other Hell-hole—the Middle East anyone?

Well, enough Richard. You will die soon enough, so try to enjoy your remaining time here on this spinning globe (take that Flat-Earthers).  And speaking of Flat-Earthers, I wonder whether they are all related to the Donald, who is, as far as we know, the stupidest person on the planet.

Meanwhile, the sun just came out today. So, perhaps my mood will lighten. Ignore all the crap in the world if you can, and there is much there. There are bright angels all around you, people smiling despite the idiot-savants of the world.  When they smile at you, smile back. Pretend you're an elephant and Carol is feeding you Cheerios. See, you can smile after all.

Ta ta.

Suicide Ideation

Suicide Ideation: I heard this term today from someone. It caused me to think about the end of life thing. Suicide means that you end your own life prematurely.  Life, actually, eventually ends your life, whether you like it or not.  And there is no meaning to any of it, life . . . death . . . unless you personally attach your own values or meaning to it.

I suppose there is this point about being deeply religious. It gives you an explanation for death, and even, sometimes, for life.  Religion often informs people of why they are here, and, also, what happens after life ends.  Mostly, such folks have great expectations for the “what happens after” thing.  You know, you climb into a bus, and the bus driver takes you to the gates . . . you know, those pearly gates thingie. And then the big guy formally decides whether you are staying there, and he (always a “he”) opens those gates, allowing you to enter, or he shakes his head and says, um, no, you are going to take the down elevator to Hell. Sorry, but you really didn’t pass muster down there on Earth.  And if you used to be good enough, you get assigned to a cloud, a harp and a friendly group of family and friends. Then you also get to oversee the folks not yet dead (remember at many funerals, the dude in charge often comments that, “he is in a better place and is looking down upon you now”. To be honest, that never seemed much fun, looking down on all the dudes and dudettes down below doing their thing and having fun, or not, while you just float up there observing.

Whereas those of the non-religious persuasion believe that life simply ceases, and nothing follows . . . nothing.  I have observed this belief several times in these pages, about my best understanding of the end of life.  You simply stop “being”. And you don’t know it, because your brain ceases to function.  All awareness just stops, and nothing follows. Again . . . and you don’t know it.  So, at one level, my concept is scary . . . that not knowing it thing. What will it be like, no longer seeing anything, because your brain stops working? At another level, though, it simply is, not scary or not wonderful. Neither emotion fits. But, because there is no Hell in my view, there is no longer anything to scare you about the end.

But my view also precludes any serious thoughts of suicide. Because, I guess, my life has been a mixed bag, but has been on average way better than it might have been, given my beginnings—great family, lots of exciting happenings throughout, beauty aplenty. Sure, down times too. But I think that’s the definition of life, some good, some bad, on average at least interesting.  I was created during the Great Depression (why would anyone create a kid during the Great Depression, you might wonder). So, early life was spare. Since daddy refused to do his job (be a father) my mom had to pick up the pieces. So, we survived, because she insisted we survive. And then came that Great War thingie, the war to end all wars, or WW II for short.  That was clearly a mixed bag. Scarcity, folks elsewhere being killed routinely, a relative or two going off to foreign climes, and then that happened. And I grew up, thanks to my caring mom. Several trips to the hospital to correct street happenings, but I survived.  We all mostly survived, despite the mental and physical bruises . . . leaving scars you never quite forget.  But life continues, and that is the definition of life after all. You get to kick the crap aside and just get on with it, to extract all the good juices you can.

So, when anyone talks about suicide, I have to believe they haven’t been thinking straight. I guess it is possible to focus all the time on the bad stuff in life. And almost everyone has some bad stuff to remember. But life really is a balancing act. And you, each and every one of us, has to do the balancing. If you understand that bad stuff will happen, but that you just need to get on, so as to grab the golden rings of life, you will survive the bad and the good. And then at some point, it all ends anyway. But, you really don’t want it to end until you really have sucked life dry. You need to get all the good stuff, ignoring the crap as much as possible (that includes the Trumps of the world) and live it to its fullest end point. That is what life is really all about. Life is all about beauty and laughter. Yeah, it includes ugly and crying (see Trump), but that’s just crap to be kicked aside. You cannot let the uglies dictate your life. Instead, let the beauty and the laughter be your life. Let you dictate your life.  There really are evil people in the world (see Nazi’s) and they really do screw up many lives. But if you’re lucky, you can maneuver around the ugly people and head to the light. When it ends and everything turns dark, you want to be smiling if at all possible.

So, should suicide cross your mental map, walk right on, ignore it. Only you can decide how you want life to proceed. And proceed it will. Let the sun shine in. And smile.

Emperor Butthead

Emperor for Life

So, the Chinese premier/President, or whatever he is, has now proposed that he be allowed to serve for the rest of his life, creating a new form of Emperor-dynasty system in China. It is not as though they haven’t been there before, but we all had imagined that China had graduated from the emperor system to something approximating a democratic governmental system.  I guess the temptation to retreat to a system that eliminates the need for thinking is just too great. Still, it kind of surprises me.

And then, President Doofus allowed as how he liked the Chinese emperor-wannabe, and thought perhaps we might try the same system.  And I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. See, if Borowitz proposed something like that, I would know to laugh, cuz Andy is a satirist and writes stuff like that all the time. But when Stupidhead says that, well maybe he’s just being stupidly comedic, or maybe the thought just entered his head . . . “hey, president (emperor??) for life. Hell, if the Chinese are thinking that, why not me and here?” Then, when he is criticized, he can just have one of his dumbass spokespeople (Sarah huckleberry) tell us that he was just joking . . . haha, she will say with her dark face scowling at us.

This all makes me wonder, mainly about us. See, we know President Doofus really doesn’t know anything, mainly because he can’t/won’t read.  I assume it’s the untreated ADHD thing. He apparently can’t sit still and focus long enough to read anything beyond a dinner menu.  Even there, I’ll bet he can’t stay focused beyond the triple cheeseburger and fries whopper. So, imagine him trying the read the Declaration of Independence, or the Constitution, or any history book, or much of anything that explains our government. See, we know he doesn’t even understand his own business, since he has failed so many times. He starts a fake university and then when he gets called out because it’s fake, he just bumbles along and gets out of the way.  But it seems the same with almost anything he has begun. He seems to think if he’s in charge of something, it means he can do anything he wants. And if it fails, then someone else will come along and pick up the pieces.

So, when he achieved the Presidency (Emperorhood??) he had no idea what that actually meant. Only that, he was in charge of something called the United States Government.  Which meant, of course, that he now could really do anything he wanted with, to and about the thing called The Government.  So, when he appoints Jared to “fix” the Middle East mess, and “reorganize” the Federal Government, he has no idea what that means, only that it seems like it’s something that might be fun to do. And surely Jared can handle that, along with managing his own businesses.  Since he doesn’t actually do anything, aside from telling other folks what he wants done, he doesn’t know how anything works.  Telling Jared to fix the Middle East is not unlike me telling my 6-year old grandkid to fix the fucked up global banking system. It would be funny if not so tragic and so dangerous.

That’s the problem. President Doofus doesn’t really understand anything. So when he says, tariff wars are a good thing and easy to win, he really has no idea what he is saying.  It’s just words tumbling out of his mouth in some vaguely understandable order. But he might as well be speaking in Icelandic, for all he understands what he just said.

See, then the real problem begins. Because people begin to treat what he says seriously. And at least a few of the people who are within his neighborhood (e.g., the White House) have an understanding that what he just said has potential consequences and that those consequences might not be all that great for America.  If people abroad find what he said threatening, they will begin to utter threatening words in response. And then he will begin twittering in response, as any annoyed two-year old would do.

You might imagine, even in this less than perfect world in which we live, that there might be some actual adults in the room who could step in to address his inanities.  But if they did, he would just fire them and/or insult them so that they would quit.

And what about Congress you might ask? Won’t they step in and tell him that his latest idea is less than wonderful? Well, no, there is nobody left in Congress with a functioning brain. Paul Ryan is too busy trying to eliminate Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. So he has a Do Not Disturb sign on his office that is permanently affixed.  And Mitch? Yeah, Mitch . . . hahahahahahahaha. He actually has no functioning brain, but you knew that.

And the Dems mainly sit on the sidelines sucking their thumbs and asking for $5.00. Ivanka anyone?

So, meanwhile, back at the ranch, we folks called citizens are just watching the latest TV utterances and pouring ourselves another drink. Maybe we can stay drunk long enough not to notice when President Doofus decides to nuke San Francisco . . . just cuz he can, don’t you know.

Happy hour every hour. Drink on me hearties.