Life & The Donald

Living this long, I find myself thinking about why things happen, and what life is really all about.  On a daily basis, I am reminded that humankind is a vastly complex entity, as is everything on this earth of course.  With complexity, comes variation, and with variation comes different life styles of adaptation.

Alright, what do I mean? 

Well, it is now very clear that humankind is one kind of animal, with amazing variations.  How do we all vary? Well . . .

·         Gender – some folks come, as we have named, female, and some as what we label as male. But actually, we also know that we have variations within and among those two seemingly unique types, folks who are uncertain of gender, or who are uncertain how they should act as one type or another.  Well, they’re not so much uncertain themselves, but their actions cause the rest of us to become uncertain how we are supposed to react to them.   And these variations have caused over the many centuries we have had humankind, many problems and many blessings, sometimes both at the same time.

·         Skin color – We have a fantastic color spectrum present in humankind. No one is quite “white”, but are certainly close to that end of the spectrum. And some are fairly close to black, but are really a shade or two one side of a perfect black.  As one moves from “black” to “white” other colors are introduced, a bit of red, some yellow, such that we have really a marvelous array of beautiful skin colorings.  For reasons quite mysterious, this skin color variation also causes difficulties in how humankind reacts to one another.

·         Physical size -- From nearly 7 feet, to perhaps 4 feet in height, and from perhaps 20 inches to what, four feet (??) in diameter, humankind presents itself as almost different species.  The size thing certainly creates some tension since relative aggressiveness towards one another seems at least related to the size variation, depending on how different folks perceive size.

·         Brainpower – Here too, amazing variation, not so much in actual physical size of the brain, as in the seeming utility of the brains we possess.  The brain and its apparent utility creates perhaps the most significant of the many variations experienced by humans.  The seeming capacity of the brain seems partly a result of random chance, with genetics being an important component. But also, the extent to which we “train” our brains to think and adapt determines the brain’s utility to us, as we waltz through life.  There seems an odd connection between the ability of the brain to conceive and adapt, and the relative tendency towards violence.   This latter point is unclear at best.

      Alright, so humankind is highly variable. So what?  Well, one of the common characteristics of all animals seems to be a desire to control the environment in which they live, control being seen as necessary in order to survive.  And each animal designs its own approach to assuring its own survival, through controlling its environment.  In the case of humans, we seem to have created three distinct mechanisms or systems to assure survival.  We employ these mechanisms, partly in response to our own personal characteristics. What are the three?

1.       Brute strength – especially early man employed physical strength, and then weapons in order to survive (obtain food) and prosper (obtain more food than you need to survive). But brute strength became enhanced dramatically through tribalism.  If strong folks can attract others, perhaps family, or simply others who live nearby, to identify with one, a tribe begins to emerge and then the tribe is relatively stronger than the individual.  And then the stronger/larger tribes are able to counter other tribes, perhaps to become even more powerful, and therefore more secure.

2.       Religion – we seem uncertain when, but relatively early man devised this devilishly clever scheme, we now call religion. Someone began claiming an authentic channel to God. “God has told me thus . . . therefore, you must listen to me. Otherwise, God will smite you dead.”  As different humans claimed a direct relationship to God, different forms emerged whereby ordinary folks could become enchanted with God. And the “wise ones” (those who claim a direct connection to you know who) began writing down assertions about what God wants, such that even more folks could begin to understand who are the “wise ones”. Thus, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and the many variations that now exist, came into being. The key to all of these systems, though, is that leaders claim they have direct knowledge of what God expects, and they have devised approaches that a: allow them to control the dialogues, and b: give them authority and therefore power over the other ordinary humans who possess no special insights.  Ponzi schemes spring to my mind whenever I think of organized religion.

3.       Money – Money seems to have originated through trading. I kill more deer than I can eat, and you kill more buffaloes than you can eat. We can trade and then we will each have a more diverse food stock.  As people traded more things, some folks devised a way to value food stuff, and then other commodities, and so money became necessary and was devised.  Over time, some people became proficient in the art of collecting and trading money (banks??). As some people gathered more money than they needed, they began using money as a way to better control their environments.

      But all of these approaches are about control at the most basic level. Now when you combine some of these approaches, you enhance your control, and therefore your power. Tribes, for example, claim religious authority and thus enlarge their power over ordinary humans.  Or religions become themselves a variant on tribes, and impose their authority over other religions (see Christianity). 

      While tribalism and religion are fairly obvious about their control aspirations, money seems a bit different, more neutral perhaps. After all, what exactly is money? Money is a way to value almost anything and everything, so it seems more technical than control oriented.

      But no. As people or institutions gain more money, they begin using that money to do what??? Exercise control.  I am willing to give you some money if you are willing to follow my lead in whatever job you hold. Seems especially important if the job you hold is a member of the government, or even, the head of government (see Trump).  So, the acquisition of money becomes now explicitly an instrument of control. And that is how it is now used, almost exclusively. So, banks of course become instruments intended to help you become more powerful, by increasing your assets--money.  Some banks seem not to mind turning to organized crime, as they help literal organized crime to “launder” its illegally obtained financial assets (see HSBC). 

      So, having observed this world for now over 8 decades, what I see is the almost complete deterioration of human values, as humanity turns to control mechanisms to control other parts of humanity.  It’s like a caveman system in which we seem to now live, except the cavemen have upgraded their tools of control to the Mark X Mod 9 version.  Slowly, we seem to be losing those aspects of our humanity that make life worth living—love, respect, compassion seem now almost quaint.  Let’s see, what have I been able to observe since I was born in 1934?

Well, the 1930s was a kind of dismal swamp atmosphere. The great crash had just occurred—oh, that was when bankers of the world so overreached their greed (the money thing) that the entire financial world simply collapsed. Now, doubtless, many of the bankers of the world suffered great losses during this period. But my tiny vantage point only revealed the effects on the little people—specifically folks like my grandparents and parents. My grandparents just literally ran out of money. They were now beyond working, and their savings simply disappeared.  My parents were rarely together as a couple, so my mom did the best she could to keep us alive. We had literally, no spare cash.  Money, or the lack thereof ruled our world. In an odd way, the bankers still ruled the world, because although they might have been hurt financially, they still had access to money, whereas the little people had none. Our world stumbled along, with misery being the kindest assessment anyone could make of this dismal swamp universe in which we resided.

And then, the world’s humans awakened to create a new world—a world at War. Yeah, the Hitler tribe in Germany had been forming for some time, becoming more powerful, and finally they simply lost all reason and began killing people, just because they could—all in the name of greater control of course.  And so, the rest of the world decided to forge its own larger tribe, so as to counter the Hitler tribe. And WW II began seriously. Millions died during this period, of course, but the bankers seemed to recover, and then money began flowing again.  And so, money, brute strength, and organized religion joined in a battle for survival of our species. For a while, the outcome was uncertain, but then the Hitler tribe and the Hirohito tribe began losing their way and finally gave up the battle for control.

Now, one would think that some rationality might have crept into that post-War world. But no, humans have this capacity for control and almost immediately the Cold War began. Oh, the shooting stopped for a tiny bit, but then the tribal forces began exerting themselves again, and we were right back at it.  There was Korea, and then that never ending Vietnam thing, both wars all about who would control what territories.

Finally, the wars in Asia stopped, but then the Middle East began erupting, with the overthrow of the Iran government, to be replaced by a terrorist religious faction, demonstrating that organized religion is equally as cruel, yet effective at the control thing.  And that Middle East mess continues to this day, a true never-ending war of control.  It is only partly about religion. Mainly, folks use religion as an excuse for killing people. Religion is so convenient that way. Always available when needed.

Despite this amazing killing field world of the Middle East, always threatening to engulf the whole world, we had some bright spots. Apparently tiring of the despots on the right wing of our nation, some forces for good emerged, and we elected a decent man, who was both bright and ethical, Barack Obama. The right wing never stopped exploding in rage about the election of a decent, humane, intelligent person as our president.  Apparently republicans really hate it when an ethical, bright person takes charge in America. But, we did have eight years of a good leader. He continued to try to do good things, but republicans never let him forget that they were always around him, and they would not stand for a leader trying to do the right thing.

And then Donald Trump.

Explaining Donald Trump is a bit like trying to explain the Big Bang. No one really understands this terminally weird phenomenon. A narcissistic, sociopath, who lies all the time, even when everyone around him knows he is lying, and who is demonstrably unsuccessful at everything he attempts, including both marriage and business, gets elected and continues to have the support of millions of Americans.  His faithful supporters even say they do not mind when he lies. They still love him.  My only conclusion is that he is a religion, all by himself. Only he doesn’t really promise anything after death, you know that thing that all religions promise. He doesn’t.  But it seems not to matter to folks who apparently hate everything for every minute of every day. They hate for a living apparently.

But now, what has he gone and done? Well, having been accused of colluding with the Russians to corrupt our election system, and then denying it, he now loudly announces that he is open for any and all foreign meddling in our next election. He not only doesn’t care, he actively encourages foreign interference.

So, he is announcing that everything people suspected about him is true. He really is corrupt, terminally stupid, and he believes that he is above any Laws of our Land. He doesn’t believe in the Law. He doesn’t care about The Law. He is the complete Narcissist, or maybe, he just imagines himself to be King Donald I, our first absolute monarch.

And with that thought, I am really out of words.

The Grand Destroyer

Getting older is not, as they say, for sissies. Well, technically, what they really mean is BEING OLD is not for sissies.  See, I still remember playing marbles out in the middle of 71^st street, a little bit up from Second Avenue in Manhattan. And playing stickball on that same street. Yeah, we had a grand time, stickball, marbles, cops and robbers, all out in the street, before parents prevented kids from playing in the streets.

And then we listened to The RADIO. Yeah, remember that thing?  Well, I guess we still have radios, and some people still listen, but that was before TV.  And FDR, the first president of whom I have a memory, used to talk to us on the radio. Well, so did our mayor, Fiorella LaGuardia.  He had regular broadcasts on the radio, as of course did our president, FDR. LaGuardia also read the comics to the kids during a newspaper strike.  But the radio, during that wartime period, was a big deal for me. I listened regularly, sitting by our fourth floor front window, to shows like The Shadow—“who knows what evil lurks in the minds of man? The Shadow knows.”

And because we had a war on, we had blackouts, and wardens enforcing the blackouts.  And we had rationing, and ration stamps.  I still remember a dog we had, Cleo by name. And one time, my mom had brought food home for dinner, using those ration stamps, and our dog, managed to get the food (meat??) and ate it. That was our dinner, and the last time I remember Cleo.

And then we moved out of that city, up into “the country” of Rockland County, across the river, on “the Jersey side” of the river. That move was designed by my mom to keep us from getting killed on the streets of Manhattan (my brother had already been hit by a truck in those streets).  But moving didn’t stop the parade of Presidents.  See folks kept voting and so we had presidents replacing presidents. First FDR, who would probably still be president today had he not up and died.  But then the parade began – Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan (aka St. Ronald of Reagan), George HW (Poppy) Bush, Bill Clinton, George W (Shrub) Bush, Barack Obama, and then, OMG, Donald J Trump, arguably the dumbest man in the universe.

See, they all had their flaws. Most humans do.  And, depending on which political persuasion floated your boat, you might focus on one or more of those flaws.  But, still, having at least been around to observe this cast of characters, I have formed some opinions also, simply by virtue of having been alive in America and at least vaguely mentally alert, throughout that very long period. Several of them stand out in my increasingly dim memory:

·         FDR and Truman, for having managed the nation through the successful conclusion of World War II;

·         Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson for having begun that other war in Vietnam;

·         Kennedy of course, for having been assassinated in November 1963, marking perhaps the single largest traumatic event in my still young mind;

·         Nixon, for his decision to continue that indecent war by lying to us (well the whole war was one big lie after another) and then, for the first time in my history, of thoroughly corrupting the Office of the Presidency;

·         St. Ronald of Reagan, for being, at that stage, arguably the dumbest man ever to be so elevated, from a B-Movie actor (and retrograde California Governor) to the presidency and then acting out the part of our dumbest president (remember the Laffer Curve that he endorsed, that produced the largest deficits in the history of the country?);

·         Bill Clinton for demonstrating the unusual talent of multitasking, by getting a blow job while speaking on the phone to one of his aides, and then getting impeached for that unusual skill set;

·         Shrub for continuing now a pattern by republican presidents of corrupting the office by, in his case, going to war in Iraq by constructing an entire set of lies as justification, and thereby releasing every force for evil in the Middle East, and there are so many such forces there;

·         Barack Obama, for returning decency, and some actual intelligence to that exalted office, and for being just a good person, as well as being our first Black president.

·         And then DISASTER. Donald J. Trump, a man so woefully unprepared that we all have difficulty characterizing him.  He twitters for a living apparently, because he is unequal to the task of actual human communication. See, I think of Twitter as that pseudo-communications system for people who cannot otherwise speak or write in any language, but especially English.

And see, given my rather long history of watching presidents waltz through my life, Trump is hard for me to grasp. And every day, this weird phenomenon becomes worse.  Let’s see:

·         He is a narcissist. And what does that really mean? Well, a narcissist is a human who really only thinks about himself. Everything is all about him, so he will interpret everything thing that happens as in some way being related to him.  Narcissism is a personality disorder that most apparently manifests itself in an individual's inability to listen. Narcissism is defined as "excessive interest in oneself," and this trait can make it difficult for individuals to acknowledge or pay attention to others. Instead, the role of other people in the life of a person with narcissism is to provide praise, encouragement, support, and admiration. Extreme narcissism can cross over into a mental illness called narcissistic personality disorder, where a person is driven by a need for approval, and neither understands nor cares about the feelings of others (Trump anyone??).

·         He seems to be a sociopath. Sociopaths are people with personality disorders who cause harm to others without remorse.

·         He seems to possess a limited IQ, or perhaps he has some other personality disorder that prevented him from learning. He has blocked all access to his actual education, so we do not know what grades he actually completed. But because he also is a pathological liar, he continues to lie about his educational prowess.  He acts continuously like a person who appears not to know anything about almost everything.  And his constant lying, coupled with his narcissism continue, even though everyone knows when he is lying. He seems not to care.

·         Happily for him, he was given a huge amount of money by his father, and so he continues to have a huge amount of money. But it also seems to be the case that he would have even more money had he simply invested all that money in an annuity. Instead, he played with it in the form of various real estate investments, many of which went bankrupt—he may be unique in being someone who failed to make money by opening a gambling casino. Indeed, it seems likely that his various personality disorders, coupled with his limited IQ/education has contributed to his inability to successful manage his many business enterprises. He has experienced six different bankruptcies, more than almost anyone on record.

·         He has books to his credit, but he seems not to have written them, or even actively participated in writing them. He simply hires someone to write his books.

·         He seems to be now in his third marriage disaster. The first two, of course, ended in divorces, but the third, which continues, seems to be a “marriage of convenience”, since he is currently incapable of divorcing, or of being divorced. His third wife, Melania seems to be a poor thing who came to this country under questionable circumstances (she was an “escort” who was able to stay because she “hooked up” with The Donald).  But under even remotely normal circumstances, it seems fairly obvious that they would not remain married.

I guess we could go on and on, listing his faults, but they are all known so well that it seems a bit over the top. It amazes me that he continues to act out in full public view, as though no one is watching.  The observers have now been counting his lies, since being in office, and the count now exceeds 10,000. Think of that. He lies so often, and so obviously that people are now counting them.  And again, he seems not to care, so he continues to Tweet at odd hours of the day, with his tweets representing his childish outbursts.

And he spends so much time on vacation, golfing, that one wonders whether there is really any work to be done at the White House.  Is anyone actually doing his work? Or perhaps the various staff people around him arrange for work to get done without actually consulting him, or maybe by simply working around him.  To say he “gets in the way” seems to be a gentle way of saying that folks try to work by purposefully ignoring him, and hoping that he goes golfing again, somewhere . . . anywhere.

And then we have the investigations. Why were the investigations started? Well, because it seemed obvious to intelligent observers that the Russian government purposefully interfered in the American election process, with the objective of electing Donald Trump.  And so, our investigative forces were chartered to investigate, so that we might be able to prevent another corrupt election.  And he continues denying the legitimacy of the investigations, despite the fact that many of his colleagues are now awaiting or in prison for the wrongdoing.

And why does any of this matter? Well, it matters to me precisely because I am old. Were I young, I would likely now be seriously investigating where on this poor benighted planet I might move, with my family to someplace that values normality, and maybe even honesty.  I know, I know, public honesty by politicians may be an oxymoron, but still many if not most of the presidents I have known during my many years/decades on this planet told the truth at least some of the time. Trump seems never to tell the truth. Yeah, I know, I exaggerate. But with Trump, not so much.

And it matters to me because I may see him as the last president in my ever so brief time on this planet. See, I am now at an age that is beyond all/most of my forebears. I really hate the idea of ending during a Trump presidency, because of what it says about this nation in which I have lived for lo these many years. Even St. Ronald of Reagan, or for heaven’s sake, Shrub seem, waaaayyyy preferable to the clown currently in the exalted Office of the Presidency (apologies to all real clowns).  There was at least a shred of decency in them, and they occasionally told us truths.

But something weird has happened to our Nation that we would even consider electing someone as fatally flawed a human being as The Donald.  What does it say about our people, that anyone currently alive might still approve of him . . . and there are some millions who do. 

Who is to blame, I wonder? I desperately want to blame someone (God, are you listening??? Oh you’re not real, are you, sorry).  Maybe social media??? It’s all the fault of Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat, and others of that ilk. Folks out there, real Americans, still plan to vote for him in 2020? And some folks, also apparently American, threaten Civil War (i.e., killing other Americans) if Trump is impeached or defeated at the polls. See, now that’s just downright weird.  I keep thinking of the people who participated in the defeat of Nazi Germany. Some of those folks, or their descendants will vote for Donald Trump? How is that possible?  I know, I know, we have often disagreed over issues of national policy, including all those war things, but generally we used to come together when it seemed both real and important.

Now? I no longer know. Are we actually coming apart internally? I keep thinking, well, let the voting polling places decide. But what if they don’t?  What happens then?  Do we simply come unraveled as a nation, and then what are we leaving to our children and our grandchildren? An ugly and thoroughly soiled thing that was once borderline holy?  A nation destroyed? Is that what we wish to leave our kids and our grandkids? Is Trump worth destroying our country??

I hope that I am grossly exaggerating the risks here, but I do actually perceive him as that kind of risk.  I hope I am wrong, but I await some evidence.

Cranky Old Man

It’s really amazing. Vladimir Putin must be some smart bastard to have conceived of placing Donald Trump in our presidency.  He’s destroying the country without firing a single shot.  Who would have thought that was even possible?  Every time I turn around, it seems he has totally destroyed yet another of our government agencies.  What a record—EPA, Education, FCC, Treasury . . . and the list goes on and on. Sometimes, he destroys them by placing in charge someone who fundamentally disagrees with the basic mission—like Betsy DeVos, or Mnuchin,  or Pompeo/Bolton, or Scott Pruitt. But almost as often he has these amazingly dumb people who are within his stable, folks like Ben Carson (who belies his brain surgeon background). I figure Ben got his brain surgeon degree at WalMart.

And now, he is acting out the role of a fascist dictator. Almost everything he has been doing over the past six months is straight out of the fascist dictator playbook:

·                     Denigrating the news media, to a point that he seems to want to destroy them;
·         Insulting his opponents, and then threatening to jail them;
·         Defying Congress, to the point that he seems to make believe they actually do not even                  exist;
·         Placing his relatives in high positions.

And the list goes on and on. He would make Hitler proud.  Oh, and although he has not yet placed any of his hated immigrants in a gas chamber, his policies continue to see folks, often little folks, die in his custody.

And his supporters just continue to back him to the hilt.  They are almost as amazing as Vlad’s move to place him in the job. I guess the MAGAHeads also approve of selling the country to the Russians. They never say anything to that end of course, but I assume they are fine with the whole idea.  It does make me wonder what they get out of the deal, though. Maybe Vlad intends to provide them all with free vacations to Siberia. I understand it is great this time of year.

But then I look at Britain, and the demise of Therese May and the consequent rise of those idiots Boris Johnson, and Nigel Farage. And India—they re-elected Modi, despite his complete lack of success in bringing anything of real value to the country. I guess the Congress party is off vacationing in Scotland.  Australia seem to have swung over to the extreme right, although, happily, New Zealand seems to be resisting. Italy is flirting with its fascists, and even Germany has a rising core of fascists.

What the hell is going on?

I think the common thread seems to be immigration.  Lots and lots of migrants are fighting free of their national boundaries and are heading to what they perceive as more civil, or just less murderous grounds.  In the Middle East, the warring continues. It has never really stopped since the so-called Arab Spring. I assume that Shrub, who launched his war in Iraq armed with fake facts, contributed substantially to the ongoing warfare, but they really do seem to get off on killing one another.  Organized religion is so consistent regarding the killing thing.  The religion thing is, of course, just an umbrella that covers all the bloodshed—Religion: it’s a killer.

In our neck of the woods, the migration seems to be caused by either organized crime, big throughout Latin America, or by just murderous regimes, like Venezuela.  Latin America apparently has no interest in this democracy thing—it’s bad for business I guess.  I’m not sure I understand the mess in India with Modi and his right wing thugs. Maybe it is nothing more than 70+ years of tolerating Pakistan, which is not materially different from the Middle East. India and Pakistan seem to get off on killing one another over either territory, or each other’s religions.

In the meantime, Russia and China seem to be figuring out new ways to mess with the world.  And having someone as terminally stupid as Trump at the head of our increasingly useless government does not help to inspire anyone but his bankers.  The bankers never seem to lose, do they?

But all this ongoing mess makes me wonder why nobody ever wants to deal with the basic underlying problems. If the single dominant problem that leads to migration is fear of being murdered, why cannot the theoretically civilized world help to ameliorate the murder?

In the Middle East, the murderous ISIS-Taliban cohorts seem to be being defeated, but the region is not even close to resolving anything that might lead to stability.  In Latin America, the organized crime gangs continue unchecked, and the regimes continue to pour gasoline on the fires of rebellion and murder.  It all makes me wonder about the potential for the United Nations to begin to weigh in.  Why did we create that creature—the United Nations? Let’s look at its purposes.

1.     To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;

2.     To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;

3.     To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and

4.     To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.

So, if that is why the UN was created, why do we now abandon it when it is needed perhaps more than at any time since WW II (remember WW II??)? It would seem that the “civilized world” has forgotten why they created the UN.  We were all just emerging from four years of mass murder. Surely then, if not now, the world was getting really tired of bloodshed. Relatively civilized leaders decided that some other form of dispute resolution might be preferable to machine guns and bombs.  I think even then it was never believe seriously that one could talk one’s way out of any problem. They understood that force was often going to be necessary, but if the civilized world could act in concert, then emerging murderous regimes might be contained.

Now the problem with this UN approach is that currently the murderous regimes seem to outnumber the “civilized world nations”.  Somehow, “democratic” approaches to governance, however preferable in the long run, seem not to appeal to folks like Donald Trump, Vlad the Impaler, and the thugs of ISIS/Taliban/Qaida. Organized crime, by definition, prefers other than democracy.  In the short run, the civilized world seem to be falling apart, as people like Trump, Boris Johnson/Nigel Farage, and Modi have taken control. These folks seem not to believe in democracy either.

Now, Modi aside, I have to believe that sooner rather than later, the peoples of the civilized world nations will begin to awaken and begin again to take voting seriously.  Our thugs won’t like it of course, but voting is our literal last chance.  If voting here and in other places like Britain fails, then the world really will all sink into bedlam and murder—can actual wars be far behind with them in charge?

So, I am hoping that we can hang on until real people get to vote, assuming that voting is still legal.

Remember folks, VOTE. Your lives literally depend on it.

Impeachment

Oh my, it’s been a good long while since I last posted anything. What happens when someone as corrupt as Trump remains ever-present on the horizon of consciousness.  He really does seem to simply suck the air out of our world.  And the Mueller report on our End Times finally came to a close, revealing the awfulness that is within the White House. He chose not to indict on obstruction, and left that chore to Congress. But is Congress a functional body?  Could our Congress act even if Trump took out a gun and shot someone on Fifth Avenue?  Actually, it seems unlikely.

So, what is all the talk about Impeachment?  First, let us look at the reality facing the nation.  How does this impeachment thing actually work? Well, impeachment is an investigatory process carried out by the House of Representatives. If a President (other officials, including judges can be impeached) is impeached, the matter then proceeds to the Senate which carries out a trial, which either acquits or convicts the person being impeached.  Several presidents have been impeached—Andrew Johnson for serious issues involving the post-Civil War Reconstruction efforts, Richard Nixon for, among other things, obstruction of justice, and, of course, William Clinton, for obtaining a blow job while talking on the phone (surely multitasking’s first ever impeachment).

Impeachment is not reserved to presidents—a cabinet official, William Belknap was impeached in 1876 for bribery, and several judges have been impeached.

Representatives have been bringing various articles of impeachment against Trump from very early in his term of office.   But it is the content of the Mueller report that now prompts great attention.  The report documents instances in which Trump campaign staff, private lawyers, or even White House officials report behavior that seems to cross the line of acceptable behavior by a sitting President.  Even if the investigation could not conclusively prove active collaboration by the President with a hostile foreign power, his campaign benefited from that foreign power’s efforts to elect him.  And one might then ask, why did that hostile foreign power act so as to help elect Donald Trump?

But even beyond the Russian connection, so many of his underlings are now headed for prison because of illegalities committed in support of Trump that the president seems implicated almost by definition.  At the least his actions are now worthy of further investigation, which seems to be what Mueller’s report suggests should happen.

In addition, there seems at least a plausible case for violation of the foreign emoluments clause. Trump has never placed all his holdings in a blind trust, so he continues to reap large sums from foreign governments for their representatives staying at his various hotels. His children continue to pursue business deals that will involve him in some way.

And then there is the issue of Trump actively appointing and involving his family in official government business, which, at the least, is frowned upon, especially when his family has no plausible experience in the fields to which they have been appointed.  His appointments in general seem shady at best, since he continues to appoint people to positions of power and influence over agencies in which those people have competitive private interests, people who seem actively opposed to the basic missions of the agencies they would be heading.

All of this suggests strongly that Trump is a powerful threat to the very integrity of our government. The longer he is in office, the greater threat to our government he poses.  And then, speaking of threats, there is the seeming unhinged outbursts from the president, in the form of his daily twitter tirades, his constant threats to foreign powers, up to even the potential threat of war that seems to characterize his daily public utterances to the point that many observers believe he demonstrates almost daily a psychological incapacity to govern. Is he sane? Is he capable mentally of carrying out the daily duties required of a president?  Does he in fact have the mental capacity to understand what he is doing and what are the potential effects on our country and the world of his daily actions and his daily utterances? He is like a walking psychobabble.

So a reasonable case is already staring at us in the form of his daily performance for an impeachment inquiry. At the least, a failure to begin such an inquiry and to carry it out in a public manner, is to suggest that Trump is somehow above scrutiny, and even, above the law.  A new standard is being set on a daily basis for presidential behavior that everyone involved may well regret in the future.  Mitch McConnell may in fact be setting new standards for how a political party performs its responsibilities as an oversight agent. We have three distinct and independent agents in our system of government: an executive branch which is responsible for executing the laws of the nation, a legislative branch, with its own twin chapters, namely the Senate and the House of Representatives, which devises our laws, and the judicial branch which is responsible for overseeing the constitutional adherence and faithfulness of the other two branches.  Each of these branches provides a check on the performance of the other two branches.  If our legislative branch defers to the executive to the point that no oversight and no check on performance is occurring, then that branch is failing in its fundamental responsibilities. McConnell seems to have crossed that point in the Senate, perhaps even to the point that one might reasonably ask whether impeachment proceedings should be launched to investigate whether McConnell is breaching his fundamental responsibilities.  But that is for another day perhaps.

I realize that, however strong is the case for impeachment, many people oppose such a move, fearful perhaps of the divisive nature of such a proceeding. This country seems now poised at the edge of a literal Civil War, which impeachment could open. It is by no means clear what Trump would do were he to be impeached. In fact, his behavior is so bizarre that it is unclear, at least to me, what Trump would do were he to be defeated at the polls in 2020.  Most presidents simply set aside their anger in defeat and allow the new force to take charge. Even someone as obviously angry as Richard Nixon, stepped aside and allowed the nation to move beyond him.  I can imagine a scenario in which a defeated Trump would declare the election fraudulent, and refuse to hand over power. He routinely advises his followers to engage in violence, and I have no doubt he would do so again. Hence the potential for a Civil War. Donald Trump is an existential threat to our nation.  He needs to be disarmed. Congress, it is your turn at the helm here. Do your job.  And America, lay down your arms. Let our established processes occur. We do not need armed intervention, which could lead to the end of our republic, a bloody end at that.  Let us see what kind of nation we actually are.

Might is Right

From Wikipedia:

Might Is Right, or The Survival of the Fittest, is a book by pseudonymous author Ragnar Redbeard. First published in 1890, it heavily advocates egoist anarchism, amorality, consequentialism and psychological hedonism. In Might Is Right, Redbeard rejects conventional ideas of human and natural rights and argues that only strength or physical might can establish moral right (à la Callicles or Thrasymachus). The book also attacks Christianity and Democracy. Friedrich Nietzsche's theories of master–slave morality and herd mentality serve as a clear inspiration for Redbeard's book written contemporaneously.

Individualist Anarchist historian James J. Martin called it "surely one of the most incendiary works ever to be published anywhere." This refers to the controversial content such as the viewpoint that weakness should be regarded with hatred and the strong and forceful presence of Social Darwinism in the text. There are also controversial parts of the book that deal with race and male–female relations, claiming that the woman and the family as a whole is the property of the man and proclaiming the innate superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race. 

I looked up this title, because, increasingly, I have become aware that our President, and his supporting cast (the old, now dead GOP) seem to be advocates for this concept.  Nothing seems to matter either to Trump, or to idiots like McConnell beyond gathering and using power. The more power, the better.  Apparently, they have now exposed the Evangelical Christians to this mindset, and those folks agree. Power is all.  All, repeat ALL, moral or ethical principles have now been shunted aside in favor of power.

Lately, I have begun to wonder whether Donald Trump has broken into some time machine, and he is busily carrying us all back to the 15th or 16^th centuries, or even earlier.  We have a Constitution, and a Bill of Rights, and we have laws and rules that govern the operation of our government and the relationships among the three nominal branches, but all those rules and laws seem to have been swept away, and we now operate with one rule: whatever Donald Trump says or does is correct, and no other views are acceptable.

We had rules on presidential appointments and the right of Congress to approve, but they seem no longer to exist.  He simply makes temporary appointments and all is well.

We had rules about emoluments, but our president simply ignores those rules and goes about continuing to enrich himself at our expense and at the expense of logic and honesty and the wishes of the people.

We had rules about the ability of presidents to hire family members into government, but Donald Trump ignores those rules, so apparently they no longer exist.

We had rules about who can enter our country and how they are to be treated, but our president wants all agencies to ignore those rules and adopt savage behavior to all incoming people of color, or religions other than Christianity.

And on and on. He lies with impunity, even when it is patently obvious to all and sundry that he is lying. He cares not, because he never thinks before speaking. He says whatever is on his mind at that moment. If it is found to be a lie, by comparing it with something he said ten minutes ago, that is fine with him.  We are to say nothing.  There apparently are no rules that attach to him. None.

And so, I see us all being dragged back into the dark recesses of history to periods when absolute monarchs were the rule everywhere.  This is how he sees himself, and, worse yet, his supporting cast, sees him in the same way. They support his every move, however awful be that move.  Oh, the opposition, Democrats, and the actual news networks, yell loudly, but he simply ignores them, and nothing happens.  Curiously, he just suggested that we (the nation formerly known as the USA) need a government news agency, because all the private news agencies are so biased and fake.  He ignores apparently the fact that he already has a government news agency, called Fox News, or The Faux News Network.

And it is a curious fact about his behavior that he always ascribes to his opposition the very faults of which he is guilty. If he is lying about something, he accuses his opposition of lying. He has always routinely described the real news networks as “fake news”, ignoring Fox, the real fake news.  I still await him describing a shooting out on Fifth Avenue . . . we will then know he has carried out the wishes of his faithful followers.

And, as we are all dragged back into that 15^th century, I find myself wondering how this will all turn out. Will he begin executing his opposition? Will he begin an actual war somewhere (Iran, Mexico, North Korea), just because he desperately wants to be a war-time president? Will he simply join forces with Vlad the Impaler and forge a new Alliance of Evil?

And while he goes about his merry way, doing whatever the hell he wishes, I observe other dark forces at work, often of a Christian origin. Think Texas and their law punishing women with Death should they dare to abort a pregnancy.  Think Florida and its “stand Your Ground’ law that has already resulted in the death of a person of color.  The KKK, the Neo-Nazi’s, the Christian Taliban are all hard at work to legitimize their dark principles of horror. They wish America to be a different place, perhaps a 12^th century Christian place ruled by an absolute monarch who obeys their dark principles. And America just goes rolling merrily along.  If only I were, say 30, instead of 85, I would now be scrutinizing the principles evident in other nations, and readying myself to emigrate. Much as my ancestors decided to leave their countries of origin and migrate to this once proud nation, I might emulate their fierce determination. And in their honor, I end this rant with that original poem: The New Collossus, by Emma Lazarus, 1849 – 1887.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Remember please, what we once were: a proud and welcoming nation. When you vote, never forget.  We need to rid our nation of the dark forces that now inhabit the pinnacles of power.

After the Mueller

And so, all is well and Trump is the greatest Mafia Boss in the history of the world.  And I am not holding my breath until Barr decides to release the full Mueller report. What I am awaiting, with bated breath, is what Mueller decides to do once he is subpoenaed by Nancy and asked to testify before the house.  By all accounts, Mueller is a decent and honorable man.  He has done his best to investigate all the possible crimes committed by or in the name of our president (see Mafia Boss). And, although he could not find clear proof that Trump personally “colluded” with Putin to throw the election to him, we know that Putin did exactly that. That much is beyond question.

It seems also fairly clear, given the number of indictments of Trump campaign associates—Stone, Manafort, Flynn, Cohen, Papadopoulos—all soon to head off to prison—that The Trump team was/is as crooked as it is possible to be.  But because Trump is unlike any president before him, he has no conscience, no ethical dimension, so he will never concede and will likely remain free, and, more importantly, in office. Even Nixon finally conceded and quit the job. But not Trump. He has declared victory and is likely off to Mara Lago to play golf and celebrate.

And I listened to one Trump supporter who declared that, reading the Barr summary, his support for Trump will continue and he will vote for him again in 2020. And I thought . . . “really . . . you actually continue to support him, regardless of everything you have seen and read??? Really?” 

Because, apparently it is true that Trump supporters would actually have applauded had Trump taken a gun and shot someone out on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.  They would conclude, “well, the guy obviously had it coming. Trump did nothing wrong”.  Trump has written himself a kind of universal “Stand Your Ground” rule for anything and everything he does.  It’s always for a reason –his reason. And that makes it all ok.

And the fact that most of his associates are headed off to prison, but not Trump is simply the classic Mafia boss scenario. Until and unless they all begin ratting him out, he will likely be drenched in the stench, but otherwise unharmed.  It will be fun to see Jared and a couple more of his family indicted and maybe convicted in a New York court, while daddy looks on and heads off to a golf date, but still the main mafia dude needs to be brought before the National Court of Opinion and tried for being himself.  And that National Court is beginning to assemble. We will know in 2020 whether the American people have decided that ethics is “so last century”, or whether our nation remains intact and viable.

Personally, I am placing no money on that election. Mainly, I am so astonished that more than 3-5% of the American public still supports him, that I no longer have any expectations about our country. And it really is a shame. I have memories of Presidents dating all the way back to FDR.  And most of them at least had some concept of what being president means. They had some respect for the Nation and its highest elective office.  Yes, Nixon was a dirty rotten scoundrel, but at least he resigned.  And yes, Reagan was an idiot and made it ok again to be a racist, but still he appeared to show some respect for his office.  And of course Bush II (aka Shrub) was a fool who allowed himself to be led into war by his scoundrally aides when it was clearly unnecessary, but he was merely stupid and too anxious to convince his daddy that he could “do president” too.

Mainly though, I come away from all that historical navel gazing with one large conclusion—that the republican party has diminished itself over the 7 or 8 decades to a tool for monied interests to do with the country whatever they wanted. The party has given up any pretense of being a public party of the people. Apparently, they have ceded that job to its main opponents, the democrats.  Whether the people will opt for a party that seems in perpetual disarray remains a very large question, hovering over the next (last??) election. We will know in 2020 whether the American people still want a democracy, or perhaps that they have lost faith in such approaches to governance, and now wish for a more monarchical system. For, like it or not, that is where Trump and his republican party are headed, including the now republican Supreme Court (another subject).  We know certain things about Trump and his party:

1. They despise public education, preferring a largely ignorant population, while continuing to make believe on education generally (let’s pretend we care about private education);

       

.       2. They despise public health and do not believe in the notion that health care is a right, rather than a gift given to the hard working white people of our land

             

         3. They despise universal voting rights, believing instead that only good (white) republicans deserve to vote;

          

         4. They believe that private corporations are the only source of wisdom in the land, and that government should never interfere;

h       5. They believe that Might is Right and we must remain heavily armed,

·         

          6. They believe that women do not have any “right to choose” on any subject, and women must remain firmly behind their males on all subjects;, and finally

           7. They believe that we are a Christian nation and that all other religions suck, and that religion can and should provide guidance for all matters throughout our land.

In 2020, we will discover whether this new governing philosophy will become the once and forever rule of law in this once proud nation.

We can and should vote, unless we no longer care what kind of country we inhabit.

May the best humans prevail.

Danger Ahead

I am now growing alarmed on a daily basis. And the alarm bells are perhaps more because of American commentary, as by Donald Trump. Something awful has happened in America. It may not be solely an American phenomenon, but it is surely here in America.

We have a classic authoritarian President.  He seems to admire only autocrats, e.g., Vlad the Impaler, Duterte, Kim Jung Un. I don’t know how he feels about Hitler or Mussolini, but . . .

As I best understand it, true authoritarian governments have:

·         Limited Legislatures, because the leadership does not consult with its legislature, and because the leaders have no use for a consultation model.

·         Limited Press Freedoms, because a “free press” might question the decisions made by the leadership, and questions of that sort are not permitted.

·         Political parties are either limited to the Leader’s party, or are so limited that one is left with essentially one party.

·         Elections typically are not open and free, as the Leaders essentially brook no competition.

So, we are not yet at the classic authoritarian government model.  But we are close to a true authoritarian leader. That is, Trump routinely decries the opposing party and seems to want it outlawed. He labels the press “Fake News”, except for the press he controls, i.e., Fox News.  And he clearly wants voting to be limited to the folks who support him. I now believe that if the election of 2020 is held and Trump loses, he will not yield his office, and he will inflame his followers to a point of potential violence. I can well imagine Trump labeling the election as fraudulent, and insisting that he remain in office.

What is dismaying here is the utter lack of control being exercised by his party. It is mind shattering to see people like Mitch McConnell simply agreeing with everything Trump wishes to do.  And it is practically Headline News when any republican disagrees with him publically.  And, if he continues getting his way with judicial appointments, he will soon control the theoretically independent third branch of government.  Ruth Bader Ginsberg cannot live forever, and President Stupidhead clearly intends to control the Supremes.

Now, we can lay much blame at the feet of the man who is our president. But, he could not act independently, as he has been doing, and he clearly could not ignore all rules regarding the separation between his official position and his private interests, were it not for the full complicity of the Republican Party.  Further, he would have difficulty exercising his chosen governing style were it not for the continued support of a very large number of the voters in America.  And therein lies the danger for our nation.  Because, his supporters seem not like ordinary voters who happen to really like their president.  No, they seem more like members of a cult—ISIS springs to mind. I find it way beyond dismaying that his followers seem not to understand the fundamental character of this man they seem to adore.  Many continue to assert that he is “the best president we have ever had”. And I practically want to throw up at this assertion. How could they seriously state those words? The best?? Really, you’re sure you don’t mean “the worst” and you are just confusing those words?

Because his flaws, his constant lies, his continued imbecilic tweeting and speechifying are so obviously signs of subhuman intellect that it seems impossible to misunderstand. So, something else is going on, something I do not understand at all about the Americans who support him.  I mean, how could women, any women, support him? He is so obviously a misogynist, who is willing routinely to denigrate and abuse women that I do not understand why women do not uniformly despise him.  Similarly with people of color or other cultures. He speaks of “shithole” countries, meaning all of Africa. He refers to Mexicans and other Latins, as “murderers, rapists, and gang figures”.  He seems so clearly a white supremacist/racist that I fail to understand how anyone not similarly white like him could possibly support him.

And then there is his basic lack of intelligence.  He seems to possess the intelligence of an inadequate 4^th grader.  He or, more likely his father, obviously did something to fake a college education, and he seems so inadequate that I now believe that somehow they faked his elementary and secondary school experience. Did they pay someone to sit in for him??  Oddly, rather than simply remaining quiet about his education, he invented and broadcast large lies—like being at the head of his class, something easily checked. And that is characteristic of Trump. He invents and broadcasts lies that can be easily checked. Why would he do that, unless he is both so stupid and so arrogant that he believes nobody will ever question him?  He is clearly a pathological liar, but his limited intellect inhibits his ability to understand how terminally foolish he looks to anyone even remotely paying attention.

And yet, and yet, his supporters continue to support him and even seem to idolize him. And therein lies the danger to our nation. He has energized people and told them that violence in support of him is entirely ok. “Lock her up” was just one small step away from “and then kill her”. He laughed at the thought that he could take a gun, go out on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, shoot someone, and his poll numbers would increase.  And the awful thought here is that he is likely correct. His followers love his violent rhetoric, and, my guess is that most of them are heavily armed.  He clearly has the full support of the NRA, our domestic terrorist organization, and the NRA sees to it that most crazy people in America are heavily armed.

So, the question in my mind about all this is, on whose side is the 101^st Airborne? Will the Marines support him, or us? How about the Air Force and all their hardware? Whose side are they on?  And all you generals out there, whose side are you on . . . this crazy man currently our president, or the American people?

So, if we hold an election, will it trigger an actual Civil War? The last one almost destroyed our nation. This one could be the last thing we all remember before being destroyed.  Are there, finally, any thinking, humane adults left in positions of authority who will protect us from this manic creature now intent on destroying our country?  Anyone out there? Hello . . .???