On the one hand, I sit here with my over-stimulated, self-righteous brain, sniping at the disgusting tub of lard working part time, (maybe in some odd kinship with the fast-food workers who supply his nourishment), in the Oval Office, railing against his Tweets, video-ops, blatant lies and corruptions with the frame of reference of his being an uncaring, narcissistic, greedy dumb fuck misogynist. On the other, much scarier hand, I’ve been hyperventilating over the idea that he is an uncaring, narcissistic, greedy evil genius, (of the “Very Stable” sort, apparently), misogynist. If hand number one, (as I am wont to cling to so as not to lose all hope), we are somehow meant to trust our history and believe that this turbulent storm can be ridden out to sunnier, more peaceful times ahead. If, however, the tiny, other hand, the strings of which may likely be pulled by a Putin-esque, (love the sauce), puppeteer, has its pudgy fingers wrapped around the tiller of the American Ship O’ State, well, this could be game over. If what seems to be haphazard, unstructured chaos, presented with overly enthusiastic air quotes as “Unconventional Governance”, consider that the distractions of staff misconduct, waffling policy, shameless lying, name-calling provocation of other, unstable world leaders and attacks against the media and the FBI have so preoccupied the public consciousness that our self-styled and blow-dried Führer has, unchecked, been systematically dismantling environmental protections, health and social welfare protections, consumer protections and banking regulations and has proudly defended sexual predators, racists and tyrants with never…ever an apology. He has somehow weaseled the endorsements of Christian fundamentalists, white males, white, (non-college-educated), females, the giddy 1% and most of his new party mates, even though he and they have sworn oaths to protect us against so much of what he’s crayoned onto his to-do list. He and Mitch and Paul have neutered any hope of Democratic checks or balances and rammed through a democracy-killing, blank check spending bill, (devoid of even a hint of immigration reform or Dreamer protection), that will tip us further toward the totalitarian dictatorship which is so clearly in his blindered future-vision. He distains morality, accepts no truth but his own, has flaunted being immune to a legal system that should have brought him down on numerous occasions, (don’t pin your hopes on Mueller’s findings having any greater success), and wants to change the underpinnings of the Constitutional Rights of his detractors to criminalize criticism, making many of my above sentences jailable offenses. He has surrounded himself with some of the worst human beings to ever metaphorically, (or, in some cases, literally), crawl out from under a slimy, fetid rock. He has the power and authority to set the world ablaze while he fiddles or fritters away in Mar a Lago.
In a moment of rare, albeit responsible, nearly unanimous clarity, both Houses passed a resolution to impose severe sanctions on Russia, (Motherland of the Trump Puppet Theater), for meddling in our elections. The deadline for the President to order those sanctions has come and gone. Where is the accountability…the oath of office?
With over a trillion dollars legislated for military and domestic spending, Trump has started salivating over how he’ll get to use it. His first suggests would:
Yet, there’s still a complacency that would indicate that the life-goes-on mentality that encourages an ostrich-like approach to facing existential reality is our real national pass time, (how ‘bout team USA?). But, there is no ruby-slipper-three-heel-click that will magically transport us to, (Kansas?), a happier place free of the lunatic man behind the curtain. His distractions, our new normal, are eroding the very fabric of what most of us embrace as truth and kindness and the love of each other and nature and art. Resist!
Footnote: Perhaps the most unimaginable distraction…in the midst of all of the other, daily bat shit craziness, (and school massacre), Congress is actually considering, (really, truly considering), legislation that would require every state to recognize a concealed gun permit issued to anyone from any other wild west shoot-‘m-up state. How could that possibly go wrong?