I’ve been accused of being overly pessimistic, a Chicken Little-ish blogger in search of a sky-falling-proof shelter.  Perhaps. But, holy crap, where’s the upside, the half or even quarter-full glass? It’s been so long since I’ve been able to take a full breath of fresh air without sucking in the pervasive residue of Trumpian bullshit, that I’ve seriously opined that much of my anxiety is due to oxygen deprivation.  I mean, it would seem logical that an overtly unapologetic, philandering, sexually abusive, bigoted, cheating, lying scam artist couldn’t possibly have been elected President of the United States.  So, either I’m involuntarily revisiting a trip I took in the ‘60s, or that actually happened, and I’ve been holding my breath for over two years and everything just seems hallucinogenic.

This week alone: After previously tearing up a working agreement to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons, our self-professed “very stable genius” President has created a false ‘High Alert’ status and ordered the deployment of two nuclear aircraft carriers and 1500 troops…to ensure Iran doesn’t develop nuclear weapons, (something a Bolton-influenced, uninformed asshole would do); he declared that he would not cooperate with the Democratic Congress on anything if they did not stop investigating him, (something guilty people do); he gave his ass-kissing, lying-to-Congress AG carte blanche authority to declassify intelligence to probe into any agency that was doing its job in keeping us safe from foreign interference, (something dictators love to do); he announced his intention to criminalize the press for not making their sources public, (something Hitler did); he walked out of a scheduled meeting on funding an infrastructure bill because Nancy Pelosi hurt his feelings, then he authorized the making of a doctored video of her that made her seem like she was drunk, (something a spoiled thirteen-year-old would do); and he continued his escalation of the tariff wars with China, which is bankrupting American farmers from coast to coast, (something a dumbass named Trump would do).

“Your opinions are too radical”, some say.  “He’s not all bad”, they add.  “No, they’re not…and yes, he is!”  Just as our three-branch government is intended to provide checks and balances against abuse by any one of them, the might and right of the United States, (as debatable as some of its policies may be perceived), has, for nearly 100 years, been the most constant hall-monitor for human rights and a check against, (to admittedly varying success), despotic treatment by over-zealous political strongmen. But now, in barely two years, the embrace of racist, elitist, nationalist behavior, the wrong-minded Steve Bannon Doctrine, has depleted our country’s moral fabric and given a tacit nod to a dominoing, radical, right-wing blitzkrieg sweeping through the EU. And whose loud, nasally voice is reverberating over the air and throughout European social media?  Steve fuckin Bannon…the Trump-maker. Conspiracy theory?  Paranoia?  Only if it’s not true.