Riding the Trump Train

This week finds us at the halfway point between the day when this woeful nation elected Donald Trump to be the next President of the United States and the date next month when he is actually sworn in on Inauguration Day, aka, Doomsday. 

What has this clueless spitball given us so far, even before taking control?

- An already disturbing pattern of confusing his personal business practice with his presidential duties. (And you were worried about the Clinton's foundation? Ha!)

- A series of security breaches via unsecured phone calls to foreign leaders. (And you were worried about Hillary's emails? Ha, again!)

- The embracing of corporate cohorts for his cabinet. (And you were worried about Hillary's "Wall Street connections?" Hahaha!)

- An unprecedented breach of protocol with his call to Taiwan. (For you hardcore Trumpers, "unprecedented" means it had never happened before – and, arguably, should not have ever happened period.)

Let's have a look at some of those beauties Trump has picked for his administration ...

- Scott Pruitt – Environmental Protection Agency administrator – staunchly against any regulation.

- Andrew Puzder – Labor secretary – has an anti-labor record.

- Rex Tillerson – Secretary of state – has the connections to sell us out to Russia.

- Rick Perry – Energy Secretary – who once tried to promise in a debate in 2012 he would eliminate the Department of Energy – except he couldn't remember it.

- Ben Carson – HUD Secretary – who once proclaimed he wasn't qualified for any cabinet position (he was right), but thought he was qualified to be president. (He was wrong.)

- Tom Price – Secretary of Health and Human Services – like so many in D.C., an opponent of Obamacare; and like so many in D.C., has no alternative plan.

- Betsy DeVos – Secretary of the Department of Education – the woman charge with shaping up our public education system doesn't believe in public education.

- Nikki Haley – U.S. ambassador to the United Nations – oh, Lord, now we're in Palin territory.

- Jeff Sessions – Attorney general – your basic, run-of-the-mill racist.

- Steve Bannon – Chief strategist and counselor – enough said.

- Reince Priebus – Chief of staff – the smartest one of the bunch. This guy's career was OVER – until he jumped on the Trump train.

And let's not forget that Trump was actually considering David Petraeus for Secretary of State – IF Petraeus could get approval from his parole office to attend the interview.

Ah, yes … some bunch – your U.S. cabinet – choices made by the self-proclaimed Smartest Guy in the World …

- Smarter than the CIA. ("They're wrong about the Russians!")

- Smarter than the intelligence community. ("I don't need briefings; I've got a great brain!")

- Smarter than just about every theater attendee on the planet. ("Hamilton is overrated!")

Yep, we Americans – at least, an electoral plurality of us – think he's a smart guy. And why not? He's been on TeeeeeVeeeee! (How would you feel about Honey Boo Boo or Flavor Flav being the president?)

So here we stand, all of us on edge to discover what kind of president Trump will be; in essence, what kind of country WE'RE GOING TO BE. Because, he's going to pivot, right? Start acting presidential? HA! Dream on. I have news for you Trump voters waiting for the pivot: THIS IS IT.

Remember all those times Trump was going to pivot?

"When the primaries begin, he'll start acting Presidential." WRONG.

"If he gets the nomination, he'll start acting Presidential." WRONG.

"At the convention, he'll start acting Presidential." WRONG.

"Come Labor Day when the race REALLY starts, he'll start acting Presidential." WRONG.

"During the debates, he'll start acting Presidential." WRONG.

"If he's elected, he'll start acting Presidential." WRONG.

"Once he's in the White House, he'll start acting Presidential."

There will be no pivot. This is it. In five weeks this lunatic will possess the nuclear codes. And you can kiss your ass goodbye.

Totally Staged. Totally Trump.

Did Donald Trump really pick a Twitter fight with a theatrical troupe?

Did Mike Pence really walk into that place NOT thinking he'd be hassled in some way?

Does anyone actually think this little performance by the Trump team wasn't as staged as Kim Kardashian's "robbery" for the purpose of further perpetuating – as part of the overall Trump strategy – an "us against the world" scenario?

If Pence's attendance of the play "Hamilton" was as authentic as he'd like you to think it was, then YES – I do happen to believe that in what we have left of a decorous society, certain people warrant certain respect. But ours is not the America it once was; hell, it's not even the America of eight years ago. That went down the toilet the night that asshole from South Carolina, U.S. Representative Joe Wilson, yelled "you lie!" during an Obama State-of-the-Union address.

That little exclamation by Wilson was the spark that lit the Trump fire. The Donald recognized something that night – that the nation was ready for a vulgar, lying pied piper to take them down a path of insanity. And he succeeded. Yet in his messy wake float poor saps like Mike Pence, who would have been happy to stay under the radar in his home state of Indiana keeping his people happy with suggestions of Gay Conversion Therapy.

So … Mike Pence – the man who obviously hates outsiders – willingly attended a play centered on the idea that EVERYONE should have a chance at life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Right.

If you're naïve enough to believe that, then you probably voted for Trump.

Welcome to Trump Nation

What can America expect from President Donald Trump? Hold on to your ballot:

• The elimination of the Affordable Care Act. Those with pre-existing conditions (heart attack and stroke victims, those with cancer history, those with chronic ailments of any type such as migraines or back pain, may well never be able to obtain health insurance again. This has long been the goal of insurance companies; the abolition of the ACA will now make it a reality. If you think insurance rates are high now, just wait until the insurance companies – in cahoots with the Republican Party – begin operating unfettered.
• An expansion of gun rights. Trump likes money more than his own children and the NRA has lots of it – and they, too, have no regard for children.
• The elimination of a woman's right to make her own healthcare decisions – which is ironic since sexual abuse will, no doubt, increase under the Trump regime, given that this crime has his endorsement.
• Marriage equality will be eliminated as the Bible replaces the Constitution as the Law of the Land – in direct contrast to the will of the Founding Fathers.
• While Trump may not logistically be able to send 11 million Mexicans to Mexico or keep Muslims out, rampant and random physical and verbal abuse of these two groups of people will increase dramatically – encouraged and approved by the President of the United States.
• Pollution of all types we haven't seen since the early '70s will return. Any sort of regulation of industry will be history. You think businesses, in general, are good citizens? Think again – we live in a nation in which a law is needed to tell people not to litter.
• Prepare for the eradication of the First Amendment and the concept of a Free Press.
• Federally-funded "Gay Conversion" therapy will be instituted across the country – supervised personally by their creator and long-time advocate, Vice President Mike Pence. (How do you Republicans calling for the defunding of Planned Parenthood feel about this?)
• Drilling for oil in National Parks and other environmentally sacred lands will be initiated and supervised by Department of Energy Secretary Sarah Palin.
• The Department of Education will be eliminated as part of the continuing dumbing down of America.

Of course, this may all turn out to be moot given that under nuke-crazy Trump, this planet probably won't see the Summer of 2017. Remember: Trump's own people took away his Twitter account, yet think the nuclear codes are safe in his hands.

Amazing.

The End of The Road for The Donald

Today, the tidal wave known as the Trump Phenomenon will crest and roll back, falling short of its objectives; to the betterment of mankind, according to most.

Sixteen months after Donald Trump made that now-famous elevator ride, his third wife in tow, 14 months after I explained for you in two simple words the reason for his rise ("Duck Dynasty"), four months after receiving the nomination of the Republican party for President and one month after the conclusion of a series of debates which proved once and for all that Trump is not only temperamentally unfit for the office, but mentally unprepared, the day has arrived.

Election Day. Hallelujah!

Yes, the "temporarily unfit" part we're well aware of – but he was going to change! When the Republican debates began, he was going to "pivot" and get serious. (He didn't.) Then after he secured the nomination, he was going to pivot and act like a respectful, real candidate. (He didn't.) Then his handlers said, "just wait until Labor Day when the REAL campaign starts …" but again, he refused to pivot. Proof that a leopard can't change his spots.

But in addition to his volatile, child-like temperament, Trump showed in these last two months that he doesn't have the knowledge or the mental capacity to run the big show. Simply put, he's out of his league; a true mental lightweight. And why wouldn't he be? He's had no need, as it were, to be smart.

As youths, most of us are not given $1 million to play with (like Trump), so we pursue knowledge in an area that interests us so that we might make a living. We continue to pursue the knowledge of things around us that may or may not affect us for the purpose of ever growing said knowledge. But in Trump's case, he had no need to learn anything in the first place, even the need for any knowledge about his enterprises. If one of his businesses fail, shut it down and file bankruptcy. If he runs out of money, just don't pay contractors. This has been his life for 40 years and now that he has run for president, we're all familiar with the pattern. He has proven to be a shallow little man with a small brain containing zero real ideas for our nation. During more than one moment in the third and final debate, I was reminded, once again, of Marlow's discovery of Kurtz in the jungle in Conrad's Heart of Darkness: " … he could not have been more irretrievably lost than he was at this very moment …"

However, for me personally, the lack of intelligence is the least of it. Beyond this, even beyond the specific personal jibes, the disparaging of entire cultures and myriad other sectors of society, there's an overriding cloud that hangs over Donald Trump.

He's an asshole.

Not a troublemaker, per se, for the sake of righteousness in the classic political, cultural or even journalistic sense; not a muckraker; not even your basic shit-disturber. He's just a plain asshole. That said, I understand that many in Trumpdom may like these qualities in the guy, or even in their friends or themselves because they think it's time somebody stirred the pot. And when you do so for a good reason, well, that makes you a muckraker. But when you do something with no factual basis or no sincere cause, but merely for the sport of it, that makes you an asshole.

Unfit to be president? Given his professional history of red ink, bankruptcies, legal problems and stiffing contractors, Donald Trump is unfit to run a business.

Given his personal history of playing the victim in virtually every challenging situation he's been in, Donald Trump is unfit to be a human being.