Dishonorable Discharge

"My task which I am trying to achieve is … to make you hear … that glimpse of truth for which you have forgotten to ask." 

-       Joseph Conrad, "The Condition of Art"

A headline in a recent edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch – front page, above the fold – reads "Senator, ex-POW driven by code of honor."

In terms of the service to country rendered by John McCain, there may be no more apt description. His decision to deny offers to be released in deference to longer-detained prisoners was impressive.

Unfortunately, despite the onslaught of accolades in the past days in the wake of his recent death, his service days were where the code of honor ended. As he shifted into political life, he became, well, a politician.

Just into his first senate term, he was stained with the stench of scandal when he emerged as one of the Keating Five.

When he ran for President in 2008, he was set to go with his gut and pick Joe Lieberman as his Vice President, but, instead, at the last minute and for the purpose of political expediency, he took some very poor advice and chose the unknown Governor of Alaska.

He worked hard to hone a reputation as a maverick, and in doing so, emerged as some sort of grand statesman. Maverick? Ha! This is one of the great fallacies in modern politics. He may have shouted, but when it came down to voting, though he battled Bush and harangued Trump, he voted with each of them better than 90% of the time. And it’s the votes that count. He prided himself on delivering "straight talk," but ultimately, he was still a party man.

On occasion, he would make up for his political phoniness, such as his correction of some boneheaded woman while on the campaign trail who was boohooing about Obama being a Muslim, which remains one of the more noble gestures I've witnessed in 44 years of following politics on a daily basis. And the showman in him came to the fore just last year with his dramatic thumb-down to Trump's and the Republicans' attempt to kill the Affordable Care Act.

But in the end, he was just another politician who wasn't always what he seemed to be. Which isn't very honorable at all.

The End of The Line

Glory, hallelujah, the day has finally arrived.

After eight long years, we's finally gonna git rid of that foreign-born Muslim nigra-feller that's been livin' in OUR White House. Now we can finally git our guns back. (He did take 'em away, right, like ever'body said he would?) And we can go back to being kind and lovin' Christians like we used to be before that Obama guy started makin' us all wear those damn overgrown doo-rags and bowin' to whatever direction 10 times a day like he made us do. (He did make us do all that like ever'body on Fox News said he would, right?)

And now we can get that daggum stock market back up to eight or nine thousand where it belongs. (I ain't sure how all that works, but Mama says we can't retire early with the Dow Jones sittin' in the sixes like it was in 08 – whatever that means. 'Course now she tell me it's closin' in on 20,000 – been up high for a long time now! Ha! Who knew?)

At least I'm ready for them new Republicans to make that Affordable Care Act even better, like they said they would. Man, that thing sure saved Mama's ass! And while they're at it, now they can finally get rid of that Obamacare stuff, like they said they would.

Best of all, we can get more jobs in this country like Mr. Trump is talking about. Maybe even more than the 11 million that black guy added.

Oh, yeah … now we can start sending them illegals back to where's they belong and build that wall to keep 'em out! 'Course, Mama says that Obama deported more illegals than all the other presidents before him combined, but what does she know … she don't even LIKE Trump! Ha! What is there not to like?

Here's a guy with a sense of humor – hell, he mocks cripples! Don't we all?

Here's a guy with the smarts to know that Obama was a foreigner from day one – right?

Here's a guy who believes in war crimes. Hey, who doesn't?

He's judges women the way they oughtta be judged – for their looks! Don't you? And he's not afraid to take a situation like a hot babe into his own hands, if you know what I mean! Don't ya love it?

He knows that all them brown people from the Middle East and from Mexico are bad – hell, we can all agree on that, right?

So the sooner we git him in there and send 'ole Obama back to Kenya or Hawaii or Chicago or whichever one of them foreign places he's from, the better!

I'm with Trump on all of this stuff – and I guess if you voted for him, you are, too!

Right?

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.