Epic Fail: Three Strikes and You're OUT

Seven-Year Campaign Promise Dashed on the Shores of Reality

"Repeal and Replace" until recently, became "Repeal First" in a tweet, then "Skinny Repeal." Failed, failed, and, failed. Great mantra for 7 years, dubious fallback try 1, laughable sham fallback try 2, last night in the Senate. Three strikes and you're OUT! It turns out that governing is "really hard," even if you control the Congress and have a tweeting lunatic 'business/deal making genius' in the White House.

So, maybe "crazy" is not a viable negotiating strategy. There goes the one-trick-pony's only trick. Well, frankly, more like a small barking lap dog [rich women carry in their large purses] than a pony. What now, idiot Donald Trump and my dear [LinkedIn, Facebook, other social media, and a few actual] Trumpian friends? 0 for 1. Hey, try slashing taxes on Corporations and the Rich. That should have broad appeal in Trumplandia among struggling Trump voters in the Heartland. Go for it!

A Flashback from My Past

This debacle--the so-called "Era of Trump"--reminds me of my 12-year marriage to Patricia (1973-1985). She really wanted get married. Our close friends at Purdue University had or soon would. I arrogantly assumed I could take a millennia-old institution and with written marriage vows about equality and an open relationship, appropriate it for our purposes--google my nemesis, Hubris.] It turned out she wanted to get married, but didn't really want to be married--at least not to me; a young, highly physical and demonstrative, sensual, and sexual second-generation Italian American guy. I think she refereed to me as a "wild animal" to our young, inexperienced, and recently married Jewish marriage counselor, a few days before we separated. Louise looked at me approvingly and almost had an organism.

The Campaign

So, Donald Trump, bored, privileged, above the law, filthy rich White guy--not really rich, leveraged up to his ass with no real assets, decided to run for President in 2015. Against all odds, reason, everyone else's, and his expectations, he defeats a fractured crowed field of rivals in the Republican primaries in 2016, with a stubborn, persistent, and lunatic 35% base. With that same base, expanded just a bit by White racists enraged by 8 years of a somewhat Black man in the White House, and disaffected "forgotten" Americans, again against all odds, he "wins" the general election. 

Actually he lost the popular election by almost 3,000,000 votes, but with an antiquated Electoral College system that gives Red[neck] States disproportionate representation, and a small non-majority plurality in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, he won the only vote that counts. Of course, he had help from his friend, Putin, and the Russian government, but we'll have to wait for Mueller's Final Report to confirm that.

During the Fall campaign, his enablers and apologists insisted the crazy would stop, he'd pivot and become Presidential once he won. The crazy instead escalated, from the Election until his inauguration. An insane address ensued, followed by even more outrageous crazy behavior. At least after six months in office, they've stopped saying he will pivot. There will be no pivot; the only change Trump is capable of is to get more crazy, as mental health professionals had warned from the start--he is profoundly mentally ill. Now they say he is "different," "Unconventional," "Refreshing," and a "bold new kind of Leader." He is none of these. He is just like every demagogue who came before him.

The Fraud of Donald Trump Exposed

Like them, once in power, all the promised and lies Trump deceptively and cynically offered, as red meat to his lunatic supporters, are gone. The people--like the Republicans in Congress--who knew better but got on board in the hopes of a fat tax cut or the satisfying repeal of all things Obama, now realize they and we all are screwed. Trump and his lunatic base of 35%, occasionally plus or minus a few approval points in mainstream national polls by reputable pollsters, cannot govern. Fake populist rhetoric--no matter how satisfying to the ears of his hateful, fearful, willfully ignorant, authoritarian-loving, and Great White Hope strong man yearning for, supporters--does not translate seamlessly into legislation. Fascistic rallies do not make a governing majority. Trump is a fraud. He is a con man. He is no more a leader than that big kid on the playground when you were in 8th grade who bullied everyone until someone like me came along and knocked him out with one blow to the head.

The Solution, in a Functional Republic Like America

There will be no  universal, cheap, and awesome replacement for Obama Care. There will be no across the board [that is, mostly for the Rich and Corporations] tax cuts. There will only be chaos, inaction, escalating crazy, and eventual removal from Office. In a Republic, that is the fate of tyrants. We The People withhold our support. Our elected representatives, timid until forced by The People act, rise up and Impeach, Convict, and remove from Office in disgrace, the clear and present threat to our Way of Life...

CNN: "GOP Obamacare repeal bill fails in dramatic late-night vote"

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/27/politics/health-care-debate-thursday/index.html

I have seen enough

This is what it looks and sounds like when you elect a mentally ill demagogue to the highest Office in the Nation. If you, my dear (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and even a few personal) Trumpian friends, are still not horrified, Trump's assertion during the campaign, that he could shot someone in public and not lose any of his supporters, is vindicated.

This must end, sooner rather than later. Forget about the source in my CNN link below, my blog, and/or my Liberal politics, just read Trump's actual overnight tweets. This is not: "Shacking up the System", "Draining the Swamp", or "Making America Great Again". This is how a demagogue destroys a democracy. Nothing is sacred to this lunatic. No institution or individual is safe from his self-serving and delusional rage. For those of you who accuse me of hating America: what love, respect, or even fundamental understanding of America and its values does Trump's behavior exhibit?

As the noose tightens around his neck, this madman will become more erratic, more irrational, and more dangerous--just as mental health professionals have been warning, since before Trump took office. We have never had a man this delusional and mentally disturbed--a man of this level of pure evil--occupy the Oval Office. Even Nixon, certainly no saint, knew he was evil and felt shame, as evidenced by the White House Tapes he was forced to release and the final public statements he gave before leaving Office in disgrace. Donald Trump doesn't know that he is evil; he actually thinks he is awesome. He does not experience shame, guilt, or any other emotion that constrains mentally healthy people.

This is no longer about repealing and replacing Obama Care, cutting taxes on the rich and corporations, changing the way we do business, alternative facts, fake news, or even "getting even" with faceless Elites. Trump is not a populist, a genius, or our Nation's savior. He does not enjoy the favor of a presumed Christian God. He is not entertaining or refreshing. He is not the change America needs.

DONALD TRUMP IS INSANE. HE IS A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO US ALL, OUR WAY OF LIFE, AND OUR CHERISHED REPUBLIC. WE MUST STOP HIM NOW...

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/24/politics/donald-trump-jeff-sessions-beleaguered/

“I have seen enough”, CSNY - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4hRI073Bgc

Donald Trump at Six Months

Recap

Just six months ago, a madman was inaugurated before a not very large crowd, in Washington, DC. Before we look at the unfathomable last six months, let’s remember how it all began.

Barack Hussein Obama: a great President, husband, father, and high functional, intelligent, self-reflective and self-assured, egalitarian, and compassionate human being—all the things Donald Trump is not—finished his second term in Office. Who would have thought that a backlash against this descent, frankly not very Black, African American would compel a small, racist segment of the population [usually absent from the voting booth] to not only vote, but provide the margin to "elect"—via an antiquated Electoral College that over-represents low-population Red[neck] States—a mentally ill, demagogue madman to Office as his successor?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1h26Uis9iY

Six Months with Little to Show for It

Trump’s low approval numbers are unprecedented: 

https://www.axios.com/presidential-approval-ratings-2462157996.html

On key campaign promises, little to show for it: 

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/19/politics/donald-trump-six-months/index.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/07/20/6-months-of-president-trump-in-7-issues/?utm_term=.2496fb158c3f

We’ve had Ulysses S. Grant's two terms as President of the United States (1869–1877), with its many scandals and fraudulent activities, too numerous to list, and President Warren G. Harding’s Teapot Dome Scandal (1921-22). [I know, History is hard. Just Google their names, Millennials.] Trump makes these famously corrupt men look like ethical guys:

https://www.vox.com/2017/7/21/16007244/trump-pardons-aides-family

Of course, if you’re Fortune magazine—with your Corporate and/or Rich readers hoping for a fat tax cut—and squint really hard, you can find Trump “successes”: 

http://fortune.com/2017/07/20/donald-trump-twitter-news-drain-swamp-6-months/

Still Crazy, Tweeting, and Not Very Presidential

If you look at Trump’s ineffectual efforts as the good news, the bad news is that he is, if anything, crazier now; tweeting more and stupider stuff; and getting less Presidential every day, sometimes, every hour.

Poor Donald. Trump is full of self-pity, and generally doesn’t understand that he is the problem: 

Recent insane tweet 1 - http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/07/22/trump-blasts-clintons-ny-times-fake-news-in-lengthy-twitter-rant.html

Recent insane tweet 2 - http://time.com/4869574/donald-trump-new-york-times-baghdadi/

Recent insane interview - https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/politics/trump-interview-transcript.html

What Now?

Remember when after a brutal Presidential campaign, the winner was gracious in victory, promised to be the President of all Americans, praised his opponent and reached out to his opponent’s supporters; and the loser was gracious in defeat, and called on his supporters to join him in supporting and wishing the new President-Elect success? [Male pronouns used here acknowledge these were all men until the 2016 race and Hillary Clinton.]

Remember when Presidents were emotionally secure enough that they never opened Cabinet Meetings talking on and on about how they are the most awesome President in History, followed by each Cabinet member competing to see who could be the most honored and humbled to serve such an awesome, powerful, competent, and manly Savior of the Nation; or the most obsequious and loyal?

Remember when the Presidency was an honorable Office, not a platform for self-promotion, enrichment, or aggrandizement. When it was about the Nation, not the person holding the Office?

Remember when reality and facts were not disputable constructs, but were reality and facts?

Remember when Presidential Spokespersons mostly told the truth, or at least didn’t deliberately lie while they emphatically asserted they were not lying?

Finally, remember when our Presidents asked use to sacrifice, be our best, and serve the Common Good or at least a shared vision of America?

Those days—from my birth in 1950, sixty-seven years ago, until the unlikely split-decision election of Donald Trump in November 2016—are gone. (Split decision in that he lost the popular election by almost 3,000,000 votes, but won the Electoral College, which over-represents small, low-population Red[neck] States.)

In the so-called Era of Trump: no Presidential outrage is out of bounds; bullies are victims; the few—privileged, advantaged, and powerful—are favored over the People and the Common Good; and an unshakable 35% lunatic base is a governing majority.

This is more than unusual. This is more than unprecedented. This is not funny, entertaining, or even pay back against The Elites. This is very dangerous; it is authoritarianism. This is the rise of a seriously mentally disturbed demagogue, with nationalistic delusions of grandeur, to the highest Office in the land.

It is past time for real patriots—whatever sub-set of Trump’s base, still functioning human beings with a soul—to come forward and give the Republican’s in Congress the courage to Impeach, Convict, and remove from Office in well-earned disgrace, our Lunatic-in-Chief [and, optionally, his morally compromised, Hoosier idiot, ass-licking lackey, VP Mike Pence].

Don’t do it for me. Do it because you know it is right. Do it because you see the clear and present danger Trump represents. Do it for you, your children and later descendants, and the future of our Nation.

Please listen to my only mildly rant-like personal appeal:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eipi3ttvv62rpr4/Appeal%20to%20Reason.m4a?dl=0

The Trump Problem: A Simple Solution

I’ve been posting this argument piecemeal on LinkedIn, in response to individual Trumpian posts spinning the latest Trump outrage, dismissing the latest revelation, and/or crowing about “winning” in 2016 and The Donald being the President. In the interest of time, if not parsimony and comity, let’s try to at least put some boundaries around the insane shouting and exchange of personal insults, and agree on a few things.

Givens

1. Donald Trump is the President of the United States: popular vote margins, alleged rampant voter fraud, and/or the vagrancies of the Electoral College notwithstanding, period.
2. A reasonable person could have voted for, and still support, Donald Trump. A reasonable person could have voted for, and still support, some other candidate, say Hillary Clinton. Not all Trump voters were, and not all continuing supporters of Trump are, reasonable people. The same is true for those who did not vote for, or now do not support, Trump.
3. Supporting or opposing Trump in 2016 and/or now, has no bearing on one’s love of America, patriotism, religiosity, manliness (if a man), or whatever the equivalent is (if a woman), or even one’s intelligence, though that last concession is a bitter pill for me.
4. Trump supporters are not necessarily ignorant, uninformed, racist, xenophobic, a neo-Nazi, or a lunatic, though some are. Trump detractors are not necessarily America or Trump Haters, “snowflakes,” liberals, radicals, anarchists, Marxists, or [insert your favorite pejorative here], though some are.
5. Liberals and/or Democrats are not the source of all that is right, or wrong, in America. Conservative and/or Republicans are not the source of all this is right, or wrong, in America. Each Tribe/Party has committed crimes of omission and commission; neither is without blame for the situation we now find ourselves in.
6. As partisans, we have all sinned here. No one is without blame. We have engaged in behavior we normally would not, said needlessly insulting, hateful, ignorant, patently untrue, and stupid things. We are better than our behavior since Trump’s unlikely and unanticipated election would indicate.
7. Barring an Act of God, President Trump will likely remain in office at least until after the 2018 mid-term elections. It is unlikely that Trump will be removed from Office by a Republican-majority Congress, or that he will relinquish his Office voluntarily.
8. Point (7) is why we have a Constitution and elections every two years.
9. If Trump hangs on to power until the 2018 mid-terms, not a certainty but highly likely, given the current Republican majorities in the House and Senate, the voters will get a chance to provide him and both political Parties some corrective feedback.
10. If Trump's favorable polling still stands at less than 40%, and unfavorable polling around 55-60%, and voters still elect a majority of Republicans to office in the Congress in 2018, then Trump likely will get to stay in Office until after the election in 2020.
11. If they maintain majorities, whether the Republicans win legitimately, buy, steal, or 'voter purge' their way to power in 2018, if The People tolerate it, it will stand. So be it.
12. If the Democratic Party cannot field candidates and fashion an agenda that defeats a majority of Republicans in the House and Senate in 2018, presuming Trump’s continued low approval numbers and either continued Republican Congressional inaction or the enactment of unpopular laws, my Democrats and the Nation will face a problem that transcends the Trump Problem.

Commentary

Republicans are famous for creating mandates out of nothing at all, governing after losing the popular vote, and despite low approval ratings. Realizing that politics is War by other Means, where winning is the only thing, they are unconstrained by shame or any concern for the Common Good. And the Republicans deliver, in real time—slashing taxes on the Rich, eliminating even the most reasonable Corporate, environmental, food safety, and other regulations, and hurting real people (demonized by them and their base and powerless to defend themselves). The only way to stop them is to vote them out of office; no matter how much they spend, how gerrymandered their districts are, and how much fear, hate, and resentment they stir-up.

Our Founders created a Republic that could endure; given an informed, engaged, and vigilant electorate, and honorable politicians. That Republic has endured—born in a Revolution that defeated a super power—through a bloody Civil War, a couple minor wars and not too serious dust-ups, two World Wars, wars we started in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, and an Arms Race and Cold War that threatened all life on our planet.

These men, products of The Enlightenment, couldn’t create a Republic that would endure under all conditions. They gave us a chance to govern ourselves, but there are no guarantees in life, and nothing lasts forever. If we are now seeing the disintegration of America, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

We are not going to insult, shout, threaten, hate, fear, scapegoat, or even shoot our way out of this. Trump’s election is the inevitable result of an increasingly disengaged electorate, a people who have become so fat, stupid, alienated, and sedated by mass marketing driven materialism, that they elected a mentally ill demagogue, out of ignorance, misdirected rage, hate and/or fear, or just for the entertainment value of it. We have put our future, and that of our Republic, at risk. We can vote our way out of this, as soon as 2018, or failing that, again in 2020. My intemperate calls for a Civil War rematch notwithstanding, the vote is not only a simple solution, it is the only viable one.