The Nightmare is Almost Over

 This morning Donald John Trump left the White House and flew away on Air Force One , to the friendly confines of Mar-a-Lago, where he will throw himself a big going away party.  He insisted on a red carpet as he left the White House and then a twenty-one gun salute at the airport.  I wonder who will show up at his going away party?  Pence won't be there, neither will McConnell, they will be at the inauguration, but you can be sure Lindsey Graham will be.  Maybe Ted Cruz will come.  Who knows, who cares? 

Do you really think any of those 74-million people who voted for Trump will change their minds and embrace the Biden presidency?  And what about the one-hundred and some members of the House of Representatives, do you think they will stand and cheer for Joe and Kamala?  And Senators like Johnson and Hawley, Cruz and Tuberville, will they lead the applause?  Not a chance.

But each in his way, now wants to forgive and forget the past and get down to business.  They say impeachment and a trial will only sow the seeds of dissention.  We surely don't want to anger the Trump supporters, now do we. I say no, no, a thousand times no.  Trump told the country for months that the election would be rigged if he lost.  He also proclaimed it in every speech he gave since 2016.  He vowed he would never concede, never recognize the Biden/Harris win.

So, Trump went to court, every court in every disputed state, and he lost again and again, sixty-four times.  But that made no difference to Trump, his rhetoric became more volatile; His crowds became more excitable.  His defenders in Congress made excuse after excuse humoring him saying he had every right to examine the election results.  And after recount, and recounting the recount each of the fifty states certified the votes and proclaimed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris the winners.  In the face of all this, when it came time for the Congress to count the votes, over one-hundred Representatives and seven Senators objected to the vote count.

While this was going on, down the street, Trump was whipping a crowd of over thirty-thousand into a frenzy.  Telling them he would lead them to the Capitol and demand that he be declared president because the election was stolen from him.  Of course he lied once again, he was a coward, he wouldn't go with those rabble-rousers.  He retreated to his private dining room in the White House to watch the carnage.  Five people died that day including a police officer who was beaten with a fire extinguisher.

What we all witnessed that day on live television was a coup d' tat.  But since the United States criminal codes do not recognize that as a legal term, we have instead it's equivalent, 'advocating the overthrow of the government'.  The Criminal Codes applies to "whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or property of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District, or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government."

I think that is fairly clear, what occurred on the morning of January 6, 2021 was Trump advocating the overthrow of the government of the United States of America.  And he was abetted by those Senators and Representatives who helped incite the crowd by their lies.  The house of Representatives has begun impeachment proceedings against Donald J Trump for the second time.  The charge, "incitement of insurrection".  The Senate wants to hear the proof before proceeding with the trial.  Where the hell were they while this was being broadcast on live Television.

This is not a game of follow the bouncing ball of clues that lead to a phone call to the Ukraine, maybe he did, maybe he didn't.  This played out in real time for all of America, and the world for that matter, to see.  What more proof does one need?  Now, Republicans in Congress want us to move on.  Forget what you saw, and the farther away from what happened the easier it will be to forget.  I don't think so.  Those images are engraved on my mind, just like the falling towers of 9/11.

But a full 75% of Republicans still support Donald Trump.  I find that incredible! I guess Trump was right when he said he could shoot someone on Fifth Ave. and not lose a vote.  He killed five people in an insurrection that he organized, and incited into action and he hasn't lost a vote.  Tell me, how do you reach out to these people?

President Abraham Lincoln used a nom de plume Rebecca, when writing about the Civil War during his presidency.  Now someone has taken up the name Rebecca and writes in 2021.  "Division in the United States is extraordinary and irreconcilable.  Appeals to unity from both side have sounded less sincere, like disclaimers at the end of an advertisement.  The hard question is not  "How do these two Americas live together?" They don't. The hard question, the right question is; "How do they live apart?""

Alexander Dumas said,  ...the difference between treason and patriotism is but a matter of dates.

Good luck and god bless Joe Biden, he will need the wisdom of King Solomon to extricate the country from the melange that is America today, and do it equitability. But before that happens, there must be justice.

                                                   I'm just sayin'

Now is the Time for All Good Men to Come to the Aid of Their Country

 Like so many of you, I watched in disbelief as the images of violence kept unfolding, live, on my TV screen last Wednesday.  I had begun watching the counting of the electoral votes, a simple procedural ceremony.  It was a seminal moment for me and I wanted to savor it.

I had worked hard on this election; it was personal for me.  Joe Biden was not my first choice, he wasn't even my second choice, but once he was the candidate  I worked as hard for him as I had for my favorite.  I liked Biden but I didn't think he could win, and if the truth be told, if Trump was running against a can of soup, I would have voted for the soup. 

I really wanted Elizabeth Warren to be the candidate, I want to see a woman president before I die.  Not just any woman, but a strong and capable, and intelligent woman.  Well I think we have that in Kamala Harris and if she has to sneak into the presidency through the back door, so be it.

And so it was Wednesday, that I turned the TV on and settled in to enjoy the fruit of my labors.  As the counting began, the objections began with Arizona; recess almost immediately.  It will be a long day I thought, I had no idea how long.

I was all of fourteen the first time I went to Washington DC, it was on vacation with my family.  Back then all the buildings were open to the public.  The Capitol, the White House (although that visit required standing in line to get the tour), the museums and the monuments.  It took us four long days to see it all.  But I remember being struck at the size of the Capitol building.  We had been to the White House the day before and I was underwhelmed, it was not the mansion I had imagined it to be.  But the Capitol was huge.  We did all the tourist things; gazed up at the dome from the rotunda, sat in the gallery, visited statuary hall, rode the underground train that traversed the width  from the Senate to the House, and ate in the dining room because we had to have the famous Navy bean soup (my mom's bean soup was much better and I wasn't the only one to say so).

I can't describe the feeling of awe my parents, siblings and I experienced in those four days.  This is  why my grandparents came to this country, why they left everything and started again with small children in a new land, a land where their children and their children's children could grow up to be whatever they wanted to be.  I know my folks didn't have much money for vacations then, but they wanted to give us this, this citadel of democracy, this fortress of freedom.

I am glad I got to see Washington then, as so much has changed.  Pennsylvania Ave. is closed off, tours of the White House are a perfunctory visit of the first floor and only a few rooms.  You can no longer visit the gallery in the Capitol, or ride the train if it is even there.  Many of the areas are roped off, but then we did this to ourselves, by actions unbecoming...

So when I witnessed that mob storming the Capitol building, I was physically ill, tears filled my eyes.  The only thing that I can think of that affected me like that before was watching the Twin Towers fall on 9/11.  Only the we were being attacked by an enemy,  These were Americans who were destroying the greatest symbol of our democracy.  And they were urged on by the President, a man who should hold this building with reverence. 

I watched, feeling sicker by the minute as the hoodlums shattered windows, trashed furniture, threw papers about, taking 'souvenirs' from the offices, and took selfies while sitting at Speaker Pelosi's desk. They attempted to break onto the floor of the House of Representatives, and one insurrectionist was shot and killed.  I was sad, and I was angry, very angry.  And I am still having problems processing what happened. 

There are those who say we should put this behind us for the sake of unity. I disagree and disagree vehemently.  I will not forgive and forget.  Appeasement doesn't work.  Look at Great Britain and Chamberlain; they thought if they gave Germany a little, Hitler would be happy, so they gave him Czechoslovakia, and Hitler took all of Europe.

These insurrectionists must be hunted down and punished, and that starts at the very top, and then the Senate should refuse to seat Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz.  Those instigators in the House of Representatives should be censured, all of them.  As for Donald Trump, he should be impeached - again.  The Senate will most probably abdicate its responsibilities again, and refuse to convict, but the list of Trumps crimes should go down in  writing for all of history.

These are a gang of thugs who tried to take down out government, if we look the other way it will only give them permission to try again.  These people are not reasonable, they do not respond to the truth.  The latest YouGov poll found that 45% of Republicans support the assault on the Capitol and 35% of them blame Biden for it.  Right now Trump's idolators are saying that it was leftist agitators who did the damage to the Capitol, nor Trump loyalists.  When madness is your only logic, madness becomes your only argument.

Sixty years ago, I stood in the US Capitol and marveled at its beauty and majesty.  I still brings a lump to my throat, this is my country and I love it.  I will not let any band of redneck terrorists take it from me.  Ariel Durant, the Russian born American writer said:  "A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within."   Stand up for our country.

                                                                               I'm just sayin'      

Yes, Virginia, If You Read It on Facebook It Must Be True

 The dumpster-fire that was 2020 is in the rearview mirror and millions of us are looking forward to the new year.  A brand-new calendar, a tabula rasa, here's hoping that it will be filled with luncheons, dinners out, movie dates, sporting events and everything we had to give up in the past year.   I am looking forward to seeing my great-grandson, born last February, that I have yet to hold, hugging my son, and grandchildren and jumping in the car and going somewhere, anywhere.  But until then, here is something that may bring a smile to your face.

In 2005, the 'Prophet' Bobby Henderson, wrote a letter protesting the teaching of Intelligent Design - another way of say Creationism - as an alternative to evolution, in the Kansas school system.  The School Board ignored his letter and his suggestion, undeterred, Henderson sent the letter to several news organizations and TV stations.  And many of them ran with it - though tongue-in-cheek - the word spread rapidly and the letters and emails of support began pouring in.  And what started as a small protest turned into something much bigger.

Bobby Henderson called his religion Pastafarianism - a portmanteau of pasta and Rastafarianism.  And he called his church, The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the church satirizes organized religion in a somewhat light-hearted way.  The cornerstone of Henderson's church states that the universe was created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster after a night of heavy drinking, that, he says accounts for mistakes made in creation; i.e., the platypus.

Since Intelligent Design uses ambiguous references to a designer, it stands to reason any conceivable entity might fulfill that role, including the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM).

The basic tenet of the religion is that heaven, in the FSM, is a fountain that spews beer and a factory that produces strippers.  In FSM hell, the beer is stale and the strippers all have STDs.  This is opposed to sitting around forever with an old man who spied on you all your life; creepy when you think about it.

Pirates are the original Pastafarians and are considered 'divine beings'.  They were persecuted in the Middle-Ages by Christian theologians and the Hare Krishna.  They were in actuality, peace-loving explorers and spreaders of good will.  Pastafarians believe that the ghosts of persecuted and murdered pirates are responsible for the Bermuda Triangle.  So, to honor all the pirates of the FSM, adherents celebrate the Holy Day of September 19, 'Talk Like a Pirate Day'.  Arrrgh!

The prevalence of global warming. earthquakes, and hurricanes are the result of fewer and fewer pirates.  The growing number of pirates in the Gulf of Aden is why Somalia has the lowest carbon emissions in the world.  Correlation does not imply causation.  But then...

The Flying Spaghetti Monster has been described by those who claim to have seen the invisible creature, as a large heap of pasta atop two enormous meatballs, with eyes perched on stems and protruding from his top.  And he has been portrayed as such, much like the icons of other prominent religions.

It is said that the Spaghetti Monster created the universe in 4-days (Monday - Thursday) and thus Friday is a Holy Day.  Their religious holiday is called 'Holiday' and is celebrated in December somewhere during the time of Christmas, Chanukah, and Kwanza, but since it is a movable holiday it has no definite date.  However, more and more people are acknowledging the Holiday as more and more people are now saying "Happy Holiday" during December.

In place of commandments the FSM church has eight 'I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts'. also known as 'The Flying Spaghetti Condiments':

            1)  I'd really rather you didn't act like a sanctimonious holier-than-thou ass when describing my noodly goodness. If some people don't believe in me, that's okay, really, I'm not that vain.  Besides this isn't about them so don't change the subject.                                                                                                             2) I'd really rather you didn't use my existence as a means to oppress, subjugate, eviscerate and/or, you know be mean to others.  I don't require sacrifices, and purity is for water not people.                          3)I really rather you didn't judge people for the way they look, or how they dress, or the way they talk.  Or well, just play nice, okay? And get this in your thick heads; Woman=Person, Man=Person.  Samey, Samey.  One is not better than the other, unless we are talking about fashion and I'm sorry ,but I gave that to women and some guys who know the difference between teal and fuchia.                     4) I'd really rather you didn't indulge in conduct that offends yourself, or your willing, consenting partner of legal age AND mental maturity.  As for anyone who might object, I think the expression is;  "Go fuck yourself", unless they find that offensive in which case, they can turn off the TV for once and go for a walk for a change.                                                                                                                5) I'd really rather you didn't challenge the bigoted, misogynist, hateful ideas of others on an empty stomach. Eat, then go after the bastards.                                                                                                            6) I'd really rather you didn't build multimillion-dollar churches/temples/mosques/shrines to my noodly goodness when the money could be better spent (take your pick):                                                                   * ending poverty                                                                                                                                           * curing diseases                                                                                                                                           * living in peace                                                                                                                                             * loving with passion                                                                                                                                     * and lowering the cost of cable                                                                                             I might be a complex-carbohydrate omniscient Being, but I enjoy the simple things in life.  I ought to know.  I AM the creator.                                                                                                                                          7) I'd really rather you didn't go around telling people I talk to you.  You're not that interesting,  get over yourself.  And I told you to love your fellow man. Can't you take a hint?                                                  8) I'd really rather you didn't do unto others as you would have them do to you if you are into, umm, stuff that uses a lot of leather/lubricant/Las Vegas.  If the other person is into it, however (pursuant to #4) then have at it.  And take pictures, and for the love of Mike, wear a CONDOM!  Honestly, it's a piece of rubber.  If I didn't want it to feel good when you did IT, I would have added spikes or something.   

It didn't say if these were handed down on stone tablets, but they make a lot of sense to me.  To those of you doubting Thomas' who still don't believe, I refer you to Russell's Teapot, (look it up). 

But to be a true religion, it helps to be recognized by countries world-wide, and here the FSM church is making some headway, the following countries have given some condescension to the church: Ireland, Russia, Austria, Germany, New Zealand, Israel, the Czech Republic, and the United States.  The U.S. Army allows that the ID 'dog' tags can be inscribed - Atheist-FSM.

The following states have allowed FSM believers to be photographed for Drivers Licenses wearing their religious headgear - a colander: Texas, Utah, New York, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Illinois, Arizona, California, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Nevada.

But, to achieve true recognition in the world, the FSM church must be recognized by the leading authority; Facebook!  In the latest list of religions protected from hate-speech on Facebook is Pastifarianism, to wit:                                                                                                                                       "With millions, if not thousands of devoted worshippers, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti  Monster is widely considered a legitimate religion even by its opponents - mostly fundamental Christians, who have accepted that our God has bigger balls than theirs."

You heard it here first, Virginia, Believe it!

                                                                          I'm just sayin'      

Those Whom the Gods Would Destroy...

           If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it , people will eventually come to believe it.                        The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the                           political, economic, and military  consequences of the lie... the truth is the mortal enemy                         of the lie, and thus by extension the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.                                                                                                                     Joseph Goebbels

Today marks one month until the inauguration of a new president, and the beginning of a new era.  But between now and then we still have to deal with the lies and posturing of the old president.  Trump is braying like the jackass he is, still promising that he will overturn the results of the election.  Still claiming the election was stolen from him and he is the rightful winner and deserves another term as president.  The saddest part of all, is he has convinced sixty million people that what he is saying is true.

Sixty million people!  It boggles the mind. But the Trump administration is ending just the way it began; with lies.  He proclaimed that he had a bigger crowd at his inauguration than his predecessor, Barack Obama, though photographs by the Park Service showed far fewer people were in attendance.  Thus, began a barrage of daily lies, exaggerations, blatant misinformation, and alternative facts.  Now four years later, the total of those lies is a staggering 200,247.

But if you asked those who voted for Trump, all 74,111,400+ of them, you will get an argument that it is just the liberal 'fake news' trying to make Trump look bad.  How did 74-million people not see the results of four years of mismanagement, mishandling, misdirection, maladministration, and mayhem.  The revolving door of White House aides, and inept Cabinet Heads, who then penned tell-all books detailing the dumpster-fire that was the West Wing.  They couldn't all be disgruntled employees.

And now in an article in The London Times comes word that in an oval office meeting on Friday, there was a proposal to activate the military, declare Marshall Law, and seize the voting machines in the four largest states that voted for Biden though they had voted for Trump in 2016.  The idea was put forth by no less than Michael Flynn, whom Trump had pardoned last month, and Sidney Powell, an attorney so out of touch with reality that Rudy Julianne dismissed her from his team.

Trump is toying with the idea of making Ms. Powell lead attorney in his bid to overturn the election, and he wants her to get security clearance.  The idea so preposterous that Mark Meadows, chief of staff, argued vociferously against it.  The meeting ended in a shouting match, with saner heads prevailing.  But how long can we count on being delivered from the edge of doom by the so called 'adults in the room'?

Trump is getting further away from reality the closer his eviction from the White house gets. His supporters are calling for a mass rally at the Capitol on January 6th, the day that Congress counts the votes from the Electoral college, with Trumps blessing .  One can only surmise what will that will devolve into.

Trump is still supported by fanatical Republicans who are banking on using that support to bolster their election chances in 2022.  And as long as these outliers continue beating this dead horse, the longer Trump will continue with his fantasies.  The fear of those close to Trump is that he is beginning to believe his own lies, he has become detached from reality, and that is dangerous.  Not just for our country, but for the world in general.

This man holds the code to the nuclear arsenal, one wonder if the military would refuse a direct order from their Commander-in Chief.  More than one foreign county is wondering the same thing, and not under their breath anymore, but aloud in their parliaments.  The reputation of the United States is diminishing by the day, except in countries such as China and Russia, who are gleefully making the best of this circus, in their newspapers.  How demeaning to be laughed at by our avowed enemies, and mocked by our allies.

All the while, when this is going on, we are in the grip of a pandemic and the life-saving vaccines which have been given the green light are being held up because of a total screw-up by the government.  States are being shorted delivery amounts, the manufacturer is complaining of a backlog of shipments from its factories, as precious doses are unclaimed at the warehouses.

Then comes news of a massive cyberattack on several government agencies, the scope of which will take years to unravel.  What information was taken and to whom was it given may never be known. Those in the know say it has Russia's fingerprints all over it.  But Trump says it was China; it's always China - China, China, China.  Trump also denies that the break-in was anything to worry about, just a little computer problem.  And he knows better than anyone because he was briefed on the affair.   

Trump is our very own Nero, totally distracted while our problems keep mounting, thousands of people are dying on a daily basis - as many everyday as were killed on 9/11.  Trump takes credit for the development of the vaccine, yet he won't take it for himself.  He does nothing to correct the SNAFU in the delivery of the vaccine, he is too busy plotting his revenge on those people he feels deserted him.  To those Republicans who dared to admit that he lost the election, he vows retribution. 

The cure for all this is for the public and the press to cut him off from the attention he craves.  When a two-year old throws a tantrum, reasoning does not work, but walking away does.  Without an audience, Trump will be preaching only to the believers, but even they will tire of his tantrums, and soon will walk away.  One cannot sustain that level of outrage for very long, eventually the furor will subside and Trump will be just another false prophet, relegated to the dustbin of history.

But someone else will take his place.  We must be constantly on guard, now that we know the results of such sycophancy and unchecked devotion from the fringe element.  We must defend our democracy or we stand to lose it, we came so close to disaster this time.

Those whom the gods wish to destroy; they first make mad.  Nothing has proved this point clearer than the rise of Donald J. Trump.

                                                                     I'm just sayin'                   

I Cry for My Country

 These are names that should live in in infamy and disgrace.  They are the names of the 126 Republican members of Congress who should forever be remembered as cowards, men and women, who when it came to choosing between the oath that they swore, to defend the Constitution, and fear of some charlatan poser, they chose to disavow that oath and sign on to a court action that boarders on sedition.

Sedition is conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of the state.  The petition before the Supreme Court was asking that the votes of twenty million Americans be thrown out and the state legislature of four states then select the electorates to the Electoral College.  The four states all voted in support of Joe Biden and coincidently, all have Republican legislatures.  In Wisconsin one representative was asking that the people in his state be disenfranchised.  The petition was brought by the state of Texas and signed on to by 18 states that voted for Trump, and the aforementioned 126 members of Congress. 

Wiser heads prevailed and the Supreme Court unanimously decided that Texas had no standing to bring forth the petition.  The decision included the three jurists that Trump had nominated to the court, the last being; Amy Coney Barrett.  

If this doesn't send chills down your spine, I don't know what would.  Some Congressmen are poo-pooing this as just theatrics; it is not!  They say the law suit never stood a chance anyway and this was all for show.  Perhaps if I waved a gun around the Senate chamber and then said I didn't meaning anything by it, and it was all for show, do you think the Senators laugh and say, well met?  I heartedly doubt it.  Yet what they are doing is worse; I would be threatening perhaps 100 people at best, these fools are threatening the entire nation.

When citizens of a country lose faith in their government, it is not long before the country is torn asunder.  We have seen it too many times, so what would make these Congresspersons think that what they are doing is different.  The bedrock of our democracy is the election every four years for president and then the peaceful transition of power to the winner.  The loser offers a concession and congratulations to the winner, not necessary, but right thing to do.

No one likes eating cow, defeat is demoralizing, and difficult to accept.  It takes a big person to accept defeat graciously - outwardly anyway - and move on with life.  George H. W. Bush did it, Jimmy Carter did also, and both went on to be well respected and thought of as elder statesmen of their party.  Americans of both parties, and countries around the globe,  admired them and their service to the country.  But that is the one thing that Trump will never have, the one thing that all his supposed money cannot buy; Class.  He wants, craves, respect but all he gets is notoriety, it's not the same thing.  And he could not buy class for his children either.  There is an old saying; 'You don't get a thoroughbred when you cross two jackasses.'   

The comparison of the previous administration and the Trump administration are as different as porterhouse to hamburger.  Donald knows that, and as hard as he tries he cannot pull off that stature, that poise.  So, if he can't raise himself up, he tears down everything he can.  It galls him that the one thing he wanted to destroy was 'Obama Care' and he failed, he failed miserably.  Now he is salting the earth; if he can't have the power, he will do his best to make sure the new administration is impotent.

He is pardoning his cohorts and may extend pardons to anyone who does or doesn't ask.  And he has begun executing federal criminals on an accelerated schedule because he knows it will upset the liberals who don't support, or believe in Capitol punishment. What kind of person does that?

There are those who are comparing this election to the election of 1860, it was then that our country was divided also, and that division destroyed the Union and it led to the deaths of 618,000 Americans.  Is this what it is coming to?  There are elected officials asking if their constituents are ready to die for 'the cause', calling for open and armed rebellion.  If so. 600,000 deaths will look like a Sunday picnic.  With the weaponry available to anyone today, we could surpass that figure in six months.  And as the Proud Boys brag, they have all the guns.  

Someone must be the adult in the room, the president has abdicated that responsibility.  Cooler heads must prevail,  we must stop this march to oblivion.  I fear for my country, I never thought it could come to this.  We must stop the madness before it has gone too far, if it hasn't already.

                                                                   I'm just sayin'

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

I am afraid that America is becoming an authoritarian state.  I do not say this lightly, this is my country and I love it, but I am worried.  And I am not alone. So many outside the United States - opinion writers, political leaders, and just plain folks - are appalled by what they are witnessing.  They are comparing America to the likes of Hungary, Poland and Turkey, and yes, Hitler's rise in Germany and Mussolini in Italy.

They believed, as I did, that once the election was over and done, the braggadocio, would finally give way to resolute acceptance.  But several recent opinion polls show that a majority of Republican voters, egged on by Donald Trump, believe that he rightfully won the election and they support his decision not to concede.  All this after almost 30 days since the election, and where Joe Biden garnered 306 electoral votes and a national voter plurality of more than 6-million votes, a number that is still growing with the recounts.  And after state by state reported that there was no evidence of election fraud.  

This. Is. Not. Normal.

That the Republican leadership in Congress are going along with charade, is doubly disturbing.  They began the year by displaying their lack of principles when the voted, almost to a person, not to convict Trump or even hear evidence during the impeachment trial.  They emboldened him and they have supported him no matter what assaults on the precepts of democracy, what violations of the Constitution, what blatant disregard for the office of the presidency, what trashing of political norms he has shown. 

Author, Matthew Mac Williams, who wrote The Rise of Trump; America's Authoritarian Spring , among other books on authoritarianism, has said what has happened in the Trump era is not at all shocking. In a poll he had conducted prior to the 2016 election, he found that roughly 40% of Americans were highly or moderately predisposed to authoritarian government.  Trump played into these beliefs and he drew huge crowds with a cult-like following, and he continues a hold on these believers that is growing in size and strength.  These Americans appreciate Trump's so called strength and power in the executive office, they love his distain and mocking of the press, and his strong nationalistic stance of take no prisoners with other countries, friend or foe. 

Trump was able to rapidly rise to such heights because he is a charlatan, a snake oil salesman, a prevaricator of the highest degree. And his use of social media, such as Twitter, gave him a platform of unfiltered communication, a media where grievance politics, fear-mongering, and rumor and innuendo flourish.  The right-wing media continued the polarization, keeping those believers wrapped in a cocoon of 'alternate facts' presented to them as the truth.  These faithful followers have grabbed on to what Trump is selling because the American Dream has failed them all too often.  Yet they fail to see the disaster looming before them, the rise of authoritarianism - they welcome it instead.

There have been plenty of signs pointing to Trump's authoritarian stance:

         *the mollification of the Putin's take-over of the Ukraine                                                                             * the total disregard of the emolument clause in the Constitution                                                               * using the Justice Department to investigate his enemies                                                                           * calling the press 'the enemy of the people'                                                                                                 * packing the courts - making them a political branch of government                                                         * using fear to keep his party, the GOP, from defying him                                                                           *using federal forces against peaceful demonstrators                                                                                   *personally profiting from the presidency

Taking these individually they are egregious enough, collectively they represent a pattern that leads to destruction.  And the Republican leadership has refused to move against Trump in his bid to over-turn a free and fair election, Trump has gone so far as to attempt to strong-arm individual states against certifying their election results.  All the while the Congress is consenting to Trump's nomination of judges and approving his selections of department appointees, as if there is nothing awry.  This has never happened in any previous administration.  This lame duck has not lost his wings, Congress has lost its collective mind.  Is this where we want to go as a country?  Even if all the current Trump shenanigans fail to stop the transfer of power on January 20, 2021, his supporters will never accept the legitimacy of the Biden presidency.     And, it appears, neither will the Republicans in Congress, insuring four more years of stalemate and non-governance.

These are dangerous times we live in currently; the president cannot defend America with his hands tied.  Our enemies are already celebrating the divisiveness and chaos, and our allies don't understand it.  America has lost its place as leader and example of a democratic government.  Biden has promised to bring that back but he cannot do it alone.    

Trumpism has become the new political party, the party that espouses authoritarian power.  And if the true Republicans don't take their party back, I fear it will mark the end of the greatest experiment in democracy the world has known.  We are half way there already. 

                                                                          I'm just sayin'

Are We Really a Third World Country?

 It has now been two weeks since Biden was declared the winner and we are no closer to settling the Presidential election than we were on November 3rd.  The votes have been counted and recounted, the attorneys have plead their cases and have been summarily dismissed, charges of fraud have been levied, and it has all come to naught.  And everyday that passes, America loses more respect in the eyes of the world. 

At first I was angry, but sustaining that kind of anger began to eat away at my soul. Then I was depressed watching the comedy of errors play out; the lies and the personal attacks.  Now I am simply sad.  It is so sad to see what my country has come to.  We all knew the president was a vicious megalomaniac, he told us as much in words and actions.   And there were those who didn't care, those who would follow him to hell, and they have.  Their cult-like devotion to a man who has nothing but distain for them is difficult to comprehend.  

Even though I don't understand, nor do I care to understand such idiocy, I can look past those who lack the vision and intelligence to see beyond today.  I cannot forgive them their ignorance, for there is none so blind as those who will not see.  They choose to deny the truth and indulge in their fantasies, because it is easier than the lives that they have, lives of desperation with no future except the past.  So they look to the man who told them he would restore their jobs, the towns, their dignity.  But he lied, he used them, but to keep believing is better than facing the truth.

The most egregious of these sycophants are those who swore an oath to the United States Constitution to 'support and defend it against all enemies foreign and domestic and bear true faith and allegiance to the same'.  I know that oath, I took it more than once, as anyone who has worked for the federal government has.  It means something to those who swear to it.  My husband took it when he joined the Marine Corp and so did my brother when joined forty years later.  They knew they might be asked to lay down their life for that Constitution.

Yet the Republicans Congressmen are defiling that oath.  The are refusing to honor the results of an election for the president of the United States.  They are choosing to disavow the oath that took freely, and turn their backs in their country.  That I cannot countenance, it grieves me, it makes me furious.  I cannot imagine what the brave men and women who are serving the country in the armed forces feel about this.  They are putting their lives on the line everyday and their representatives have broken their oath, and for what?  Because they are afraid to face the ire of a toothless has-been. I am loath to say his name, but that man who has caused so much turmoil in the past four years, now is threatening to undermine our democracy.  And these lackeys are abetting him. 

In 1974, another Republican president was dishonoring the office of the presidency.  However, at that time his party rose up against him.  The Republican Senators and Representatives felt they must take action to save the party, the presidency and the country.  Three of the highest-ranking members of Congress; Barry Goldwater who had run for president himself, John Rhodes minority whip of the House, and Hugh Scott, minority leader of the Senate, went down from the Capitol to the White House.  They told Richard Nixon he needed to resign the presidency.  They told him he was facing impeachment and his party would vote to convict him.  Those three men were men of honor, there re none like them in Congress today. 

Today's president may not have taken up arms against the United States, but his actions are having the same effect.  He is seeking to destroy the framework of the Constitution, if this be so, I call it treason.  The intent is the same, the method is different, the effect is to undermine the belief in the presidency, to make  the incoming president impotent.  We saw it with the Obama presidency when Senator Mitch McConnel said he would thwart anything that Obama worked to get passed.  It has now gone far beyond that. 

Congress is watching as the president is meeting with individual state officials to try to get them to overturn the outcome of the election held in their state.  In doing so he is subverting the will of the electorate.  I cannot imagine anything more dangerous to the Constitution.  And the Republicans in Congress are his co-conspirators.  If one is guilty of treason, then so are they all.

Imagine if you will, what these pompous legislators would say if this was being done in a third -world country.  Why they would rise up and say the presidency was being stolen. Matter of fact, the United States has done so, numerous times; in Central America, South America, and in many small countries in Asia and Africa.  Funny how one cannot recognize their own failings, or maybe they can, they just don't give a damn.  They don't give a damn about the country and they don't give a damn about we the people.  They only care that they were re-elected and now they can do what they will.

I love my country, I fly her flag proudly, and I rise for the national anthem.  The Fourth of July festivities bring a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat, but my Senator, Ron Johnson, brings bile to my mouth.  I loath him and find him reprehensible.  I will remember always his choice to follow a traitor and forsake his country.  And you can bet when he is up for reelection, I will be working for his defeat. 

                                                                     I'm just sayin'