Don't Tell Me of the Reluctant Trump Voter

 ("Unwitting Progressives for Trump")

Please don't tell me of your friends who will reluctantly vote for Mr. Trump.

Don't tell me they can't distinguish between sympathy for a people long abused and distaste for methods that do not further their cause.

Don't tell me they seriously consider Joe Biden to be in favor of the destruction that has erupted in the worst moments.

Don't tell me they can't see Donald Trump's fingerprints all over the escalation of tensions, his amorality at the center of these confrontations.

Don't make us out to be fools. Your friends will vote for Mr. Trump using these events as cover.

Don't perpetuate the lies people tell themselves and may tell you for why they are casting their ballot, their lot, with the likes of Donald Trump.

It has absolutely NOTHING  to do with "progressives." NOTHING.

Message to the President - Shut Up and Stay Away

 ("Portland Death Inflames 2020 Debate")

Donald Trump spent the weekend, when he was not on one of his golf courses, tweeting out incendiary messages, in manic barrage. In another universe, one might consider this a psychotic break. But now it is just another day at the office. The Oval Office.

In a moment that crystallized our collective fury at the President's campaign of hate, the Mayor of Portland called out Mr. Trump for being the catalyst, an accelerant with his words that fueled emotional fires. It was a slap in the face put down of a Leader who does not lead. You and your message are not welcome here. 

And it drove Mr. Trump into an absolute frenzy.

This nation is burning, both literally and figuratively and Donald Trump is unwilling and unable to do anything to control either. As our storms rage, our advise to this destructive force of a man is simple.

Shut up and stay away.

Mr. Trump's New Slogans

 This is the great disconnect:

180,000 have died but he has been our savior;

The streets are bursting with unrest but he is the one to bring law and order;

He was to turn an imagined dystopia into nirvana but now, four years later, he promises he will turn our actual dystopia into nirvana. 

What am I missing here?

I have heard he is considering the following new slogans: 

 

"Make America Great Again, I Mean It This Time" 

or; 

"I Broke It, Now I'll Fix It" 

or; 

"If At First You Don't Succeed, Well That's What A Second Term Is For"

 or;

 

"Fool You Once, Shame On You, Fool You Twice, I Have A Great Deal On A Bridge" 

or; 

"How Much Worse Can I Be?"

or;

"How Much Worse Can It Be?"

How much worse indeed.

Why I Won't Watch the Republican National Convention

He has destroyed our position in the world, disregarding long standing alliances around the globe. 

He has found comfort and curried favor with leaders who subject those under their control to the worst of abuses.

He has made our nation one that is now more pitied than admired, less trusted than scorned. Our promise, our vow, no longer of meaning.

He has been dismissive of a disease that has spread like wildfire throughout this nation and has failed to provide the leadership needed in a crucial moment.

He has made a mockery of our constitutional safeguards and has treated all branches of government as subservient to him, owing fealty to him.

He has shown no interest in morality or ethics.

He has shown no interest in truth. 

He has shown no interest in the suffering of others.

He has avoided prosecution for myriad wrongdoing not by reason of his innocence but mere protections of his station.

He has fought against the environment.

He has fought against the elevation of education.

He has fought against voting rights for those who do not find favor with him.

He has discarded proven science and promoted alternatives that have endangered our safety, health and well being.

He is racist, xenophobic, misogynistic.

He is cruel, petty, mocking, vindictive.

He is lazy, anti-intellectual.

He does not read. He does not listen.

He surrounds himself with unqualified sycophants and lackeys.

He cannot express empathy or compassion for others because he has none. He is a narcissist. 

He finds enemies at every turn. He would silence his critics and reduce the media to a tool for propaganda.

He has blurred the lines between public office and personal desires beyond recognition.

He has instilled fear that our very notion of democracy is in jeopardy. 

He has amplified the matters that divide us and acted as an accelerant for hatreds and insecurities. He brings out the worst in those who believe in him.

He is as unqualified and unsuited for the tasks before him as anyone has been in the nearly 250 year history of America. He is a little man in a very big job.

He has watched over the devastation of our economy and the loss of over 175,000 lives and his best response is "It is what it is".

You are right Mr. President, "It is what it is."

This is why I refuse to watch the fantasy, the "alternative facts"  that is the Republican  National Convention.

Kellyanne Conway, Mother of the Year

 ("Kellyanne Conway to leave the White House at the end of the month, citing the need to focus on her family.")

Talk about burying the lead.

While you make reference, without name, to Conway's daughter and her tweets critical of her family, you neglected to mention that Claudia Conway has written of seeking to legally emancipate from parents who have ruined her life.

Not one mention in your piece of what must be the actual concern of the adminstration, of Donald Trump, that this three ring circus of George, Kellyanne and Claudia threatened to be a distraction and an embarrassment, that Conway would be a liability his campaign could not afford.

Please, no mother of the year kudos for Kellyanne. Her announcement about leaving to devote herself to the care of her clan, like virtually everything else she has stated since 2016, is  but "alternative facts."

Joe Biden Has Friends

 Joe Biden has friends. 

He has legions of those he has touched along every step of his journey. Those who give willing testament to his inexhaustible capacity for caring. Those who make abundantly evident the worth of the man.

And if this election is to be about the content of one's character, and it damn well should be, who will step forward for Donald Trump? Who will inform us there is more to him than the cruelty he has so often thoughtlessly exhibited, the pain he has so easily dispensed, the disregard and disdain he has so clearly demonstrated for the trials and tribulations of those suffering under his watch? 

Where are his friends? 

The last four evenings have been a vibrant celebration of the values of, and the value of, Joe Biden. And of our nation's desperate need to rid itself of the plague that has descended upon it and taken malignant hold, not over the past half year, but since election night 2016.

Joe Biden has friends.

Wait a Minute Mr. Postman

 ("Pelosi to Recall House for Postal Service Vote")

This is a President who appoints people with a mission to cannibalize their own institutions. Scott Pruitt and his EPA deregulation, damaging the air we breathe and doing nothing to alleviate global warming. Betsy DeVos, with her support of vouchers and cuts to federal funding gutting the public education system. Bill Barr turning the office of Attorney General into a supporting role as Roy Cohn-like defender of Mr. Trump. And now Mr. DeJoy, intending to make the postal service and the 14th Amendment disappear like a magic trick.

All of them not as protectors of the greater good but mere lackeys carrying out a plan for the approval of an audience of one.

DeVos. DeJoy. DeRegulate. DeStroy.

The Life and Death of Kamala Harris

 On August 11, 2020 Kamala Harris was named as the Democratic Vice Presidential pick. The next day, the New York Times reported on the untimely death of Kamala Harris from Covid 19. 

In a bizarre coincidence, James"Kamala" Harris,70 years old, was  a former professional wrestler whom the Times described as portraying the "stereotypical menacing African warrior who was always supposed to lose to his white opponents."

At a moment in time when we celebrate the ascension of a strong black woman to a place of political prominence, we are reminded of a parallel universe where skin color is portrayed in a wholly different light.

Two worlds and one name colliding.  The life and death of Kamala Harris.

Mr. Brooks, This Is Where I Stand. Even In Diapers - (A Guest Post by CL)

 ("This Is Where I Stand")

I turn 23 today. Ok, 23 months but that is mere technicality.

This is my official request for David Brooks to stop the nonsense. "Conservative Radicalism". Historical perspective. Moving left here, right there. It is enough to make my young brain ache.

Is he incapable of making a simple declaratory statement? Maybe something like this: "Our democracy is in danger. All hands on deck."

I have only known one President in my lifetime but even I know a fascist when I see one.

There are not two sides to every issue Mr. Brooks. Some things are just plain wrong.

I have to end this letter now because I am going for my nap. But when I wake up I would like to read an Op Ed from Mr. Brooks that does not make him seem like both the smartest and dumbest person in the room. Call it an early second birthday present.

Mr. Brooks, this is where I stand. Even in diapers.

C.L.

The Attacks on Kamala Harris

 ("Her Voice? Her Name? G.O.P.'s Raw Personal Attacks on Kamala Harris") 

You indicate that the "Trump campaign struggled to launch a clear attack" against Ms. Harris but that is not accurate.Their's has always been a theme park filled with a basketful of different hatreds. And in Kamala Harris there are Republican riches to be mined.

Hatred of blacks

Hatred of women

Hatred of black women

Hatred of angry black women

Hatred of angry, powerful black women

Hatred of angry, powerful black women, born of immigrants

Hatred of angry, powerful black women who are not "really" black

Hatred of angry, powerful black women whose very name raises suspicion they are not true Americans

This is the Trump version of a campaign strategy and though you might perceive it as disjointed and disorganized it is anything but. 

Bigotry, misogyny and xenophobia all sell well.

America Is Dying

 This nation 

That feeds off its fear, not its hopes

That finds reasons to divide not multiply

That communicates so much but says so little

That has found selfishness, not selflessness, a virtue

That chooses not to open its heart but close its borders

That is far too comfortable living with lies rather than searching for truths

That is capable of  great compassion but instead abides its great cruelties 

That for some know no want, but for many know only profound pounding deficits

That treats freedom as a right to exploit, not a gift to be nourished and deeply cherished

That has lost sight of what is just and real and is blinded by charlatans and masquerades

This nation, our nation, is sick 

It is playing out on our televisions, our computers, in our hospitals and on crowded maskless streets, bars and restaurants,

It is in the votes that will not be counted, in the jobs that cannot be filled, in the classrooms that remain silent and vacant

It is living in the homes that have suffered great losses of spirit, of love of hope

It is etched on our faces and embedded in our souls

It is in our prisons and in our prejudices

It is a pandemic, a disease, that is destroying us

America, is dying

Easy Riders

('If We Get It, We Chose to Be Here'. Despite Virus, Thousands Converge on Sturgis for Huge Rally)

Governor Noem is hoping South Dakota will steal, with slight modification, the state motto of New Hampshire. Her version: "Live free and die."

Courting Mr. Trump and eyeing a national future, Ms. Noem is more than willing to bring 250,000 maskless motorcyclists into her state to demonstrate that stupidity indeed has a conservative bias.

After hosting Mr. Trump's July 4th Mt. Rushmore egothon, the Governor has upped her game, as she embraces those who come armed with nothing more than bravado against a deadly disease that is clearly not impressed nor deterred. 

A nation mourns the loss of its sanity. 

Shakespeare On Baseball's Declining Health (Going, Going, Gone?)

Oh enemy most foul

For it be not fair that this sickness runs with abandon between these lines

How did this strike not one, not two but strike three

Out, out the cry piercing the air

And yet this disease steals our very breath

As we lay caught in its web

No safety found at home

Our protest in vain, our cry's bootless, a deaf ear turned to our fervent appeals

For if this be not a blow most mortal, it is nigh upon us

We are but walking shadow

Death waiting with grave intent at the top step

Our nation's heartbeat near extinguished

Fear rampant that the games we play today 

Will in all the tomorrow's to come be going, going gone

Anarchy in Portland

("Help Me Find Trump's 'Anarchists' in Portland")

Why are we not surprised by Donald Trump's characterization of the Portland protesters?

"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best...They're sending people that have lots of problems... They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists" Donald Trump, presidential announcement speech, June 16, 2015

"There were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations. They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down." Donald Trump, speaking about Muslims at a campaign rally, November, 2015

"But not all of those people were neo-Nazis believe me. Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch. Those people were also there because they wanted to protest the taking down of a statue, Robert E. Lee." Donald Trump on the Charlottesville, Virgina protesters who included Ku Klux Klan members, skinheads, many heavily armed and carrying Nazi flags- August, 2017

"Many Gang members and some very bad people are mixed into the Caravan...This is an invasion of our country and our military is waiting for you." Donald Trump tweet on the approaching "migrant caravan", October 29, 2018

All For One. Period.

("The Cult of Selfishness Is Killing America")

The mindset was evident from the first day of the campaign and has been a cornerstone ever since: "do unto others anything you can."

It was there in the call to build a Wall to keep those fleeing the worst of circumstances from "infecting us"; from the executive order making sure Muslims understood their suffering was not ours; from the refusal to even consider taking the smallest of steps in gun control in the wake of continuing mass tragedies; from the lack of remorse as little children lay terrified in cages.

It is not black lives matter or even white lives matter, but that your life alone matters. 

It is a selfishness and egocentricity that emanates from Mr. Trump and has literally poisoned a nation. The mask is off and what we have seen underneath makes me sick, and has left nearly 150,000 dead.

The age of inhumanity.

All for one. Period.

Remembering Five Words - In Order

("Democrats- Don't Take the Bait on Trump's Memory Test")

"Wall, Putin, Impeachment, Fascism, Coronavirus."

The Washington Football Team

("NFL- D.C. Adopts New Name 'The Washington Football Team'- For Now")

"The Washington Football Team."

What is their payroll? Wait, don't tell me. And they couldn't find anyone who could do better than this? Did they contact anyone at Mensa? Why not employ Watson, the computer, to sort through like a million possibilities? Or ask a group of first graders to make something up?

Here are a few options I would ask the team to consider:

1. The AC/DC's.

2. The Washington Debacle

3. The Team That Couldn't Name Themselves

4. The DC Dream (Of The Playoffs)

5. The Washington Wonder (If We Are Really This Bad)
6. The Washington Black and White (Skins)
7. The DC Lewisers (To honor John Lewis, of course)

8. The Washington (Weak) Constitution
9. The Washington 11
10. The Washington Impasse 

11. The Washington Post Route
12. The Washington Too Early To Call (.com)

They truly need more time to settle on a name? Why not just temporarily call themselves the "No Namers" or just plain "Washington"? Were they concerned we would think they were a baseball team if they stepped out on the field without this explanation in their title?

And we thought Donald Trump was the stupidest leader in the nation's capital? Move over and make room for Dan Snyder. 

PS-  I think the AC/DC's might actually work.

The West Wing

This is so depressing. I am not sure how much more of this I can take.

Watching the President, day after day. Hearing him speak. Following the stated logic of his decisions. It is enough to make me cry.

Of course, I am talking about binge watching " The West Wing." Jed Bartlet, and those in his inner circle, all filled with insight, compassion, wit and searing intelligence. 

This is one of the casualties of the pandemic. Having run through a number of current or recent series in a desperate attempt to avoid anything resembling a show discussing either Donald Trump or Covid 19, I bumped into The West Wing while scrolling through the options which lay before me. It was something I occasionally brushed up against during its long run. I recalled it as a brilliant piece of writing. So why not now dip my toe into the water. What a mistake.

I am now 17 episodes into season one. Only another 139 before the swan song in season seven. I don't know how I will survive seeing a fictional government run so well.

Actually, we now have a fictional government in this country. No functioning Congress, members of the administration whose sole task seems to be to shine the President's shoes, a leader whose moral compass was lost at birth, whose lack of intelligence gushes forth every time his mouth operates, whose prejudices would have made Jane Austen put down her pen, whose errant conclusions outweigh the good ones by infinity to some figure less than zero, whose large fanny is the only way in which he fills the seat in the Oval Office. This is the antithesis of what The West Wing would suggest we are or at least what we can be.

The Bartlet family, at least in season one, ranks even above the Obama's I think. Well, maybe it is a tie. And then I focus on the Trump boys, on his favorite daughter and I get very sad.

There is no Fox News in this universe, at least not yet. There is hardly an internet. No cell phones acting as full on computers. No tweets. A President careful with his words. 

Maybe in the episodes to come everyone will get a little stupider, a little uglier in ways that will make me less uncomfortable with what I have to face each morning when I awake.

Maybe President Bartlet will consort with bad women, bad leaders, bad people. Maybe he will allow a virulent disease to run wild because he doesn't like how he looks in a mask. Maybe he will build a Wall, or tell immigrants from around the globe not to bother coming here. Maybe he will forget how to speak in coherent sentences or form a thought not fed to him by someone on his TV screen. Maybe he will become addicted to golf.

I can only hope so because this Jed Bartlet makes me want to hide under the covers for the next 104 days (and, God forbid, for another four years after that).

Fauci v Trump

("The Doctor versus the Denier")

Why is anyone surprised that Trump would turn on his own?  Do the names Steve Bannon, Reince Preibus, Jeff Sessions, Michael Cohen, John Kelly, Nikki Haley, Rex Tillerson, H.R. McMaster, James Mattis, Rod Rosenstein and John Bolton, ring a bell?

Anthony Fauci is not the fawning sycophant who Mr. Trump requires much as the air he breathes. The President sees treachery and betrayal at every turn. And when his demands to bend the facts to meet his version of reality are not met, then we have the inevitable string of allegations and accusations.

Covid 19 has not obeyed Mr. Trump's order to disappear. And Dr. Fauci stands in direct line between this illness and the President. What separates Dr. Fauci from many of the others was his reluctance to be Mr. Trump's willing co-conspirator. But, good or bad, he is but one more victim who Donald Trump has thrown under the bus in his never ending attempt at self preservation.

Ten Presidential Quotes As Modified By Mr. Trump (Original Attributed Speaker Noted)

1. Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what your country can do to you

(JFK)

2. I cannot tell the truth (Washington- before taking office)

3. Speak loudly and care not a lick (Teddy Roosevelt)

4. The only thing you have to fear is me. (FDR)

5. Yes I can... But I have chosen not to  (Obama)

6. Most folks are as happy as I make up their minds to be (Lincoln)

7. My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is still sitting in the Oval Office (Ford)

8. If not us, them. If not now, when can I play golf? (Reagan)

9. Mexico, build up that wall (Reagan)

10. A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he stops cheating. (Nixon)