Tag Archives: President Trump

General

President Trump… Reap What You Sow…?

For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.

So last night we found out that Hope Hicks, confidant to President Trump, had Covid-19.

Right away, speculation ran rampant that President Trump, who hangs around with her perhaps more than any of his other staff, could have it as well.

Last night, a little past midnight, the AP verified what many speculated: The President, as well as his wife Melania, tested positive for Covid-19.

It’s so very tempting, as someone who has absolutely no love for Trump the man and certainly Trump the President, to revel in this moment.

I certainly could, and I even found a posting over at avclub.com that made me laugh out loud:

But eventually the reality of the situation provokes, once the laughter dies, a feeling of… anger.

Here we have the most powerful man in the world, the President of the freaking United States of America, who for months and months and months refused to take Covid-19 seriously. A man who mocked people who wear masks and steadfastly refused to do so, in a country where over 200,000 people have now died from this disease and, to my great shame, there still exist a bunch of people who do not take this disease seriously… mostly because of the actions of President Trump.

President Trump, a man who just three days ago had the first Presidential debate, where everyone on the Joe Biden side wore masks while at least half of those on the Trump side, including his idiot kids and wife, did not wear their masks while in the audience, even though they -and everyone who witnessed the debate- were told they needed to wear them at the indoor event.

(To read more about that, check out this article by Shannon Palus and presented on Slate.com)

Ivanka Trump turns around in attendance at the presidential debate.
The above picture, from the debate, shows Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump sitting next to each other (one in black, one in white, natch).

At this moment in time -again, only three days ago– it was possible both President Trump and Melania were already infected and, because they so steadfastly refuse to wear any protection, were putting people around them at risk.

Including, of course, Joe Biden.

The First Presidential Debate Was 'Unproductive,' Teens Say | Teen Vogue

For ninety minutes Mr. Biden, though a fair distance from President Trump, nonetheless was close enough to be in danger of catching the disease. It was reported this morning he will get himself and those around him tested. I’m sure they hope neither he nor anyone who was at the debate on his behalf, even though they wore masks, was infected by this careless bunch.

Yet another case of Trump saying something that’s come back to bite him right in the ass.

We’re only a month from the actual election and we face yet another couple of weeks of grave uncertainty.

Will Trump recover fairly quickly? What if he doesn’t? What if the infection hits him hard? What if it hits him… really hard?

The big question: What if it kills him?

Grim stuff to contemplate, for sure, but the reality is he’s an elderly man who isn’t -despite his medic’s say so- in terribly good shape. As such, he’s in the population most at risk for developing more serious problems because of the virus.

Though, of course, that’s not to say he will.

Whew.

Once again, its time to buckle up. Hell of a bumpy ride ahead of us.

General

Crazytown…

Yesterday was even crazier than usual, if you’re the type (like me at times) to follow U.S. politics.

Yes, beware, kind folks… what follows is…

POLITICS!

First up and the day before was the revelations of Bob Woodward’s upcoming novel, Fear: Trump In The White House, painted a -surprise, surprise!- picture of extreme dysfunction in the  Trump administration.

So you figure: That’s going to be the big news of the day.  I mean, Woodward is a very prestigious journalist.  He’s 1/2 of the team that wrote All The President’s Men, which painted a grim picture of Richard Nixon and no doubt led to his presidential demise.

Naturally, Trump had plenty to say, negative naturally, regarding the book, but as it turned out that book was nothing compared to the bombshell that appeared yesterday in The New York Times.

A current, senior White House official, writing anonymously, wrote an OP piece wherein s/he offers a chilling glimpse behind the curtains at the Trump White House, and his/her message is that they are part of a “resistance”, adults in the room who are trying to contain Trump and his negative impulses.  Here it is:

I am part of the Resistance inside the Trump administration

Yikes.

Here’s some more, from Brian Stelter and presented on CNN.com, which goes into…

The story behind the New York Times’ anonymous op-ed blasting Trump

There followed immediate reaction from the pundits, those who wondered about the ethics of presenting an “anonymous” op-ed piece.  There were those who were happy to hear someone -anyone!- within that administration finally admit what is all too clear for all to see.

I’m of two minds here: I think people should speak out on what is so freaking clear to anyone who even casually looks: This administration is run by someone who, putting it most kindly, is waaaaaaaay out of his depth.  A man who should never have been elected county dog catcher, much less President of the United States of America.

On the other hand: Don’t be a coward.  You don’t like what’s going on?  Quit.

Publicly, with this opinion piece being your resignation letter.

Too many people are being too damn meek about pushing back against Trump and, sadly, this goes for both Democrats and, most especially, Republicans.

It’s frightening to think that there are people working for Trump who ignore his directives or, as the op-ed piece states, even remove papers with Presidential policies from his desk before he can make them official and/or implement them.

Scary times, for sure.

 

General

News of the strange…yet understandable

This appeared in the news yesterday, as written by the KATU staff and appearing on the KATU.com website:

Oregon man passes away peacefully after being told Donald Trump was impeached

I’ve noted before I don’t like to foray into the field of politics but by the Gods the Donald Trump presidency has proven about as bad as I feared it might be.

And I thought President G. W. Bush was a disaster!  (I still think he was…but Trump’s in a whole ‘nuther category of bad).

General

Better to laugh than cry…

Gettin’ political again, so for those who are faint of heart, look away!

To the rest: So yesterday Kellyanne Conway, President (wow that’s hard to write) Trump’s campaign adviser was interviewed by Chris Matthews and said the following (the clip I’m including does a good job at pointing out the *ahem* inaccuracies in her statement)…

To quote Ms. Conway: “Masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre”.

Which, of course, set off a hilarious twitter reaction, many of the responses which can be found here:

Kellyane Conway literally fabricated a massacre to Justify Trump’s Immigration Ban

To all the twitter writers posted in the above article, my hats off to you.  You’re creative, ingenious, and, especially, hilarious.

It’s so hard to point out any one twitter reaction as the best of the lot so you’ll have to trust me: They’ll all worth checking out.

Do so, now!  That’s an order, son!

General

Hello darkness…

So today, January 20th, 2017 we here in the good ol’ US of A inaugurate our latest president and we enter a new era full of optimism and hope that…

Who the f#$k am I kidding?

When George W. Bush was elected president following Bill Clinton, I feared the worst and it proved to be the case.  Not only did George W. Bush not get the popular vote, but there is still a legitimate, IMHO, case to be made he didn’t win Florida either.  It was the meddling of the Supreme Court, most specifically the conservative judges, who bent over backwards to give Mr. Bush his presidency.

Granted he won re-election but this too was a close shave and I know there are those (perhaps a little less legitimately) who suspect there was some hanky-panky going on in Ohio which gave him the edge over John Kerry (personally, I feel Bush the younger benefited mightily from shenanigans the first time around and a weak candidate in Al Gore and benefited from a weak candidate in Mr. Kerry the second go around).

Regardless, by the time Bush the younger’s terms were done, even the most steadfast Republican couldn’t even mention Mr. Bush’s name in any way, shape or form, lest they hurt negatives.

When Mr. Obama came into office, the country was a mess and, despite incredible odds, considering how much “help” he was afforded by the Republican side, he managed to clean up much of Mr. Bush’s mess.  I do not believe Mr. Obama was a perfect president, but at least he was smart and tried to do the right thing despite the wall of opposition he constantly faced.

Today we inaugurate a person that, incredibly, actually makes me long for Mr. Bush.

In Mr. Trump’s presidency, I fear we’re about to enter another period of great harm.  Even if we were to ignore the racist, misogynistic, narcissistic, and just plain stupid things Mr. Trump say, his cabinet picks are, for the most part, a damn unpleasant joke.

In his picks we have a who’s who of individuals who either have conflicts of interest (some very major), a history of sketchy financial dealings, or are idiots.  Rick Perry, the nominee for Secretary of Energy, admitted he didn’t know what the Department of Energy was about.  Every time Ben Carson opens his mouth, I wonder if his resume (he is supposedly one of the better neurosurgeons) was invented whole cloth…or if he’s one of those idiot-savants who knows one thing really well.  Then there’s Betsy DeVos, a woman who was nominated to be head of the Department of Education for no other reason than that her family is very wealthy and has contributed mightily to the Republican party (she’s also the one who felt guns should be allowed in schools because, I kid you not, they may be needed to repel grizzly bears).

It’s a complete shit-show and not only will the United States be dealing with this, sadly so too will the rest of the world.

I started this post with a famous movie quote and I’ll end it with another.

I’ll try to be optimistic.  I’ll hope Mr. Trump surprises everyone and turns out to be not as bugnuts crazy as he seems.   And if he is, I hope the darkness he creates is quickly followed by light.