A constituent at a town hall in Arizona last month had a message for Jeff Flake, a Republican senator: Don’t be too chicken to stand up to party leaders.
As Tom Friedman points out in the fourth paragraph, “The G.O.P. never would have embraced someone like Trump in the first place…; all the good men and women in this party’s leadership have been purged or silenced; those who are left have either been bought off by lobbies or have cynically decided to take a ride on Trump’s Good Ship Lollipop to exploit it for any number of different agendas.” I hope he’s wrong, but it’s hard to believe otherwise. Hope is eternal, but the realistic odds of change need to be recognized. Please read.
Since President Trump’s firing of F.B.I. Director James Comey, one question has been repeated over and over: With Democrats lacking any real governing power, are there a few good elected men or women in the Republican Party who will stand up to the president’s abuse of power as their predecessors did during Watergate?
And this question will surely get louder with the report that Trump asked Comey in February to halt the investigation into the president’s former national security adviser.
But we already know the answer: No.
The G.O.P. never would have embraced someone like Trump in the first place — an indecent man with a record of multiple bankruptcies, unpaid bills and alleged sexual harassments who lies as he breathes — for the answer to ever be yes. Virtually all the good men and women in this party’s leadership have been purged or silenced; those who are left have either been bought off by lobbies or have cynically decided to take a ride on Trump’s Good Ship Lollipop to exploit it for any number of different agendas.
It has not been without costs. Trump has made every person in his orbit look like either a “liar or a fool,” as David Axelrod put it. So call off the search. There will be no G.O.P. mutiny, even if Trump resembles Captain Queeg more each day.
That’s why the only relevant question is this: Are there tens of millions of good men and women in America ready to run and vote as Democrats or independents in the 2018 congressional elections and replace the current G.O.P. majority in the House and maybe the Senate?
Nothing else matters — this is now a raw contest of power.
And the one thing I admire about Trump and his enablers: They are not afraid of, and indeed they enjoy, exercising raw power against their opponents. They are not afraid to win by a sliver and govern as if they won by a landslide.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had the power to block President Barack Obama from naming a Supreme Court justice and he did not hesitate to use it, the Constitution be damned.
Trump had the power to appoint climate deniers to key environmental posts and he did it — science be damned. And Trump had the power to fire Comey, even though it meant firing the man investigating him for possible collusion with Russia, and Trump did just that — appearances be damned.
Democrats and independents should not be deluded or distracted by marches on Washington, clever tweets or “Saturday Night Live” skits lampooning Trump. They need power. If you are appalled by what Trump is doing — backed by House and Senate Republicans — then you need to get out of Facebook and into somebody’s face, by running for Congress as a Democrat or an independent, registering someone to vote for a Democrat or an independent, or raising money to support such candidates.
Nothing else matters.
The morally bankrupt crowd running today’s G.O.P. are getting their way not because they have better arguments — polls show majorities disagreeing with them on Comey and climate — but because they have power and are not afraid to use it, no matter what the polls say. And they will use that power to cut taxes for wealthy people, strip health care from poor people and turn climate policy over to the fossil fuel industry until someone else checks that power by getting a majority in the House or the Senate.
Personally, I’m not exactly a rabid Democrat. I’m more conservative on issues of free trade, business, entrepreneurship and use of force than many Democratic candidates. I think the country would benefit from having a smart conservative party offering market and merit-based solutions for our biggest challenges — from climate to energy to education to taxes to infrastructure — that was also ready to meet Democrats halfway. But there is no such G.O.P. today. The party has lost its moral compass.
Just think about that picture of Trump laughing it up with Russia’s foreign minister in the Oval Office, a foreign minister who covered up Syria’s use of poison gas. Trump reportedly shared with him sensitive intelligence on ISIS, and Trump refused to allow any U.S. press in the room. The picture came from Russia’s official photographer. In our White House! It’s nauseating. And the G.O.P. is still largely mute. If Hillary had done that, they would have shut down the government.
That’s why for me, in 2018, the most left-wing Democratic candidate for House or Senate is preferable to the most moderate Republican, because none of the latter will confront Trump. And Trump’s presidency is not just a threat to my political preferences, it is a threat to the rule of law, freedom of the press, ethics in government, the integrity of our institutions, the values our kids need to learn from their president and America’s longstanding role as the respected leader of the free world.
That’s why there are just two choices now: chicken or fish — a Democratic-controlled House or Senate that can at least deter Trump for his last two years, or four years of an out-of-control president. This G.O.P. is not going to impeach him; forget that fantasy. Either Democrats get a lever of power, or we’re stuck emailing each other “S.N.L.” skits.
So, I repeat: Run as, raise money for or register someone to vote for a Democrat or independent running for House or Senate on Nov. 6, 2018. Nothing else matters.
It’s chicken or fish, baby. It’s just chicken or fish.
An appeals court hears arguments Wednesday on the future of Philly’s landmark tax on sweetened drinks. The money is funding preschool for low-income kids, but the soda industry says it’s losing jobs.
In observing those people who are directly involved in the sales and distribution of zero nutrition sugar drinks and soda, I find them similar to people involved in the economies of the fossil fuels industry.
People who gain income or revenue from one, or the other, are a contributing factor to making our planet dirty, and polluted, or, they are a contributing factor to an unhealthy and damaging diet of the planet’s inhabitants. Those who disagree with this statement, probably question the dangers of climate change, pollution, or, sugar in our diet, even though solid facts are established on all of them. So, in dealing with facts, let’s put those people who deny them, aside.
The arguments against cutting back on fossil fuels and sugary drink distribution, whether it be by reduced funding, tariffs, or legislation, are always the same. Job and revenue loss. That puts the decision to cuts on a different plane. A higher purpose…..
NPR
Philadelphia created a buzz last summer when its city council voted to impose a tax on sweetened drinks.
Three cities followed suit with similar measures. But the beverage industry has been fighting back.
On Wednesday, a panel of judges in a Pennsylvania appeals court is expected to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit brought by the beverage industry against the city.
The plaintiffs — including the American Beverage Association and the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association — are seeking to invalidate the tax. One of their legal arguments is that the beverage tax conflicts with the Pennsylvania sales tax.
The legal challenge has put the brakes on the city’s planned expansion of programs that are funded by revenues from the tax. The mayor’s office says the city will hold off on adding additional pre-K seats.
Currently, the revenue is funding 2,000 pre-K spots for low-income families in the city. But now, the city says it will not add an additional 1,000 seats as previously planned.
I visited Philadelphia to gauge how the tax has impacted businesses and people in the city. I walked a few city blocks with Larry Ceisler, a spokesperson for the Ax The Bev Tax coalition, which is funded by the industry. As we passed a small supermarket, he told me the tax is having a negative effect.
“What’s happening is that business is down,” Ceisler tells me. Some city dwellers are going to the suburbs to do their shopping, Ceisler says. They’re not just leaving to buy drinks but other groceries too, he says.
“Overall, my business is down by 15 percent — an unsustainable drop in an industry with tight margins,” Jeff Brown, who owns six ShopRite supermarkets in Philadelphia told us. “This tax has also forced me to cut thousands of hours each week from my union employees,” Brown says.
Local beverage distributors say their sales are down significantly. Canada Dry Of Delaware Valley, which distributes a range of carbonated drinks, teas and bottled waters in Philadelphia says sales are down by about 45 percent. The company has laid off about 30 employees, including drivers and workers who stock the shelves.
A worker restocks a cold soda display. Soda distributors in Philadelphia say sales are down and they have had to let employees go since the city’s tax on sweetened drinks went into effect.
“It’s obviously disappointing,” Bob Brockway, president and COO of Canada Dry Delaware Valley told us. He says bottled water sales have grown, but not nearly enough to offset losses.
But there are people in the city benefiting from the soda tax, too.
The mayor’s office says the city has brought in about $12.3 million in revenues from the first two months of tax collections. The tax is projected to bring in about $91 million over 12 months. The mayor’s office says the Philly Beverage Tax will be used to “make much needed investments in pre-K and community schools, as well as in Philadelphia parks, rec centers and libraries.”
I decided to check out Pee Week Prep Educational Center, one of the preschool programs that’s expanded its pre-K enrollment due to revenue from the soda tax. It’s located in West Philly, so I hopped in an Uber. Along the way we passed plenty of boarded up houses. “Yes, a lot, ” the driver Al McLean commented.”
“A lot of the kids here are what I call couch-to-classroom,” Stacy Phillips, the founder and CEO of Pee Wee Prep, told me. In other words, before they enrolled in school here, they were home watching TV on the couch.
All sweetened drinks in Philadelphia are taxed, including those with artificial sweeteners.
Now, Phillips is offering a full-day curriculum. When I visited, kids were rotating through science centers. They were engaged in matching games, counting and P.E. classes.
Phillips has been able to add 90 children to her roster. “I’m thrilled, I’m happy about the soda tax,” she tells me. She says investing in these children is the right thing to do.
Despite the funding of popular programs, the tax is controversial in the city. Last fall, a poll from The Pew Charitable Trusts, found 54 percent of residents endorsed the City Council’s decision to impose a beverage tax. Forty-two percent did not endorse it. A more recent survey commissioned by the industry-funded Ax The Bev Tax coalition found a majority of residents (58 percent) oppose the tax.
Some residents I spoke to told me they love the idea of investing in children and expanding preschool education, but they think the city should find another way to pay for it.
“I live here, and I pay a significant portion of [my wages] to the city,” Dan McFadden told me. I caught up with him during his lunch break. He says that in his opinion, the city doesn’t need a separate tax on sugary drinks.
As the industry and the City of Philadelphia prepare to face off in court, the legal arguments are strictly economic. The hotly debated issue of whether a soda tax is a good way to help nudge people towards healthier behaviors is not part of the argument.
Still, many eyes are on Philly.
The World Health Organization has called on nations around the globe to enact taxes on sugary beverages. And Bloomberg Philanthropies says raising taxes on sugary beverages can be part of the strategy to “reduce consumer demand for unhealthy foods and beverages, improve the food environment, and make healthier choices easier for everyone.”
And many other public health advocates support the City in its legal battle to keep the beverage tax in place.
Fifteen national organizations including the American Heart Association and the American Medical Association filed a friend-of-the court brief with the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.
“The evidence is clear that sugary drinks are a major contributor to the increasing rates of type 2 diabetes and heart disease,” reads a joint statement from the organizations.
“Philadelphia’s tax on sugary drinks has the potential to change lives for the better – preventing chronic disease and extending quality of life by simply incentivizing families to choose health,” the brief concludes.
People who understand global dynamics can be nothing but alarmed. All the rest don’t understand the words.
Many of Trump’s supporters make vigorous arguments about how he’s going to fix their country. That’s all well and good, but they don’t seem to give thoughtful analysis to, and acknowledgment of, the risks and consequences from these serious decisions regarding military action around the world. That’s being out of touch.
Donald Trump’s personality shows clear signs that he will be on a mission to gain street cred as soon as possible, from Day 1 in the Oval Office. He has forced himself into this position of dangerous impulse with his grandiose statements and promises.
As Trump realizes the wheels of the biggest changes (his glory moments) don’t move as fast he wants, he will seek out any, and all options, to act out, and fill, his driven need, if not obsession, to show strength and power, and to be applauded by an audience.
He will find those clearest options in war, because that’s what Trump does. In his narrow business, and obsolete, adversarial salesman’s mind, life is always a war. Its black and white. There’s a winner and a loser, and a (Trumpian-branded) simplistic strategy of how to prevail.
He has already sold his soul to Putin, and even he must know the Middle East quagmire has no returns for him. East Asia is the place for him. Its the place that Trump will try to show he’s king of the schoolyard, and in charge of all the chalk lines. This is too dangerous for words. ISIS and the Middle East are skirmishes compared to the risk of armed conflict in this part of the world. The entire Pacific Rim is at risk from military maneuvers here.
North Korea, and China, are problematic. From the nuclear situation and the developing South China Sea controversy, both of them have engaged in little more than patronizing diplomacy. This is not the same style of quagmire of the Middle East, but its still a complicated mash up of power and insecurity, that needs to be addressed. It was bound to test one American President or another eventually.
I am sure that Barack Obama is happy to leave behind these two complex dynamics on someone else’s plate, but as a human being, and a citizen of this country with a family, he has to be concerned of what will come of it.
East Asia needs to be dealt with. Whether Trump is the right American President to do it will come clear soon enough. Its sitting there right in full view, waiting for him to make his move. For him, it may be the easiest move of all. Its what he’s built for. Trump does war.
With his election to President of the United States, Donald Trump, amazingly, has risen higher than most of us, maybe even he, thought he ever could. President of the United States, Donald Trump! If anybody thought his insatiable ego was through the roof before, it is stratospheric now. Putting aside the real inner soul motivations of Trump and his fluid and contradictory ideologies, there is one thing that is true without question. This man has displayed the most impressive skill of aggrandizing his id and ego that any public figure has shown in, well, you tell me when it happened last. I don’t have a personal witness reference, but the comparisons I can imagine disturb me greatly. They are not known to end well.
This morning, I heard a young HRC supporter crying hysterically on public radio. She struggled to catch her breath as she tried to squeeze out the fractured words of her heartbreak and the devastation she felt from this loss of a candidate she was so sure would prevail. The hurt, confusion and fear poured out of this young woman, as I imagine it would, from many more of us who have experienced profound loss after working heroically to prevent it. It is an injury that takes long to heal before a first lesson can be learned. This little snippet of an interview that I heard, was a poignant moment in my morning that touched me more deeply than I expected.
If Donald Trump had lost, there would have been anger, bombast, accusations, denial, and maybe violence. Hillary Clinton’s loss creates a sadness and nearly paralytic desolation in the Democratic party, with its supporters and campaigners, that today, seems insurmountable. I heard it in the young woman’s cracking voice. She is just one voice of millions more who feel the same.
Its okay to be dumbfounded. Its okay to be shell-shocked, catatonic, dazed, and numb. There is no other way to feel for a Hillary Clinton supporter, a Democratic party supporter, a progressive left supporter. There is no other way to feel but completely broadsided and slammed down to the mat, by a force you didn’t see coming. Its that bad.
I no longer want to analyze the Trump phenomenon, or try to make sense of his election. Candidates make missteps in campaigns, taking states or demographics for granted, overreacting to others, misreading poll numbers, or missing electorate messages entirely. The same held true this cycle. Given all of these repeating factors, most of us on the Left and Right were long convinced of our justifications and character portrayals of both 2016 candidates. Party loyalties are usually predictable. What’s most significant beyond the obvious blow of the Republican party taking power in the Presidency, Senate, and House, is the stark racial and economic makeup of Donald Trump’s strongest supporters. White men, and even more white women, without college, who are (apparently) willing to live with an authoritarian President, not to mention a Republican controlled agenda. Huge swaths of this country’s lower and middle class white populations were/are hell bent on disruptive political change regardless of Supreme Court nominations, gun control, women’s inequality, women’s right to choose, campaign finance reform, lopsided tax breaks for wealthy elites and big businesses, and positively no concrete plan articulated by their candidate to address their needs, or a potential overseas conflict.
If Trump were a different man, or just another Conservative, or Moderate Republican, he might be less scary, or repugnant, but to all but the most blindly in denial (most of his supporters apparently) he clearly shows traits of a racist, misogynistic demagogue. He is also, just as clearly, ill prepared in temperament, instincts, and intelligence about national economics, and of world affairs, to make any methodical and thoughtful decisions about policy or legislation in the U.S., or with potential interventions abroad. Some have said he will surround himself with others who will properly inform his decisions in these areas. But is this the kind of President we want leading this country? A man who has no personal grounding on deeply complicated world and national issues, who will simply drop these decisions to a fleet of advisors and pivot at a moment’s notice?
If our President is incapable of finding his own way in so many complex decisions that will have to be made in office, why should we have confidence that he will surround himself with the right people to advise him to begin with? Observe the choices he has made already of the people who have run and advised his campaign. Chris Christie, Rudy Giuliani, and Newt Gingrich are a loser’s gallery of has-been, or discredited politicians who have devolved into bizarre talking rage heads, with complimentary indictable scandals. And while we are at it, lets top it off with Steve Bannon, another Trump advisor, who is a certified anarchist bigot white nationalist. No, I don’t feel confident that Trump will find a great group of leaders to fill the White House cabinet. It is truly a horrifying prospect.
Moving on to the evangelicals, and anti abortion advocates. There is no shortage of culpability here. Admittedly, I have not been raised in a religious household. My parents, while they were separately loosely raised Jewish and Catholic, did not feel the need to indoctrinate me and my sister in any faith. Still, I know the strengths of religious and spiritual community, and I understand them. Family cohesion, a shared belief system, a structure of viewing life and meaning through certain respects and values of life. I get it. But, when a religious scepter is used as an immovable object blocking even the most obvious rational decision that might be problematic to a single (politically loaded) component of its belief system, then that belief system is defective, and the blocking is hypocritical. The higher road a truly evolved religion could have taken in this election, would have been to spend genuine time critically thinking about the pros and cons of Donald Trump, and how justified compromise might have been called for, instead of blindly voting for him only because he might create an opening to overturn abortion. If a religious block of voters chooses to support a racist, misogynistic, demagogue candidate who might destabilize the entire country, and perhaps even cause global havoc, just because they “might,” however unlikely, get a shot at restoring laws against abortion, then keep me as far away from that religion as possible. Disgraceful behavior from this group.
The other voting blocks that pushed Trump into office don’t seem to care if he fails, or makes things worse, as long as he got elected.. Their vote was a go-for-broke means to an end. They are driven to blow up the system at all costs with nothing more than a vague notion that it will all turn out good in the end. When exactly is that end? Two years? Three? Four? With the next President? The one after that? Will it happen after a Conservative Supreme Court dismantles and neuters a growing healthcare system insuring 20 million people? After big businesses finally and completely embed themselves into our politics, when the middle class is reduced to ashes? What’s the timeline that makes this giant stink bomb they dropped worth all of the downside in the short run? For those who needed change and optimism in the lives the most, their impulse to vote for this man was recklessly impulsive, and ultimately, self-destructive.
There are people in Trump’s camp, the wealthier groups, perhaps even the loudest voices at times who have all their financial security intact, all their privileges, but still pound the drum to blow up the system, kick over the tables, smash the windows because it just feels cool to them. They want to feel part of something disruptive. What’s sad, and selfish from this group, is they give no real thought to the people who could be tragically victimized by a Trump agenda, Innocent and hard working immigrants, minorities. Any of the twenty-million people benefiting from health care for the first time in their lives. Women, and working families who would have been guaranteed a sincere effort from Hillary Clinton. People who have studied and worked tirelessly to address our planet’s ecological and global warming issues. Businesses of all sizes and individuals who worked hard to create reputable, non-exploitative futures for themselves in fair trade practices. So much more…
The majority of Democrats foresaw a grim fallout of a Trump Presidency and Conservative rule in Washington. I’m bleary and weary from this mess of all messes. What I will do, and suggest to those of you similarly despondent, is to proceed to the next day, and the day after that, living your life, hoping that Donald Trump’s decision making does not adversely affect you within the next four, or possibly more years of your life. I am grateful for any protection and buffer I have in my life that might keep me from being personally victimized too badly from his tenure. I ask those of you who might also be protected somewhat, to be grateful as well. I can’t predict what, who, or how much victimization there will be ahead, but, there will be definite losers.
The people who will lose from this outcome, whether sooner, or later, deserve our empathy, our compassion. Be thankful if you are not one of them, and support those less fortunate as best you can from whatever position you find for yourself in this really stressful future this country is about to face. 🙁 🙁
The outcries against Hillary Clinton are loud and clear. Excluding the obvious Trump supporter, Hillary’s most vocal detractors are roughly divided amongst three groups, some of which can overlap.
1) Lowly educated voters, “some” of whom, are racists, misogynistic, and/or, isolationist xenophobes, who have next to zero awareness of who she is, and has been, in her life and career, beyond biased media, conspiracy and hate groups.
2) Mainstream Republicans, Democrats, or Independents, who otherwise understand politics, global and national events, and the responsibilities of governing.
3) Disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporters, and all other truly uncommitted voters, who may, or may not, overlap into categories #1, or #2, who do not like any major candidate.
Category 1 speaks for itself. Category 2 has shown a tendency to coalesce in Hillary’s direction, as either a full supporter, or a begrudging one in choosing the lesser of two evils. Category 3 is in play. This group in Category 3 may either sit out the election, or vote for the Libertarian or Green Party candidate who will appear on the ballot.
On Not Voting:
I’m not interested in bullying people to vote if they are so turned off of a candidate they can’t possibly fathom him/her in public office. But, that does not preclude you, the registered voter, and citizen of your country, from doing all you can do to understand what is going in your country politically, should you decide you can’t vote. Speak out. Shout out. Create a group. Build support for your case, instead of musing, or fuming about it to one or two people in your tight circles. In short, if you don’t want to vote, and hate everyone who is running, then try and do something about it. That’s what our forefathers did. That’s how its done. It is not done by not doing anything. It is not done by waiting for someone else to do something. It is done by doing something on your own. Something to demonstrate that you care enough to put some work into your beliefs that you believe are threatened. If you don’t think you have the capacity, nor time to do something like this, and you still do not vote, then I am sorry to tell you that you are shirking your duty, and your obligation, as a citizen of this country.
If you do not vote, you need to do something to make a meaningful step towards changing whatever it is that keeps you from voting. Organizing and speaking out to groups is one of the most effective ways. Politics is the same thing. Its nothing more than a structure of presenting ideas to the masses. The loudest voices, and the boldest ideas, get attention. If you believe in something, this is what you do. If you wait around for somebody else to throw their voice and weight around, and you don’t vote, and you don’t speak out to groups and try to build your own case, your own coalition, you have to accept that you are part of the reason someone else gets there.
Two hundred thousand people died in the American Revolution. Tens of millions more have died since defending it, and fighting what they believed in. Died. They gave their lives. If you don’t like things now, and you don’t want to vote, how about putting in an effort to create a community group to discuss ideas to improve your neighborhood. your town, or city? Put your ideas on paper. Develop your own political ideas platform, and garner support amongst friends, neighbors, and most importantly, doing this outside your immediate comfort zones, and geography. Do something that shows you care about being an American, a citizen of life around you, more than just benefitting from the work of the others.
Political activism need not describe a special category of individual that only pursues aggressive activity in the name of a cause, if you do vote. Voting in itself is a form of activism. Its a minimum, but the mere act of voting says something about you. It says you think about the process, about the candidate, and have made a decision about political leadership, as it relates to who you are, and your values. It may be that you have done this on a bare minimum level, for better or worse, but it does show you care enough to calculate the net result of choosing a particular person for office, to take the time to go to the polls and vote.
On Protest Voting:
This year there are four candidates on the Presidential ballot. Two from one of the major parties who will take power and run the presidency. And two from fringe parties, Libertarian, and Green.
The concept of an expanded party system, whether Independent, Green, Libertarian, or some other, is interesting, and as shown with Bernie Sanders’ successful movement, has measurable potential to affect the national political conversation, and subsequent policy decisions. Conversely, once the nomination process is complete, the idea of voting for a candidate running for public office who has no chance of being elected, as a protest against the other candidates, has to be one of the most boneheaded meaningless moves of any nation’s citizens. I’ll go further. It’s lazy, thoughtless, and irresponsible. It is better to not vote at all, and become a real activist to change the system, if that’s your point. But, if you do that, be prepared to work extra hard as an activist in order to legitimize your stated position, and also live with the potential consequences of having a very poor candidate take office due to your refusal to vote.
In the case of this year’s U.S. Presidential election, a protest vote is outright dangerous because of (pathetic as it is) the possibility of it causing an election of an incompetent, incoherent, inexperienced, lying fraud to the office.
No matter how much you dislike both major candidates who can be elected, if, in the final weeks before election day, all poll results and aggregated information conclude that victory is plausible for a candidate who is considered, by all rational perceptions, if not your own instincts, dangerously unfit for the Presidency, based on an unbiased, verified, current and historical record, you must do everything in your power to prevent that victory.
CLIPPED OUT: Speaking out to groups, or crowds, if you can swing that, as a non voter, has been famously done by George Carlin. George Carlin had a stage, literally, to make his case, but you don’t need to be a celebrity, or a comic to speak out to groups. Still, it takes some effort, just as it did for Carlin to build his career.
After Trump’s really awkward and 100% phony trip to Mexico, followed by the insufferable speech in Arizona, I have finally reached my personal end point with following the activity of this stunningly incompetent clown! I felt it was important to keep tabs on him just to watch how his mind worked as we get ever closer to the election. Call it due diligence, or the observational journalist in me. No more.
I am so done with this guy. He’s got nothing to say. Nothing but slogans or attacks, and pandering, all day long. “Build the Wall! We’re Gonna Be Great! Crooked Hillary!” Two months from election day, he’s got no substance, or ideas on policy developed on our nation’s issues or challenges, logged online, or distributed to anyone, anywhere. He’s just got nothing.
If he has any ounce of mental forethought, or any sense of awareness of the profound weakness in his political position at this moment in his life, he will do the right thing, and withdraw from the debates, and the race, allowing the RNC to bring in a suitable replacement, before he makes this political year any more embarrassing, than it already is.
I have written here before in posted essays, and in comment threads describing the complexities about how and why this man got nominated. I have given his supporters a break in their judgement due to their exasperated personal situations, and/or, their irreversible cynicism. I have acknowledged that many people in our country are true racists, or bigots, and many of them are Trump people, who will follow him off a cliff, as followers do with a cult leader. I have also stated that many Trump supporters are not these things. It is those people I write to here.
People! Wake up from your haze! Shake it off, and get the hell off the insane bandwagon you are on. I know you all hate Hillary Clinton, and she deserves to be questioned, but she’s not an incompetent empty vessel, who has the political brain and thinking process of a sixteen year old. Trump’s business acumen has nothing to do with political viability. Even so, his so-called business talent has been many times revealed as mostly an exploitative loudmouth and big risk taker, with no solid values of integrity or fair practices. Do some research on this man outside of the slanted orbit of his surrogates’ propaganda. Listen to others beyond his protective family, who have known him, and have had substantive relationships with him in the past. This is all on the record, if you choose to read up on it.
So you hate Hillary. So hate her. Stay home then. Don’t vote. Or vote for Gary Johnson, if you must. (but know that if you vote for Johnson, you’re betraying your entire Trump rationale, which begs the question, WTF have you been doing all this time?) Wait this term out, and cue up for 2020. The point here is anyone who gives reasonable time to analyze and deeply observe what Donald Trump has been about, and is about, can NOT vote for this man to be President of the Untied States. This man is beyond historically incompetent to hold the Presidency. He is a danger to the national security of our country.
It is my position, that those who are not outright racists, who support Trump, have simply not done their homework, or are living in a sealed bubble with no desire to poke through. They have not studied this man outside of his shallow speeches. It is my belief that the vast majority of his supporters have not listened to any other credible, thoughtful, non-network media associated opinions, nor writers, journalists, nor commentators outside the echo chambers of his own acolyte world and Conservative media. They have claimed not to have the time to do anything but watch one cable news TV station-Fox, one conservative talk radio station. They have claimed that every other media outlet but these, are biased, and part of a liberal or Democratic conspiracy.
People! Political partisanship exists. You think its in the media? DUH! Its everywhere! That’s exactly the reason, you, and we, have no choice but to explore as many news and reporting outlets and sources, from both sides, as we can. If for no other time in our lives, then at least, during important election periods. Our country deserves more investment of our time, as citizens, than an easy, lazy (yes, its lazy.) surrender to one or two, shallow, and yes, “often”, very partisan media sources. You don’t trust media? Fine! I don’t blame you. Don’t trust media. But, that includes Fox News. That includes Rush Limbaugh. So dig deeper! And don’t trust anything, or anybody who is loud and angry before they are anything else. That’s the dead giveaway of bias.If that’s all you want, then reap what you sow. Today, if you’re after more than just echos, you have to work at it more than flipping on a TV or reading the internet’s first search returns.
Truth is out there, if you work the mines to get it out.
As much as I am embarrassed by the support this guy already has, if he goes on to the debates, and stays in this race, he will do nothing but embarrass himself, and this country even more. He will then lose whatever little credibility he still has left. He will get walloped in the election so bad, that even his legendary celebrity status may not recover. I’m actually counting on him to figure this out at the 11th hour, and finally pull out, which ironically, would solidify his mythical stature. That is exactly where he belongs. As a myth. >MB
UPDATE: Trump was elected President. Read more of what happened in future posts.
All sweetened drinks in Philadelphia are taxed, including those with artificial sweeteners.
