17 VIII 2020: Nuts and Saboteurs

Nuts: I’ve been reading about Marjorie Taylor Greene, a racist and Qanon enthusiast who won a Republican primary in Georgia and is likely to win the coming election to the House of Representatives. She was swept in by a “perfect storm”: racist, Qanon, Republican, and in Georgia. Any one of these could assure a nut-case of election in any Confederate state.

Some Republican members of the House have expressed their dismay at having a loony- bigot-demagogue in their ranks, but they are, in fact, inured to this, having put up with the ill-named Freedom Caucus for all these years. And there are others. Is anyone crazier or sleazier than Devin Nunes, Coach Jim Jordan, or Louis Gohmert? I think Ms Greene is part of the Republican anti-feminist plan to quell feminism by electing foolish women.

Saboteurs: I’ve read about the USPS and its new Postmaster Louis DeJoy. His only imaginable qualification is that he will do whatever Trump tells him. Trump admits to a plan to tilt the election in his favor by sabotaging the postal service, and Louis DeJoy is his saboteur. Of course, he is only the latest of Trump appointees who have been chosen to collaborate in the subversion of the departments over which they are placed. When the day comes, I hope to see not only Trump prosecuted, but also all of his saboteurs and wreckers like DeJoy — Trump could not have done so much vandalism without these little women and men.

15 VIII 2020: The crazies are running the asylum

I had thought that the only big magazine we had to worry about was the one Stormy Daniels had used to paddle our President’s butt by way of foreplay. But I just read that a federal court of appeals has declared unconstitutional the California law that forbids ownership of high capacity magazines to any but the police. So, if I can’t buy a magazine that holds 30 or more rounds my god-given 2nd amendment rights are being violated, and not only my gun rights, but even my right to defend myself when, as so often, I am threatened by crowds, especially crowds of children in schools.

Collective insanity drives one more nail into America’s coffin. Has any other country ever destroyed itself to maintain a delusion of security and to provide big magazines to cheer up a lot of men who can no longer always get it up?

Too many movies, that’s what I think. Housewives have seen it on film, and they know all you have to do when you feel threatened is empty a couple of magazines into the thugs and rapists. And the guys! They are itching to defend their little aluminum-siding castles down to the last magazine. Meantime, they brag to the other guys about their gun collections and feel a hint of a hard-on when they do.

No wonder the Home of the 2nd Amendment is The Land of Unhinged Violence too. 

14 VIII 2020: Doesn’t have to be Mt. Rushmore

Mr. Trump’s bid to have his face carved on Mt. Rushmore has encountered a lot of opposition. I’ve made my views on the matter known, so there’s no need to say more about it.

However, a brilliant idea has come to me. Let’s put Trump on Stone Mountain in Georgia along with Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and their horses. That monument was supported by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and by the newly-revived Ku Klux Klan. The Klan had its inaugural meeting on the top of Stone Mountain with flag, Bible, and 16-foot burning cross. 

What a good fit! The Stone Mountain monument is said to be the largest bas-relief sculpture in the world, the perfect site for megalomaniac Trump. It displays the constellation of segregationist heroes, so it would be fitting to put Trump, who ran on a segregationist platform, up there as well. Problem is, think what you may of them, Lee, Jackson, and Davis were men of education and refinement, and I reckon they would be unrecoverably embarrassed to have Trump in their midst. 

But if we cannot manage to get Trump onto Stone Mountain, I think we should have a look at some of the ancient bas-reliefs that display the savagery of Assyria’s kings, and see if there is a way to squeeze Trump onto one of them. The museums that preserve these sculptures might object, but we can’t please everyone. Indeed, even Trump will be unhappy at not having centerstage on the relief, but think how he will be thrilled to be in the company of those strongmen of absolute power and cruelty.

10 VIII 2020: Mt. Rushmore

I understand Mr. Trump thinks his face should be carved on Mt. Rushmore along with Washington, Jefferson, T. Roosevelt, and Lincoln. Why not? Mt. Rushmore is an eyesore anyway, that shows contempt for the beautiful countryside all around it, rather like the initials that people carve into scenic wonders or holy buildings. It is a garish display of America’s megalomania and political idolatry that can’t be hidden. The presidents on Mt. Rushmore, I understand, were chosen to represent the country’s birth, growth, development, and preservation. I cannot say anything against Mr. Lincoln. But one might view Washington as representing acceptance of slavery, Jefferson as representing the plundering of North America, and Roosevelt as representing jingoistic imperialism. What, then, would Trump’s face represent? Deceit, immorality, criminality, cruelty, racism, headlong self-aggrandizement, and utter indifference to the welfare of the people. But in fact, whatever their faults, the presidents on Mt. Rushmore were well-intentioned leaders who can be seen to represent generations of Americans of good will. America’s diversity could be asserted by adding Trump, for he can represent all that’s wrong about America. His face could also serve as a warning to future generations of what can happen when citizens vote with their fears and not with their minds.

4 VIII 2020: Can the United States be a democracy?

The Trump Era has brought to attention the extent of the willful ignorance, gullibility, and insanity that I had always feared were there, but tried to ignore. Trump has been like an ultra-violet light that reveals what is less evident under ordinary light.

The answer to the question “Can a government of the people, by the people, and for the people long endure?” would be “It depends on the people.” A viable democracy requires a people that is well-informed, that abhors deceit in private and public life, and that is duly suspicious of candidates’ use of fear tactics, whether xenophobia or any other kind of “scare,” red-scare, slave-rebellion scare, the Pope-taking-over scare, women-taking-over scare, science-scare, and simple fear of the other. The people must insist on unreserved obedience to the country’s laws. The people must place first the “general welfare,” must be zealous for the common good.

I do have to wonder if the U.S.A. has any hope of measuring up to this.

31 VII 2020: Republican Party Motto

The motto of the Republican Party was always unofficial, but now that Trump has completed the corruption of the Party, it is planned to make the motto official. The Republican Party exists to guarantee the prosperity, security, and immunity of America’s plutocrats. How can they be so successful in a democracy in which the vast majority of citizens are not plutocrats and whose best interests are not at well served by a plutocratic regime? The simple answer can be found in the Republican Party Motto which is:

There’s a sucker born every minute.      

27 VII 2020: Saving American History???

Senator Tom Cotton is emerging as a leading apologist for slavery which he called, renewing an earlier scandal, “a necessary evil.” He has introduced a bill, “The Saving American History Act of 2020,” to deny federal funding to any school that would adopt a program linked to the 1619 curriculum that examines the role of slavery in the founding of the United States.

Senator Cotton is from Arkansas, an unrepentant Confederate state, so we should not be surprised to see him stand up for “the way things were.” He mis-named, his bill to conceal its real intent, for its title should read: “The Saving the White Supremacist Version of American History Act.”

This country has two grave sins on its soul, sins for which it has yet to repent: Slavery of the Black People and Slaughter of the Indians. Yet we avoid talking about slavery except to repeat the fiction that the Civil War ended slavery. We boast of pioneers, 49ers, and homesteaders, and never think, let alone admit, that our westward expansion involved one crime against humanity after another.

I fear that Senator Cotton’s “American History” would only perpetuate the self-aggrandizement and falsifications.

24 VII 2020: Trump’s support of the pandemic; Law [sic] and Order [sic]; Never let ethics stand in your way.

1) Trump is not wholly to blame for Americans’ refusing to wear face masks, but he can and must be held responsible for the damage he has done by refusing to wear a mask and belittling the threat posed by COVID19. It occurred to me that his behavior is like that of a senior fraternity boy telling the freshmen “Real studs never use condoms.”

2) I find it paradoxical that our outlaw President, a number of whose close associates are in the clink or ought to be, and his shyster Attorney General are calling for law and order. I’m sure Trump and Barr have their fingers crossed behind their backs when they speak of law and order.

3) We read today that Trump’s ambassador to the U.K., Woody Johnson, has been caught out using abusive speech and trying, as requested by Trump, to persuade Britain to hold the British Open at one of Trump’s resorts. This is hardly surprising. I expect that most of Trump’s nominees use race- or gender-charged abusive language in private and that most of them are only too ready to work a deal for Donald. Anyone Trump selects is very likely to be a crook like him.

22 VII 2020: Trump wishes Ghislaine Maxwell well

To a question about Ghislaine Maxwell and possible involvement of Prince Andrew in Epstein’s misdeeds Pres. Trump replied: “I don’t know. I haven’t really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly. I’ve met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach. I guess they lived in Palm Beach. But I wish her well. Whatever it is. I don’t know the situation with Prince Andrew. Just don’t know. Not aware of it.” 

This is all very curious. A claim of “don’t know nuttin'” from a man who spends much of his time watching television. Trump has, of course, tried to distance himself from Epstein, but it’s obvious that they were best buds if not partners in crime.

And he wishes Maxwell well, she who ran Epstein’s string of victims. Well, he says he met her “numerous times,” so why shouldn’t he wish an acquaintance well? “I guess they lived in Palm Beach,” so he used to run into her sometimes at the supermarket and liquor store, in the better restaurants and bars. I think a little digging would reveal a much closer relationship than this.

Even if they were close friends, why should Trump make the impolitic statement that he wishes her well? Birds of a feather again! Trump, Epstein, Maxwell, and Roger Stone are all members of the semi-criminal sleaze community for whom the law is a mere inconvenience and the only real crime is getting caught.