Trump Times Entry 292 – Trump’s the New Tedious

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Trump’s the New Tedious

August 28, 2017

Bored to Distraction

I’m in that place again where it all looks the same, just a blur of Trump snark, Republican positioning and Democrats too thin to achieve wishy-washy.

You’d think headlines like “Judges remain silent as Trump pardons Arpaio” or “TRUMP ARMS THE COPS” could gain some interest, but, alas, no. It’s been two-hundred-ninety-three days since the election and the future with the Donald is clear. He’s going to do and say whatever strikes his fancy regardless of propriety or rule of law. We gave a criminal a get out of jail free card; what the fuck did we expect?

Sure, pardoning Arpaio was controversial, but was anyone surprised when Trump skipped the paperwork (and the history) and gave sheriff Joe a free pass, with no further ado? Please, we knew it was coming. And it’s just the beginning; Trump’s gonna be handing out pardons like Oprah at season’s end – a pardon for you, and a pardon for you. Hell, pardons for everyone – they were just doing their jobs.

Great.

Hope, for those of us who choose hope, comes mostly from a Republican special prosecutor who’s investigating Trump-Russian stuff and whatever else he finds along the way. Which is promising, but federal investigations take time (Watergate took 2 years) and even if Trump’s people get indicted, he could just pardon them. Whether he can pardon himself is a different question, but if pressed, expect him to try. Yeah, the near future looks just as blurry as the present.

Fuck.

Asking, “How did we get here?” doesn’t help. We been asking that question since last November. There’ve been no good answers. Though, I suspect that something’s hiding, out in the open, in those hard-core Trump Rallies – the campaign rallies the Donald keeps repeating, even now. They’re all reruns. He keeps repeating the same messages to the same people. Over and over.

Tedious.

The republic suspects the tedium is intentional. Not so much to bore us, but to make the information more easily assimilated by the slow-whitted.

There, I said it,
osv

Trump Times Entry 291 – San Francisco sans the Tyrant Speech

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San Francisco sans Tyrant Speech

Protesters wearing red and pink singing This Land Is Your Land, SF Beach 2017 – Photo: Eline Gordts, Huffington Post

August 27, 2017

Delighted

I left San Francisco several hundred years ago – or so it seems. Memories of The City, now more impressions than specifics, reveal like a Monet viewed through a sweet fog of daily burnt weed. Heavy on the feeling, light on detail – gee, that was one wife, two children and three career changes ago. Funny how detail like the scent of bay remains while the color of her eyes, her from back then, has faded. (I think blue, but picture brown or hazel – as usual, could have paid closer attention.)

Yeah, bay leaves in the air, fog in the morning, hills and tunnels everywhere – but, mostly all the smiling, delightfully different, crazy, faces. One of the few native Californians I knew once explained San Francisco with, “This is the last stop for those on the run.” The Pacific seemed dark and dangerous, but with seals making it on the offshore rocks. Beautifully contradictory, fond, impressions of a place left behind – a gentle recollection.

So, I have always been grateful to San Francisco for contributing to my story and for existing as an idea. A really good idea. And it’s heartening to see, even in the midst of the Tyrant’s reign, SF continues to exist as that idea. Yeah, and that idea prevented a pro-Trump, white supremacist, Nazi rally just by organizing a party in response. No violence was threatened, but a dozen or so drag queens did announce plans to confront the Nazi leadership in evening gowns and heels – which may have been too much for the master race leadership.

So anyway, the specter of a large counter-party, along with vastly negative national attention, persuaded the organizers of the Patriot Prayer rally to cancel their action on Saturday. Instead, hundreds showed up to protest intolerance. They brandished signs saying, “What would Mr. Rogers do?”, “Queer Resistance” and “Not on my watch”. They came in costume, they came wearing red and pink. They partied in the streets, then waked to the ocean and sang “This Land is Your Land” and “Imagine”. An American idea realized, as flamboyantly as required. Or maybe just a little more – love that place.

Over the last two-hundred-ninety-two post-election days we’ve heard so much bad, fascist revealing news. And while free speech is important and the republic is reluctant to tell anyone, even Nazis, to shut up, sometimes, for the common good, we just gotta drown the ugly voices out with gay colors, dance and childlike frivolity. Thanks San Francisco for reminding us.

Boogie on,
osv

Trump Times Entry 290 – What a Field Day for the Heat

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What a Field Day for the Heat

August 26, 2017

Disgusted

Late yesterday, as hurricane Harvey bore down on Texas, the Donald pardoned Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio. Joe, known for parading inmates around in pink underwear in his concentration camp (his words) during 100-degree heat , was convicted of criminal contempt last month for violating a court order barring his unlawful policing and racial profiling. Sheriff Joe was scheduled to be sentenced on October 5th, but I guess that won’t be happening here.

The Donald’s pardon, the first of many to come, amounts to a stamp of approval for Joe’s hideous practices and a favor to a political ally. The pardon didn’t even go through the review process, which is usually performed by the Justice Department. So, there are legal questions as to propriety of the pardon, but it will likely stand legal challenge. Given the spineless congress now in office, any political consequences to Trump’s Racist-Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free policy ain’t exactly clear.

More concerning than the pardon itself is the signal Trump’s sent to the overzealous (or just racist) law enforcement community. The “do want you want, I got your back” message is dangerous and encourages further abuse as battle lines are being drawn.

On the other hand, the pardon further identifies Trump as a racist fascist who feels entitled to ignore inconvenient laws. Though, after two-hundred-ninety-one post-election days of observing Trump’s behavior and words we know something’s happening here.

The sheriff Joe pardon strikes deep into the republic’s paranoia. We gotta stop Trump, shutdown his sound, everybody knows what’s going down.

Hooray for our side,
osv

PS-
Yes, I seem to have a song stuck in my head.

Trump Times Entry 289 – Mental Health Break

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Mental Health Break
(Not quite a poem)

August 25, 2017

Depleted

Really tired of being assaulted with tweets, rallies and Nazis over these last two-hundred-ninety consecutive post-election days. We need a Donald break and so does he.

Even, mental health professionals are breaking the “don’t diagnose the president” taboo and offering public opinions of the Donald’s behavior. Seems he displays symptoms of paranoia, antisocial personality disorder and sadism as well as narcissistic personality disorder.

So sorry, I thought he was just an asshole.

It may be his illness, but affects us all. Hell, I’m feeling it. Perhaps those professionals could step up and arrange for the Donald’s commitment – as a public service.

Sooner rather than later would be best.

The republic has special places for special cases like the Donald. The paperwork may drive us crazy, but could prove worth the effort. And for his own good.

osv
(resist)

Trump Times Entry 288 – Settle It Aaron Burr Style

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Settle It Aaron Burr Style

August 24, 2017

Cynical

While glancing through this morning’s news I noticed the boys are still feuding. As a matter of fact, the Donald’s stepped up his scuffle with Mitch McConnell by tweeting a new storm of petty insults. Yeah, the Donald’s really ticked-off because Mitch couldn’t get the votes to gut healthcare and miffed that Mitch won’t even protect his president from the senate Russia investigation. #disloyal

We all know the Donald has no tolerance for disloyalty and proves it by loyally attacking people in his own party whenever convenient. #sad #funny

Trump’s twitter sniping has been building since Trumpcare was defeated in the senate and recently Trump’s begun taking shots at Mitch in speeches. Much to the delight of Trump supporters everywhere, the Donald even got into a screaming match with Mitch during a late-night phone call. White House sources report that the Donald called Mitch about “that Russia thing” and raised voices and swearing ensued. Apparently, someone’s passionate about Russia.

Now, Mitch has started to fight back. He’s (sort of) privately said Trump does not have the chops to be president and has directed RNC cash to candidates Trump is actively opposing. It’s Ironic that Mitch is funding candidates who spoke against his healthcare bill just because Trump hates them.

Ironic, but amusing, the Donald-Mitch fight promises to escalate. It won’t be pretty.

Rather than subject the country to weeks, perhaps months, of political infighting, with Trump tweeting nasty made-up shit and, maybe, making up some childish nickname for Mitch (I fear he’ll go with something like “Mitch the Bitch” or “Turtle Boy McConnell” – yuck!) they should settle it like men did back when America was great.

Pistols at twenty paces.

Sure, it’s a bit extreme, but what the hell? There is historical precedent and both these guys favor old, traditional, American values. Think of the market value – we could pay off the national debt with tiered pay-per-view revenue. Hell, the aftermarket potential (everything from tee-shirts sales to the auction sale of the actual gun that killed whomever) could jump start a new space program or, even, provide tax credits to the rich.

We’re two-hundred-eighty-nine days into post fake election America and we need some indication of the great America, that was. A public duel could satisfy both the alt-right and alt-everyone-else. And regardless of who loses the republic would win.

Like I said – feeling cynical,
osv

Trump Times Entry 287 – Gimme That Old Time the Donald

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Gimme That Old Time the Donald

August 23, 2017

Anxious

The first step in fixing a mistake is recognizing the mistake. And I made a big one last night when I chose to watch the Donald rant to the faithful.

It was a dark sight to behold. Some pundits called his Phoenix rally off the rails, some called it frenzied, but I found it more evangelistic. The Donald preached to an adoring following. He could have said anything and they would have cheered. So, he did and so did they.

He talked about himself in both the first and third person. (Can second person characterization be far behind? I could see him, onstage talking to himself, screaming “Donald, you’re the smartest guy in the room!” as the intent crowd listened on. Hell, they’d likely chant it right back in old school church harmony.)

For a mind numbing seventy-seven minutes, Trump blundered from one topic to the next. He attacked Mitch McConnell, the media in general, CNN specifically, Jeff Flake, John McCain, obstructionist Democrats and history itself for handing him such complicated problems – #unfair. On the other hand, he did take a moment to praise Fox News and Sean Hannity. #FairandBalanced.

Trump, of course, was obliged to visit the popular “they are killing our white culture” issue, giving a wink and a nod to his Nazi supporters. #Collaborator

Trump always attacks. The crowd loves it. And last night’s crowd was happy, almost giddy – spontaneous chanting even broke out a couple times. But they didn’t get as whipped up as I expected. #Disappointing

Please don’t misunderstand, they, of course, got pretty worked up – they are Trump supporters, but unlike many previous rallies, the Donald couldn’t bring them to a screaming frenzy. This time the craziest behavior was, mostly, onstage. I guess it’s tough to get a crowd properly worked up without Hillary to kick around anymore.

You’d think that after all this time, two-hundred-eighty-eight days since elected, the Donald would have identified and vilified a substitute for Hillary. Blaming faceless organizations and other Republicans for his failures isn’t working very well – the crowd needs a clear opposition face to hate. And blaming kismet is way too abstract for the people he wants to reach.

Sure, the republic understands that Trump’s recent adoption of the Nazi “they are killing our culture” argument is very popular among the Trump faithful, but without a killer’s face the issue can’t be leveraged. And thus far, the only killer’s face is a Nazi face.

So anyway, I probably should address my mistake and stop watching Trump’s evangelistic rallies, but can’t seem to look away. Guess I’m kind of hooked, anticipating the monument Trumps starts speaking in tongues. It should be quite the dark sight to behold

Guilty pleasures,
osv

Trump Times Entry 286 – A No Ceiling, Limited, Commitment

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A No Ceiling, Limited, Commitment

August 22, 2017

Really fucking cynical

In his speech last night, the Donald told us where would be no ceiling to the number of troops and no timeline for completion of our sixteen-year-old war in Afghanistan. But there would be a limit to our patience.

In a remarkably specific statement, Trump expressed impatience with the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan and suggested consequences if they didn’t shape-up. He accused Afghanistan of corruption and Pakistan of lending sanctuary to the enemy – which may be true enough. But, publicly threatening two allies (even shifty allies) is probably not helpful. Then again, it’s not really a Trump speech unless someone gets threatened.

But after that, the Donald got quite nonspecific about everything else regarding the war and the region. He didn’t specify the consequences of not complying, didn’t talk about troop numbers or strategy and offered no goals other than victory. And he was characteristically vague about what victory would look like. In other words, it was a typical meaningless Trump speech – lots of good-guy bad-guy imagery and superlatives, but no substance, no specifics, nothing new.

Except that he’s invited India to the party.

Yes, that India, the one that hates Pakistan – the India that’s been in a virtual state of war with Pakistan since Pakistan was partitioned from British India territory. Great, the Donald’s asked nuclear armed India to help control nuclear armed Pakistan’s behavior. What could go wrong?

After observing the Donald for two-hundred-eighty-seven post-election days, the republic should not be surprised when Trump brings the worse possible people to a venue. He has an uncanny ability to select the people most likely to destroy what’s being worked on. That’s his talent.

Tired of Winning,
osv

PS-
The Donald’s opening words about American unity and how it’s required to defeat terrorism came off as a pathetic attempt to negate the division he’s created with his handling of the Nazi incident in Charlottesville. Sad, but expected.  Resist!

Trump Times Entry 285 – See-through Big Picture

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See-through Big Picture

August 21, 2017

Befuddled

My confusion may simply be the inevitable effect of these last two-hundred-eighty-six post-election days of Donald exposure. Kind of like snow-blindness, he’s too much stimuli, all cold swirling and white. Trump in the center, everything else, not exactly, orbiting – more like lemming swarms over the edge, messy, hard to look at.

And the mess keeps getting bigger and bigger as Trump incidents become too numerous to track.

Usually, when people get overwhelmed like this, they select the most important issue(s) and focus there. But, how does one choose between presidential Nazi support, presidential complicity with Russian espionage, presidential attacks on the press, the presidential cock fight with Korea, the presidential attacks on environmental preservation and the presidential assault on civil rights?

It’s like he’s metastasized; Trump’s breaking out everywhere!

Nevertheless, we’re about to experience yet another outbreak tonight when the Donald shares his plan for Afghanistan. The press predicts he’ll ask us to trust him with a new war policy. (Oh really? That’s quite the prediction. The conman’s gonna ask us to trust him?)

So, will the Donald escalate America’s longest war or will he stand down? (Republicans favor military solutions; hence, this strikes me as a stupid question. To quote Trump, “You know the answer.”)

Then again, this is the Donald, so he may do something totally random, like bomb Syria again or privatize the project. It’s hard to predict when there’s no apparent big picture. But, with no clear foreign policy goals and the State Department limping along on partial strength, diplomacy seems unlikely.

So, what the hell, tonight we pile another stick onto the Trump heap: Afghanistan. Should work out great.

The republic really needs to determine the Donald’s big picture, but every new data point just leads to more confusion and less understanding. It’s almost like the guy pulling the strings has no plan or, maybe, isn’t of sound mind. Ya know?

One few east, one flew west, one flew over the coo-coo’s nest,
osv

Trump Times Entry 284 – Dick Gregory, a Life Well-Lived

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Dick Gregory, a Life Well-Lived

August 20, 2017

Nostalgic

Dick Gregory, comedian, activist and writer died at 84 last night. Gregory was a breakthrough artist, one of the first to bring black comedy to a white audience, way back in 1960. His comedy bits were clever and provoking, he pandered to no one; his activism (he quit comedy in 1963 to peruse full time activism) was instrumental in changing the conversation about and, eventually, the very nature of America.

During his run for president in 1968 he created a marketing device called Gregory Bucks. Take a look:

I was too young to vote back then, but always made a point of picking up as many Gregory bucks as possible as I drifted from peace rallies, to civil right marches, to be-ins. They were really popular in the broke student community – not only because they carried that peace-love-kumbaya message, but because they were close enough to real to fool the dollar bill change machines of the time. The Treasury Department seized most of the Gregory bucks before the end of the year, but for a few brief months they were free money, four quarters a shot. Good times.

Two-hundred-eighty-five days ago a minority of the voters forced the Donald upon us to make America great again, but now seem intent upon taking us back to the America before Dick Gregory was an activist. Not so much great, but rather phony, fake like Gregory bucks, but without optimistic message.

I like to think that, if still with us, Dick would likely joke about about how we go around in circles, but follow up with observing that the Donald is about as real as the 1968 Gregory bucks, but without even temporary small change value.

Thank you Dick Gregory, guess we’ll take it from here,
osv
 

Trump Times Entry 283 – Bannon be Gone

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Bannon be Gone

August 19, 2017

Meh, unimpressed

While yesterday was Steve Bannon’s last day as Senior Adviser to the Donald, don’t think for a moment he’s gone. Sure, Steve won’t be darkening the White House with his mere presence anymore, but, as one of the intellectually elite reporters on PBS observed, “Bannon and Trump both have a cell phones – and they been on mutual speed dial or over a year.”

Yeah, the Donald may be pissed off at Steve right now, but time will dull the breakup pain and one morning Trump will wake up in need of the kind encouragement only a cartoon right-wing populist can give. And when the phone rings Bannon will answer his president.

Until then, Steve will spend his time trolling us with his hysterical media monstrosity, Breitbart News. We can expect the Breitbart stories to get even zanier now that Steve’s no longer constrained by the politics and propriety required when employed as White House senior staff. (Yeah, that’s right, for the last seven months Breitbart’s been constrained, limited, because Steve was taking it easy on us. But now, no more mister nice guy. To quote Steve, “I’ve got my hands back on my weapons.”)

Trump could only take two-hundred-eighty-four days of post-election Steve Bannon before realizing the relationship was just too much work. So finally, the Donald dumped Bannon – onto us. Steve’s gonna be mad and he’ll need to express that anger. He no longer has White House staff to yell at; so, that leaves us. Thanks Donald!

The republic eagerly awaits Steve Brannon’s come-back season at Breitbart. We expect new soul shattering lows from the master of digital shit fiction, but don’t expect any change in the what’s left of our federal government. The problem with the Trump administration isn’t Steve Bannon or any other (asshole) staff member – the problem’s the Donald.

He’ll just hire another racist,
osv