A Royal Mess

We have to tell ourselves every day that this is as temporary as the removeable gilding on the oval office.

Dear friends, 

You’ve probably noted that I’ve gone on a little hiatus in my writing. 

I’ve been thinking. 

I now feel duty bound to write something about the slop bucket of recent actions by the current President of the United States and the assembled clown car of sycophants that he has hired to carry his train and tell us that his naked ass is fully clothed. 

But where to begin. Where to begin. 

It has been the strategy since day 1 of Trump 2.0 to fill the air with so many missiles that our emotional defenses can’t keep up; to throw so much spaghetti on the walls that a prioritized reaction is impossible; to run his little hand down every shelf of the supermarket, so that “clean up in aisle 1” is an inadequate response. 

However, as hard as it is, my greater fear is that my grandchildren will someday align this blog with a chronology of current events and ask, “Why didn’t Popsie say anything in the midst of the mayhem?” 

Or more precisely, “what did my parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles do to protect American freedom when it was most at risk?” 

That is why I am sitting at this blank screen this Friday morning. 

To be honest, it has been blank for a while now. 

My first thought is that violence that has been distant and only visible on grainy declassified video, has tragically become violence (read murder) against our own citizens carrying out their First Amendment right to assembly and free speech.   

From an unnecessary war in Iraq forward, we have become immune to distant video of missile strikes and bombing of targets that look like computer games rather than the killing of real people. The daily video feed of drone strikes on speeding boats showing America’s muscular “war on drugs” is the President’s current shiny object. Please remember that the US Congress voted on our attack on Iraq. Based on false evidence, it was a vote that has haunted the careers of many who walked into the well of the House and Senate to cast their lot in October of 2002. 

In the Trump wars there are key differences. 

The evidence is not presented. A vote is not taken. The insane contradictions are only fielded by the President’s robotic press secretary whose voice has become a close second to Trump’s as a sound I avoid whenever I can. 

The inconvenient truths are that the cocaine allegedly on the boats coming out of Venezuela are going to Europe, not the US. The action flies in the face of the “no more support for Europe” foreign policy recently announced and has no impact on the fentanyl that is killing Americans at a rate of 2:1 over cocaine. 

But it makes great MAGA TV.  

Until it doesn’t. 

Everything was rapidly declassified and put on the air until, uh oh, this one shows defenseless mariners clinging to wreckage and a second strike, (45 minutes later) documents a clear war crime. The term “murder” comes to mind. 

Roll the tape forward to a street scene in Minneapolis, MN where an SUV driven by a mother of three is temporarily blocking traffic. America and the world watch what happens next. I don’t need to repeat it here. 

The President, the Secretary of Homeland Security (dressed like Yosemite Sam), the Vice President, and Stephen Miller, all tell us not to believe our eyes, not to listen to professional law enforcement, and not to read current written policies on de-escalation and use-of-deadly-force that were violated that day. 

Before the victim’s body was in the hospital she had been labelled a domestic terrorist and the ICE agent identified as the victim. It is an insult to the intelligence of anyone who has seen that video to believe those pronouncements. 

Insulting. 

That is the word that most frequently comes to mind in the statements and actions of this President and his skittering nest of apologists. 

“It’s about the drugs and not the oil.” 

“Affordability is a hoax.” 

“Your life is better” (because I say it’s better). 

“We are close to an agreement on...(fill in the blank).” 

“I have the authority to...(fill in the blank).” 

“I hardly knew...(fill in the blank).” 

And by far my favorite of all time. “I am a stable genius.” 

The infuriating thing is the long list of obvious lies that we are supposed to believe. You don’t have to be a genius to be insulted. From children (unmotivated by a 401K) to thinking adults (able to balance their recent gains in the stock market with the difference between right and wrong) the utter insanity of 80% of what comes out of Trump’s mouth is breathtaking. In addition, it is chaotic because it is designed to be chaotic. 

I am finding that for my own mental health, I can’t make it immersive. I must ask myself everyday how much I wish to read or hear? The balance between being an informed citizen and a discouraged, angry human being is delicate these days. We should admit it to ourselves and look for those happy life opportunities to keep us strong for the road ahead.  

It’s hard to imagine that the vast majority of what we are seeing is reversible. I believe that it is. While the US Constitution has never gotten the stress test that it is undergoing today, I still believe it is resilient. 

New congressional leadership can reassert the Article 1 powers in concert with a sane President. The Department of Justice can again become an independent agency whose integrity is its brand. Ed Levi did it under Gerald Ford after it was weaponized by John Mitchell for Richard Nixon. Foreign aid, environmental stewardship, a national vision for public education, and many other American ideals can be rebuilt. Easy? No. Doable? Yes. 

Remember how much Trump damaged our standing around the world in his first term? Joe Biden had reestablished that trust within the first two years of his term. It will take the right President, the right Secretary of State, and the right congressional leadership. But in the long sweep of history, the repairs of alliances are too numerous to count. 

Oh, and the gold can come off the walls in a week.  Trump’s name can come off the Kennedy Center, the Institute of Peace, and whatever other temporary legacies he labels before 2028. As for the monstrosity of a ballroom and the Arc de Trumph, private money is putting them up and private money can tear them down. They'll have tens of thousands of volunteers willing to swing a sledgehammer or drive a bulldozer to help get the job done.  And once Trump and his minions are out of power, there will be some Republicans in that line of volunteers. 

As of today, it is 291 days until the mid-term elections. While we need to be vigilant in our get out the vote plans and our protection of the process, don’t be distracted by the “do we even need an election” comments of the President. It is a state, not a federal process, and we will have a national election in 2026.

Take all of your frustration, fear, and anger and aim them at Tuesday, November 3. The goal will be to flip the House and (depending on what happens in Alaska) navigate the narrow path to flip the Senate. If the race is safe in your home state, there are airplanes leaving every day for states that need your volunteer hours and would welcome your participation. 

Of three things you can be certain. Trump's insanity will continue. He will not be held accountable by the current House and Senate leadership. And I will keep up the drumbeat for electoral action and protection of your sanity.