Masters of War

40 days to go...

Donald Trump hates me. He no doubt thinks I'm a loser. To him, I'm a part of the radical left (hardly). I'm sure he thinks I should live in a Blue State (yes, but better yet, in a different country where things haven't yet gone to hell).

But if you're one of his supporters, he hates you too. You're just a means to an end for him. 

He craps on a gold toilet and doesn't care if you are using an outhouse, because he thinks you're disgusting and that's just fine. Despite what he says about the poorly educated, he really has no time for you and you think that's cool. He knows you are stupid enough to still vote for him even if he shoots someone in the middle of 5th Avenue - and of course you will. He can tell 20,000 lies, and he knows you are ignorant enough to not care. He can learn that Russia puts bounties on American soldiers and not respond, and because he is beholden to Putin -- and you are beholden to him -- he knows you think that's just OK. He can ignore the danger of COVID-19 and downplay it, and even though 200K are dead, he knows it means little to nothing to you - an besides, it's all a hoax to you. Former military folks warn that Trump is a danger to the country -- but because he could shit on a plate, tell you its pudding and that you would ask for seconds, it doesn't matter to you. He can literally conspire with a foreign country to influence a U.S. election, and well, hey, no big deal to you. Obstruction of justice is a common thing for him, and well, he's smart enough to get away with it. He divides this country every day with incendiary talk, and well, those libs have it coming. His kids stole money from a cancer charity, but aren't they just presidential material in your eyes? He is dumb, really dumb, and a conman, but at least he isn't one of those educated eggheads, right? He's been credibly accused of sexual assault by 26 different women, but he sure seems to be a man's man to you. He's looking to cut social security and Medicare, but your racism is more important than your welfare or your country's welfare.

He hates the same people you do, and by golly, that's just fine.

And there is a lot more.

Maybe I hate Trump too....but it's more likely that I hate you, the Trump supporter. After all, it's you that you have put us in this mess.

Trump is the symptom. You are the cause. The country is diseased, broken. maybe terminal.

Thanks America.

You ain't a beauty but hey you're all right

54 days to go...

I don't love Joe Biden. He's another old white guy, emphasis on old. He regularly puts his foot in his mouth. He's made his share of insensitive remarks over the years. He's too old. He doesn't come from a swing state. He's old. He's boring, in a positive way.

Did I mention he's old?

I do like that he just the sort of steadying presence we need. He won't rock the boat. I wouldn't call him a Progressive, but he falls just enough to the left of center to start to right a ship that has taken on so much water that the country is drowning. Don't give me this crap about Joe defunding the police, or him being part of the radical left. 

He's not Trump or part of the festering slime that is today's Republican Party.

Actually, that might be his biggest selling point. After all, a ham sandwich is preferable to what we have now. I'm not exaggerating. 

The chaos happening right now is under one person's watch - and one sycophant party. 

I may not love Joe, but I like him enough. And that's all right with me.

I felt like I was carrying the broken spirits

55 days to go...

Growing up, I never heard anyone in my family talk about politics in my house; the lone time was when my mom said something negative about Harry Truman. And although I assumed my parents were Republicans, my grandmother kept a photo of FDR on her TV. When I asked her about it, she said, "That's the man who gave me my Social Security."

Me, I've always felt some superiority in declaring myself an Independent. I've been AC/DC in my voting patterns, voting for both parties throughout the years.

However, the Republican Party has sold it's soul in these Trump Times. The party of small government and fiscal responsibility is now one of white nationalism, guns, Evangelical Christianity and hate. 

This is all the result of Trump; he fans the flames with his ignorance, corruption, treason and hate-mongering. I can't see myself visiting that side of the ballot anytime soon.

This, from the Washington Post:

"He has welcomed Russian election help; called white supremacists “very fine people”; put children in cages; gotten impeached for trying to blackmail an ally into helping him politically; kowtowed to Vladimir Putin and avowed his love for Kim Jong Un; unleashed security forces on peaceful protesters; fomented violence; espoused insane conspiracy theories; refused to say that he would accept the election results; and, most recently, urged his fans to vote twice in violation of the law. He has erased every red line, and none of it seems to matter to his base."

And this is just the tip of the Trump iceberg.

And I remain shocked that so many people are OK with this. People I thought I respected. People who I thought were reasonable, thoughtful, caring people. The fact that these people are OK with any of this saddens me to no end. 

All my life, I thought our system of government and checks and balances would protect us from a mad man and a party gone awry. 

At least that was The Promise.

Stop, hey what's that sound

56 days to go....

When I wrote this shortly after the Trump inauguration, I honestly thought that over time, people would tire of an unfit clown. I thought that even base his would realize the errors of their ways and understand that the country can do better than this.

I was wrong. And how. The fact that this guy, even after a pandemic, impeachment, bullying, treason and 20,000 lies, still might win, says so much of  how far we have fallen. It's so depressing, so bewildering.

I hate Trump and everything he stands for.

But I hate his brain-dead supporters even more.

To want four more years of this chaos, this stupidity, this overwhelming sense that everything is off the rails, is staggering. I will never understand this. I will never understand how friends - and relatives - have bought into this. And accuse me of have Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Yeah, maybe I do. Because I haven't lost my mind.

I feel hopeful some days, terror others. Today, leaning toward wondering how we survive this.

For what it's worth.

57 Channels (or days) and the country on the line

Has it really been three years?

According to the calendar, yes. So why post now?

Well, I took a long hiatus from this, thinking maybe I had said everything I wanted to say. And maybe I had.

But with a most consequential election coming up in 57 days, I think it's time for me to express my thoughts. So if the unthinkable happens, I want my kids to have a first-hand account of the tragedy. And if by some good fortune and the country's descent into fascism is at least delayed, well, we'll have some thoughts on that as well.

Biden vs. Trump - 57 days away.

Here we go.