A Hopeless End to a Hopeless Year

 

What we have here is your classic good news/bad news scenario.

The good news: 2018 is almost over.
The bad news: It's not over yet.
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Paging Dr. Freud

Donald Trump's shutdown last week of the government he's charged with overseeing was the icing on an extremely nasty tasting cake. The damage that this obviously demented old freak is doing to the nation that he doesn't even pretend to love will be lasting and (I'm starting to fear) irreparable. The experts tell us that it is unfair and wrong to diagnose mental illness in someone without a thorough examination of that person's psychological makeup. I disagree entirely. You don't need a doctorate in order to understand that the ragged man standing on the corner of West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue screaming obscenities at pigeons has got some serious issues. Such is the case with the president of the United States. It was obvious three-and-a-half years ago when he announced his candidacy. It was obvious for thirty years to anyone of us who bothered to pay even scant attention to this guy. Not enough people were paying attention during the campaign of 2016. They're starting to pay attention in the final days of 2018. Have you noticed that?
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The predictions of everyone who warned us two years ago what a complete catastrophe the Trump administration was going to be have now borne rancid fruit. The wheels have come off the clown car. The pigeons of 8th Avenue have come to roost. And while the impeachment of this vile and disgusting president in the last two weeks has become an inevitability, that knowledge is tempered by the depressing fact that he will be replaced by an extremist imbecile named Mike Pence. We will still be forced to deal with complete incompetence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for another two years, three weeks and one day. Anyway you slice it or dice it, America is in the midst of a clusterfuck so immense we won't recognize ourselves on Inauguration Day 2021. One of many of my fears is that Trump will die in office. The last thing this diseased nation needs is to be force-fed images of the old bugger being given the sort of majestic military funeral we gave to Jack Kennedy fifty-five years ago last month. That is a scenario I don't even want to contemplate. Can you imagine? I can't. So help me Mitch Miller I just can't.

As a result of the government shutdown, around three-quarters-of-a-million American citizens are on furlough or are working without salary - all because Trump demands that congress provide the funds for an impractical wall on the Mexican border. And the only reason der Donald wanted that wall to begin with was to appease the halfwits and crybabies that comprise "the base" - which is roughly one/third of the population. I heard one talking-head on television the other night note that the most perplexing thing about Trump is that, once he was firmly bunkered down inside the Executive Mansion, he made no attempt whatsoever to reach out to the other sixty-six percent of the population. It's almost as if the rest of us don't exist. What he is attempting here is a cheap pandering to the racist core of too many Americans. That is the root of what is left of his support. Don't expect his poll numbers to drop too much further during what is left of his term. These people are hard core to a degree not seen in this country since the Civil War.

Another fear I have is that the Trump Mob is going to organize their own version of the Reichstag Fire that allowed Hitler to clamp down on all of the civil liberties of the German people in the early months of 1933. Given the extremism of these people it's not too far fetched a possibility. I've never held to the completely nutty idea that 9/11 was, somehow, an inside job. As thoroughly reprehensible as George W. Bush was (and probably still is) I don't believe that he was capable of something like that. Also, Bush was not bat-shit-crazy. Trump is another story. Call me a paranoid fool if you must, but I am of the opinion that this sociopathic knucklehead is capable of just about anything.

I never thought  would live to see the day when I would compare Dubya favorably to any other human being. A pig just flew by my window. Strange days indeed.

Cheers, Comrade Trump! 

So, deal with Donald we must. Deal with the Donald we will. As stated earlier, the damage is immense and probably irreparable - or at least for generations to come. There is a damned good reason why Vladimir Putin was so eager to install this treasonous dingbat in the White House. One wonders how many vital state secrets he has revealed to the Menace of Moscow. I don't doubt for a minute that, on the night Trump was elected, Putin scored the biggest intelligence coup in the history of Russia. I used to say regarding this administration that it was going to end badly. That was an unconscious understatement on my part that needs to be corrected immediately. This is going to end catastrophically.  

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED READING:
Distraction:
A Critical Look at Life in the Screen Age
 by T.J. Prosit

This is the most thought provoking book I’ve read in a very long time. Filled with wisdom, insight and plain old common sense, it is one man's examination of the fact that so many of our lives are only partially lived because of those bright, shiny objects, so prevalent in modern living, that keep our focus averted from the wondrous things that are within our reach; those miracles, big and small, that that have the potential of bringing real meaning to our lives. With a keen eye and gentle humor, he has tapped a little signpost into the ground that would help us all to take note of. I cannot recommend it enough. Here's a link to order it off of Amazon.com:

https://www.amazon.com/Distraction-critical-look-life-screen/dp/1731484763/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1545932714&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=Distraction+by+T.J.+Prosit&fbclid=IwAR19knvv8io7L9-zyBT2bPV5JjbP4sXlhzyb6SZVj5JrNpByoxacfmrGGKg

A great read!