Butchblog

Trump’s in China with all his billionaire buddies and a gazillion Chinese, who probably would be happy to see him fall on his face. Which he will likely do—either metaphorically or literally. The whole world knows he’s a clown—but a dangerous one. And an idiot. Double trouble. There’s nothing he won’t say or do—look at his “truths”. His brain is inflamed, if indeed there’s even one in their functioning. I know, why bother calling him out? What good does it do? Better wordsmiths than me, have already captured that flag. Maybe it’s simply a way for me to feel less powerless in this ongoing onslaught on common decency. We can’t pretend that the danger is not real. Though it is tempting. Better to lose oneself in gardening or meditation or long walks on the beach. Breathe, I tell myself constantly. “This too shall pass.” But will it? When does it stop? And even if it the dictator passes on to his due, will the damage be too extreme to ever remedy? It feels already like we as a country have lost all standing in the eyes of the rest of the planet. The Chinese, I’m certain, are all quietly smirking.

The man is leaving his messes everywhere, like an untrained puppy. But in his case, it’s more like an incontinent senior who refuses to wear a diaper and makes the nurses wipe his fat butt. What happens when it’s over and done with? Do we tear down the gold statues and scrub his name from the buildings he’s vandalized? One would hope so. But can you scrub away the stain of starting needless wars, of extorting billions (trillions?) of dollars from the public coffers, of painting the U.S. as an immoral and corrupt, untrustworthy partner? Do we attempt to restore the white house after his tasteless gold and gaudy refinishing? Take down the plaques defaming his better predecessors? One can only hope. But more importantly, is there a leader waiting in the wings who can at some point, make this waking nightmare a thing of the past and restore our sense of decency and democracy?

I do believe there are some good candidates out there. In fact, the list is long. Women and men who have proven themselves both smart and ethical, two qualities trump and his cronies will never understand. I don’t believe the republican party can ever recover any shred of viability or credibility after the doings of this administration, aided by the silent repubs at every step of the way. Seventy percent of republicans still claim that the t-wolf is doing a great job. Maybe it’s a cult, or maybe simply evidence of stupidity. As P.T. Barnum said, “Nobody ever lost a dollar by underestimating the taste of the American public.” Still, I guess, we are stuck with our current form of two-party government and all its inherent flaws, especially when one of those parties has proven itself inherently flawed. Maybe there is a fix, but 2028 is a long way off, and first things come first. And the first thing is to tie trump’s tiny little hands. And the only way to do that, short of the wrong-headed assassination attempts, is to win the mid-terms. I was feeling pretty optimistic about that, a bit less so lately, as the mobsters on the supreme court have made it a few steps easier to corrupt that upcoming election. All of which only means that good people have to work even harder to make sure there is a fair election and that every one of us and all our friends and family and every person we can corral gets to cast a vote and save our souls.

* “A Day In The Life”—John Lennon