Holy crapp!  You believe this? Thanks to Trump, the Republican Party is devouring its own.  The radical elements have to remind you of the French Revolution.  Go to www.thedonaldwin.com and you can’t help but  imagine neo Jacobins in MAGA hats threatening as many Republicans as Democrats. There is an abundance of hyper- militants recommending marshall law. There are even  a few modern-day Robespierres lurking about demanding beheadings.  Now Trump has completly shit on congressional Republicans by vetoing the military spending bill and refusing to sign the virus stimulus bill- all part of his unhinged program of retribution and ambushing congressional Republicans.  In the line of fire is the American public.  Lamentably the man who convinced so many he is the fixer of all things would rather attend to his paranoic narcissism than deal with the suffering of millions and an economic crisis.  And if there is one thing we have learned about Trump, it’s that he will use his reality show instincts to milk the distressing circumstances for all they are worth.

Republicans of course can’t blame anyone but themselves for the grip Trump has on their gonads, and all indications are he is not about to let go any time soon.  Naturally, sane conservatives in the Republican Party have to be wondering what to do to stop Trump’s personal Reign of Terror.  Thomas Friedman has the answer here.

Yes.  Start a new party.  You won’t believe this but Tom and I must have been communicting telepathically. I’ve been thinking on this for a couple weeks.  Maybe it’s unrealistic but It certainly makes sense.  Mr. Friedman’s salient point is as Trump’s power decreases, only crackpots like Michael Flynn will remain as close advisors and Trumpworld will become even more extreme and so detatched from reality the principled  party members will finally say “enough” and create their own party. However, Mr. Friedman’s explanation omits critical details.

My suggestion for a new party  may be more radical, but to me more likely to accomplish the necessary result.  Republicans should not splinter off and call themselves something else. Republican leadership of all stripes should just tell Trump he can have his party.  The GOP, as it exists today, is the Trump Party.  Political pundits everywhere insist that this is fact. So call it that.  Heretofore it should be called exactly that- the Trump Party.  Are you still with me?  Can you imagine the gigantic boner he would get at the suggestion of naming an entire political party after him? Logically you would think this could be just the antidote his delicate pschye needs to supress  the feelings of inadequacy of being labled a loser.

Think about it. Nothing makes Trump happier than to see his name plastered on anything, and his political brown-nosers and MAGA army would be able to stand united and triumphant under the official banner of that whom they worship.  The whole lot of them would be enthralled to wallow in orgasmic joy at the simple thought of such kinship.  You get the idea. Republicans simply explain the obvious- that the Republican party has been gas-lighted and transformed into something so unrecognizable to the original,  Trump might as well officially rename it as his own.  And Republicans inclined to separate themselves  from Trump  then reclaim their party and remain, well, Republicans, and get back to the business of being true, normal, conservative Republicans.  Can you imagine?

Republicanism would at last be able to revert to being the party of lower taxes and less goverment, a pro-life agenda, remorseless military spending, unconstrained access to guns, labor union restrictions, free trade, privatized Social Security, all the regular Republican stuff.  But above all, the party would retain our form of democracy, which is where Republicanism and Trumpism indubitably  diverge.

If you have sort of given up, and like the idea of having someone make decisions for you, then the authoritarian rule of the Trump Party is the place for you.  And we’ve all seen the back side of the tees with the chronological reigning order of various members of the Trump family.   If it’s your dream to establish a  monarchy, with the king father succeeded by princes Junior, Eric, and Baron, and princess Ivanka, you are in luck.  Just head on over to Trump Party headquarters. How this concept is supposed to work in this country is profoundly mysterious, and I can’t say it is something any of the founding fathers had in mind though.  Why someone would want to use the democratic institution  of voting only to elect someone who is bent on usurping the whole process is kind of what has the rest of us scatching our heads.

Notwithstanding this rather counterintuitive preference for authoritarianism, unfortunately there is one other defining difference between  Republicanism and Trumpism that truly is an American abstraction.  Make no mistake the Trump party will include  a social plank that is nailed, deck screwed, and securred with heavy duty construction adhesive into its platform.  It is racism. There is a reason white supremacists are attracted to Trump.  He has displayed blatant racism time and again. Certainly neo-Natzi’s needn’t waste their time at the Trump Party enrollment desk. They’ll be grandfathered in.

And this is the grand paradox of the Trump Party.  Sign on to this and you sign on to racism.  If you belong to the Trump party, going forward you will be understood to clearly be racist.  The concept is not necessarily anything inovative.  Racism pretty much defined George Wallace’s American Independent party in 1967. The propitious anomaly  here is many of the Trump supporters who were single issue voters, or those who simply found Trump’s anti-establishment, disruptive persona appealing, but not particulariy interested in Trump’s racism, will migrate back to the updated, conservative, Republican party.  Can you see where this is going?  Eventually the Trump party will go the way of Wallace’s American Independent Party- wither away and die.

It would be a testament to the American belief in universal equality if racism would self implode as the Trump party disintegrates, but we have a national history of never wanting to let it go.  I honestly think the  legacy of the Trump administration will be that it exposed so many weaknesses in our constitution and institutuions, and as disruptive as that has been, the one benefit to it all is that we now have the opportunity, and should recognize the responsibility, to fix the mess.  Maybe the most alarming revelation of the Trump administration is the surprising depth and intensity of racism that still exists in America. In light of this realization, hopefully there will be a commitment, individually and collectively, to address social injustice and to the educational rescources required to gradually eliminate the national embarassment of racism.

“Ignorance is not so much the shame as not being willing to learn.”  Ben Franklin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You’ve all seen it.  That ASPCA commercial, you know, the one that shows video of sad, shivering dogs and some cats staring into the camera with at least one eye that appears to be in serious need of antibiotic intervention.  It is a heartbreaking presentation of animal cruelty and neglect and I would have to guess hits its desired marketing effect, except for one thing.  It sort of overshoots the mark.  It’s nearly impossible to watch the entire thing. It is so gut-wrenching the second it comes on the air my wife immediatly grabs the remote and switches channels. Over the top or not, the need is definite.  Give if you can.

The need is everywhere.  I must get at least four or five charity donation requests daily in the mail now, not to mention the dozens that appear every time I open up my e-mail.  Most of those are political, so now that the election is over part of my daily routine involves  tedious unsubscribing  housekeeping.

I certainly don’t feel left out, but apparently many people other than I recently received a Save America PAC donation request. – Gift, Graft, or Grift.  This is really hard for me to get my head around.  The president of the United States is so determined to retain power he is willing to take a blow torch to democracy and then make use of the chared aftermath to unscouplously cash in on a fire sale.   Even by Trumpian standards this is pretty ballsy.   I’m not totally surprised that there are still millions of people buying into Trump’s lies and conspriacy theories.  That’s what he does and you have to hand it to him, there has not been a world leader so proficent at gas lighting since Hitler and Dolchstoblegende.  The guy sees no shame in wringing every last dollar  out of his bewitched supporters before he exits the door. But wow what a waste of money.  Think of the actual good 170 million could do.

Which brings a thought to mind.  I am unshakable in my core belief in the goodness of humanity, that we can all put our differences aside if we just focus on what is normally decent in society. Love, understanding, compassion.  That’s what we need.  I believe that deep down, if we are presented with a binary choice, we are  wired to select whichever one subconsciously fulfills our essential need to embrace comforting rectitude.  So here’s my challenge. To my way of thinking it poses a fascinating exercise in human psychology.  From the photos pictured below, which one represents the charity you would be more willing to donate to?  Where would you prefer to send your hard earned cash?

                         

Wait. WHAT?  You actually chose the crazy man over the forlorn puppy? Are you shitting me? What the fuck is wrong with you, you stupid son of a bitch?  Sure maybe the dog isn’t house-trained, but does anyone truly know if Trump is?  Come on!  You can’t be fucking serious.  I give up.