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.

Mr. President.  You won!  What you have secured, quite possibly for a time well into the next decade, is the imperishable devotion of an entire politcal party. I realize at present it is difficult for you to dwell on anything but the sting of losing the election, but for Pete’s sake you received 72 million votes! That’s pushing 10 million more than you got last time. That’s nothing to shake your Sharpie at.  47% of the voting public loves you! You are the Republican party, it’s driving force.   No one can take that away from you, apparently because there is no one in the Republican party hierarchy that has not had their testicles revoked.

You have got to quit moping about and look at the bigger picture here.  You still can be THE MAN!  Think about it.  Despite having no political experience and known cheifly as the star of a mindless reality TV show, you captured the attention, and still retain the admiration, of millions of Americans.  Amazingly, much of the nation at large saw  something in you, a crude rawness that holds the kind of attraction likened to the power of Neodymium magnetism.  Even though you lost the election, surely you must realize how fortunate you are to be able to continue to live in your very own enchanting reality.  It will be forever historically quesioned how someone like you, with a propensity for screwing, litterally and figuratively, practically anyone who veered into your business and social orbit, was  an unabashed racist, a man with monumental business failures that were providentially bailed out by a rich father or abstracted financial institution, was a proud draft dodger and tax cheat with no conscious regard for the truth, was born into silver spoon and golden toilet privilege completely detached from the common man, who in fact quite often publicly loathed anyone he considered socially and economically  beneath him,  was regardlessly deemed by so many  to be just what the country needed and clamored for.  You sir, are a staggering testament to what can be achieved with little more than an aptitude for unscupulous fortitude.

But damn it man, we really need some  leadership right now.  This virus is out of control and no doubt is about to get even worse.  It is nearly certain that within two weeks after Thanksgiving many of our nation’s hospitals will exceed capacity.  And ya, great, the stock market hit 30,000, but have you seen the 21st centurry bread lines going on.  I know you watch TV.  Those are people waiting anxiously for basic sustenance, not hanging around in hopes of receiving a hot equities tip. It is obvious you are emotionally checked out.  If you don’t want the job, why are you so doggedly struggling to get it back. It’s understandable that you would be exhausted. But as president, you need to suck it up.  You can’t play golf and watch TV all day.  Not now. The country is in crisis.  Do something, anything, like, get in front of the cameras and tell everyone to mask up. It is you and you alone those gripped with intransigence will listen to. You’re the supreme dealmaker.  Stoke a fire under Senator McConnell and get a relief package passed so the recently impoverished can eat and pay rent.  You fought a valiant fight.  You might have lost the election, but you, Donald Trump, are a loser only if you don’t finish what you have been elected to do- serve the people.

NOTE: I started writing this a couple days ago.  With the news this morning that President Trump  and his wife have been infected with covid I sincerely hope they are asymptomatic, or have mild cases.  It is no secret I do not think he is, or has ever been, a competent leader of the nation, but I would never wish him or anyone the misfortune of infectious misery.  It is everyone’s wish and in our best interest that the President and Melania have a quick recovery.  

When President Trump revealed that he knew back in January that the corona virus was a terrifyingly contageous pathogen and then eight months and 200,000 deaths later tell a worshiping crowd of supporters that no one should worry because it hardly affects anyone, you would think that would be an indication to most people that maybe this man should not be in charge of anything, let alone the well being of over 300 million citizens.  But talk to a typical attendee of a Trump rally and you get the impression the important thing to remember is whatever the president says last.  Asked why they feel so unconcerned about placing themselves into confined space and not wearing face coverings, most will reply they don’t believe the virus is especially harmful, and you will even get a few who say the whole pandemic is a hoax.  There will curiously be a few elderly citizens who seem to be a bit on the contagiousness fence, but perfectly fine with resigning themselves to whatever fate has in store for them.  If it’s their time to go, so be it.  All is well and good.

I suppose this is fine, and good, for the person expressing his willgness to travel to the great beyond, since whoever it is seems to be expressing some kind of confident courage, or even patriotism, willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in the name of Trumpism and positive economic outcomes. But this is bad, bad for the misguided supporter (no one wants to see you go) and mostly for the rest of us. Besides self protection, the more important reason for social distancing and  wearing a mask is to protect others and prevent this god awful stuff from spreading. Not abiding by basic pandemic protcols is bad and selfish, not good.  For Trump, of course downplaying the disease meshes nicely with his self-centered, narcissism.  It’s all good there.  Instill a false sense of security. People feel it’s perfectly safe to gather and spend money and the economy improves and Trump looks good.  Untill it turns bad again when people infect other people, the economy stagnates, and the whole cycle gets even worse as we head into the flu season.

You can catalog multiple instances of how Trump has been able to twist something bad (i.e. voting twice) into something his entreched followers to believe is good (it’s good for Trump therefore it’s good for you).  Out of the massive dumpster overflowing with very, very bad things Trump has said and done, nothing is more egregious, nothing should infuriate us more, than the damage he is inflicting on our election process.  It is very bad for a sitting president to declare he will not abide by one of the lynch pins of our form of democracy- the peaceful transision of power.  That is so bad it should be considered a disqualifying event. Nothing good can be converted from this border-line treasonous avouchment.

Because Trump is such a master of gas lighting, his susceptible supporters will once again believe this is just another aspect of Trump’s disruptive master plan to fix America, and shrug it off. All they will be hearing from now until election day is how rigged the system is with all of the mail balloting going on.  Nothing good will come of this contemptuous, irresponsibley false, despotic ranting.  Trump realizes the odds of his reelection are not in his favor and he is not above doing anything to stay in power, including imploding our democracy.

It is dumbfounding to me to see conservative media get so worked up about some sort of impending, socialistic conspiracy on the horizon if Joe Biden is elected.  Accordingly it is surmised socialism will be so consuming that within four years the country will be under communist rule. For Pete sakes!   Right before our eyes the current administration has undermind our laws and institutions, neutered the checks and balances of the legilative branch by intimidation,  used paramilitary squads to supress peaceful protest, removed adminstrative oversight from multiple goverment departments, verbally attacked the courts, turned the Department of Justice into his own political puppet, and avariciously profited from his position of executive power.  Cronyism and corruption within the current administration has been rampant and our democracy is migrating from a kleptocracy to autocracy.  The man in charge of our special form of democratic government is so consumed by his fear of  losing an election he is panic stricken to point of dismantling it all to save his job.  President Trump has publicly stated the only way he will lose the election is if the Democrats cheat, and not so subtely encouraged radical supporters to “stand by” if he loses. What he is suggesting is a dictatorial coup. This is all currently occurring.  Yet none of that seems to bother his base, or his Republican sycophants.  Their worry is about some manufactured and very bazzar, futuristic conspiracy theory that the Democratic party is contriving to establish communistic rule.  That is absurd.  The finer point is Trump’s fascist demagogery is bad and dangerously seditious. That is not good.

As we have recently found out via his income tax information, Trump has maneuvred through his life using smoke and mirrors.  All of his business conduct, the shady practices, tax  manipulation and evasion, accumulation of mountainous debt, falsifing asset values, it’s all incrimmnating evidence of a fraudulent and disasterous businessman.  But paradoxically, Trump supporters  believe that is all part of his genius and that somehow deception and manipulation are good for the country.   You might be able to say he’s a genius in one respect.  He will probably become recognized as one of the most cunning public figures recorded in history. Unconscionable conduct might be good for Trump.  But it is bad for the rest of us.

If President Trump is so concerned with voting fraud, it is his responsibilty to do everything he can to fix it. The reality is he seems to think it is to his advantage to do nothing and even create obsticles to voting.  And anyway as far as fraud goes there is actually little to fix. Recently  the FBI, Homeland Security, the Brennan Center for Justice, all examined data and concluded fraudulent mail voting to be practically nonexistent.  George W Bush’s Justice Department conducted a five year investigation of all aspects of voter fraud and only found 120 cases worth prosecuting.  It was a different voting issue, but the president’s own commision, headed by sycophant Kris Kobach, which was investigating voter registration fraud, had to disband because of lack of evidence. The most prominent person promoting voter fraud is the President of the United States himself by telling people to vote twice.

And you can not evaluate Trumpism without discussing racism.  The subject is so involved it would be sensless to address it here.   All I should need to say about that is it is bad.  I will say I do believe much of the Trump allure has more to do with castism than racism.  But both intertwine, and Trump has subtely used both to divide the coutnry and that is definately not good.

Trump’s view of the world is transactional.   He is only interested in what promotes or protects him.  Covid is just a numbers game to him- polls, TV ratings, and the stock market. Of course he should be concerned with the economy, but not to the extent of blinding disregard for human life.  One of the reasons he did so little to contain the pandemic was he was aware that initially the virus was overwhelmingly affecting “blue” states.  Of course there are “red” voters in “blue” states.  But not in meaningful enough numbers to him.  That now is his approach to the presidential election.  Trump has sewed divsion in this county so thoroughly he can no longer escape the consequences.  He is counting on his unshakable devotees to keep believing his lies and obviously hoping gas lighting the fabrications will either recruit more followers or, in the absence of that, create presidential election chaos.  His irresponsible, divisive approach with covid has had an incalculable impact on ending over 200,000 American lives.  It’s that same approach that could end the American form of democracy.  All of it should be universally understood as bad.

Imagine you are a young teenager walking around an electronics store with an adult, an authoritive figure, like say, your father.  He spots something cool, like, an Apple watch.  And imagine he casually looks around and then tells you he wants you to steal that Apple watch for him.  I know the watch is probably under lock and key but this is all hypothetical.  You probably think  he is kidding, but no, he tells you straight off he is dead serious.  And to prove the point he tells you he’ll be waiting in the car and he hurriedly walks away. Would you attempt that theft?  You’re a kid and you have a general understanding that stealing is wrong.  But it’s your dad.  It must be OK, right?  Would you go ahead and steal the watch for your dad?

Let’s say you you did, got caught, and the whole story became public knowledge.  No doubt society would judge your father harshly and there would be some sort of judicial penalty exacted.   Protective services would likely get involved.  There would be universal agreement your dad is an incorigible role model lacking basic ethical concepts.

There is a similar scene playing out in our politcal world right now and there is nothing hypothetical about it.  It is starkly real.  When Donald Trump asks you to vote for him twice, he is guilty of the same egregeous action that the father is in this fictional scenario.  Only worse.  Intentionally voting twice in a federal election is a felony, under any circumstance, for any reason, but its not Donald Trump who would be prosecuted.  You would be the one at risk of serving a prison term.

Here we go again with an infuriating example of Trump’s behavior getting swept under the rug.  We should not just gloss over this.  This is the president of the United States issuing a request that citizenry commit a fucking felony.  What kind of president does that?  What kind of human being does that?

Stop and think of the implications of this remark.  Not only is it yet another example of the president’s contempt for the law, of his belief that laws don’t apply to him.  It is a damning indictment of his character.  And I know Trump supporters will somehow justify the statement as just Trump being Trump.  But come on!  Can there be a more flagrant example of his shallowness? Well, ok calling dead veterans losers and suckers is profoundly superficial, and of course from his past remarks you have to believe this is  Trump being Trump at his absolute worst. But until  someone is willing to step out from behind the shield of anonymity and collaborate these damning stories Trump can escape total eviceration.  However, he asked people to vote twice on national TV.

Donald Trump, as many who know him have said, will stop at nothing to promote his self interest.   How much worse can that get then prodding people to commit a felony on his behalf.  This is so brazenly wrong. To be concerned only with what is good for you at the expense of everyone else, an expense that involves criminality, underscores his total lack of conscience.  When it comes to anything that is remotley central to his interest, the man seems incapable of understaning what is right or wrong.

No matter how the White House tries to spin this, I basically am imploring anyone on the voting fence to please take the time to really think about what is revealed about the current president in this singular act.  The absolute best spin you can attach to this is ignorance.  That he understands little about processes of democracy would then be damning in itself.  This perplexing remark, at it’s worse, indicates we have a president who will stop at nothing, who sees nothing wrong with the continued underminingg of the laws and institutions of the country, if he feels it is in his best interest.

And this also speaks to who we are, what kind of society we live in. To Trump, cheating and political criminal activity are perfeclty normal, no big deal.  And the manner in which he so casually made this remark suggests he believes a good percentage of the people of this country must be bound with similar threads of morality.  I refuse to believe that is true. Yes we have our share of miscreants and criminals, but when it comes to believing in the democratic principles of this nation, it is a safe argument to say hardly anyone gives any consideration to voting twice or pariticipating in other acts of voter fraud.   Think about it.  Have you ever once thought about voting twice?  Hell, in a typical U.S. election half the county doesn’t even vote once.

Several recent reports have been issued about voter fraud, all concluding the incidents of that happening are minuscule- ranging from 0.0003 to 0.0025 percent.  Voting twice is something that would hardly cross the mind of the average, normally ethical U.S. citizen- until now.    And the guy who is out there promoting that very idea that is so antithetical to the most basic of our constitutional principles is none other than the president of the United States!   Come on!  And to underscore just how embedded this pernicious infection of our democracy is becoming, during an interview with Wolf Blitzer the atorney general of the county claimed ignorace of state law in order to give cover to the president on this issue.  How fucked up is that?

Every day Trump is claiming the election is going to be chaotic and rigged, when he is actually the one creating the chaos and trying to rigged it in his own favor.  Of course audaciousness is a typical characteristic of authoritarianism.  Get ready for two months of gaslighting “the likes of which you have never seen.”

Obviously I am one who fails to understand the Trump attraction. I consider him to be a danger to the nation’s constitutional fabric as well as the public health.  Whenever I see a packed gathering of Trump supporters not wearing masks I envision a mass suicide of lemmings edging towards their terminal precipice.  For whatever reason, the man has his followers. To me he is a man lacking a normal sense of conscience and is ingrained with distorted concepts of right and wrong.  It is my hope that most of us understand it is far from trivial to ask someone to commit a felony by voting twice.  It should be recognized as flagrantly irresponsible and an unforgivable wrong.

Son of a bitch!  I told you so.  No football this fall.  At least in the Big 10 and Pac 12.  Who’s to blame?  I’ll tell who’s to blame.

This guy, the Michigan pin-head without the mask.  God damn it!  I warned you.  And this was your year too.  Michigan would finally beat Ohio State.  But Noooo!  All becasue you felt compelled to exercise your constitutional right to be a testicular douchebag.  Yes our country is lauded above all others for it’s unique ability to prioritize individual freedoms over goverment restrictions.  But as we all should realize by now our libertarianism has come back to bite us in the ass, overwhelming the need to protect the common good.  The country should be proud of its history of rugged individualism.  But we are finding out we are not so good as a collecive.

And this guy, the man supposedly in control who has more interest in his golf game and television ratings than dealing with a pandemic crisis.  If there is one thing he should be paying attention to it is the collective- like the multitude of professional health experts with a world-wide collection of pandemic data and proven mitigation protocols.  Leading the developed world in pandemic morbidity statistics is not exactly the kind of American exceptualism we expect.  But here we are with chaotic decisions about opening schools being thrust upon us, and no football.  God damn it!  And a president who still can not grasp the fact that he is the person most responsible for this swirling shit storm.  It’s the virus, stupid!  If we do not get it under control soon, CDC director Redfiled has warned we will likely experience one of the most difficult falls in our lifetimes.  Sadly I will miss football.  More importantly I would prefer that my family and friends bypass hospitalizations and funerals. This is still America.  Certainly we are capable of putting aside politics and petty self interests and move forward with something we really should be better at- ensuring the common good.