I was recently in St. George Utah and ran into Orrin Hatch. It was one of those random things that just happens. Just a quirky coincidence. My mother lives in St. George and I was there to pay her a visit. She had been in the hospital, then in a rehab facility, then after a few days there she ended up right back in the hospital, and then after a couple days she was back in rehab, for a month. She is 98 years old. I flew out the day after she was discharged from the rehab facility to help her celebrate the return to her assisted living apartment, and take notes on what I have to look forward to.
My brother and sister were there also. As a family we like to go all out when we get together, so we took mom to Chuck-O-Rama for dinner. My brother was wearing an arm sling because he had recently torn a rotator cuff, and we got to comparing our various ailments- my cataract surgery coming up, my sister’s migraines, and we also touched on some of the past and upcoming orthopedic and cardio-vascular surgeries of our spouses as well as our own, the usual dinner table conversation. And in walks Orrin Hatch! No kidding. At Chuck-O-Rama. Orrin Hatch had recently announced his upcoming retirement, and I suppose he was out celebrating himself. Go figure!
All through our meal I kept glancing over at Orrin Hatch. He was dining at a table not far from ours. He seemed to be enjoying his pork spare ribs, mashed potatoes and lime jello, which coincidentally were the exact items I had selected from the buffet myself. I felt that was an indication that we must have some sort of bond, and obviously when he made that statement awhile back about President Trump being the best president in the nation’s history, it was an unintentional mistake. Likely it was just one of those off the cuff remarks politicians are prone to make that they later regret. Maybe the televised video I saw was technologically altered by a political opponent. They can do that you know.
My curiosity got the best of me and I went over to his table to say hello and then I asked him right off if he really felt President Trump was the best president ever. At first he sort of hemmed and hawed and really tried his best to avoid giving a definite answer. Well you better know political song and dance like that just doesn’t fly with me. I had always thought Orrin Hatch was a decent and sensible man, and it just didn’t make sense that he would say anything so stupid as President Trump is the best president ever. I became insistent that he give me a straight answer. I don’t put up with vaguery when it comes to important issues. The country would be way better off if we got these guys to quit with the bull shit is how I feel.
Well he got huffy-like with me and son of a bitch if he didn’t come right out and say yes, President Trump was the best president ever. I said there was no way he could actually mean that, and he just doubled down and said absolutely President Trump was the best president ever. I asked him then if Trump is number one in his book, who in the hell made his top ten list- Nixon, Harding, Hoover, Buchanan, who? He got even more unhinged and said of course not those guys. His greats were Lincoln, Washington, FDR, Kennedy, and I just cut him off and said he was a real know-nothing asshole if he put that piece of shit Trump in that kind of company.
Orrin Hatch then got all uppity and started yelling at me and said I was the real asshole and told me to go sit down, so naturally I shoved his face into the mashed potatoes on his plate. It was no big deal. I mean the gravy wasn’t like, steaming or anything. But out of nowhere one of his goons started attacking me, swinging away with the handle end of her cane, and that’s when my brother bolted out of his chair and dropped her to the floor with his bad shoulder. He let out a horrible scream that startled poor mom and she must have passed out or something because the next thing you know both she and my brother were headed to the hospital in an ambulance and I was being carted off to jail.
So here I am, waiting for my sister to bail me out. It might be awhile because she felt it was important to follow the ambulance to the hospital and make sure mom was taken care of properly. She has no idea how bad it sucks in here. I am sure mom is better off than me. I am surrounded by hispanics that I imagine are being held for deportation. That’s not the bad part. They seem nice enough, but it’s the television programming. I should say program. You only get one- Fox News. Not all my cell-mates can see the TV, but absolutely everyone can hear it. As some sort of propaganda agenda the people in charge here relentlessly blast Fox News day and night just to make sure all the hispanics understand they are not welcome in Utah. And of course Fox News cuts with a double edge when it carves into any hispanic brain. As anyone knows, if you aren’t totally committed or conditioned to it, after a constant 24 hours of Fox News, hispanic or otherwise you are begging to be deported. Wearing a hair shirt and having someone shove a Louisville Slugger up your ass while you’re being waterboarded is more humane.
So I’ve got some time on my hands to prepare my defense. I have to do this all in my head since they won’t give me a pen to write with, but I’m pretty sharp and remember stuff that you might fuck up and forget. But in this case there is really not a whole lot of memory work involved. Here is Orrin Hatch’s top five list of U.S. presidents:
5. PRESIDENT- John F. Kennedy IMPORTANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS- Faced down Russia during Cuban missile crisis and avoided nuclear war FAMOUS QUOTE: Ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country.
4. PRESIDENT- Franklin D. Roosevelt IMPORTANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS- Was elected unprecedented four times and steered country through the Great Depression and WW Two FAMOUS QUOTE: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself
3. PRESIDENT- George Washington IMPORTANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS- Revolutionary war hero and father of country and established many forms of government that survive today FAMOUS QUOTE: If freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter
2. PRESIDENT- Abraham Lincoln IMPORTANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS- Abolished slavery and led Union to victory in the American Civil War FAMOUS QUOTE: Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth
1. PRESIDENT- Donald J. Trump IMPORTANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS- Signed tax bill that added a staggering 1.5 trillion dollars to national debt and significantly widened wealth inequality in the U.S. Eliminated regulations that had previously restricted gun sales to the mentally incompetent as well as many that prevented corporate environmental pollution and financial industry malfeasance FAMOUS QUOTE: Grab ’em by the pussy
It’s pretty black and white. This evidence is so damning if Orrin Hatch thinks he can pull a fast one with some flimsy charges against me he’s going to get laughed right out of the courtroom.
HAPPY PRESIDENTS DAY!
Sorry I coudn’t come up with bail. No bondsmen in St. George and with your long record, the bail was more than my checkbook could accommodate. But wasn’t that green jello to die for?!
It was the best! You just can’t beat Chuck-O-Rama. After you left mom came down on the shuttle with bail. No hard feelings. It was just my luck to get Judge Doom assigned to my arraignment. He hates me.
I’m so relieved you’re no longer in the slammer. Were you at Purgatory? That’s where the worst offenders end up – like Warren Jeffs. Mom comes through again. She is such a trooper. She has no idea how widespread her impact is. Probably best not to clue her in.