What frustrated you most last week and why. 2-on-1 07/20/2018

This week's topic was my idea and for the purpose of this post the week ended  on Monday. I'm sure some if not most of you can guess why that caveat was added. Be sure to check my co-blogger and friend Ramana's blog to see his take, which I am quite sure will be very different, by clicking here.

I have tended to avoid political blogging for most of this blog's existence. Even though I am a political junkie with a degree in Political Science, I am not an ideologue and I have only occasionally commented on a president or otherwise commented on the political hot point du jour. Alas, my proverbial unstated red line in the sand has been crossed. Silence has been severely tarnished and is no longer golden.

For the record, I believe dialogue is good - we need to speak as regularly as possible with both friend and foe. That 45 legitimized the North Korean dictator on the world stage is collateral damage to 45s attempt to open a dialogue with him, although I found the far right's praise of 45 for that worthless meeting somewhat disingenuous. The jury is still out on whether or not anything positive comes of it (the ball is now in the seemingly competent hands of Mike Pompeo). The Trump/Putin meeting could have been constructive had 45 taken the opportunity to call out Putin and Russia for their attacks on our electoral system. 45s tax breaks have benefited the 1% far more than the rest of us, he has caused substantial increases in insurance premiums for the ACA in spite of his promises otherwise (still waiting for that replacement plan) and his recent tariffs have queued up a trade war that has already begun to harm workers here. And then there was Helsinki.

I have watched the devolution of political discourse on Facebook, Twitter. cable news channels and media in general. Marked by a lack of civility I never imagined we would reach, I still refrained from constantly berating either side, though I took occasional shots at both sides. I watched, in somewhat stunned silence, one of my friends - an old high school friend - devolve into a self-proclaimed super patriot who posted daily rants against the corrupt libtards (his word) - aka Democrats - and brag about how he could trace his family's military service back to the Revolutionary War - as if that gave him the moral high ground as he railed against Obama, the Clintons and every other Democrat. When he had a good point to make, his delivery - as far as I am concerned - rendered that point moot. Rather than deal with his political rants I simply ignored them and carried on non-political conversations by posting directly to his timeline. He has a hard core group of followers that hang on his every word. Because I lean to the left on social values I suspect he - and possibly several others - assume I am a leftie and a libtard. The fact is, I am a registered Republican - but not for much longer as if/when I register again it will be as an independent. The Democrats have drifted much to far to the left for me to seriously consider them, The new so-called progressives are the Millennial's to contend with and support or reject.  

Sadly, my friends attitude has become the norm for Trumpers, the followers of 45. Their hatred of all things not pro Trump is rivaled only by their hatred of Obama, Obama's legacy and their hatred of the Clinton political machine - admittedly one of the most corrupt entities in the history of American politics. - but, in case you haven't noticed  that big, bad Clinton machine is history. Now, I was never a big fan of Obama - but I always thought he was a decent enough man. His policies, though, were seriously flawed but they were not the kind of things designed to bring down the institutions that have served us well for over 200 years.

Along came 2016 and we now have 45 - a man who campaigned claiming among other things that if he lost the election it would be because it was rigged, He developed a name-calling, hateful style that lowered the so-called bar to a point where an ant could not get under ihe bar if it were a limbo bar. But I was optimistic - I figured he could not do much damage and that we would survive until the Republic was once again placed in saner hands.

So now we get to last week and the NATO summit. Things began to seriously fall apart. 45 insulted our primary allies again, harangued Angela Merkel and Theresa May, the leaders of probably two of our top three allies, and continued to refuse to condemn Russia and its leader Vladimir Putin. He was late to his meeting with Queen Elizabeth and then rudely ignored the defacto protocols for meeting British royalty. He insulted the Mayor of London and Mrs. May. His smugness was on display for the entire world to see. Forest Gump immediately came to mind - "stupid is as stupid does".

Of course there was more to come. He had set up a "summit" with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki immediately after the NATO and UK meetings. One again had to wonder what he would do to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as on Friday, July 13, charges were filed against 12 members of the Russian military for their roles in the cyber crimes related to our 2016 election. We literally had the Russians by those uniquely male sex organs and it was time to squeeze them, confront Putin with the proof as developed by the USA and our intelligence agencies. 

Of course we all know what happened. 45 sided with Putin and his "strong, powerful" denials - and promptly threw our intelligence community under the bus. He suggested the ongoing collusion investigation, which he has continually labeled a witch hunt had whipped up an irrational fervor and was harmful to our country. He blamed Obama for allowing the cyber attacks. He once again patted himself on the back for winning the election.

In the face of substantial criticism - several people called  45s actions treasonous - 45  blamed Obama and Obama's intelligence team since they knew of the cyber attacks just before the election. He again attacked the FBI over Mrs. Clinton's missing emails and the DNC's missing hacked server (which is not missing at all). 45 believes constant denials will convince people he is right as he panders to his base. It is scary to realize he may be right, as his constant stream of lies are accepted by his base as alternative facts. His constantly calling the mainstream media the enemy of the people may get someone hurt or killed.

White supremacists have been rejoicing since 45 was elected. His second most popular campaign sound bite - drain the swamp - has given us Tom Price, Steve Mnuchin, Betsy Devos, Scott Pruitt and more and the swamp is deeper and more dangerous than ever. Price was a piker when it came to corruption when compared to Pruitt. Devos is working on dismantling the public education system. 45 has - not surprisingly - appointed one conservative SCOTUS justice and nominated another with the sudden and somewhat unexpected retirement of Anthony Kennedy. Could that surprise retirement be due to the fact that Kennedy's son provided 45 with a billion dollars in loans when US banks would not? And Deutsche Bank -  the younger Kennedy's employer - has strong ties to Russian oligarchs? Is this a thinly veiled attempt to insure a conservative SCOTUS for generations further evidence of 45s pandering to his base?? It is the POTUS job to nominate SCOTUS justices when openings arise but is it  simply a coincidence that there is a rush to confirm the latest nominee before the midterm election, when there is a very good chance the GOP may lose their hold on one or both chambers of Congress (historical fact even before the actions of 45 and their presumed negative impact are factored in). FYI - I do not take issue with conservative justices - but I do care about the process involved in their selection. I do not meant to suggest the Democrats would not do the same thing if given the opportunity, which would be just as wrong.

Clearly there is much greater detail I could bring to the page, but this is a simple weekly blog, not a master's thesis on corruption in US politics. Unfortunately, the incredible stream of lies that are the hallmark of 45 coupled with his fake news rants and calling the mainstream media the enemy of the people, while establishing what is effectively state-run media at Fox, have caused my frustration level to breach the levees. 

It has been somewhat cathartic to put all of this down but the frustration has continued daily and is likely to do so. I need a prescription for chill pills, or at least some good scotch or beer. Maybe both. I admit my confidence in and optimism for our Republic has been shaken. I wonder if every generation experiences some of these feelings as they reach the end of the line and prepare to pass the baton to the next keepers generation.