It would be easy to conclude
we have reached the end of the American experiment in self-government. Thanks
to Donald Trump we are now being manipulated by foreign powers and Trump is
playing along with them. He’s not colluding. He just doesn’t care how it looks
to anyone. It doesn’t matter if it’s Russia, or China, or Saudi Arabia...if it
is a benefit to Trump, then it is okay…whether it’s criminal conspiracy, emoluments
violations, obstruction of justice, not upholding the oath of office,
deliberately misleading people, repeatedly lying when the truth is more believable,
defending murderers because he makes lots of money off of the host country,
praising tyrants, denigrating allies, and declaring himself above the law.
This isn’t the stuff you’d
find on the resume of a great statesman. It’s the rap sheet of a criminal.
That’s what Trump’s presidency is…a criminal enterprise. And the GOP continues
to shield the head criminal against any and all justice. They willingly consent
to Trump slithering away from abiding by the law…this, from the “law-and-order”
party with the “law-and-order” president.
With his flouting of the
law, Trump has completed the divide in our country between the haves and the
have nots. He has successfully (along with Fox News, Infowars, and Breitbart help)
demonized anyone not a wealthy, white, Anglo-Saxon protestant. He is leading
the charge to return those particular people to their most privileged and
protected positions and is guaranteeing the nation’s laws will be perpetually
tilted in their favor. That’s what Trump really means when he blathers on about
his hat-selling “Make America Great Again” gimmick. It’s making whatever is
left of the United States great for Trump…and a few other billionaires.
The GOP is good with that.
Notice that they have made no attempt to curtail anything Trump does and in many
cases have acted as his cheerleader even while claiming to uphold and defend
the Constitution.
In the future, smarter but
more sinister men than Trump, will run for and attain office. They will use
Trump’s flouting of the law and circumventing established norms to do far more
damage than Trump was able to accomplish. They will be justified in everything
they do because Trump opened the way for them to take full advantage of the
presidency to enrich themselves at everyone else’s expense. The only reason
Trump hasn’t been that successful is because he doesn’t have the intelligence
for it. He can get by for a while on his bluster and bullshit, but it only goes so
far. It’s one thing to brag about having “street smarts” and quite another to
have gained an actual education and know how to use it. Even though he should be
referencing his Wharton education, he instead says he has street smarts. So I
hear him saying he has pretend smarts instead of real smarts. It shows in the
way he “governs.” A more intellectually inclined criminal will be able to
leapfrog passed Trump’s kindergarten-like attempts when they hold the reins of
power. Trump has now made that not just possible, but probable.
Make no mistake regarding
Trump and Russia; wittingly or unwittingly, Trump is a Russian asset. He is in office because of Putin's interference. He even acknowledged the Russian meddling in a speech before live cameras on January 9, 2017, eleven days before he was sworn in. Trump has
betrayed us to a foreign power for his own selfish financial interests and we
will be severely tested over letting him hold the power of the U.S. in those
miniature hands for four years.
