Crazy!

So tell me if I'm crazy....  There are some who think Trump is having a good two weeks with foreign policy successes.....  cavalierly 'trash talking' an insane dictator with nuclear weapons; bombing another dictator that is giving the Russians a blowjob and killing his own people; demonstrating the size of his 'hands' by obliterating tunnels with a giant turd-like bomb; and now losing track of an entire Carrier task force which we come to discover was never on it's way to the Korean Peninsula, but rather on it's way south to participate in military exercises near Australia!

Is is just me or does this seem like gross incompetence?  Trump's foreign policy by impulse is putting our country and democracy in danger.  His Secretary of Defense Mattis and Intelligence Director McMaster both claimed that the Carrier Attack Group was headed to the Korean theatre when either they were lying, or actually didn't know where they were.  I am uncertain which is worse!

I am not sleeping very well anymore.  I thought I could weather this administration much the same way I thought I could endure the GWB administration by just holding my breath until 4 years were up, but this time around I am not so confident.  This president is so careless, so convinced of his own instincts that he is thrashing around the Oval like a bull in a china shop.  Are any of you convinced that he even remotely understands the complexity of any of the world's geo-political interplay?
I think what we are seeing is a trigger happy cowboy who is going to get us into a war that might end everything for everybody.

And I think the most amazing part of all this is that the Congress, and the Republicans particularly, are so impotent and toady with him that all that they want is to preserve their own fiefdoms by kowtowing to him, and appeasing his egregious behavior no matter what the cost to the nation and the world.

When you combine what is happening on the foreign front with the destruction of all the hard won constructive actions taken by the Obama administration over the last eight years, the vision is truly terrifying.  We are witnessing a profound wickedness on the part of our leaders---lying--subterfuge--misdirection--witholding information and decisions from the people---

and as Isaiah said once long ago, "Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him."

Unfortunately we are all going to have to swallow that reward when it comes.  Good Lord, is there any salvation here?  Where are the patriots?  How do we regain sane control of our nation?

Give me a Xanax!

Now I am really fearful.  I see things happening that are fundamentally changing what we are as Americans, and for the first time am seeing how far ‘back’ we will have to come once we rid ourselves of this scourge called Trump.

He is methodically undoing all the regulations and rules that were instituted in the Obama years to protect consumers and the small guys.  As a result, our efforts to stem the effects of global warming and climate change are being thwarted and reversed at every turn.  That doesn’t include the authoritarian executive orders he is disgorging on a regular basis.

His appointments to all the critical organs of our government are systematically deconstructing the effectiveness of their mission, or deconstructing their mission itself.  Look what is happening at the Department of State!  No appointments to crucial second level administration posts are being made.  The Secretary of State is flying around the world by himself without a press contingent; he refuses to comment about anything; there is no one at State to answer a phone call from disparate parts of the world as issues present themselves, and no plans to staff key positions.  What then is the role of the State Department.

Trump's Middle East envoy is told to report to Jared Kushner and not Rex Tillerson.  What does that tell you about the importance of the State Department?

There is constant subterfuge going on with this Russia investigation.  All the administration says is, “Look here at this, or look here at that, but don’t look at the investigation into what we were really doing”.  Distraction.  Lying.  Obfuscation.  That is what we see every day as the connection of all the dots lumbers ahead so that the picture of mendacity and subterfuge becomes a bit clearer every day.

There is chaos in the White House and administration.  Unqualified people are in charge of critical operations and governmental responsibilities.

And what are we able to do about it?  Nothing yet.  One wonders when whatever intelligent Republicans remain in the Congress will realize that they are Americans before Republicans and do what they must to rescue us all from this miasma of incompetence and danger.

What happens when there is a real crisis that will need to be managed by a grown-up?

Bill Maher delivered a truly enlightening monologue at the end of last Friday’s Real Time.  He characterized positions taken by Republicans in Congress as if tghey were asking themselves  He then went on to catalogue all the issues we face as a country from climate change to economic decisions affecting all of us and illustrated how Republican statements and positions reflect their complete disregard for the welfare of all of us, making them all “dicks”.  Definitely worth watching to get a real sense of the mentality we are dealing with.

, “Given the variables and mission of all the issues we deal with, how can I take a position that makes me a “dick”?

Eventually the pendulum will swing back, and we will be able to again make policy with rationality in mind, but let’s hope there is something left to make policy about……