2076

I've lived through several administrations in my life. I can remember as a child having an "I Like Ike" button. I can't remember where I got the button or what it really meant.

After 12 of those administrations, including Gerald Ford's, it has become clear that the same playbook in terms of what to tell people, the voters, is always the same. The same promises though updated a little to seem more current. The voters in one way or another expect a politician to become a savior, someone that's going to part the sea of troubles and lead everyone to the promised land. But that sea is still there and some would say even more turbulent than before. They talked about making things better for future generations, and here many of us are that generation.

When it was just 3 television channels and newspapers there was at least some time to get away from it, deal with your immediate, personal concerns of life. But nowadays it's a 24/7 gauntlet of politicians, pundits, internet 'patriots', and a populace that seems partly cultish, partly fearful, and some who seem like they're just sleepwalking. Do I wish for those earlier times? No, not at all. I guess I've wished for a better understanding and assessment by people of the lessons learned(?) from history. Here we are in the 21st century and many are acting as if they were in the 1950s, or earlier.

I won't be around then, but I hope that by 2076 there will reason to celebrate in some measure all that this country, and the people who have passed on and those alive now, have struggled for.

I'm optimistic it will, but it's not an easy-chair type of expectation. The work continues.

Why would Trump even want to be president again?

Considering everything he's gone through, why would Donald Trump even want to be president again? He's already shown his hand with talk of vengeance, retribution, etc., but there will always be checks and balances and all manner of legal challenges to any of that. What "power" will he really have especially when everyone knows - even his own people - that he is not fit in scores of ways for the job? Does he really think that if he gets re-elected that everything will be okay? And hasn't he figured out by now that he's just a tool for the real bad actors who want to take the USA down?

Please excuse if these questions are off or may seem naive but it's confusing to think that there are people out there that would have no problem with a repeat of a presidency that was glaringly off the mark.

Relief Deception?

All of this that's going on now with the relief package certainly seems like something Americans can use. But why do I get the feeling that this is like a magician wanting everyone to look at his right hand but not pay attention to the left. I get the feeling that some major - and eventually consequential - deception is going on here. I remember awhile back mentioning to someone that Mnuchin at the Treasury is very suspicious considering his track record. Am I fishing for a conspiracy here or is there something to any of this?

A Ghoulish Vanity

Was there collusion with Russia? Yes. Was there obstruction? Yes. Is Donald Trump a criminal con man? Yes. Were others in Trump's circle involved? Add a Yes for each one.

All that you see and hear in the news now about Mueller's findings is really about saving the reputation of the "Presidency". Many in government will agree with the public that Trump is one of the biggest dirtbags that ever came down the pike. But they simply can't have the rest of world think that the system here is so screwed up that a dirtbag can come in and take over. Too late, the rest of the world already knows about this ghoulish vanity since it has seen it before.

Save the Presidency "brand". Even if the intelligent population of America has to pay the cost.

It's time for a Constitutional Convention.

What happened, Mitch?

'This guy doesn't know anything'

‘This guy doesn’t know anything’: the inside story of Trump’s shambolic transition team

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/sep/27/this-guy-doesnt-know-anything-the-inside-story-of-trumps-shambolic-transition-team

A Trump quote: "F**k the law. I don’t give a f**k about the law. I want my f**king money." Heard by no less than Chris Christie and Steve Bannon.

A military parade without tanks. . .

. . . is like a NASCAR race with golf carts.

Somewhat . . .

It may signal the end of a political era but there's a long way to go before the end of an ideological one.