Friday, October 26, 2018

If His Lips Are Moving



A brief columnar interlude. Couldn't stand being silent.
My recent leave-taking resumes after today. There’s only so much…  
Nevertheless, the latest torrent of atrocities by the person squatting atop our government ought not pass uncommented. Nor should the continued obeisance of his adoring mob. Though Trump’s lies and insults to decency have been unrelenting for years, what pricketh me just now is his insane claim, at a recent “I’ll-speak-of-my-greatness-while-you-shout-your-affirmation” rally, that the just-passed opioid bill received “hardly any votes from Democrats.” The actual vote was 98 -1 in the Senate, with the only no vote coming from a Republican. In the House, it was 393 – 8. That’s sickness.  
And, of course, there’s the calculus – to which some well-known preachers unashamedly have subscribed – that murdering a reporter, cutting him into pieces while still alive, lying about it, providing a series of increasingly bizarre explanations, must be overlooked so we can sell $110 billions worth of weapons to the perpetrators. 
Which is also a lie. $110 billion is fantasy, consisting of promises extending for decades, deals done by the previous administration, and about $4 billion actually in the pipeline. Plus, every time Trump mentions it, he up-puffs the numbers of potential jobs created. Four-hundred thousand, then five, then six. Most recently, a million. Says the Pentagon: maybe forty-thousand. 
Claiming unspecified Russian cheating, Trump would end Reagan’s nuclear treaty, to build short-range nukes. Coincidentally, wanting to deploy them around his borders, Putin proposed the same, ten years ago. Puppetry?  
Trump said his people were working “around the clock” on a middle-class tax cut before the election. White House staff hadn’t heard of it, so they’re scrambling to pretend it’s real. 
What do such ridiculous lies tell us, about the “president” and about those who excuse them? Is there an explanation that doesn’t foretell the end of our Republic? We’re in a dystopian world, arguing whether a “president” of the formerly exceptional United States isn’t really lying because he’s too stupid or uniformed to know truth; or whether he lies deliberately, dismissing his supporters as too dumb or Foxified to awaken to it; or whether he’s a diagnosable pathological liar. Which explanation is the least disturbing? Which suggests there’s room for moral awakening among his enablers?  
Oh, but Democrats want mob rule! If Lindsey “ignore-what-I-used-to-say” Graham buys it, so should you. Democrats want open borders, oppose the rule of law, would end Medicare by improving it, turning the US into Venezuela; are paying caravans of criminals to come to America to vote in November. The more preposterous, the more evidence-free, the more it’s repeated by Trump and rightwing TV propagandists and air-jockeys. And swallowed whole by Trumpists. 
Whose rallies are actual mobs spewing hate at reporters, demanding locking up former opponents, ignoring the law? For that matter, who benefits from refugees heading this way? George Soros, or those fear-mongering and demonizing them right before the election? A “national emergency,” says Trump. They’re walking. A thousand miles.  
Across the country, Republicans are purging voter rolls, refusing legitimate voters (assisted by Brett Kavanaugh’s first SCOTUS decision), distributing falsehoods about polling places and closing them in Democratic districts. When you can’t win the battle of ideas, you block the doors to the arena. It’s what the “party of Lincoln” has become. 
I know intelligent, thoughtful conservatives who claim to dislike Trump but who’ll vote for his party anyway, who pretend it’ll miraculously cleanse itself, requiring no action on their part. Who, one concludes, dislike Trump’s transgressions much less than they profess.  
Beyond his ludicrous lying, we’ve just learned Trump is considering going after transgender people, because… well, because he can. Because the same national “Christian” leaders who place money above morality – it’s their own business model, after all -- will praise his “defense of Christianity.” It would harm more than a million Americans, helping none. Other than Trump, that is, who’s made a career of hurting others to his own benefit.  
Trumpists don’t like being told they love him because he hates who they hate, nor having it pointed out that their acquiescence to Trump’s malignant mendacity can be explained only as preference for lies. By now, though, it’s undeniable. If his lips are moving…  
And this, just in: Trump doesn’t encourage violence or praise people who body-slam journalists. So those bombs sent to everyone he targets at his rallies? False flag 
November approaches, America. It’s now or never.
   [Image source]

5 comments:

  1. Well said, Doctor... I recently wrote and posted this on FecesBook and got a surprisingly positive response:

    "There are many Conservatives and Republicans now openly stating that while they dislike and disapprove of our current POTUS’ demeanor, language, racism, greed, criminality, bigotry, pathological lying and overall disgusting persona, they will put up with it as long as he keeps promoting their agenda. This is transactional politics in its very lowest form… they’ll excuse his behavior if he delivers the goods. By supporting him, they expose their antipathy towards human kindness, compassion and grace on a daily basis, and have removed the mask to finally show who they are and what they stand for. At least now they can no longer hide it.

    Think about it: of all the people you interact with on a daily basis, from teachers to co-workers to service technicians to classmates… would you give them a pass if they demonstrated the same debased public behavior as our POTUS? Would you look the other way if they insulted your wife or daughter, or denigrated your racial background, or lied about you and your family? Would you allow your children to emulate this POTUS’ behavior towards others?

    By refusing to stand up to our POTUS, the Congressional GOP and evangelical leaders have forfeited any moral standing they claimed in the past by flushing their humanity down The Golden Toilet. Trumpism is the opposite of human decency, and it becomes more glaringly obvious every day.

    As a Nation, we are so much better than this and need to make it crystal-clear on November 6th.

    PLEASE… VOTE!"

    I simply can't understand some people... SHEESH! Thanks, keep it coming!

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  2. With each passing day, each new lie, cheered on by adoring mobs, I'm less and less optimistic about Nov 6. I hope I'm wrong. Because it really is now or never.

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  3. Good to hear your voice again.
    I have very little hope for our country this time around. There will be recounts and appeals of recounts and appeals of appeals in every district or state won by a Dem. Trump will call them 'so-called representatives,' or 'fake, loser reps.' Dems won't be given committee chairs. Even if there were such a blowout that they couldn't contest the results, they still have till January to implement their Final Solution. 'I think I'm going to go live in a cave and be a helmit.' (Maynard G. Krebbs)

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  4. Are you okay Sid?????? haven't heard anything for a while I'm worried!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Okay is a relative term. But, yes. Taking a break from writing, and also traveling for the first time in a long time. Probably will resume.

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