The Patriot Act

My next newspaper column:

“Thinking NFL players are protesting the flag is like thinking Rosa Parks was protesting public transportation." 

That’s from Facebook, source of all wisdom. But it’s true. Same with saying they’re disrespecting veterans. Being one myself, I understand why some vets believe it; but they’re missing the point, wide right. Worse, they’re being used by a president with less standing to define patriotism than any president, ever. 

Our justifiable wars (which excludes Vietnam and all that followed except, maybe, Afghanistan until Bush abandoned it) were fought in the name of freedom. Founded by people resisting unjust governance, America began with protests. The action we’ve seen on NFL fields is as American as football, embodying a most fundamental Americanism: belief that wrongs can be righted by rallying support. Peacefully challenging inequality honors the flag, those who fought under it, and the promise of justice for all. For which it stands.  

Oh, but our country has been good to them, say the Foxolimjonesified. Yes. Which makes their activism more significant: it’s for those who haven’t voice or means, who live with inequity daily. Thus, the source of this cynically fomented outrage: the Republican party denies racial inequality exists. To get what those athletes are about, one must acknowledge imperfection, including racism and unequal justice. Denying them is deliberate blindness. Fixing them requires loving America enough to believe it can improve, and willingness to help it happen. 

NFL owners didn’t have to support their players. They did. Instead of men attending to equality, Trump could have called for firing people honoring Nazi flags, hailing inequality. He didn’t. 

I served in Vietnam because I was drafted. Unlike Donald Trump, who undoubtedly used family wealth and influence to get five phony deferments for “bone spurs” which mysteriously didn’t prevent him from playing varsity sports, I hadn’t tried to get out of it. Unlike Trump, I figured if I did, someone worth no less than me would be going in my place. 

While I was dodging rockets in Danang (successfully but for one), my wife was working for anti-war candidates and participating in war protests. As I was there involuntarily, her bravery and patriotism were greater than mine. Risking reprisal from Richard Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover, believing America could be better, she exercised rights I was told I was fighting for. Candidate Trump literally wrapped himself around a flag in a laughably phony tableau of patriotism. Unlike him, my wife and millions then, and star athletes and millions now, know patriotism is more real, difficult, and committed than that.  

Dining with a thrombus of right-wing leaders recently, Trump bragged that his “NFL thing” was “really taking off,” that he was “winning” on it. Winning what? A war of propaganda and deception? Distraction from the latest failure of a pre-failed campaign promise, repeal and replacement of The Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act; or the just-revealed White House private email accounts? Or, despite his bragging about it, a disorganized, ineffective relief effort in Puerto Rico? Or possibly his imaginary secret plan to defeat ISIS in thirty days. (Maybe he meant thirty days from tomorrow.) “Winning,” he called his NFL demagoguery. Such are the priorities of a losing narcissist. 

Except as a word to manipulate supporters, Donald Trump knows nothing of patriotism. Calling white supremacists “very fine people” but men protesting inequality “sons of bitches” is the opposite of patriotism. Hoping to wrench health coverage from millions of Americans, including low-income veterans, isn’t patriotism, nor is promoting a tax plan that experts say will add two trillion in debt while enriching his fellow plutocrats at the expense of Americans struggling to succeed. Patriotism isn’t running scam businesses and hiding tax returns. Neither is a “I know you are but what am I” contest with the world’s second most immature leader. And it absolutely isn’t receiving election assistance from a foreign enemy (who’s now helpfully pushing NFL outrage online). 

His list of transgressions makes Donald Trump particularly unqualified to define patriotism for us. With phony outrage, the man who got rich avoiding taxes and bilking Americans wants us to ignore the inequality those NFL players are identifying. In claiming they disrespect our flag, Trump stands truth on its head, which, it’s clear, is right where his remaining supporters prefer it to be. 

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Health Care. And Now, Tax Reform.

Who knew "America First" and "Make America Great Again" meant ending taxation on money American corporations earn overseas? I guess I just don't understand job creation.

The Perfect Version of "Graham-Cassidy"

Because I'm not the sort to put party above the good of our country, I have a "repeal and replace" health-care plan that will help Republicans, who control our government, fulfill their promise to the American people. It's based on their efforts (which some consider a bit shameless and cynical and desperate) to win over reluctant Republican senators by exempting their states from the worst parts of "Graham-Cassidy." (Or is it "Cassidy-Graham?" Or both, since there are two versions now.)

And here it is: write your bill and exempt all fifty states. Simple. Done deal. You're welcome.

Trump's Katrina? No. Far Worse.

Note to Donald Trump: Puerto Rico is part of the United States. Its citizens are American citizens, and they're in extremis. Instead of acting like a child over athletes standing up to you, how 'bout marshaling all the powers of the government, including the military, to get food and water there? How 'bout sending generators and fuel by the boatload?

You idiot. You self-absorbed third grader. Would it help if we sent skin-lightening cream first?

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Kung Fu Surgeon

Tomorrow's newspaper column, today. A happy break from Trump and Trumpisim, by way of my Surgeonsblog.

Somewhere in my home is a letter I received from a Shaolin priest, at the time one of five (so I was told) highest grand masters of the martial art of kung fu on the planet. The letter is embossed with the gold seal of the temple of which he was the head (if that’s the word). With its beautiful calligraphy and that timeless seal, I should have had it framed. Sadly, at the moment it’s missing in inaction. 

The master came to me from another country, that I -- and only I -- might operate upon him. (To put it a little more dramatically than circumstances might warrant.) According to the man who sent him to me, he taught very few select pupils, and demonstrated his skills only in private. The referring person, a student of kung fu (but not of the master), had had the opportunity to witness the man's ability to toss a group of attackers like Pike Place fish, and other unearthly wonders. The priest was in his sixties, as I recall. 

I'm not sure what I expected. A spectral aura? Levitation? A shimmering cone of calm? Surely, though, were I to give satisfactory care, I'd be granted some sort of special status, maybe presented with a holy relic, invited to the temple for a secret ceremony rooted in ages past. I let myself imagine wondrous things. Truths revealed. Powers conferred. 

He arrived in my office dressed like a Florida retiree. Age-appropriately fit, but appearing neither athletic nor powerful, he was of unimposing stature. Less surprised than embarrassed for my silliness, I put aside my fantasies and proceeded into my usual doctor/patient partnership, treated him like everyone else, operated in due course and saw to his recovery, after which he returned to his homeland. 

The letter, which lavishly compared my commitment and work to that of great artists, was accompanied by a package. The elegance (and flattery) of the letter was more than enough; but, once again, I unloosed my imagination, now at what might be in the box, which I opened with partially contained expectation. 

It was a Montblanc fountain pen. 

I'd not heard of them. Very expensive for a pen, I discovered, and quite beautiful. A nice gesture, no doubt, but of not much use to me. A little too showy, it was also impossible to use for writing orders at the hospital, because (before computerized records) I needed to push hard enough for several copies. Nor was I interested in lugging a bottle of ink on rounds. I confess to being disappointed. It seemed so impractical, so materialistic, so... unlike a Shaolin priest. Not that I had any information other than a TV show. 

In its elegant box, the pen sat on my bedside table for a decade or more, alongside its exotic and suggestively erotic ink bottle. Then I wrote a book, found an actual publisher, gave some readings, did book signings. And it occurred to me: it was karma, or whatever kung fu masters believe in. He foresaw this moment, it was perfect, meaning and purpose of the gift revealed. 

I took it to my first reading. With its elegant, filigreed gold nib, its meaty heft, its unmistakable emblem, the silky lines of ink it imparted to the page, it’d be perfect for a signature and a few well-chosen words. Testimony to a writer of distinction. On stage, I read choice bits and answered questions. Humbly, I say my readings were mutual fun. I'm enough of a ham to enjoy it and get plenty of laughs. That first one was at “Wordstock,” a book fair of some renown in Portland. My presentation, in a small side room, was at the same time as Gore Vidal's, in an appropriately huge one. “This is my first reading of my first book," I told the audience, "So I'm looking forward to hearing what I have to say." 

When I finished, by then an old pro, sitting at a table stacked with books ready to be signed and inscribed for purchasers, I took up that auriferous pen as if having it were normal as breathing. 

It leaked all over my hands. The first book I signed was so smudged I had to throw it away.

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Dreaming

It's become very clear that Robert Mueller is deadly serious and that his investigation will reveal multiple transgressions: not just Russia collusion and Russian hacking of the electoral process (more effectively than is currently believed by most), but Trump's own shady (and worse) business dealings, and those of his hench.

And it's clear, because it's already happening, that Trump, Trumpists, the right-wing media machine, and Congressional Rs will do everything they can to discredit Mueller and his findings.

What's not yet clear is the extent to which the latter truth will be effective. On the 35% hardcore, the answer is irrelevant: they'll believe Trump is Jesus-sent and Mueller is doing the work of the devil. The important question is how many Trump voters of the not totally blinded and deafened sort will think twice. And whether enough Congressional Rs will find the genitals to do something about it.

I cling to the belief that not all Republicans have gone entirely insane and that the word "conservative" still has meaning; so I'm inclined to think that if Mueller's findings are as damaging to Trump and his gang of deceivers as I'm pretty sure they will be, we'll be seeing the last of Trump, sooner than later.

A guy can dream.

Perchance To Dream

Tomorrow's newspaper column, today:

Steve Bannon and all of Breitbartdom were deliriously joyful, Jeff Sessions smirked his way through the announcement, their uncontained happiness telling. Ending DACA is, after all, about nothing so much as nativist white supremacy. Appealing directly to the worst among us, Trump’s initial decision was gratuitous cruelty.  

“Compassion,” said Sessions, the word inexplicably not burning through his nasal conchae and into his brain. And “law.” Well, the latter argument is not without weight: DACA was a controversial executive order by the Muslim Kenyan terrorist, a result of Congress even less able to legislate than it is now.    

Fake news notwithstanding, no court has ruled Obama’s order unconstitutional. Now, though, with Neil Gorsuch having taken his seat thanks to unprecedented obstruction by Mitch McConnell, the Supreme Court is stacked against it. Congressional inaction or an appearance before the Court would mean the end of DACA. Too bad. It’s been humane and mutually beneficial; which, considering its origin, is unsurprising. Note that CEOs of major companies, and the Chamber of Commerce are among those calling for continuing the program. 

As usual, right-wing media are disgorging deliberate disinformation about DACA recipients: they’re on welfare, they get food stamps, free college. Because it’s lies that created and animate Trumpism, truth won’t matter. But this is about children, innocently but unlawfully brought here years ago, who’ve honorably made our country a home. These are eight-hundred-thousand honest young adults, contributing no less to society than wave after wave of immigrants have throughout our history.  

On arrival, their average age was six. They’ve been here, typically, twenty years, during which time they’ve become American in all but citizenship. To qualify for DACA, they’ve passed and maintained legal scrutiny; they’re paying five-hundred dollars every two years to continue their inclusion; none have committed crimes; nearly all are employed, paying taxes. They include nurses, teachers, med students, engineers, tech specialists, soldiers. Debunked repeatedly is the claim that Dreamers take jobs from American citizens. There is, in other words, no downside to DACA. Having arrived as children, they’ve come to personify the American dream, as opposed to the deplorables to whose ugly demands Trump is acceding.  

Had Republicans in Congress shown legislative ability on much of anything, especially issues that require empathy, intelligence and forward thinking, Trump’s no-look pass to them could be seen as something other than cynical politics. “Above all else, we must remember that young Americans have dreams too,” stated Trump, vaporizing prior phony justifications, and implying benevolence is a zero-sum proposition. 

It’s only those aggrieved (in their own minds) nativists and supremacists who like the idea of punishing descendants for the crimes of their parents, but those are the people on whom Trump has rested his presidency. Muslim bans, Charlottesville, LGBT people, Sheriff Arpaio, and (maybe, maybe not) DACA: there’s no mistaking, to date, at whose approval his policies have been aimed. A third of Trump voters, according to polls, would deport Dreamers.  

And yet, as he reads the writing on the wall, senses he might be making an early exit through the presidential grift-shop, maybe Trump is listening to the better angels in Congress and the voices of the vast majority of Americans who disapprove of and disagree with him. Even if it’s because he fears an end to the cash cow his presidency has become for his businesses and family, has he reneged, yet again, on a major promise? As happened with the debt ceiling, Democratic leaders may have convinced him to reconsider this senseless deportation. 

But wait: after showing what looked like an uncharacteristic sense of decency, Trump is now demanding a cost-free act of humanity be tied to his expensive, pandering, and unnecessary border wall. So who knows? Does he care about Dreamers as fellow humans, or is their future only a bargaining chip? With Trump, whose only constant is self-enrichment, no one, not even supporters, can count on anything. 

Nativist Trumpites are already up in arms at his possible about-face. As we welcome their overdue recognition that Trump hasn’t the ability to produce coherent policy or keep his facts straight from one moment to the next, let them explain how Obama’s order has hurt them.  

Meanwhile: if this column is even more discohesive than usual, hey, the man has ping-ponged three times since I began it! 

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Sinking To Their Level

I gotta say there's a bunch of really annoying lefty websites lately, ones posting articles with click-worthy headlines, pitching stories we all wish were true but which, when read, are empty, the titles having been dramatically misleading, the "story" nothing more than hearsay. It's starting to piss me off.

"Trump furious over something or other." "The final days of Trump's presidency or something." "White House in disarray after Mueller somethings a something."

I'd like to believe it all, but I don't need to be hooked into something that's unsourced hearsay bullshit. I'd like to believe liberals are a little smarter than that, and that they'd reject trumpic-level fakery. But it's not so: Facebook, for example, is full of links to those articles, posted, re-posted, garnering all sorts of "like"s. I'll assume the likers didn't bother to read the articles. Otherwise, they're at Foxolimjonesian levels of wishful thinking.

Are they deliberately false, just to raise hopes only to dash them? Are they cynical click-bait for ad revenue? Whatever the answers, "we" ought to be better than these useless places.

Here's a list of some of the worst bullshit liberal sites:

"Bluedotdaily dot com" "Progresstribune dot com" "Bipartisanreport dot com" And this bunch of bogosity: Occupy Democrats, PoliticsUSA, Blue Nation Review, Addicting Info, Liberalspeak. I guess it's not impossible any of them might on occasion post something useful, but they require reading with a high level of salinity and a low level of expectation.

Happily, there are plenty of reputable and intelligent liberal sites which do excellent original reporting of their own. A couple of the best are talkingpointsmemo.com and washingtonmonthly.com. Plus truthout.org, crooksandliars.com (which, if sometimes a little shady, has been known to link to my blog on occasion), thinkprogress.org, and, of course, Mother Jones.

And there's the best of the opinionators, Charles P. Pierce. That he happens also to be funny as hell is frosting on the apple.

No fan of bothsiderism, I have no problem with well-argued liberal-leaning sites: they're where reality is to be found. Which is why those superficial, shallow, low-standard, b.s. "liberal" places are so depressing. Actual, documentable, well-sourced truth is good enough, and all we need.

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Mine Eyes Have Seen

Sharia law, they scream. Christians are the most abused of all religions. Religion is under attack in America, they weep; they're coming for your gums.

Meanwhile, under Trump (who gives as much a shit about religion as he does about non-white Americans), our government is becoming an undisguised fundamentalist Christian theocracy, and it ought to be beyond worrisome to everyone, especially conservatives. If they were, in fact, actually conservative.

His latest nominee to the Federal bench thinks judges' religious beliefs should and do outweigh the law. And if that's not enough to scare the crap out of you (especially if you're a woman, or, for that matter, most other forms of human), how about the CIA becoming the enforcement arm of evangelical Christianity?

The only thing Trump's government is good at is prestidigitation: hey, look, there's voter fraud, they shout, waving ballots in your face, while with the other hand they're hiding the actual hacking of elections by Putin's pals. Oh, my, the Islams are gonna impose that Sharie stuff, they warn, as our government becomes biblically blind to the Constitution.

As a non-Christian, it gives me extra connection to the pit of my stomach. Because Trump and Trumpists no more believe in freedom of religious thought than they do in free and fair elections. Absent a great upheaval, a great awakening among the blind and deaf -- as likely as anthropogenic global cooling -- we're on our way back to the Middle Ages, in more ways than several.

And if Trump goes while Pence stays, it'll just be a change in the likeness of the Grand Inquisitor.

[Update: it looks like the claim about that judge may have been wrong. That's embarrassing. The CIA thing is real. So, now that you mention it, is the fact that that ousted Alabama supreme court justice, who refused to take down the Ten Commandments from his courthouse, is the likely next senator from there. So, a datum was wrong; the general point isn't.]

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Harvey

Tomorrow's newspaper column, today:

No city, state, or country could be fully prepared for a disaster like Hurricane Harvey. Texas is trying hard. Thankfully, Trump appointed a person to lead FEMA who, nearly alone among other appointees, is experienced and competent, and Trump pressed Congress for billions in aid. (Will it come from border wall funds or from critical services? Either way, might people notice how unimportant that wall is, compared to this sort of need?)

Also nice, though parsimonious compared to his claimed wealth and to donations of billionaires like Michael Dell, millionaire athletes, and “Hollywood liberals,” is Trump’s pledge of a million dollars of “personal money.” Much is going to reputable charities, though Franklin Graham, worth tens of millions, all-in Trumpist, blamer of gays and immigrants for nearly everything, gets a hundred grand. 

One hates to dwell on Trump, but his initial trip to Texas showcased his predictable, narcissistic first instincts: comments on crowd size, a platform for selling hats, no mention of people hurting from the floods. “We’ll congratulate ourselves when it’s finished,” said he. Evidently stung by criticism, he returned to stage a simulacrum of empathy. Some people were impressed. “Sincerity. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” (George Burns.)

Local governments know best, Republicans say. But after eliminating environmental rules statewide, Texas’ state legislature moved to prevent cities and counties from enacting their own. Businesses need not say what toxins they harbor. When plants blow up in Texas, firefighters may be unaware of what they’re facing, even after they’ve finished.

Houston has minimal zoning laws. Neighborhoods have discovered they’re living next to stored poisons only after they leak. And if smarter development wouldn’t fully mitigate monster floods like Harvey, it’s a fact that land formerly capable of absorbing water was covered over with no requirements for redress. It adds up. Now, as the deluge recedes, pollution left behind will be monumental and, had there been wiser governance, largely preventable.

Before Harvey, Trump reversed Obama’s rules for building in flood zones, cut refinery regulations, supported nearly a billion in cuts to FEMA and three-hundred-fifty million in federal money for fighting wildfires. Already shrinking, the EPA is led by a life-long panderer to the interests of fossil fuel producers; a man who, like Trump and most Republicans, asserts man-made climate change is a hoax. All of whom claim bringing it up right after a disaster is unseemly, and bringing it up any other time is worse.

Last week’s column ended with, “Trump is Hurricane Harvey. Houston is America.” In fairness, it’s not just him: it’s the entire Republican Party since Ronald Reagan’s simplistic idea that “government isn’t the solution, it’s the problem.” Deficit-increasing tax cuts and dangerous deregulation have followed ever since. If Reagan didn’t know of man-made climate change, he didn't mind a little pollution, and ridiculed conservation, saying, “You’ve seen one redwood, you’ve seen them all.” 

For years, Texas has been a laboratory of Reaganoid “business friendly” deregulation and tax breaks. Then came Harvey, blowing away the peeling veneer of credibility for post-Reagan Republicanism, washing off everything but the writing on the wall. 

The measure of post-Harvey leadership won’t be photo-op mulligans, handing out food (ever tone-deaf, Trump called the tragedy “a beautiful thing” and told people to “have a good time.”) Leadership will mean replacing the “If Obama was for it I’m against it” mentality with willingness (and ability) to become analytical and responsible. It’ll be committing to years of recovery, with government solutions from many departments. It’ll require acknowledging the magnitude of man-made climate change, having the humanity to recognize and admit former wrong-headedness, and providing a clear-eyed plan of action. Including ending Trumpic coal-fired lunacy. It’ll mean reversing the assault on regulating dangerous practices, and rethinking reductions in critical services to pay for millionaire tax cuts and symbolic walls. 

Harvey’s lessons are unambiguous. Only fossil fuel producers and other polluters benefit from climate change denial and strangling the EPA. Around here we’ve broken records for rainless days. The Bay Area suffered record high temperatures, the West is on fire, another enormous hurricane is bearing down. As climate science predicts, storms, floods, drought, and wildfires are worsening globally. Man-made climate change is obvious, the consequences undeniable. 

People who still reject this reality are either impossibly ignorant or unimaginably evil.

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Nasty. Harmful. Stupid. It's Just Who He Is.

My first thought about Trump's plan to end DACA was anger at his usual needless nastiness, his playing to the worst of his base. And the typical thoughtlessness of him.

My second thought was, after reading the deportations would be deferred for six months so Congress could deal with it was, well, that makes a certain amount of sense, so, okay maybe.

My third and probably final thought was, wait a minute. That's bullshit. Because either the crazy wing will manage to codify the end of DACA, or, more likely, Congress, already with too much on its plate and having shown its inability to do much of anything, will gridlock up to and past the six-month deadline.

So it's cynicism² effluxing from the Gold House: gratuitous meanness and a ploy to place blame on Congress. Either way, deporting people who arrived here illegally as children but who've become productive residents is despicable. It serves no good purpose. But when has "good" ever entered into Trump's thinking, other than when followed by "for me"?

In this case one would hope it's not even good for him. Sure his alt-right marchers and rally attendees will love it. But I think it'll be too much for (theoretically existent) decent people who, for some reason, talked themselves into voting for him. Among them there simply must be a few with compassion. Or, absent compassion, the ability to do math.

Idiots, All The Way Down

 

Tomorrow's newspaper column, today:

It’s a big, diverse country, so there’s no surprise it contains people who support Donald Trump’s ever more egregious demagoguery. Of course, it’s that very diversity which animates those non-diverse supporters who show up at his rallies. These are scary people; scary as a “president” who, in Arizona, read words claiming to love all Americans, after which he spewed venom at pretty much everybody. Especially reporters who, he says, don’t like America. Reporters, whose job it is to correct lies and uncover corruption. Who, coincidentally, will be reporting results of investigations. 

Phoenix was the worst yet: meandering, wallowing in self-pity, blaming others for his failures, threats against enemies perceived and real. (No mention, though, of ten sailors who died the day before.) But they cheer him. Even when, after promising Mexico would pay for his wall, he threatened to shut down OUR government if WE won’t pay for it. And now, pardoning a racist, law-flouting (but birther!) sheriff whose malfeasance and crimes are manifold, “Law and Order” Trump has sent us a clear, specific message; and it’s grotesque. 

On cue, they cheer and boo, making clear who really doesn’t like America. They’ll say otherwise, of course: they love it. Except its laws; except immigrants and minorities; except the mainstays of democracy: a free and adversarial press; voting by citizens they don’t like; and public education. What they don’t love is the foundation on which the republic stands. It follows, then, that they’re fine with a sociopathic leader who doesn’t love those same things. 

Trumpists posted scenes of tens of thousands filling the streets of Phoenix for the rally. The pictures were actually of throngs in Cleveland for the NBA champ Cavaliers; that’s how much they prefer lies, the more the better. As usual, Trump lied about crowd size, too. 

If it’s creepy having an insecure “president” who’s so needy he holds rallies to wallow in adulation, it’s beyond bizarre that he whines, rambles, fumes, can’t stay on message, contradicts what he said moments earlier. He invokes hatred (Lock her up, they chanted. McCain should die.) He misleads, he fails to understand those things of which he speaks (tinyurl.com/U-clean-it). And they cheer him. He offers up scapegoats, validates their prejudices. Are they brainwashed, or just willingly uninformed? Decide for yourselves. 

That there’s an audience in America hungry for Trumpo-totalitarianism is obvious. We’ve seen the neo-Nazis and white supremacists up close now, the salutes and chants and flags (“We all salute the same flag,” said Trump) of the ideology hundreds of thousands of braver Americans died to defeat. The ideology that killed millions of innocents; whose fascistic descendants loved Trump’s Charlottesville response. The difference between Arizona attendees and marchers in Virginia is geography. Those who’ve seen Trump’s disjointed ravings and still applaud are marchers in their minds, and they won’t be back.  

Trumpism was never about “economic insecurity” or “America first.” Only a day before the rally, Trump announced a “plan” for open-ended war in Afghanistan that was no plan at all. And now, after encouraging police violence, he’s re-arming them into a military force. Remember when Foxolimjonesians warned of Obama imposing martial law? 

Rational people see what participants in Trumpic love/hate-fests never will. They’re raising alarms about his sanity, concerned he’s in over his head, worrying that a vengeful, confabulating man is in charge of our military. They see historic parallels in his gullible, enthusiastic followers. And these aren’t liberals whose safe spaces were invaded. They’re conservative foreign policy experts, CIA officials who’ve served presidents of both parties. 

Not all Americans can resist the appeal of tyrants, especially people who believe they’ll never be targeted. Which is how it begins. If Trump’s inveighing words are reminiscent of dictators throughout history, we must consider whether he can accomplish on our soil what others have elsewhere. Not if enough decent people who voted for him are, finally, shocked enough by what they’re witnessing to join those who’ve seen it all along. 

Getting through to those who attend or approve his rallies is impossible: he’s their demagogue, tells their lies. But it’s well past time for Republicans and conservatives who love actual America to put country above party and reject Trump’s dangerous demagoguery. He’s Hurricane Harvey. Houston is America.  

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