Our Stone Age "President"

With hinge screws flying off like sweat from an overweight “president” on an unstoppable treadmill, Trump, on Easter Sunday no less, posted the following NSFW screed on his North Korea-emulating propaganda outlet, Truthless Sociopath:

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

How very presidential. How honorably he presents America to the world. Our breasts should balloon with pride like... 

Nope, not going there.

No matter that he backed down, as usual. Every American who considers the presidency a position from which wisdom and humanity ought to emanate should find that rant unspeakably disgusting, demeaning the office and America.

MAGA doesn’t, of course, proving yet again how irreparably divided our country has become under Trump; how the regressive world-view of a belligerent minority has come to dominate American governance, despite representing not even a plurality of opinions. This isn’t “Art of the Deal.” It’s a madman, raving.

That Iran didn’t blink and Trump did makes it no less disturbing. Iran gets full control of the Strait of Hormuz, extracting millions in tolls, sanctions lifted, no constraints on building weapons, and declares victory. If it holds, Trump moves on, taking no responsibility for his economy-imperiling, America-diminishing war that empowered China and Russia. And, yes, Iran. But we’re to sing the praises of an arsonist who stopped setting fires. For now.

“Let those who have weapons lay them down. Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace,” was the Easter message from the first American pope, Leo XIV. Contrarily, Trump whisperer Laura Loomer wrote, “This is what I voted for. Bomb jihadis back to the Stone Age, where their mentality permanently lives. Trump said he’s going to bomb their infrastructure in Iran, and then he said ‘Praise be to Allah.’ On Easter. Amazing. Just amazing. Strategic bombing wins wars.”

Of which homily would Jesus approve? It’s a question the “Christian” Nationalists marionetting Trump stopped asking years ago. In Jesus’s name, they chose death and destruction. It’s confounding that people see the same thing and draw radically different conclusions.

Among the rotating stock of justifications for Trump’s war/not-war/but-really-war was liberating the Iranian people. “Rise up,” he exhorted. “We’ll have your backs.” Not exactly “bomb them back to the Stone Age, where they belong,” as Trump later put it, more cruel than Lovely Laura. No running water, no electricity, no hospitals. No fuel. No food storage, mass starvation. To Trump, to whom empathy is another obscenity, that’s “where they belong” – all of them, women, children, the brave souls who protested their government; students, teachers, healthcare workers.

Such inhumanity, even the threat of which is a war crime, is the wettest of MAGA dreams. They love it like they love a man who lies with every exhalation, who validates their hatreds, who hires people like Hegseth, not despite incompetence but because of it. Competence and sycophancy are incompatible.

As ill-considered as Trump’s war was, as obvious that he ignored warnings of its predictable, global consequences, he’s now ensuring that he’ll encounter no such pushback against his next war of choice, predicated on a draft-dodger’s need to appear tough. Firing General Randy George, Army Chief of Staff, was a warning to all senior officers to shut up and salute. When military leadership is left only to the most compliant, who’ll be there to refuse his next war crime, or, as General Mark Milley was, to resist another call to shoot protestors “in the legs or something”?

Trump unmasked the weakness of a Constitution predicated on goodwill, a commodity lacking among MAGA Republicans. His mental instability hasn’t triggered the 25th Amendment, nor impeachment and removal. When Congress is majoritized by people whose feck fits in a pixie’s hipflask, checks and balances become as outdated as the muskets behind the Second Amendment. A return to the respect for law and humankind presumed by the founders would require MAGAs to rediscover their humanity, currently Trumpofoxified out of existence.

When church and state become one, as the founders feared, we get stupid wars of arrogance, managed by people claiming God’s approval. People like Pentagon Pete, second only to Holy Mike Johnson in flashing faux righteousness like opening a trenchcoat in a city park. Maybe Trump’s handlers have convinced him that he, too, is doing God’s work. As a lifelong apostate, it’s unlikely he believes it, but he’s made billions by convincing MAGA he does. A miasmic, flattery-demanding “president“ and a Bible-banging Secretary of Defense, unchecked by spineless Congressional Republicans, makes a poisonous witches’ brew. It’s boiling over.

Footnote: Having taken a break to address health issues, I’ve been reassessing. Writing exercises an aging brain and offloads some stress, but its nugatory nature is undeniable. Further assessment to follow.

The Man Who Would Be ... President

 

One takeaway from the debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump is the annoyance of articles that promise “(insert number) takeaways from (insert event).” Here are three of mine: 1) fact-checking is a waste of time, 2) fewer people are paying attention than one would hope, and 3) focus groups confirm 1 and 2.

A worthwhile online destination is “The Bulwark,” consisting of current and former Republicans, traditional conservatives, always brilliant and, therefore, never-Trumpers. All have impressive resumés, as advisors to past Republican candidates, campaign managers, commentators, writers. Founder of The Weekly Standard, Bill Kristol is one. Former RNC Chair Michael Steele is another. Unlike MAGA Republicans, they also have a sense of humor. For those seeking current information and thoughtful opinion, there’s a YouTube channel and a website. Their publisher, Sarah Longwell, is a cogent political analyst and leader of focus groups. Her post-debate sessions have been somewhere between reassuring and disconcerting.

One “undecided” voter said she hadn’t known that Trump pressured Congressional Republicans to block the tough, problem-solving, bipartisan border bill so he could continue to use immigration as his central campaign issue. That act of seditious skullduggery is perfectly revelatory of what he is (deplorable) and who he is not (a patriot).

At this late date, remaining unaware must be due to derelict disinterest in politics or getting one’s news only from Foxish sources. Which suggests, given how closely divided our country is, that November’s election could be decided by people who know approximately nothing about the candidates or what’s at stake. Whether Trump wins may depend on people who believe his lie that he’s unaware of Project 2025, for one example, or who are unfamiliar with it. For the latter, here’s a helpful primer.

Most of the participants in Longwell’s focus groups agreed Vice President Kamala Harris prevailed in the debate and were put off by Trump’s claim about Haitians in Springfield Ohio eating neighborhood pets. How many of the sixty million viewers of the debate believed it, though? Enough that there’ve been dozens of bomb threats to Springfield’s government offices and schools. True to form, Trump refused to condemn those threats. JD Vance let slip that they know the claims are groundless, but push them for political advantage. MAGA.

Denying, but knowing he got trounced in the debate, Trump now claims that V.P. Kamala Harris was given questions in advance. Trumpists are sure she received coaching through her earrings. Perennially incapable of actual governance, House Republicans plan to investigate. But the explanation is obvious: diligent preparation for anticipated questions on predictable topics. Purposeful – let’s call it presidential -- preparation. Something with which Trump, who famously refused to read his daily briefings as “president” and didn’t bother to prepare for foreign visits, is wholly unfamiliar.

Since the debate, we’ve seen other examples of who Trump is. He’s been traveling with and pawing the most deplorable of MAGA women (there’s plenty of competition, with one of whom she shares a first name): Laura Loomer. A Holocaust denier and 9/11 conspiracist, she’s a racist xenophobe whose vile rhetoric makes Ann Coulter seem like Emily Dickinson. She claims the Ohio Haitians aren’t just pet-eaters, but cannibals. Not unlike a local Republican candidate, reportedly, she calls for Democrats to be executed.

Even nasty Marjorie Taylor Greene finds Ms. Loomer offensive (jealous, Marge?), saying the lady isn’t what MAGA stands for. But MAGA is Trump and Trump loves Loomer, so it most definitely is. Also included in his current coterie is Pizzagate conspirator Jack Posobiec. Trump pushed Loomer- and Posobiec-level conspiracies long before he inner-circled them.

The man MAGAs trust with America’s future is showing us the kind of people with whom he’d surround himself if elected.

After Taylor Swift endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump posted on Truthless Sociopath, colloquially known as “Truth Social,” I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT! That’s the entire post, fourth-grader level from the man who would be president; so easily triggered by Taylor Swift and V.P. Harris that he descends into madness. Like his recent promise to deport those Ohio Haitians to – wait for it – Venezuela. But they’re here on Temporary Protected Status, making deportation illegal. Not that legality matters to a convicted felon, sex predator, and fraudster. Or his besotted believers.

Corollary to Trump’s psychic fragility is the ease with which he succumbs to flattery. If Trumpists don’t see it, the world does. Here’s a link to Australian Prime Minister Malcomb Turnbull describing Trump’s puppy-dog behavior around Putin and other dictators. All Americans should be appalled, because appalling is what it is. For America, Trump needs to lose. By a lot.

Underscoring the need, a letter has just been published by over a hundred Republicans, former members of the Reagan, Bush I, Bush II, Trump administrations and Congress, stating Trump’s absolute unfitness to be president. They expect, they wrote, to disagree with Kamala Harris on many issues, but gave full-throated support to her integrity and qualities befitting a president. If Taylor Swift’s endorsement won’t affect conservatives, maybe this will.