Donald Trump Screws the Base

Much as he gloated about grabbing women by the p***y, Donald Trump is now assuming he can bend his base over the proverbial “Apprentice” casting couch, and expect them to take it while still singing his praises.  The question is... will they?  Or, is there a chance that at least some of them will wake up and realize they’ve been conned by a lesser Oz?

Throughout the campaign last fall, Trump liked to throw red meat to the tens of thousands of his supporters who craved blood, baring their fangs at every opportunity.  I believe the chant was “lock her up”, in reference of course, to former Frist Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  Guess what?  Trump made it clear in the first days of his (pseudo) presidency that he has no plans whatsoever to pursue the matter.

Trump promised to “drain the swamp”.  Well, he pretty much acknowledged that was just a campaign slogan, and he had no intention of drastically altering the status quo.  In fact, he’s appointed a cabinet of billionaires:  anti-labor, pro-corporate establishment who have absolutely nothing in common with the average American.  

Trump claimed he was beholden to no one, but his Russian ties continue to raise questions and keep him tied in knots of his own creation.  While the world condemns Putin’s second attempt to poison a political opponent (Vladimir Kara-Murza), Trump remains silent.  Trump appointed Putin ally and patsy Rex Tillerson (former Exxon CEO) as his Secretary of State.  Tillerson is an advocate of lifting sanctions on Putin and his circle of thugs.  The questions remain about Putin’s efforts to get Trump elected--just how deep was his involvement?  Were the constant Wikileaks drips piped out of the Kremlin?  Just as Trump has no interest in releasing his taxes due to the revelations they contain (perhaps he’s not really a billionaire, perhaps he owes millions to Russian banks...) he constantly attempts to divert attention from investigations into the “Russian connection”.  His latest break with reality came when he accused President Obama of wiretapping Mordor (Trump Tower).  No proof whatsoever, but Trump has a close relationship with fantasy.  Does his base really want the image of the United States of America tarnished by a close relationship with a murderous band of thugs?  We’ve unfortunately ventured down this road before; it wasn’t pretty.

Finally, there’s healthcare.  Wow... candidate Trump promised that when he repealed Obamacare he would “take care of everybody”-- his replacement would be cheaper & better.  Now, suddenly, he is claiming that “nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated”.  Wrong.  He may have been the only one who didn’t realize the complexity of the issue.  His response to this shocking discovery has been to take refuge in Paul Ryan’s plan.  Well, the CBO (a nonpartisan group designed to provide Congress with independent analysis & estimates of the cost of proposed legislation) has reported that 24 million people will likely lose insurance in the next decade under this “plan”--with 14 million losing their insurance in 2018 alone!  I hate to break it to the base, but there’s every indication that this will hit you hard.

There are so many other reasons to open your eyes.  U.S. taxpayers are paying for Trump's wall folly, not Mexico. Coal is not coming back.  He has not divested from his businesses.  He slept through the Yemen raid (in which a Navy SEAL and an 8 year old American girl were killed--along with numerous other civilians.  The raid produced no useful intel.  He touts the same jobs reports he once labeled as “phony”.  He invented “fake news”, and continues to create more of it than any other person, living or dead.

Stop allowing this man to abuse you, and don’t believe his promises (once a liar, always a liar).  Remember, all abusers have a weakness... some fatal flaw that allows victims the opportunity to break free.  In Trump's case it's his massive ego.  Just remind him that he lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes, and that John Lewis was right, Donald will never be a legitimate president.