The March of Trump's Toadies

Just as the migratory behavior of the lemmings leads to mass suicide, so the inevitable march of the toadies will lead the walking dead of the Republican Party straight down to hell, courtesy of the AntiChrist himself, Donald J. Trump.  Who are the most notable toadies?  A closer look is in order…

Toadie-in-chief:  “Moscow Mitch” McConnell, one of the most vile and reprehensible individuals in the history of the Senate… and a certified racist to boot--which ought to be surprising, given his marriage to fellow swamp creature Sec. of Transportation Elaine Chao... but the way he behaved throughout the Obama years left no doubt.  Meanwhile, estimates of Moscow's net worth vary widely, from $13-54 million... Perhaps an investigation is in order.  Incidentally, Satan wants his soul back, Mitch.

Lindsey Graham – the less said the better.  From combative Trump adversary in 2016, to apologist extraordinaire.  Speculation that Graham has suffered numerous concussive events would at least provider an explanation for his behavior.  John McCain would no longer recognize his old friend.  Sad.

.

Tom Cotton –this guy is a real piece of work.  A veteran who opted to embrace DJT’s ludicrous assertion that soldiers (stationed in Iraq) who were injured in the Iranian missile attack following Soleimani’s assassination were actually suffering from “headaches”, not traumatic brain injuries.  Way to turn your back on your comrades in arms, “Captain” Cotton.  Pick any topic… civil rights?  Cotton opposes a woman’s right to choose, same-sex marriage, stem cell research, and the Violence Against Women Act.  His depressing resume plays out in similar fashion across the board. I have a sneaking suspicion he participated in the Unite the Right march in Charlottesville back in 2017…

Ben Sasse—dubbed the preeminent intellect in the new conservative movement (scary!).  He spent his time during the impeachment trial passing notes and giggling with S.C. Senator Tim Scott.  At least this noted Chinaphobe didn't share his views (for the most part) in a public forum, though it was evident he’d made up his mind before proceedings began.  No need to deliberate thoughtfully if you're an intellectual icon!

Joni Ernst – the train ran off the tracks a long, long time ago.  Joni has supported privatizing Medicare, rolling back clean water protections, opposes a federal minimum wage, has never met a gun she doesn’t love (in any setting), and has been a staunch supporter of Steve King and his racist rhetoric.  Iowa has done so much better...

Marsha Blackburn – might be more dangerous "if she only had a brain" (witness her inexcusable attack on Lt. Vol. Alexander Vindman’s patriotism).  Also, is it just me or do her eyes appear to spin counter-clockwise?  Remember Michele Bachmann?

Roy Blunt – even after the Bolton bombshell this character opposed calling witnesses.  Blunt didn't  want to “prolong” the trial, and made it clear that no new witnesses, or evidence, would change the outcome.  The “not guilty” verdict was predetermined..  As far as these folks are concerned, DJT and Jesus must be one and the same.

Josh Hawley – Missouri rookie grandstanding for the Donald, demanded that the Bidens, Schiff, and the whistleblower all be called to testify if the Senate voted to hear from new witnesses, i.e. Bolton.  Amusing notion, rookie, but irrelevant to the Trump impeachment case.  Back to the bench Josh.

Martha McSally – might be taken more seriously if she behaved in an appropriate (human) fashion.  She lashed out at CNN reporter Manu Raju, alleging he’s a “liberal hack”.  I find it hard not to wonder if his name (i.e. ethnicity) contributed to her rage.

Rand Paul – “The Senate will not continue this partisan abuse of power and should at once put an end to the charade.”  His arrogance and intransigence helped the outside observer at least place his neighbor's actions in context.

On the plus side:  six of these individuals are in reelection battles this year.  It's always possible that lightning could strike, and decency prevail.  Lord knows, the country deserves better.

Susan Collins: Time to Head for the Exit

     Once upon a time, Maine had a Senator who would occasionally (albeit rarely) cross the aisle of  a divided chamber to cast a bi-partisan vote.

     However, the days of Susan Collins being anything but a partisan hack are long gone.  According to FiveThirtyEight, she has voted in support of Donald Trump’s corrosive agenda 66.4% of the time--hardly indicative of any "independent streak".

     In addition, according to Maine Beacon, she’s voted to put over 100 of Trump’s judicial nominees onto the Federal bench.  She did summon her "courage" to oppose four other Trump nominees.
Four... how pathetic is that?

     Susan Collins has claimed to be “one of us”, and cast herself as the patron saint of small business.  This is ludicrous given the fact that 95% of her itemized campaign contributions have come from outside the state, and that she voted enthusiastically in support of giving 100 billion in tax breaks to drug and insurance companies.  By doing this, she willingly collaborated with the repeal of key components of the Affordable Care Act and potentially placed Medicare and Social Security on the Trump chopping block.

     Now she’s trying to pretend that she hasn’t already made up her mind as to how she’ll vote when the Trump impeachment trial unfolds in the Senate.  One need only recall that she scrapped whatever remaining principles she may have had to cast a vote putting Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court to realize there’s no doubt she’ll vote to acquit the Donald.  He's laid claim to her soul.  Susan Collins is petrified that unless she tows the line, a Trumpite might decide to challenge her in the Republican primary. So, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski now stands alone as the sole voice of reason in the GOP swamp.

     After 22 years in the Senate, it’s time for Susan Collins to put aside her own ambitions  The state of Maine deserves a new dawn.

Maduro... and Trump

     It’s really a no-brainer to say that Nicolas Maduro should step down.  You’ve pretty much lost any credibility you may have had when 87% of your citizens are living below the poverty line, between 7-10% of the population has fled, and the rate of hyperinflation defies the imagination. 

     What’s less clear, however, is why Donald Trump is feigning concern for Venezuela.  After all, Trump  has rarely met a brutal dictator he hasn’t fallen in love with:  Rodrigo Duterte, Mohammed bin Salman, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Kim Jong Un, and everybody’s favorite, Vladimir Putin.

     Trump may have (accidentally) stumbled into a foreign policy position that many of our traditional allies have found agreement with, but it wouldn’t be surprising if he turns around and shoots himself in the foot.  With his dismal poll numbers after the Wall/Shutdown debacle, it strikes me as plausible that Trump might initiate an invasion.  After all, he likes bright, shiny things--and we know he’s crazy for explosions--preferably caused by big weapons.  An invasion might be just the ticket (in his mind) to make him popular again.  Of course, there are potential problems.  First and foremost, Putin is supporting Maduro--and Trump does not want to offend Putin.  Second, he’s turned his Venezuela policy over to a discredited madman named Elliott Abrams.  Abrams has the blood of thousands of innocent Latin Americans on his hands (supported a brutal dictatorship in El Salvador and illegally intervened in Nicaragua), and in 1991 he was convicted on two misdemeanor counts of lying to Congress regarding the Iran Contra Affair.  Granted, that may make him look good in Trump’s eyes, but the rest of the world isn’t welcoming him with open arms.  The last thing the United States needs is to intervene yet again in Latin America.
     Economic sanctions would ultimately do little more than harm the Venezuelan people, and the military "option" isn't an option.  We need to maintain political pressure, and work with out allies--and the United Nations--to ensure a peaceful solution.  Free and fair elections should be the goal; not leadership hand-picked or installed by the United States.
     Let's hope Trump's fear of offending other dictators restrains him from initiating military action against Maduro, and that Maduro sees the writing on the wall, and resigns.

     

Adventures in Racism: Covington Catholic High School Students on the Loose in D.C.

     On January 18, 2019 a group of high school students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky traveled to Washington D.C. to participate in the 2019 “March for Life”.  In and of itself, that was certainly a political act.  Wearing “Make America Great Again” caps further polarized participants and spectators (not to mention those who had gathered to stage their own demonstrations).  As these students (and their chaperones) had to have known, a MAGA cap is seen by many as a symbol of white privilege and racism.  This group from Covington was clearly itching for a fight.

     The students soon engaged in a mutual taunt-fest with a group of Hebrew Israelites.  Where were their chaperones?  I fail to see how telling the Hebrew Israelites that they should “go back to Africa” was going to accomplish anything apart from ratcheting up the hatred.  For good measure, several of the students could be heard shouting “build that wall”, another sentiment designed to douse the fire in gasoline.  They should have stuck to their school chants (which they were also employing).  Again, where were their chaperones?

     It was at this point, according to most accounts that Nathan Phillips stepped forward.  Mr. Phillips is an Omaha Nation elder (and veteran!) who was attending the first Indigenous People’s March in front of the Lincoln Memorial.  He was beating a ceremonial drum, praying, and had decided to try and move between the Covington students and the Hebrew Israelites to diffuse the situation.  Unfortunately, the Covington students responded with tomahawk chops, taunts, and ignorance.  One student, a junior named Nick Sandmann, stood in Mr. Phillip’s path and fixed him with a smirk seen round the world.  In a disingenuous interview with NBC’s Today Show, Mr. Sandmann subsequently attempted to deny all responsibility:  he wasn’t smirking, the students were not chanting anything offensive, and they couldn’t be racists because their church wouldn’t tolerate it.  Of course... and those MAGA caps provided additional evidence that these students were as pure as the driven snow.  For the last time, where were the chaperones?

     Mr. Sandmann has emerged as one more poster child for the racial divisions that have torn at our country’s fiber these past two years.  Let’s hope we never see that smirk again, and that the Most Rev. Roger Foys stops apologizing to these Covington Catholic high school students and instead keeps them close to home.  They could certainly benefit from a broader education:  one that includes racial sensitivity, social justice, and compassion... not to mention responsible adult role models.

The Dismal Legacy of Donald Trump

     Rodolfo Rodriguez, 92, is an American citizen who was brutally beaten on the 4th of July in Los Angeles--first by a woman with a cement block, then by four men who joined in the attack.  The woman  falsely claimed Rodriguez tried to “touch” her toddler. As she beat him, she demanded that he go back to his own country.

     Mia Irizarry, an American citizen who had purchased a permit to rent a picnic area in a Chicago park to celebrate her birthday, was verbally harassed for wearing a Puerto Rican flag shirt.  The man who berated her was yelling “you should not be wearing that in the United States of America”.  Of course, Puerto Rico is a territory of the U.S., and its residents are citizens--though based on the pathetic response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria, one would never guess that to be the case.

     Srinivas Kuchibhotla was murdered in Olathe, Kansas last year.  The gunman also wounded a co-worker of Kuchibhotla’s, and a man who had come to their aid.  Kuchubhotla was a legal Indian immigrant working for the tech firm Garmin.  His killer repeatedly yelled “get out of my country” before opening fire.

     The list of similar incidents is voluminous, and is growing daily.  The common denominator?  Donald J. Trump (and the Republicans who enable him).  Hate crimes spiked following his election; attacks against Muslim, South Asian, Sikh, Hindu, and Middle Eastern communities alone were up by 45% in 2017.

     Donald Trump is recognized world-wide as a paranoid narcissist.  He ought to be accorded similar recognition for his well-known history of racism.  Decades ago, Trump’s real estate company sought to avoid renting apartments to African-Americans, and in reference to black employees at his casinos, he noted that “laziness is a trait in blacks”. 

     His recent history continues to be equally vile.  He launched his 2016 presidential campaign with a speech disparaging Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists.  In 2017 he said 15,000 immigrants from Haiti “all have AIDS”, and that 40,000 Nigerians would never “go back to their huts” in Africa after seeing the United States.  He often refers to prominent African-Americans as “unpatriotic, ungrateful, and disrespectful”.  He has labeled Puerto Ricans who criticized his Administration’s embarrassing response to Hurricane Maria as “politically motivated ingrates”.  He has stood with white supremacists (“some are very fine people”), and has shown that he believes one’s immigration status determines their humanity (“these are not people, these are animals”).  Mr. Trump has taken the low road at every turn, from embracing Infowars to enabling QAnon.  As founder and chief purveyor of “fake news” (“Obama is not a citizen”) he’s been driving a wedge between Americans and reality for years now, and his xenophobic vision of America is inciting racist violence.

     It may be possible, with time and considerable effort, to undo the damage his disastrous policies and judicial choices will have inflicted on the country, but the real legacy Donald Trump will leave behind is another matter.  He chose, with malice and forethought, to let loose the genie of hatred, racial division, and violence.  The question before us is if that genie can ever be contained?  

Choose Adam Cote for a Democratic Victory in November

Let’s cut to the chase:  if Democrats are serious about winning back the Blaine House this year, then they’ll vote for Adam Cote in the June 12th primary.

As a candidate, Adam is proposing a progressive and transformative agenda:  the establishment of a human capital investment fund (to ensure continuous/effective workforce training), job creation that targets every corner of the state, a single-payer healthcare system, and a determination to see Maine powered 100% by renewable energy within ten years (which would ensure good jobs and the prospect of becoming the nation’s first renewable energy “exporter”).  These are only a few highlights of a comprehensive program.

Adam has demonstrated leadership skills over the course of 20 years with the Maine Army National Guard serving in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and 16 years in the private sector as a small business entrepreneur and Renewable Energy attorney.  He’s not likely to be impacted by rhetorical headwinds in Augusta.

Throughout the course of the primary campaign, at candidate events and forums, there’s been an expectation shared by a number of people that Janet Mills--by virtue of her lengthy tenure in Augusta--”deserves” to be the Democratic party standard-bearer, that it’s “her turn”.  I assumed we were participating in an election, not a coronation.  I was, of course, pleased to see Attorney General Mills butt heads with the Governor on several issues (among them the availability of Naloxone, and the use of tobacco settlement funds for Medicaid expansion); it’s reassuring when a public servant does his or her job on behalf of the people.  However, I worry that independents Alan Caron or Terry Hayes, and whichever LePage wanna-be the Republicans anoint, will have plenty of issues to choose from in attacking Ms. Mills should she win the primary. For example, until the NRA recently provided her a lifeline by “awarding” all 7 Democrats an “F” grade--prior to this Ms. Mills had consistently been given “A” grades.  She’s simply not qualified to lead on gun issues.  Likewise, her record on matters involving tribal sovereignty--specifically clean water issues, demonstrates positions more in line with Governor LePage than with mainstream Democrats.  However, what concerns me most is her failure to put distance between herself from the disgraced former NY State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.  He hosted a lucrative fundraising event for Ms. Mills in Manhattan, and--to my knowledge--she has yet to return the thousands of dollars the event netted her. Hardly a #MeToo moment.

Adam Cote is a  fresh face on the political scene.  He offers new leadership, and he's not weighed down by "baggage".  His broad appeal will help bridge differences, and facilitate a genuine discussion of the issues. Maine voters deserve no less.

I had the good fortune of getting to know Adam for a short while, and I learned that his honesty is rooted in integrity, not in some political strategy.  This quality of character won’t vanish once he’s in the Blaine House, but it’s up to each of us to make sure he gets there.

Vote Adam Cote for Governor on June 12th!

See Ya Paul Ryan!

     In the era of make-believe-President Donald Trump, any good news is a welcome event, so the announcement by Paul Ryan that he’ll be retiring in January of 2019 is fantastic!  The phrase “Good riddance” has rarely seemed more appropriate.

     However, listening to a few of the news reports and reading several opinion pieces has been disconcerting.  They paint the picture of a guy who “struggled” to hold onto his principles while wrestling with Donald Trump for the soul (?) of the Republican Party. 

     While it’s true that Ryan occasionally objected to a few of Trump’s more outrageous comments throughout the Republican primary season in 2016, and he called him out during the fall campaign following the release of the infamous “Access Hollywood” video (“I am not going to defend Donald Trump.  Not now, not ever”), he was quick to change his tune after Trump’s Electoral College victory.

     Paul Ryan saw a golden opportunity to pursue his long-cherished agenda:  destruction of Obamacare, privatization of so-called entitlement programs, and re-shaping the tax code to benefit the wealthy and corporations.  In order to attain these goals, he willingly sold his soul (?) to the Antichrist.  He refrained from additional criticism, and instead praised Trump’s “leadership” (???).  He enthusiastically embraced Trump’s use of identity politics--playing on white privilege and resentment.  It became difficult to distinguish the lackey (Mike Pence would be the handmaiden) from the Antichrist himself.

     As he prepares his slow departure, Ryan touts his accomplishments--in particular pointing to the tax bill.  Several days ago, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the deficit is expected to reach $1 trillion in 2019, courtesy of the Republican “tax cut”.  That’s a nice legacy to leave the next generation, Mr. Ryan.  This piece of legislation passed (last December) without a single Democratic vote.  It locks in permanent tax cuts... to corporations (down from 35% to 21%).  By contrast, middle class tax cuts were given an expiration date of 2026!  And though most middle-class Americans were projected to receive an average payout of $930 (tantamount to 1.6% of their average income), the real bonanza will be enjoyed by the top 0.1%, who’ll receive an after-tax gain of $193,380.  You’ve performed your duties for the privileged few well, Mr. Ryan, but you’re leaving behind a country that has never been more polarized--economically or politically.  You should be ashamed of your behavior--though given the fact that you were barely able to keep your racism in check during the eight years of the Obama presidency, nothing you do is all that surprising.

     Yours is a sad story, as well as a cautionary tale, though I’m certain you’ll be raking in tons of cash by spinning it otherwise.  Don’t let the door hit you on the way out... see ya Paul!