Day 960 We are that polarized

Day 960 We are that polarized

Friday August 23, 2019

439 Days until the 2020 election and 521 days until the Inauguration

I haven’t been posting as much as I usually do because other projects have been taking up my time. This will be more of a “Week in Review” than a blow by blow. Several themes are emerging:

– The president is mentally unstable and when confronted retreats into personal attacks,

– We are being placed by this man and Mitch McConnell and the sycophants, cowards, and power grubbers in very dangerous and weak positions around the world. To wit:

– – We are starting a new arms race with Russia and China

– – We are wasting our resources on wars and poor economic choices 

– – We are not addressing the real problems that face us as a nation, a people, or a world

Because of the above we have lost much, if not all, of our moral leadership while we see our status around the world reduced and other players with very different agendas are filling in the vacuum.

The inflection point for now will be the 2020 elections. The question I have is – Will the Republicans aided by the Russians and other actors be able to cheat enough to deny the will of the majority of the people? If so our republic will be in a much worse place than it is now.

There was an interview I saw with a woman who accurately predicted the 2018 elections. Her analysis of the upcoming elections was eye opening. She said this election will not be about policy. It will be about Trump. You won’t get much cross over because you either love him or hate him. Therefore, the election is about energizing your base, getting them to turn out. Trump’s weakness is with groups of folks who took a chance on him last time. Will they give him another chance? Doubtful. Therein hangs the election.

But it’s not enough to beat Trump. Republicans must be defeated in the Senate for any real change to happen. Currently, Mitch McConnell is blocking 142 bills from coming to the floor for a vote. For a vote! What’s the purpose of this group other than to stall and obstruct? When you realize that the Russians have bought Kentucky, using well known tactics that have been documented by our intelligence communities and shown to have been used in Europe, then it becomes clear that his influence must be marginalized.

The problem with Kentucky and Tennessee is that there aren’t enough votes there to defeat the Republicans. We are stuck with Mitch, but if we win the Senate then things like gun reform, desired by 89% of the population could be discussed. Health care could be discussed. Student loans, infrastructure … the list goes on and on. I have to wonder, “what’s in it for McConnell to block all this?” I have to ask, “Who is he working for?” Certainly, not the American people or the people of Kentucky. 

Between his wife funneling road projects directly to his state and Putin’s right hand man investing $200 million in the state the only thing I see that he is doing is trying to outright buy his re-election by bribing the voters of his state. While this is going on the Russians are being allowed to do various sleazy deals because McConnell won’t bring to a vote or try to stop any of their shenanigans, including trying to harden our election machinery to prevent Russian tampering. 

Meanwhile Trump has ruined thousands of farmers, put us deeper in debt, weakened our economy to the point that we are either in a recession or on the verge of one, pissed off our allies, while supporting dictators around the world, made a fool of himself over trying to buy Greenland and wanting Russia back in the G7. 

Now Brazil has elected a racist like Trump and lo and behold the Amazon is burning. Only 77,000 fires and Brazil says they can’t stop them. Once that guy was elected the people wanting to destroy the rain forest thought they had a green light. 

On our southern border the Trump administration is trying to change the rules so they can hold kids indefinitely and deny lawyers access to the facilities. Don’t worry, they’ll police themselves. Recently, the Trump administration lost in court the argument that they had to give migrant kids soap and toothbrushes. Police themselves? These folks have no sense of decency. I can’t imagine what would happen if they were left without any oversight, and they have damn little of it as it is.

I don’t know when this will happen but I predict that Donald Trump will call the AG of NY a nasty woman. “Nasty” is something he reserves for women who stand up to him. He just call the Prime Minister of Denmark nasty for refusing to discuss selling him Greenland. The lady in New York who is the Attorney General now has 17 different law suits against Trump and the administration. So far every legal maneuver he has tried has failed. This woman believes in this really strange idea. One that the conservatives embraced so heartily when Bill Clinton was in office. The concept of “No One is Above the Law.” Nasty. She also believes that if there are credible allegations of wrong doing that her office has a duty to investigate. Double nasty.

Some of my right wing friends post slanted memes and articles that obstruct the truth or pick up minor points. I’ve confronted them with this crazy thing called “facts.” It’s amazing that they haven’t even known the facts. It’s one thing to slant an argument in your favor by using the most glowing terms for your side and ignore those things that don’t support your issue, but to not even know the reality? That’s dangerous. I suggest they do as president Trump does every morning. He starts by reading the New York Times. 

Ignore the Trump voters, work on the people who want to return this country to traditional values and normalcy. I’d like to see an America where kids going to school aren’t worried about being shot, where people make enough money to live, where you can get a good education without going broke, where you can see a doctor when you need to and you can get the medical treatment you need without losing your home. These are things that Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump have opposed. It’s time to get people in power who care about us and not themselves.

439 Days until the 2020 election and 521 days until the Inauguration

PS Party!