Trump’s boorish, trash talking governing style on full display during visit to the California fire devastation.

 Trump’s boorish, trash talking governing style on full display during visit to the California fire devastation.

Instead of talking fire relief to hundreds of thousands of Californians impacted by raging wild fires…Trump talked trash.

“I want to see voter ID, so that the people have a chance to vote, and I want to see the water released and come down into Los Angeles and throughout the state. After that, I will be the greatest president that California has ever seen.”

As far as a decent, caring humanitarian goes, the greatest president California has ever seen was Jimmy Carter. Trump is a moral degenerate who never fails to use every tragedy to demean the victims in furtherance of his descent into the gutter of partisan fear and loathing.

The disintegrating brain of Donald J. Trump

 

The disintegrating brain of Donald J. Trump

On the cusp of 80, I experience and recognize the ravages of age on the mind and body. They are both inevitable and inexorable.

That’s OK as the key is adjusting one’s lifestyle accordingly to fully enjoy the remainder of a long, hopefully well lived life. All too many are denied that opportunity.

Unfortunately, we watched in horror as President Biden did not do that during his presidency. He had already slowed down noticeably upon taking office. He promised to be a transitional president, saving America from his morally defective predecessor Trump; then turning over leadership to a younger, vibrant successor to run in 2024.

His declined noticeably in his last year. He lost touch with reality believing he needed another 4 years to “finish the job” that was long beyond him. Tragically both his Democratic Party and family went along with this charade till he self-destructed in the presidential debate. Pushed out with 3 months ago, his disastrous refusal to bow out early contributed to successor Harris’ stunning defeat.

Sadly, we’re now watching another horror show unfolding in the Oval Office. This one is measurably worse given Trump’s lifelong moral degeneracy in his business and personal life that he segued into his political life

Today Trump’s degraded 78 year old mind is shell of that 8 years ago when he spent every day as president seeking to separate millions of beleaguered souls from the medical insurance lifeline Obama gave them under the Affordable Care Act. He spent his last year trashing science, demonizing health experts and recommending possibly lethal cures for the COVID pandemic. Those actions likely resulted over 100,000 of the 470,000 COVID deaths during his term.

On Day One of Term Two he jettisoned his moral compass to immediately pardon 1,500 of his Capitol coup rioters now free to extract revenge on those, including family members, who turned them in to the justice system. When asked why he didn’t review the pardon cases individually to exclude the horribly violent, Trump simply said that “was too cumbersome.” Too cumbersome for a disintegrating brain indeed.

He’s issuing delusional threats on the world stage to grab foreign infrastructure, even entire territories from their sovereign owners.

He’s hinted at revenge against any and all responsible for his dozens of felony indictments for business fraud, election interference, government document theft, sexual misconduct, culminating in his attempt to overturn his massive electoral defeat in 2020.

Anyone who dares council Trump on his spread of fear and loathing of the ‘other’ becomes the target of vicious verbal attacks. The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar-Budde must now live in fear herself from retribution from Trump cultists after he attacked her verbally for daring to ask him for “mercy upon the people in our country who are now scared now.” Trump’s personal attacks upon anyone criticizing him are growing more vicious as his mind degrades.

Trump’s mental decline was evident throughout his 4 year project to avoid prison by getting reelected. His mental decline has accelerated in his first week back in power. All but the MAGA cultists are recoiling from a horror show that will not end well. Not for Trump and his family, not for America, not for the world.

In one day Rubio talked more peace in Ukraine than predecessor Blinken did in 1,063 days

 In one day Rubio talked more peace in Ukraine than predecessor Blinken did in 1,063 days

Marco Rubio said this on his first full day as Secretary of State.

“The promise the President made (to end the US proxy war against Russia in Ukraine), really if you look at it, is it’s going to be the priority – it’s going to be the official policy of the United States that the war in Ukraine needs to come to an end. We are going to engage in making it end in a way that is sustainable, meaning we don’t just want the conflict to end and then restart in two, three, or four years down the road. We want to bring stability.”

We never heard one word proposing peace in any fashion like that from Rubio’s predecessor Antony Blinken in the previous 1,063 days since the war began on February 24, 2022.

Even worse about Blinken’s tenure? He spent the previous 398 days provoking the war prior to the Russian invasion. He never once engaged his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, about either preventing the war or ending it once started.

In so doing Blinken, despite his title, never once functioned as a Secretary of State using diplomacy to both prevent war and end it.

We must remain wary of Rubio’s refreshing use of the ‘peace’ word on his first day. Maybe he will follow thru and truly seek to end this dreadful, senseless war that largely destroyed Ukraine as a viable, functioning state and put the world in fear of nuclear war. Wary because Rubio was all in for US prosecution of this war till he became a candidate to be America’s top diplomat under a president promising to end it.

But we must remain hopeful Rubio will actually serve faithfully during his term as Secretary of State, unlike Antony Blinken who served for 1,461 days as America’s de facto Secretary of War.

Trump seeks ‘Monsters to Destroy’ in unhinged Inauguration Speech

 

Trump seeks ‘Monsters to Destroy’ in unhinged Inauguration Speech

On September 19, 1796, outgoing first president George Washington gave the most famous Farewell Address in American history. In it he warned against “foreign entanglements” which could lead to unnecessary wars.

On July 4, 1821, future president John Quincy Adams reinforced Washington’s admonition by warning America must not go abroad. “seeking monsters to destroy”

Instead of adhering to those wise presidents when it comes to foreign adventurism, Donald Trump chose his second Inaugural Address to promote America taking back the Panama Canal from Panama. In so doing he cited 19th century predecessor William McKinley, the first president to seek out monsters to destroy in initiating US empire abroad. McKinley gave in to US empire proponents Teddy Roosevelt, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and publisher William Randolph Hearst to initiate war with Spain in 1898. The quick victory gave America Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippians and Guam to compete with the great empires of Europe.

Trump’s bizarre justification was delusional nonsense.

“President McKinley made our country very rich, through tariffs and through talent. He was a natural businessman and gave Teddy Roosevelt the money for many of the great things he did, including the Panama Canal, which has foolishly been given to the country of Panama after the United States. The United States — I mean, think of this — spent more money than ever spent on a project before and lost 38,000 lives in the building of the Panama Canal. We have been treated very badly from this foolish gift that should have never been made. And Panama’s promise to us has been broken. The purpose of our deal and the spirit of our treaty has been totally violated.

American ships are being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape, or form. And that includes the United States Navy. And above all, China is operating the Panama Canal, and we didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama. And we’re taking it back.”

McKinley wasn’t a businessman, much less a natural one, and didn’t give TR money to build the Canal as he was long dead before TR snatched Panama from Columbia to build it. America controlled the Panama Canal till Jimmy Carter signed the Torrijos-Carter Treaties in 1977, officially transferring the canal to Panama control in 1999.

 

Trump then fired off a volley of lies to justify his proposed canal grab. Panama has neither violated the treaty nor broke promises to America. Nor does Panama overcharge or treat America unfairly. Most preposterous is Trump’s charge China is operating the canal. No matter what part of the world Trump interferes with, he always manages to toss in his favorite bete noir China.

If Trump truly wants to seek out monsters to destroy, he might start by looking in the mirror.