The Aftermath of the AfterBash.

I have been concerned that Mr. Trump has a distorted view of what this office means.

I don't gloat when we win and I don't whine when we lose. But damn.

I tried to be gracious. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Can’t be worse than President Bush 43, I told myself. And then Mr. Trump’s first appointment is a White Supremacist. Who will be his special advisor. This is followed by, his illegally refusing to put his businesses interest into a trust while he’s in office. He’s got a better idea than the law. Then he vows to defund NASA’s research into climate change. He appoints a local girl Betsy DeVos (of the Amway DeVos’) who has made a name for herself locally by trying to dismantle public education for years. Of course she is to be Secretary of Education. And now, that ugly pipeline out west that nobody wants to trip over in their state and has protesters by the thousands, turns out Mr. Trump holds stock and will make money off this pipeline. Can you say conflict of interest? But apparently, now that he’s going to be Prez, laws don’t apply to him anymore.

Thankfully he doesn’t have the muscle in the Senate to do many of the radical things he’s promised to do. But maybe he does.

But let us not despair. Let us instead hunker down and be determined in four years. Bernie will be too old in 8 years but not 4. And if my choice Martin O’Malley is the candidate we are a shoo-in. Let us try and make hope where there is none.

Thoughts on the Election

Last Tuesday night was a tough pill to swallow. Not as tough as in 2000, but tough nonetheless. 

But here’s something to consider. Ten months or a year ago Trump was a Democrat. His kids couldn’t even vote for him in the Primaries because they’re registered Democrats. So I say, let’s wait and see how he acts before we start complaining. He may give us lots of reasons to complain, and at that time complain. Maybe I’m deluded in my thinking, but for crying out loud, we got through President George W. Bush (barely, on the brink of depression, it can’t get worse than that), so we’ll find a way to deal with it. We might make it. And perhaps if all these protesters will get vigorously behind the next Democrat and dedicate themselves to them, and cough up the bucks, and make sure it happens for him/her the results might be different next time. 

I don’t understand the protests. Suck it ups Buttercups. I never boast when we win and I never whine when we don’t. It’s just crazy. And I can’t help but wonder, how many of the people in the silly protests didn’t bother to vote? How many were just horrified when Mr. Trump stated if he lost he may protest the outcome? Well, then….sheesh. Get over yourselves. And if you live in America, dummies, like it or not, he is your President. 

The Democrats have to shoulder most of responsibility for this for insisting from the beginning they knew best, and for being patronizing and patting us on the head and being so damn smug and condescending. They insisted who the candidate would be the day after she announced, instead of listening to the electorate, and looking seriously at the Bernie phenom. Bernie wins big in Wisconsin and Hillary never even visited there. Smug. She wouldn’t have come back to Michigan if Trump hadn’t made a play. Some people think Bernie would have won this Presidential election. We will never know. I heard someone on the radio today say that it’s like saying “The Boston Red Sox would have beaten the Cubs in the World Series. We’ll never know, it would have been a different ballgame.” But I truly believe that my candidate, Martin O’Malley would have won in a landslide. He was the most Presidential guy in the entire field of 23 in the beginning. But here’s the irony, although the Republican establishment didn’t like it, they ran their version of Bernie and he won. 

What I think lots of people don’t understand is that the other side has felt just this sad and bitter for the last 8 years, yet they didn’t take to the streets. Like I say, President George W. Bush was a harder pill to swallow than this. He didn’t win, they stole it, and the final Florida numbers confirm it. And then with absolutely no Constitutional authority or anywhere else the 9 people on the Supreme Court get to decide who the next President will be. None of the rest of us. So that was one thing. But Trump won this hands down. So, the sun will continue to come up, the planet will still spin and get warmer, and the 4 or 8 years will pass. They stuck with "their Bernie" and they won. We should take a lesson. 

By the way the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, when in the late 70s early 80’s Trump declare he was reinventing casinos (basically he was going to make casinos great again) was boarded up a couple of months ago. 

And when President Obama was elected the second time, Texas made noise about seceding from the country. That’s expected; there are lots of rednecks down there. But now California is making the same noise. And they claim to be somehow smarter. Hey cereal land, (land of fruits, nuts, and flakes), good luck with that. Mexico would own you in two hours. With no military to protect you, because we Americans would begin to instantly withdraw all military bases, university and school funding, Social security benefits, sports franchises (those are American after all), on and on and on. They would collapse in an hour and Mexico would take over in two. In less time if Japan could get there first. 

But you wanna know what decided this? It wasn’t the people that showed up at the polls. It was the people who didn’t. Do you realize that neither of the two candidates got nearly as many votes as Mitt Romney did in the last election? And he was soundly defeated by President Obama. There wasn’t even a Latino swell! White women voted for Trump overwhelmingly! Are you kidding me? It was we lazy ass Democrats, listening to the smug DNC and assuring us that no matter what, we have this - so you don’t have to even bother going to the polls. Further, Michael Moore, our practical homeboy, stated today he’s learned that between 100,000, and 110,000 Michigan voters made selections in every other category on the ballot but left the Presidential section blank, not being able to vote for either one. Add that in with third party voters and there you go. I also heard a statistic from CBS that 8 out of 10 voters were not voting for a candidate, they were voting against one. I know it weighed heavy on their hearts. My wife stood in that booth for the longest time. A really long time. Searching her soul. I have never asked how she voted, I’d prefer not to know, but I have strong suspicions she voted for Hillary. [We are big believers that your vote is your business and your’s only, so we never ask each other, and never put signs in our yard.] It's none of our neighbor’s business who we are voting for. Because someday it might require two signs!

And now there is some introspective trepidation from the other side. Many of the Republican voters are expressing that they just wanted to flip the bird to the Washington establishment, but they never thought he’d actually win. And they seem a little nervous. The on-the-ground military were being interviewed today and they are very nervous. 

Many voted for Trump because “maybe the Country should be run like a business.” What they don’t understand, is that it can’t be run like a business. Imagine you’re the CEO. You call in your number two man in the company and you say I want to do that like this. And that number two man, Mr. Congress, tells you to go screw yourself and walks out. You have no recourse. You can’t fire him. So you call in your number 3 guy in the business and explain that you want to do that like this. And Mr. Supreme Court says, “Kiss my ass.” And walks out and you have no recourse. Heck of a way to run a business. 

I predict Trump’s first move will be to repackage President Obama’s Job’s Bill, basically just give it a new name, and get it passed. Then it will put more people to work and they will all be thinking “Wow, what a great guy that Trump is!” 

I detest how the Republicans have openly moved to rig the Supreme Court. Here’s the deal. In the year of Rowe v Wade, the Court was 5 liberals and 4 conservatives. The final vote was 7-2. And if memory serves the two were a conservative and a liberal. So don’t get your panties in a bunch about the Supreme Court nominee. You never know where that will go. The last conservative Court okayed Gay Marriage. And when President Obama’s recent candidate for the court was up to be confirmed for the Federal Court system, he was voted in unanimously! Both sides love him. The Senate are just are being crybaby asses. Like the protesters on the streets tonight. 

So now we have a Republican House, Senate, President, and most Governorships. But always remember, we hate Russia because they only have one Party running things there. We are so much better, eh?

But what the hell do I know? I was written in for President and for Town Council. I think I’ll find out how to run for Town Council and try that sometime. Seek comfort tonight and hug your loved ones. 

PS. The Second most powerful person in the world is someone that we rarely ever know their name. They are usually virtually a “Co-President.” We need to know who the Chief of Staff is. 

The Eve of the Election

This is the eve of one of the most bizarre elections in the history of the United States. Tomorrow we will vote for President of the United States. Admittedly, our school board elections affect our everyday life more, but we place great importance on the Presidential election.

One candidate is automatically the underdog, because she is a woman, and the other candidate comes with so much baggage he requires his own railroad car.

One candidate refuses to release his taxes, admitted he hasn't paid any in 20 years, has openly made fun of handicapped people, has made horrible statements about sexually abusing women, is openly racist, is an Islamaphobe, denies climate change, and has suddenly become pro-life, because he was told to, he's openly swore onstage including dropping the F bomb. And his offering for a First Lady has posed nude for magazines.

This candidate also offered in the late 70's or early 80's that his casino, the Trump Taj Mahal was going to be the greatest thing in casinos ever. Basically he was going to "Make Casinos Great Again." They boarded it up last month.

The other candidate asked for additional security for our embassies ten times and was turned down by the Republican Congress because they didn't want to spend the money. And then when an embassy is attacked and people are killed, it was her fault. She took advice from a very respected former Republican Secretary of State and used her own server from home. Classified documents weren't clearly labeled as such. Some documents weren't classified at the time but became classified much later. And twice now it was proven by the Republican FBI director, who must be very pissed at the three Trump supporter FBI folks who broke FBI protocol and release this last week.

FBI protocol has always been, nothing controversial gets released 60 days before an election. Those are the rules. To his credit the FBI director showed no criminal intent before the election.

In or around 2000 I told my son there were three things I regretted that I would never live to see. They were: A black President, and Woman President, and the Cubs win the World Series. And an mere 16 years later......

Tomorrow night, Bill Clinton becomes the First Gentleman.