Mueller memes like this are flooding the Internet |
But admit it, they are making Lewis Carroll proud. The author of “Alice in Wonderland” described how the lemmings marched over a cliff following their leader. Many Republicans know the doom they are pursuing and pursue it anyway – even as their leader flails more and more. When Roseanne is his most convincing defender, the public realizes what a cartoon this is. The cruel reality he took advantage of (unhappiness with government) cannot hide how bad he is at governing and how he has dragged the rest of his party with him.
The death wishes are so infectious down to state and local politics that even the supposedly non-partisan April 3 election has become a test of our national temperature.
Trump’s latest moves failed to deter Congress from its joy in having a president of the same majority party. The Republicans have rushed to the cliff’s edge as he hires and fires lawyers, hides from the students’ massive anti-violence marches, tweets about everything else, agrees to a meeting with North Korea and then picks a national security adviser who wants to bomb the country out of existence, threatens a trade war while Wall Street ducks for cover, lets China seem more peace-loving than the US and isolates his few remaining military advisers who once brought strange comfort to the nation.
Media insiders have actually begun betting pools about what Trump will tweet next time to distract from his Russian woes, his policy failures and international loss of US reputation. The press has amusingly noted that every time a real revelation is about to take hold, or an embarrassing interview with a sexual playmate is about to air, he hits the “look what I did” button on his desk, which seems immensely larger than his nuclear button. Most recently it has been constant announcements of staff changes or how infrastructure is just another “easy” lift being blocked by those durn Democrats.
The New York Times recently summed up the consequences of his staff disarrangements: “The incoming national security adviser (John Bolton) has called for the swift takeover of North Korea by the South. He and the newly nominated secretary of state (Mike Pompeo) have urged withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. The pick for CIA director (Gina Haspel) once oversaw interrogations in which terrorism suspects were tortured.”
Mustache famous John Bolton |
No wonder many pundits are suggesting the only solution to keep the nation out of war (Bolton in the past has recommended pre-emptive strikes against North Korea, Iran and even Cuba) is to pray that the talkative Bolton can’t keep his mouth shut in a job where he is supposed to give Trump multiple security options.
If he says something outrageous ahead of Trump saying something outrageous, he will get fired as the president has usually done in the past. Don’t step in front of the Donald.
We are reduced to the strange game of reverse psychology to save the nation, since we doubt that Trump on his own hook has any idea how and could plunge us into despair and war.
Don’t laugh. The power of reverse psychology is also forcing the media to look at new methods of covering the president. Many of them argue that Trump is eating up a lot more airtime (with less effect) than either Bush or Obama because of the past concept of the president as a significant, even godlike presence in American culture – what he decides bears massive impact on domestic and foreign policy. So they hang on every word – but should they with Trump?
It’s even a dilemma for the opposition party. Democrats are not just torn between moderate and left, they are torn in how loudly they should be pointing out Trump’s failures. They don’t want the country to fail, since some of the blame will inevitably attach to them. But if unintentionally or not he does something they think good for the country, should they support that and hope the electorate is smart enough to discern that exception is their reason?
The media has been lurching around trying to pretend there is good reason to suffer through – and put endlessly on the air – the meaningless press conferences Trump suddenly calls after a nasty tweet, the diatribes he rambles through, the useless series of White House press conferences where stone-faced Sarah Huckster will duck every bullet and send it back as a thoughtless sarcastic bomb.
Advice from Rachel Maddow |
The other options to reverse psychology are protest and vote. The young people demonstrated the power of protest in the mammoth marches for life. The youth raised a lot of positive expectations about the future, both by their actions now and their threat to vote later.
The voting doesn’t have to wait for August primaries and November election to start correcting America and force the president and his minions to listen to the masses.
Ostensibly the April 3 election is non-partisan, but no one believes that. What happens in Wisconsin will reveal a lot about the future.
The entire state has only two contests to be concerned about.
Justice candidate Rebecca Dallet |
She is also the first step in restoring balance to the court.
In 2019, Shirley Abrahamson’s seat is up, and though she has not announced if she is running again, her legendary distinction will carry liberal weight. In 2020, before the next presidential election, it is the unknown justice under the gun – Daniel Kelly, appointed by Walker to fill out David Prosser’s term. He has never faced the voters at any level, serving mainly as litigator and conservative hired gun on gerrymandering. Dallet will be the start on turning the high court back to normalcy.
The other important vote is No on eliminating the office of state treasurer. This is simply a power grab by the executive against the state’s banker, who should be examining in a watchdog role billions of dollars in common aid to schools and libraries while also serving a key role on the commission for public lands.
The problem is the duped public thinks that eliminating any elected office, particularly one that has attracted few voters in the past, is somehow a step toward saving money. Actually it’s a step toward letting corruption loose. Ignore the Republican stooge who has been in the office, Matt Adamczyk, who saw his job as undercutting the reasons for the office.
In better hands, the state treasurer will oversee important fiscal duties that shouldn’t be at the whim of any governor or legislature. Keep the office and elect someone who will do the job.