POTUS MIA

It's Friday the 13th and no one is at the helm of the ship of state.

Unpresident Donald Trump, the nominal leader of the nation, has retreated to his fortress of solitude, licking his wounds and endlessly seeking someone to blame for his downfall. Are there mirrors in that fortress?

His most visible action so far has been to decapitate the Department of Defense, firing Secretary Mark Esper and several other top defense personnel; others have resigned. The reason for this massacre seems to be perceived disloyalty to the Idiot-in-Chief by those who have been removed. They have been replaced by a bevy of Trump loyalists, some of whom have dodgy credentials, such as retired Brigadier General Anthony Tata, a known Islamophobe who has called former President Barack Obama a terrorist.

One can't be sure how concerned to be about those actions. Is it just Trump showing he still has power over a few people, or is he planning to do something tremendously stupid?

It's well known that Trump demands loyalty above all else, as most tyrants do, and Esper had been notably outspoken--especially about sending federal troops into U. S. cities. What is most troubling is the obvious fact that this temporary restructuring of the DoD virtually gives a delusional and frustrated president direct control of the nation's arsenal, including nuclear weapons. Is the Narcissist-in-Chief demented enough to use them, in an "If I can't have this country, nobody can" Armageddon? And does anyone want to find out?

More importantly, if enemies perceive the DoD shakeup as a weakness, they might be prone to strike. Not so much the big guys, who are always under scrutiny, but smaller nations or terror groups, who could slip in under the radar. Let's not forget it was such a group that brought about the most disastrous attack on American soil in history--and that at a time when we had a stable defense structure.

Most of Trump's post-election time seems to have been spent trying to come up with newer and zanier lawsuits. I have to wonder how he can get so many attorneys to work for him, unless he's illegally using DoJ staff. Surely they know they'll have to get into a very long line to get paid. If they're working pro bono, I'm afraid I don't see any "bono" in it.

At this writing most of those suits have been withdrawn or thrown out. The Supreme Court is holding its own counsel, but doesn't seem keen to deal with any more fluff. As a judge once reminded me, "de minimis non curat lex": "The law does not deal with trifles."

Speaking of which, if the Trifler-in-Chief is going to declare himself hors de combat, he is bound by duty and his by oath to provide a replacement for himself. He can voluntarily invoke the 25th Amendment, put Mike Pence in the Oval Office for a few weeks and go off to sulk.

Or he can put on his big-boy pants and actually act like an adult.

---Diogenes, 11/13/2020

    

Veterans

Today is Veterans Day, or Armistice Day if you're old enough to remember that appellation.

My family tree includes people who have served in every war America has been involved in, from the Revolution to Vietnam.

Some saw battle, some didn't. Some tended to humble jobs in the background like my great-great grandfather, a Civil War wagoner who was nonetheless wounded in battle. Others flew into the thick of things like my uncle, a B-29 flight engineer who flew raids over Germany in WWII.

Those who served did so honorably. I believe that is the case with the great majority of our warriors today. It must be especially difficult in times like these when so many of their senior administrators and commanders, right up to the putative Commander-in-Chief, are corrupt and willing to use them as pawns for their own purposes.

In they next few weeks, when they may be ordered to fight their own people or undertake some other false or unlawful mission at the whim of the president, we can only hope that their innate honor and sense of duty prevails. 

They must understand that the part of their oath to protect and defend the Constitution trumps the part about them obeying the president.

--- Diogenes, 11/11/2020

Reflectiions

I've written elsewhere about thinking I had retired from political dissent until the Orange Obscenity won the presidency. I know I wasn't the only person to be profoundly shocked when the results of the 2016 presidential race were announced. Shock quickly turned to alarm, and finally outrage. 

The very thought of Donald Trump, one of the world's most obnoxious and toxic personalities, in the Oval Office turned my stomach. I'm a retired journalist, but I've not read a newspaper nor watched a TV news program since the 2017 inauguration, because any mention of Trump made me angry and disgusted.

I knew I had to find some way to express my rage, or I would explode. On February 1, 2017 I launched the Trump Alphabet Project on Facebook, inviting everyone to come up with a daily adjective to describe Trump, beginning with A and running through the alphabet. It was a bit lighthearted, but provided an outlet for a surprising number of people. There were some among my "friends" who were already into the Trump Kool-Aid pretty deep, who expressed their displeasure--some with surprising acerbity. I was surprised and a bit saddened, but it was clear that lines were being drawn.

About the time we hit T I was still seething, and knew I had to find another outlet. The world of blogs and blogging was foreign to me, but it seemed a reasonable way to express my anger in essays of some length, so I looked up my old buddy Diogenes, and on February 28, 2017 we inaugurated the Vox Populi blog, of which he has over time become the principal writer.

That run of Vox went through November 3, 2018. It was mostly anti-Trump, but also looked at other subjects, including the unpresident's confrontation with Bashar al-Assad, the policies of the Democratic National Committee, and a four-part piece on the dangers of stored nerve gas.

Following the 2018 election we went dark, feeling that we had finally said all we had to say at the time, although our anger had not entirely subsided. We returned, perhaps fittingly, on April Fools Day of this year when it became clear that Trump and his actions (I can hardly say policies) were becoming increasingly dangerous.

At the time we supported Bernie Sanders for president, believing that his brashness and chutzpah would counter Trump's bluster. When Bernie left the primary race we shifted our allegiance to Joe Biden, not without misgivings. We have said many times that Democrats, and particularly the DNC, play too nice, and need to counter the Republican fire with fire of their own. We thought that Joe Biden was too mild to excite voters.

We were also skeptical of his choice of a woman, regardless of race, as his running mate. We knew that Hillary had won the popular vote in 2016, but we also knew how militant Trump's followers had become, and were afraid the choice of a woman would hurt Biden's chances.

We we wrong on both counts; decency trumped belligerence, and Kamala Harris turned out to be the perfect choice. During the candidates' victory speeches I felt a weight lift off me. I know what a cliche that is, but it's the best metaphor to describe the feeling. I still feel the lightness and excitement that came over me watching the spontaneous celebrations taking place in several cities. America was happy again.

In his victory speech Biden quoted the hymn "On Eagles' Wings." It was a good choice in that context, but the hymn that's been running through my head is "Once To Ev'ry Man and Nation." Here are the lyrics of the first verse: "Once to ev'ry man and nation/Comes the moment to decide,/In the strife of truth and falsehood,/For the good or evil side;/Some great cause, some great decision,/Off'ring each the bloom or blight,/And the choice goes by forever/'Twixt that darkness and that light."

We, the people of the United States of America, have made the choice for light and turned away darkness. I genuinely believe Trump to be an evil force; we've not seen the end of him, but we've removed him from power. As he himself predicted, we've turned a corner.

Going forward I expect we'll be considering the unpresident's actions at least through January 20, but I foresee a lot more time looking at the positive developments of the transition period.

Sic semper tyrannis!

 

--- Richard Brown, 11/10/2020