Donald Trump

Boy Did I Get It Wrong Five Years Ago

Fandango15 Comments

Let me start out by saying that between the time I ended my previous blog in April 2015 and started this blog in May 2017, I created an entirely different blog that I never took live. I just used it as a platform to occasionally write about my thoughts. To that end, this is one of the posts I wrote — but never published — on this day, March 15, 2016. And boy did I get it wrong.

Trump Is So Over

In primary parlance, today is known as “Super Tuesday II.” Some in the media are calling it “Mega Tuesday.” Primaries in five states, including two that are “winner take all” in terms of delegates — Florida and Ohio — are being held.

Establishment Republicans are lining up against Donald Trump and are hoping that the governor of Ohio, John Kasich, can take his home state, while the freshman Senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, can win his home state. That would take away much of The Donald’s early momentum and potentially open the door for one of the other candidates to get the required number of delegates to win the nomination or, alternatively, lead to a contested convention in Cleveland this summer.

The GOP establishment is coming together to fight Trump. Failed 2012 GOP candidate, Mitt Romney, who gladly accepted Trump’s endorsement four years ago, now not only disavows Trump, but calls him “a phony, a fraud,” and says, “His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University.” Romney also accuses Trump of bullying, being greedy, being a misogynist, and engaging in “absurd third-grade theatrics.”

The candidates seeking the GOP nomination are doing some strange things as well. Rubio has encouraged Ohio voters not to vote for him in that state, but to vote for Kasich in order to take Ohio’s delegates out of Trump’s reach. Kasich did not reciprocate by asking Florida voters to vote for Rubio and not him or Trump.

Ted Cruz is asking the other candidates to get their delegates to support him. He has gotten an endorsement from Carly Fiorina, but, inexplicably, both Chris Christie and Ben Carson have endorsed Trump.

Bottom line, though, is that I think all of this anti-Trump sentiment is going to take its toll. His competitors, the Democrats, as well as late night comics, have all talked, joked, or attacked him about his failed enterprises, such as Trump Steaks, Trump Airlines, Trump Water, and, most damaging, Trump University. They’ve highlighted how Trump clothing lines are made in China and Mexico and how Trump hires immigrants, rather than American citizens, at his resorts. They’re critical of Trump for not disavowing David Duke and the KKK and for inciting violence at his rallies. And I think even some Republicans and conservatives are getting tired of Trump’s antics.

One of these guys might be the next GOP nominee for president

So my prediction is that Trump’s 15 minutes (or 10 months) of fame as a politician are over. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he didn’t win any of the five primaries today. And if that’s the case, it’s all over but the shouting. Which means that Grampa Munster will likely be the GOP nominee when the Republicans leave Cleveland this summer.

Who Won the Week? 02/28/2021

Fandango18 Comments

FWWTWThe idea behind Who Won the Week is for you to select who (or what) you think “won” this past week. Your selection can be anyone or anything — politicians, celebrities, athletes, authors, bloggers, your friends or family members, books, movies, TV shows, businesses, organizations, whatever.

I will be posting this prompt on Sunday mornings (my time). If you want to participate, write your own post designating who you think won the week and why you think they deserve your nod. Then link back to this post and tag you post with FWWTW.

This week’s “winner” of Who Won the Week is idolatry, as in the worship of idols. It’s also defined as “excessive or blind adoration, reverence, devotion, or love for something or someone.” So why am I going this week’s honor to idolatry?

Well, you may recall this post in which I mentioned that Donald Trump will be making his big return to the national stage this weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where he will be giving the keynote speech at the conservative conference tonight.

You may also be familiar with the the biblical story of the Golden Calf. It is one of the most famous stories in the Old Testament. The Israelites, newly freed from Egyptian slavery, have a crisis of faith while God is speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai. They melt down their gold jewelry to construct a physical god — a statue in the shape of a calf — to worship in place of their abstract, invisible deity. It’s a story about the allure of idolatry, how easy it is to abandon one’s commitments to principle in favor of shiny, easy falsehoods.

So what does this Bible story have to do with anything?It seems that someone involved in the CPAC conference constructed a golden statue — not of a calf, but of Trump — and wheeled it out to cheers from conference attendees.

It doesn’t take a religious scholar to see the parallel to this ludicrous idol worship of Donald Trump and the Golden Calf episode in the Bible. And yet these religious Christian conservatives attending CPAC just don’t get it.

I don’t believe in God, but should there is a God, I think it’s time for him/her/it to smite Donald Trump and the GOP.

What about you? Who (or what) do you think won the week?

He’s Never Going Away

Fandango35 Comments

Donald Trump will be making his big return to the national stage this weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). He will be giving the keynote speech at the conservative conference on Sunday and is expected to declare himself the “presumptive Republican presidential nominee” for 2024.

Trump’s former White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, pictured above with his hero, Donald Trump, is a staunch supporter of the ex-president, and he is very enthusiastic about his former boss’ return to the spotlight. Meadows said that, “You’re going to see a speech on Sunday that talks about not only the beginning, but what the future may look like, and I’m excited about it.”

Unfortunately, Meadows is in the company of many Republican Trump supporters who want to return to what they consider to be America’s halcyon days of 2017, when Trump was in the White House and the GOP controlled both the Senate and the House. They don’t realize that they are like lambs being led to the slaughterhouse, blindly and naively following the ultimate poster boy for autocratic leadership and the demise of democracy in America.

But scariest of all, Meadows added, “What we will see on Sunday is the start of planning for the next administration. And I can tell you, the people that are at the top of that list, all of them have Trump as their last name.”

I’m not a religious person, but all I can say is “God help us.”

Written for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One- Word Challenge (staunch), Your Daily Word Prompt (enthusiastic), The Daily Spur (company), Word of the Day Challenge (halcyon), Ragtag Daily Prompt (lamb), and MMA Storytime (poster).

The Big Lie

Fandango18 Comments

One aspect of the fallout from the Trump administration is that there exists an ongoing threat to the safety and security of the United States. This is due to the “Big Lie” promoted by Donald Trump and reinforced by a number of powerful, complicit Republicans in Congress, many of whom still claim that this situation we’re in is serendipity, rather than as a result of a deliberate campaign of lies and misinformation designed to incite violent, domestic, Trump-supporting, right-wing extremists. These MAGA-maniacs are now threatening to blow up the Capitol building when Joe Biden is expected to give the State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress and to kill as many members of Congress as possible.

Any astute, bipartisan observer should be able to read the calligraphy on the wall. The Republicans need to immediately disavow Trumpism and distance themselves from the former president or our nation will not survive.

Written for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (fallout), The Daily Spur (safety), Word of the Day Challenge (serendipity), Your Daily Word Prompt (astute), and MMA Storytime (calligraphy). Image credit: Shutterstock.

Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back In the Water…

Fandango23 Comments

I saw this disturbing headline in this morning’s newspaper. A now embolden Donald Trump, after his impeachment trial acquittal by the U.S. Senate, is ready to step out of his self-imposed hibernation and to step back into the spotlight. Oh joy.

He is apparently going to work with Republicans to help them regain control of the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 2022 midterm elections. He plans to throw his weight behind more extreme, far right candidates and to exact his revenge on Republicans who supported his impeachment and who resisted his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

Trump has assured his supporters that his post-presidency movement “has only just begun.”

Isn’t that special?