So, I was watching the Republican debate last night and,
within the first five minutes, Jan said: “this
is uncomfortable”; she was referring to the tone and content of the
questions and answers being attempted to be asked and answered. Two minutes later
she said “this is disgusting”; she was
referring to the level of exchanges and discourse among people who are seeking
to lead this country; immediately after that, the last straw came when Trump
said he has no problems with the size of his ‘endowment’; “this is embarrassing”, she said, and got up and left the room. I
agreed with her but, nonetheless, stayed to watch the rest of the ‘show’…
Uncomfortable, disgusting and embarrassing sum up the spectacle served last night by
Bozo, Pennywise and little Bongo (Trump, Cruz and Rubio) and ‘moderated’ (allowed
and encouraged, I would say) by anchors of the Fox network (I refuse to call
the Fox News; they belong in the entertainment category!) The only adult in the
room is the one that is – of course- trailing in all polls: John Kasich (another
evidence that few people give a flying flick about seriousness anymore!)
Last night’s freak show tops a week of developments in
politics that, as little as four years ago, I would have never imagined that it
would happen here, in the U.S. of A., where we pretend to be the standard bearers
of democracy, the model that many other nations aspire to emulate, the leaders
of the free world!
The week started with a comment made by the ex-director of both
the CIA and the NSA, a retired Air Force General by the name of Michael Hayden,
who said in one of the Sunday programs that if Trump, as Commander in Chief,
gave an order to use torture on prisoners (as he has avowed several times),
soldiers would have the right to refuse to execute that order, since it is
prescribed by the Military Code of Conduct to reject unlawful orders… Holy smokes!
That is tantamount to open rebellion! That
is only a taste of the kind of discussion provoked by the rhetoric used by some
candidates… That’s horrific!
As we readied ourselves on Wednesday to deal with the hangover from Super Tuesday, we also had to confront – head on - the consequences
of such a decisive day in our electoral process… By the looks of it, and based
on vox populi, it would be Hillary
vs. Trump in the fall, unless the Republicans staged a coup d’état at the convention (rumors abounded that morning),
and/or Hillary got indicted/arrested … On that day, Wednesday, I thought that the
rest of the field, though some of them waged a very dignified campaign, needed
to go home, lick their wounds and see how they could contribute to the
re-accreditation of the process, to the salvation the system. I envisioned the
ugliest times of the campaign were yet to come, in the fall… I was wrong and my
timings were off (the fall was too far away) …
The news outlets, news shows, and every pundit were talking
about one of these topics:
- (a) Almighty Hillary cannot put away a 74 years old New York Jew socialist from Vermont, virtually unknown up to one year ago; now she’s copying some of his lines…
- (b) The guy who setup Hillary’s server has been given immunity by the FBI; the likelihood of her indictment and arrest just got higher…
- (c) The Republican establishment (who are they anyway?) will not accept Trump as their nominee…
- (d) It looks more and more probable that the Republican Convention will be a contested event…
- (e) Ohio and Florida are the firewall to prevent Trump from ‘hijacking our party” …
And, on Thursday, the wheels came off the Republican wagon: Mitch's re-birth, and the debate!
First, good ole Mitch tried to do an impersonation of the Phoenix, and come back from
the ashes of rejection and defeat; he gave a blistering speech against Trump
holding nothing back. He tried to play the role of the elder statesman
imparting his wisdom. He delivered a recipe for only one objective: stop Trump.
The speech was a summary of what all Trump’s opponents have been saying about him
for the last several weeks; it made no difference then; Mitch’s speech,
therefore, will make no difference. He said nothing new and, furthermore, Trump’s
supporters don’t care; Mitch is part and parcel of what they are rejecting. The
only result of that speech was that, last night, Trump offended and demeaned –
mercilessly - a decent man; Mitch should have remained retired; his time came and
went; the Trump crisis is someone else’s battle to fight. Besides, stopping
Trump is not possible without tearing the party up possibly beyond repair. I’d
say the Republicans have only one way left to save the party: support Trump;
embrace Trump; manage Trump; tame Trump; make a Republican out of him!
And then came, of course, the debate. I will
add no more. The only results these clowns accomplished were (a) to demonstrate
that Kasich is the only viable choice; and (b) made the Jerry Springer show
seem refined…
One final thought, my friends: if this is the best we have
to offer to our nation and to the world, our future is simply bleak. We are
better than this!
Miguel - you need a few days at the beach with the power out. I can accommodate. I recommend watching Matlock reruns on MeTV instead of the political circus that's in process.
ReplyDeleteOne other suggestion for retaining your sanity. With the anti-everything Congress the last few years, it hasn't mattered that much who the president is (something that has apparently escaped The Donald). We all need to concentrate more on our Congressional reps and governors as we near the 2020 census and redistricting. That's where the battle needs to be fought and won.
But glad to see you back on your soap box. Passion is good.