Last time out I composed a rather open-minded and open-hearted look at the man in the White House. It was written as an attempt to reveal a silver lining in his behavior, offering possible reasons why he sees fit to relish in spewing venom. In short, I was trying to find the human in the human being.
What the hell was I thinking?
In my defense, I wrote it while on vacation. I was enjoying sleeping in, lazy mornings with coffee and a beautiful Oregon mountainscape. Biking, swimming, paddle boarding, reading, games and some adult beverages.
I was lulled into a generosity of spirit that reasoned if the current “president” treated the members of the myriad groups he hates as individuals rather than gross generalizations, he may find he has more in common with them than he would have thunk.
Really, what the hell was I thinking?
Here’s an interesting number for you: 36.
That’s the percentage of the cop-a-feeler-in-chief’s approval rating. It also happens be the number of typos in his typical tweet.
What’s shocking is not that the number is so low; the astounding thing is that it is so astronomically high. How in the name of Abe Lincoln can anyone, I mean anyone, support this embarrassment to the office of the president? People pity us, people smirk at our predicament, people around the world have united under the mantra, “Thank God, he’s their problem.”
Don’t get me started with impeachment talk. Do you really want President Pence? A man ideologically just to the right of Attila the Hun?
You know what really gets my goat? (By the way if you have seen my goat please return her.) It’s that Pence shares the name of one of my favorite Giants — a passionate, leave it all on the field, support your teammates, help people whenever possible, bring a smile to your face players’ player.
But I digress.
Hunter Pence is a real Giant, whereas the vice-blatherer is a small man, just like his supposed boss, who seeks power by putting others down. The main difference is while the “president” hurls insults like a fifth grade bully (I had referred to him as junior high bully in earlier columns but that seems generous now), the vice-enabler actually puts his money where his mouth is. This is the man who has waged war against same sex marriages, who opposes funding to treat people with HIV or AIDS, who resisted stiffening hate crime laws, votes against tightening gun control laws, vigorously supports laws that put stringent limits on women’s access to abortions, works against the Clean Power Plan and, of course, supports that big old wall the president is going to have Mexico fund.
Yes, Pence may actually be worse for us than you-know-who. But what do we do for the next three plus years? No one is going to tell me to “give him a chance” anymore. This man is a threat, not only to our civil rights but also to our civil lives. He goes off half-cocked (I have a joke here, but only for those Windsor Times After Dark readers) and spouts a hyperbolic threat to North Korea, saying if they continue to threaten the U.S., “We will respond with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
Remember what I wrote a couple paragraphs back? I’m amending that. This so called leader and Kim Jong Un are more like toddlers throwing sand at each other, kicking, screaming, crying and then running to mommy.
There was one voice of reason in the GOP; from that notorious not-a-hero POW, John McCain: “I take exception to the President’s comments because you’ve got to be sure that you can do what you say you’re going to do. The great leaders I’ve seen don’t threaten unless they’re ready to act and I’m not sure President Trump is ready to act.”
Of course, a presidential aide couldn’t even leave that hyperbole alone. Sebastian Gorka says the U.S. is not just a super power, “We are a hyper power. Nobody in the world, especially North Korea, comes close to challenging our military capabilities.”
So basically the pouter-in-chief could push us into a nuclear game of chicken, just because he has no understanding and — this is the real crime — interest in understanding how the complex game of international diplomacy works.
To those 36 percent I say, wake up and smell the covfefe. There is no heart in his morass of darkness. He has no vision past the tip of his nose, no compassion past his pocketbook, no interest in this great country past what he can brand and trademark.
We deserve better than this mock fire and empty fury, my friends.
Steven welcomes your comments. You can reach him at st***************@gm***.com.
