Sunday, January 5, 2020

CAN WE SURVIVE FOUR MORE YEARS?

We have weathered the storm of the Trump administration so far. The full-on Trumpian assault on the English language, the complete unassailable attacks on the truth, the endless barrage of his tweeting, consisting almost entirely of his childish attacks on his detractors and his insistence on using his position and power in order to use the country as his personal piggy bank. We have survived...or become numb to his excentricities...or has the country simply stopped caring?

He once was quoted as saying he could shoot someone in Times Square and not lose a single vote, and truer words were never spoken. His supporters simply turn a blind eye towards all of these.  His one crowning achievement, tax cuts promised to spur on our economy, has only rewarded the rich and ramped up the deficit. But no one cares. Fiscal conservatives are a dying breed. The voices of conservative leaders, who in private detest his actions, sit blithely by in silence, in fear of personally weathering the certainty of a Trump storm of personal attacks. Rather than speak sense to power, they sit back in silence, some have swallowed their integrity to become Trumpian sycophants as abhorrent as that may be.

For many of his supporters, he has become a leader; not in chief, but in hate. Hatred of minorities, hatred for the poor and hatred of anyone not representing the American ideal as he sees it. 

Many love his irreverence, his willingness to call out his political opponents with his un-presidential rhetoric and his unabiding hate for all those he has designated as the enemy. Others simply vote their 401k, which in truth, has continued to grow since the final two years of the Obama administration.

But now his foreign policy as commander in chief (if you want to so designate) has seriously affected our standing in the world. The loss of allies, who cannot abide his personal attacks and vendettas. He continues to attack our most favored nations such as Canada and the entire European Union, yet shows love and expresses his respect for dictators like Kim and Putin. He has severely tarnished our relations with China with exorbitant tariffs, and the American economy is worse off for it.

But now he is hell-bent on starting yet another war in the middle east, putting more and more of America's finest in harm's way. Now he has stopped being our American cartoon character and is making decisions on the world stage that may well put the country in real danger. Terrorist threats are ramping up again, and a future attack seems to be a near certainty.

One has to wonder if he even listens to cooler, more experienced heads such as the joint chiefs before he acts. He expresses his respect and admiration for our troops, but not even our military leaders are exempt from his attacks when they dare cross him in public with a dissenting view.

So I have to wonder if we can survive four more years with this made for TV reality star at the helm. In my opinion and based on his actions and rhetoric, he seems to be teetering on a mental breakdown.

So I have to ask...what will this country be in four years if he is allowed to remain in office?

Don't get me wrong, it is not as if I see anyone running in 2020 that I consider worthy of my vote, but certainly, someone more moderate would be a huge improvement.

These are becoming serious times, and the actions of our president could severely affect the course of our country for decades.

And that is my world...the "World According to Kimba." Thanks for reading.