It is pretty impressive that in a week where you would think all focus would have been on the State of the Union address, Trump and his cronies have actually managed to distract from it by attempting to delegitimize the people who may well bring Trump down.

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: If the GOP had had this mindset back in the 1970s, Nixon would have finished his second term with no problem.

Imagine if Nixon had adopted Trump’s tactics from the very beginning. Dismissing the Washington Post or the New York Times as failing and fake news. Finding whatever dirt he could on Senator Sam Ervin to prove that the investigations were illegitimate and part of a long-time grudge against Nixon. The Supreme Court ordered him to turn over the tapes, the existence of which John Dean revealed in testimony. Nixon would have just continued to deny the tapes ever existed and then immediately burned them. Easy peasy.

But it’s 40+ decades since that time, and both the GOP and the presidency have devolved into something that the 1970s version would never have recognized.

1). STATE OF THE UNIOM. Trump’s address was pretty much what every non-Trump lover expected it to be. A string of lies and exaggerations, with the Democrats reacting in pretty much the exact same way that the GOP acted when Obama would give the same speech. Except for omitting his favorite two word phrase, Fake News, from the speech, he lived down to expectations. He made a sideswipe at Football. He repeatedly applauded himself. He stood there and claimed that his and Congress’ job was to serve the people even though he is a self-absorbed, egotistical narcissist. He declared “Americans are dreamers” in the same way that white supremacists declare “white lives matter,” attempting to undercut a movement by broadening it so that it becomes irrelevant. And he reiterated his attempt to hold Dreamers hostage by forcing Congress to cough up $25 billion to build his idiotic wall…a project that the majority of Americans polled don’t want.

And afterwards, the rating-obsessed Trump declared that his speech, watched by 46 million people, was the most viewed speech in history. No. Obama had more. Clinton had more. But the fact that the Nielsen company flat out stated that this was a lie will likely not prevent him from saying it in the future. Because for Trump, the truth doesn’t exist; only his opinion and self-aggrandizing words matter.

2). THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INSTIGATORS. One almost has to admire the obscene lengths that Trump’s GOP is willing to go to to protect him. While the 1970s GOP was aware that Nixon was up to no good and was willing to hold him to the high standard of the office, the 21st Century GOP is willing to fall in line and do whatever is necessary to keep him in office. I suppose the one I’m most contemptuous of is Ted Cruz, considering Trump insulted his wife and accused his father of being involved in the JFK assassination.

And so Cruz et al are overseeing the release of a memo that ostensibly “proves” that the FBI have it out for Trump. It’s an obvious technique: They know that Trump is going to be proven to have been involved with Russia, and so are trying to show that anything they come up with can be easily dismissed. The reasoning is that if the source is tainted, then so is everything they could present. Both the FBI and the Justice Department have stated that the memo contained falsehoods and distortions, but that’s not stopping Trump’s people. Because they are aware that both the average American citizen and pretty much all of Trump’s supporters don’t care about much of anything except headlines. If they are told that the FBI and the Justice Department are out to get Trump, that is absolutely all they will care about. They won’t read beyond that to learn that the memo proves nothing. They won’t care when proof of Trump’s actions is presented because they will dismiss it as manufactured by people who have a reason to bring him down. No one ever questioned the motives of those pursuing Watergate; today’s mindset would have made the entire confrontation a case of “Who do you believe?” with the assumption of innocence being given to the president.

Part of me looks at the 1950s and the government-led search for Communists that destroyed so many lives, and I take satisfaction in how far we’ve come since those days. I also look at how far we’ve come from Watergate, and take no satisfaction in it at all.

PAD

Welcome, friends. It’s been a year of Trump’s idiocy. A year of watching the Republican party provide excuses and free passes for all that he has done. They have proven beyond any question that they are interested in one thing and one thing only: Power. Trump is obstructing justice as baldly as Nixon did, but instead of being determined to find the truth, the GOP is trying to come up with means of diminishing the FBI. Idiots.

I will say right now that if you are expecting this coverage to be unbiased: No.

I’m watching on CNN. At the moment everyone is milling around and wondering if Trump will go off script. That would be interesting.

Feel free to sound off with your own comments. That way I know someone is reading this.

9:07: Sheeh. What the hëll happened to his hair? It’s a lighter shade and incredibly flat. It’s like he’s completely bald and they put a hair helmet on his head.

9:08: I’m wondering if someone will shout “Liar!” There will likely be enough openings to do so.

9:09: Christ, this speech is supposed to be an hour long. I’m going to want to shower my brain.

9:09: Ryan stumbled over the word “Presenting.” It sounded like he almost said “preventing.”

9:11: A clear vision? Is that why his people constantly contradict him?

9:12: I wonder if he asked Ashleigh if she voted for him.

9:14: Yes, we’ve seen all these things. We’ve also seen Trump throwing paper towels at the Puerto Ricans and then insulting their leaders.

9:15: “And since he was shot, I have done everything I can to make guns unavailable to shooters. Oh, wait. No I haven’t”

9:17: And the majority of the people advocate gun control. So you should be making it a top priority if you want to represent them.

9:18: But are we strong enough to survive Trump?

9:19: Yes, these figures are correct. But the jobs have been rising for the past 75 months. Things are still improving because of all that Obama did, not what Trump did.

9:20: Tax cuts that tremendously benefit Trump and the one percent.

9:22: Yes, it looks great for the first year. But the following years, taxes are going to start increasing and people will wind up paying more in taxes.

9:23: I have never in all my years seen a president applauding himself in a State of the Union address. Never.

9:24: Meanwhile we are going to stop giving out food and water to the people in Puerto Rico because supposedly they are becoming “dependent” on the help.

9:26: It’s nice he’s talking about jobs. Remember the Carrier factory that he swore he would save their jobs? Gone.

9:27: That’s not necessarily happening. Walmart announced they were giving out bonuses but then closed a ton of stores.

9:28: Can we achieve his impeachment? Because I’m down with that.

9:29: We never lost the American way. Meanwhile “In God we Trust” was not a part of this country from its inception. It was added in the 1960s. “Under God” was added to the pledge in the 1950s.

9:31: This 12 year old kid didn’t start that. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts have been putting flags on the graves of Vets in Long Island since the 1960s.

9:32: And he takes a swipe at the football players.

9:33: He wants judges who will interpret the Constitution the way that conservatives do. And he is fighting to protect religious liberty…for white Christians. And yes, fight to keep the second amendment. Screw the kids in Kentucky and the people of Vegas.

9:34: All the VA thing is a punishment for people. It doesn’t wind up providing money for the Vets.

9:36: Whoa, did you see the looks on those army guys? Boy, did they look pìššëd.

9:37: Why in the name of all that’s holy is eliminating regulations a GOOD THING?!

9:38: Clean coal does not exist. In the meantime he put Tariffs on the panels required for solar energy. He managed to kill solar energy which was the fastest growing means of power.

9:38: The Alabama plant was in place before Trump was in office.

9:39: I have no idea if the FDA thing is true, but I tend to doubt it.

9:40: STOP GØÐÐÃMN APPLAUDING YOURSELF.

9:41: Yes, medicine is cheaper in other countries because they have socialized medicine.

9:42: He doesn’t understand free trade. It’s that simple Economists must be tearing their hair out.

9:44: Obama actually started the infrastructure repair. And naturally the red states will benefit most of all because they have the worst infrastructure. Meanwhile he’s also trying to get rid of the studies for environmental protection. That would mean that wetlands, nature preserves, all of them could be built upon.

9:47: He’s trying to skew us back to the 1950s. America is not an industrialized society and hasn’t been for decades. He’s fighting for jobs that aren’t going to be around in a few years.

9:50: Oh…my God. He has this poor family standing to be props for his incessant determination to cast immigrants as murderers, thieves and rapists. This may well be a new low in the history of this speech.

9:52: But by all means, don’t do anything about the Second Amendment that enables murderers to have ready access to guns.

9:55: And most of the people arrested as part of MS-13 are American citizens.

9:56: Well, so much for him being undercover anymore. They just showed his face.

9:57: Pelosi looks like she’s projecting daggers out of her eyes.

9:57: No, the previous administration instituted the path for citizenship for dreamers that you wound up tossing out.

9:58: Right, the wall he said the Mexicans were going to pay for. He has once again linked the future of the dreamers to getting $25 billion for his dámņëd wall.

10:00: Don’t we already HAVE a merit based system? And chain migration is not what he says it is. He is lying through his teeth, and I’m pretty sure I heard someone yell “No.”

10:02: Mitch McConnell looks horrified at what he’s hearing. He must be sitting there going, “What the hëll am I going to do?”

10:03: Kath just told me I’ve got 444 looks at this blog. So that’s nice.

10:04: I just know that tomorrow Fox is going to claim he seemed so presidential. It’s for sure.

10:06: Boy, this cop and his wife do not look comfortable. They’ve realized he’s using them as another prop. A genuine good deed is just more grist for Trump’s mill.

10:07: Oh, China and Russia are rivals, now. Here’s the thing: they’re not. He has managed to lower our standing throughout the world as other countries realize they can move forward without the US because we have nothing to offer. And now he’s talking about more nuclear weapons even though we can wipe out the rest of the world ten times over.

10:09: Pretty sure that claim about Isis isn’t true. Anyone fact checking that?

10:10: Kath fact checked. Isis’s territory is pretty much unchanged. They had to retreat in a few areas that they had recently acquired, but that’s it.

10:11: And Justin is sitting there thinking, “If Hillary had won I wouldn’t have to be here.” He is definitely not comfortable.

10:13: Does this include the homegrown right wing terrorists? Nope.

10:14: Remember when Obama promised every year to close Gitmo? Bet Trump thinks waterboarding is cool.

10:16: And so set the stage for massive radical assault.

10:17: Christ. So he’s basically saying that if someone says we’ve done something stupid, they’re not our friends. He likely wants to shut down the UN headquarters.

10:18: He can diss corrupt dictators all he wants. But the fact of the matter is that corrupt dictators are constantly emulating Trump, dismissing reports of their horrors as “Fake News.” Dictators love Trump.

10:19: “I will not repeat the mistakes of previous administrations that have managed to avoid the world unleashing nuclear warheads.”

10:20: God, those two people have obviously been crying. Gøddámņ, these are people, not props.Jesus, this is a horror show.

10:22: He’s right. We are a witness to a power that could threaten the world. It’s speaking right now.

10:25: This was supposed to be an hour. It’s now an hour and ten minutes. The longest of my life.

10:28: Christ, I thought he was done.

10:28: Yes. And it doesn’t belong to you. Ever.

10:29: Yes, your job is to serve Americans. It is a task at which you have utterly failed.

10:30: Thank God. Kath was losing her mind. Looking forward to seeing the Daily Show and Colbert live programs deal with this.

If you felt a lessening of the dark side of the Force around you, it’s because President Dumpf left the country. In his wake he left his supporters once again lying to try and cover his actions, and he didn’t get the world’s best reception at the meeting he went to.

1). You’re fired. After months of the White House denying that Trump ever intended to fire Robert Mueller, the New York Times broke the story that Trump had decided to do just that. But the White House counsel, Donald McGhan II, point blank refused to do so and said that he would rather resign then carry out the order. Perhaps realizing that an unfettered McGhan would prove to be a considerable problem, likely by going straight to the press and inform them of Trump’s attempt, Trump backed off. But now the press has broken it open. Naturally Trump dismissed it as “fake news,” but his protests are ringing more and more hollow.

2). Welcome to Switzerland, áššhølë. In Davos, Trump gave a speech in which he pushed his “Make America First” platitudes and informed everyone that America was a great place to do business. His speech was reasonably received…but after it concluded, he went off on a rant about the Democrats and their friends, the fake news media. And immediately he was greeted with loud boos and derision. That’s right: they booed the President of the United States. Which we do as well, but we’re the idiots who put him in office in the first place.

3). Remember when Mexico was paying for it? Good times.. Trump is holding the Dreamers hostage. He claims that he is willing to bend on the immigration law and permit a path for the Dreamers to become American citizens, but only if he gets $25 billion to pay for his border wall. A wall that sixty percent of Americans polled are in opposition to. And for all we know, the remaining forty percent won’t be so hot on it if they find out we are paying for it.

4). He said/he said. Trump stated that he would have no problem with talking to Robert Mueller under oath. But Trump’s legal counsel shortly thereafter said his client had misspoken and Trump would NOT talk to him under oath. Smart counsel. When Trump contradicts himself on Twitter or during press conferences, there’s no consequence for it. If he did it under oath, it’s perjury, which triggered the impeachment process against Bill Clinton. Counsel sees swearing in the president under oath as a lose/lose proposition.

5). Stormy Weather.. Imagine if Obama or Hillary had been found to have paid off a pørņ star so word of their affair hadn’t leaked. The GOP would have gone batshit. The religious right would have risen in condemnation. But Trump does it and they defend him. They DEFEND him. Because that is how far Trump has lowered the bar of contempt. One wonders if this country can ever recover from the damage he has done to us as a people.

6). Trump doesn’t shoot his mouth off.. Trump has not, to my knowledge, commented on the fact that we have had eleven school shootings this year, and it’s not even the end of January. But Sarah Huckabee Sanders tried to spin the story to reporters that the Administration is seriously concerned “about crime.” When reporters didn’t back away from Trump’s lack of comment, she angrily asserted that they were insinuating Trump was complicit in school shootings. This was a hëll of an accusation to make, considering the GOP had released a commercial that flat out stated Democrats who opposed the wall were complicit with any murder performed by an illegal immigrant. Kind of sucks when the people you don’t like use your own tactics against you, huh.

Did he do anything right? Yes. He left.

PAD

Just read a fascinating article that explains why over eighty percent of white Evangelical Christians support Trump even though he doesn’t remotely measure up to the standards they claim to preach.

The author states, “White Jesus is not a person, but a tool, a tool that has been used by the religious and secular white alike to justify voting for Trump.”

It’s a fascinating read. Go check it out here.

PAD

I can’t even……

This could have been such a good week for Trump. Positive things actually happened which he could easily have claimed credit for. He’s good at that, after all. Walmart has announced they are increasing their minimum wages and bonuses. A new poll indicated rising faith in the US economy. He could easily have said, “See! Everything I’m doing is encouraging for our future!” For one dámņëd week he could have had it easy.

Nope.

1) The fans hit the šhìŧ. In a White House meeting on the topic of immigration, he not only rejected a proposal that would have solved the problems of the Dreamers, but he demanded to know why we have to let in anyone in “šhìŧhølë” countries such as Haiti and sections of Africa. Why, he demanded, can’t we get people in from Norway? You know, all those white skinned, blonde people. It was beyond question the most racist thing he’s been quoted as saying since Charlottesville.

There are, of course, several answers with which to respond. The first is that we have a three hundred and five foot statue in New York harbor that declares, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” As a matter of fact, I’m going to take the opportunity here to quote the entire poem, “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

The statue has a gøddámņëd name: Mother of Exiles. That is what this country stands for. That is why we help people escaping war, poverty, famine and death. Because it’s what we are supposed to do in this dámņëd country.

Why aren’t we getting people from Norway? Well, according to CNN, “Norway has a rich economy, generous social welfare programs, a highly-rated (and free) education system, and exemplary gender parity practices, to name a few of the benefits.” Last year the United Nations said Norway was the happiest country in the world. Where was the US? Fourteenth. And I very much suspect it’s plummeted since then.

Now Trump could have backtracked. Issued apologies, try to swing focus back to the good news. Nope. He did exactly what you knew he’d do: he claimed he didn’t say it. His assertion was that Democrats made it up. Because above all else–above his ego, above his narcissism–Trump must always be the victim. He never does anything wrong; everyone is out to get him and will lie constantly in order to do so.

The really hilarious thing is that Fox News is actually trying to defend him. This is just locker room talk (again.). It’s what the “forgotten man” says.

He’s not a forgotten man, you áššhølëš. He’s the president of the United Freaking States. He’s supposed to represent in action what the Statue of Liberty represents in standing.

Is it enough to make you sick? If so, let’s hope that you’re not poor and on Medicaid because…

2). Medicaid šhìŧ. For the first time since Medicaid was established fifty years ago, Trump permitted states to start instituting programs which add a condition that you must be working in order to have Medicaid. So basically if you’re poor and unemployed, you would effectively be screwed. Not that that would bother the Ðûmbášš in Chief in the slightest.

3). Wait, which side am I on?. Trump wound up boning his own advisors when, while watching Fox News, they urged him to block the renewal of a security and surveillance bill. Trump immediately tweeted out that the bill should be stopped, without realizing that his own people have been actively lobbying for it to be renewed. Hours later he put up a new tweet that basically reversed the previous one. These days he changes his mind so often that you can get whiplash watching it.

4). The Wall Shìŧ Journal. . To top it off, he gave an extended interview to the Wall Street Journal He not only once again talked about pulling out of NAFTA, but also implied that he’s friends with Kim Jong un. The only possible explanation for this is that there’s another guy named Kim Jong un that Trump was referring to, because I feel reasonably confident in saying that the one we’re all thinking about does NOT consider Trump his pal.

So, to summarize: Trump is a racist. We’ve all known that. This is just further confirmation.

Did he do anything right? No.

PAD

The pinched nerve that has made my life a living hëll is gone. The neurologists who were treating it shot some Lidocaine and some steroids into the nerve and presto. No pain and I can walk again. Huzzah.

PAD