It’s coming: the next presidential campaign, I mean. Biden vs Trump, and yes, whether Trump is indicted or not, even if he is convicted or not, it looks like Donald Trump, according to Lincoln Project’s George Conway, will still be permitted to run again for President. What does that say about our country? Not much, really. Shouldn’t there be certain reasonable standards for running for the top elected position in the land? Well, we have practically none. We do have Sec. 3 of our 14th Amendment which says if someone plots to overthrown our government, that person can not run for elected office ever again. That is the case with Trump but will he be banned? Well, seems as if our 14th Amendment has no teeth since no one in power has yet the guts to impose that punishment on him. Not congresspeople. Not the DOJ Attorney General. Not the special prosecutor. Not a Grand Jury. Not a federal judge. Not even you nor I who probably would not have “standing” to take the case before the Supreme Court or any court, as you would think we could.
So Trump–a scoundrel to the core–will seemingly run, after likely decimating similar scoundrel DeSantis in the primaries, and we, as a people, will be traumatized as a result, during the primaries in particular, but also during the general election. He will rant and rave and bluster and blame and lie and divert and distort and deflect and defame and nickname and blaspheme and misrepresent and misinform and disinform and impugn and denigrate and disrupt all and everything in his wake–or is that woke–that he perceives can be disrupted.
For that is Donald Trump’s sole purpose in his political life: to disrupt. He is not a unifier. He is not a connector. He is not a consensus builder. He is not a compromiser. He is not an emancipator. He is not a centrist. He is an autocrat who thinks he, alone, has the answer to everything. That is what a dictator thinks, and a dictator has no interest in, or need for, democracy. Abraham Lincoln, ironically a Republican, is our time-tested and trusted model for the attributes an American president should have, and Trump is no Lincoln. Indeed, he is the polar opposite.
Now you might be thinking, “We’ve had bad Presidents before and we’ve survived them.” And that might well be true. But Trump is in a class by himself. He’s already shown how far he can set back this country, and the next time around will be much worse. He will strip our democracy down to its bare bones. He will mercilessly attack anyone who opposed him. He will unleash his brigade of white supremacy gangs to wreak havoc on the land. He will defund Ukraine and hand it over to his pal Putin who will consequently rape and pillage other neighbors. With another Trump presidency, our American political landscape will be forever transformed into something more approaching China, Russia, Hungary, or even Iran. Anti-immigrant. Anti-truth. Anti-multicultural. Anti-non white Christian religions. Anti-minorities. Anti-gay. Pro-Putin. Pro-Make America White and Christian Again. America was built on and grew on diversity. Without it, we will fall as hard and as fast as the Roman Empire did.
I don’t know what I can say to make the coming firestorm–a fire that creates its own wind–any less intense. And my platform is neither large nor powerful enough to effect any significant change. But as that wee small voice within the thundering herd, I still must speak out, if not for you all, then for me alone–speak out until my final breath leaves me or until a modern-day Brown Shirt knocks on my door and takes me away.
What’s to be done about all this? Just brace yourself, vote accordingly, and encourage your friends, relatives, neighbors, and associates to do the same. If you stumble upon a Trump MAGA cultist, or one of blowhard Tucker Carlson’s faithful three million per night viewers, don’t waste your breath. They’ve got their ironclad answers, all ready for a fight, within a brain that stopped thinking long ago.
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I’ve written a book that I think could make a difference. And I’ve started to appear on podcasts that might increase my influence. The book is To Live a Life: 200 Ways to be the Best Person you can be. The podcasts include Joey Chmiko’s The Authentic Only Show, found on Spotify, Apple, and others; and Daniel Erichsen M.D.’s weekly show on sleep disorders on YouTube. I’ll be a guest on both soon. Please check them out. Thanks.
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