I hear a LOT, these days, from lefties who are suggesting strategies for the next election. Oh, we could do this or we should do that. Uh-huh. So far, 47 has been a wrecking ball of lawbreaking. Evidence suggests he took the White House through cheating in the first place and since getting there, he has pretty much ignored the law in general. He does what he wants to do, legal or not, AND empowers toadies to do the same. So, um…

What in this HELL makes you think that come “election” time, he’s suddenly going to gain some great respect for the Constitution and stand down and accept the outcome of any election, whether he likes it or not?

My whole life, ‘voting’ has been the “solution” to whatever political problem ailed us. Don’t like the guy? Vote him out. Much of my life, that worked. I’m not sanguine that it’s going to work anymore. I suspect we’re going to start seeing Republican “wins” by, like, 94% all of a sudden, especially The Felon in his NEXT “election.”
“No, he can’t run again.”
“Haven’t you been paying attention?”
“No, the Constitution says…”
“The Constitution specifically says he can’t even hold office THIS time, yet there he is. What does HE care what the Constitution says?”
“Well the Supreme Court said…”
“The Supreme Court ruled the exact opposite of what the Fourteenth Amendment actually reads. They ruled by preference, not the law. When it gets to them, they’ll just pretend they read that a person can only serve two terms at a time, or some such.”
“But that doesn’t make sense.”
“Neither did their ruling on the Fourteenth Amendment. Or Citizen’s United, for that matter. The current SCOTUS IS the ‘Deep State,’ these days…”
“Well, crap!”

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Around the turn of the century, Measles was declared eradicated. Then the moral-defect crowd decided, for political reasons, that vaccines are bad. Now? Kids are dying. Excellent work.

Have you noticed that when The First Felon in infesting the White House, the United States also becomes embroiled in some medical emergency? It’s almost as if he brings the pestilence. The LAST time, it was worldwide. THIS time it seems contained to the US, which seems appropriate, but the end result for Americans is the same: we’re screwed because we don’t have a competent leader when we need one.

LAST time it was “drink bleach and get a black light into the body.” And THAT was when he was surrounded by competent doctors with competent medical opinions. NOW all he has is RFK, Jr. – the very picture of medical incompetence.

Okay, that was fun to write but in fairness, RFK, Jr sent vaccines to address the problem in Texas. (And, of course, it’s Texas.) Weird, but that’s what happened. I’m guessing there’s a pending rebuke for actually turning to actual science to solve a science problem. That’s generally a no-no in MAGA land…

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I use a source called ‘Ground News’ to track the amount of coverage a given story is getting in the press. It’s not perfect. It doesn’t cover opinions as much as journalism for example. Since most of MAGA media consists of “opinion” – the euphemism they use for “false stories” – I can’t be sure of the extent they’re hearing about the recent White House ambush on Zelenskyy.

But as far as journalism, there’s not much happening. The right is mostly not covering the outburst. The left has been focused. Journalists on the right have taken a somewhat ho-hum attitude. That’s because it’s yet another betrayal by Trump. I’ll tell you this: I ALWAYS expect the worst from him and he never lets me down. And yet, every time he behaves exactly the way I expect him to behave, I STILL feel disappointed. I keep hoping (against hope) that maybe, just this ONE time, he’ll demonstrate some basic, human decency. Intellectually, I KNOW he won’t. He can’t. And yet, I hope. I guess that makes it more of a wish.

WHY is it a betrayal? Because the US is obligated by treaty, along with other NATO nations, to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression, specifically. You see, when the USSR collapsed, Ukraine was left with a huge stockpile of nuclear weapons. In fact, at the time, they held the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world.

Do you think Putin would have invaded Ukraine had they kept those weapons? I doubt it seriously. But they didn’t keep them. In fairness, when Ukraine was released from USSR control, those weapons represented a huge cost I doubt they were ready to shoulder but there are options. They might well have found a way. But they didn’t need to. Under the Budapest Accords, Ukraine chose to eliminate their nuclear stockpile in exchange for security guarantees. They received their guarantees. They kept their part of the bargain. Now 47 can’t bring himself to honor the promise if Zelenskyy doesn’t a) pay him and b) grovel appropriately.

Now, obviously, Trump doesn’t understand what a real tough guy looks like, but Zelenskyy IS one. He’s not going to grovel and he’s certainly not going to say “nice things” about the invader. The First Felon is out of his depth, here. He should just let grown ups handle things and shut his pie-hole.

Just as an aside, according to Reuters, ‘Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said there were “whispers from the White House that they may try to end all U.S. support for Ukraine… I am sick to my stomach as the administration appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing Putin, a threat to democracy and U.S. values around the world.”‘

Today she describes herself as “sick to her stomach.” Tomorrow she’ll vote with the majority anyway. Honor seems to be yesterdays news, along with decency, honesty, and empathy. This is just the latest example of MAGA moral decline. They’re cheering the aggressor and deriding the victims…

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I’m glad to know I’m not the only one concerned about the MAGA moral decline and it offers me hope to know there are still sane Republicans in this country. David Brooks is one such and he DOES NOT like what’s going on. After 47 ambushed Zelenskyy in the White House in an apparent attempt to get some good footage for the Kremlin, Brooks said this: “Donald Trump believes in one thing. He believes that might makes right. And, in that, he agrees with Vladimir Putin that they are birds of a feather. And he and Vladimir Putin together are trying to create a world that’s safe for gangsters, where ruthless people can thrive. And we saw the product of that effort today in the Oval Office.”

“And I have — I first started thinking, is it — am I feeling grief? Am I feeling shock, like I’m in a hallucination? But I just think shame, moral shame. It’s a moral injury to see the country you love behave in this way.”

At this point, deeply loyalist MAGA are probably lost to their fate but there are still moral Republicans and they need to keep speaking up. Our once-great nation is lost but decent Americans NEED the world to see that we’re not all bad…