The Big Picture

Trump continues to act with the knowledge that he is not only Commander in Chief of the most powerful military in world history, but he may also have half the military might of the world behind him as a fail safe. He knowingly uses whatever means necessary and proactively uses all the powers of his office, regardless of optics, to squash any attempt to legally remove him from office. He ignores subpoenas, responds to document requests with sharpied graphs and selective memory transcribed non-transcripts of taped phone calls, and otherwise obstructs and avoids any actual attempt to hold him to account for his heinous acts.

It’s clear from his tweets, words and behavior that the Don truly believes himself above the law. He does not behave as one bound by tradition, precedent or rule of law. In fact from the time he took the public stage he has acted and behaved as one who knows the fix is in. Remember despite being double digits down in the polls he made clear that he would contest the results of the election if he was not the winner.

To Trump’s credit he’s been quite transparent all along. Review his twitter feed from a different perspective and it almost reads as if it is both a self confession to treason and a whistle blower report (the good kind). In many conversations from “Russia, if you’re listening” right up to his present day public echo of “China if you’re listening,” Trump openly flaunts his treasonous behavior for all to see. It’s what makes his threats of Civil War and cries of a coup, and accusations of treason so dangerous.

When you see the completed puzzle you realize that these are not random pieces, projections or the rants and raves of a lunatic. Trump’s words are more than empty threats and part of a greater design. They are the culmination of the best laid plans. Years of careful planning and coordinated efforts by those who do not hold America’s best interests at heart. Enemies both foreign and domestic whose agendas and values do not thrive in a representative republic such as that envisioned by our founding fathers. The consolidation of God before country Raptureheads, Russia enabled military hawks and the racist status quo dependent deplorables all under the GOP big tent. Donald Trump nothing more than a golden calf to shepherd the message; a Trojan horse in which to deliver the troops and a Midas god to deliver the gold to his puppeteers.

Continue to play the scenarios out and they only grow more horrifying. It’s not hard to see how a new world order emerges. A global oligarchy controlled by a fascist few. An international caste system of haves and have nots in which the world’s most valuable natural resources are controlled by the world’s most powerful nations led by white supremacists, missionaries and colonists. The many working for the few. A permanent military state in which any remaining illusion of individual freedoms would be just that.

When viewed through this prism almost all of Trump’s forreign policy decisions suddenly make sense. The wag the dog drama, escalated rhetoric, and ensuing peace agreements with traditional hostile nations a fait accompli. Russia (Iran) and China (N Korea) in control of their rogue pawns as they formalize their growing international influence through negotiations. Traditional allies pushed aside to make room at the table.

All roads lead to Jerusalem.

In Jesus’ name.

Amen

Follow the Leader

Trump’s latest abhorrent tweetstorm in which he accuses Adam Schiff of treason, seeks to confront the whistleblower and encourages a second Civil War with cries of Witchhunt and accusations of coups proves once again that he’s unfit to be elementary school President, let alone the so called leader of the free world. If our Comrade in Chief wants to talk about “enemies of the state,” or protect against a clear and present danger I suggest he take a hard look in the mirror.

Analyze those essential attributes that the greatest leaders share. Compare his own actions against past leaders to examine how he stacks up in history. Is Trump destined to be a cautionary tale of how absolute power corrupts absolutely or does he behave and exemplify the behaviors of those champions of freedom? The wisest of kings, leaders and community organizers who acted with singular purpose and are remembered for contributions that advanced human civilization and individual freedoms. Make no mistake. Such leaders share easily identifiable behaviors from which to compare your own leadership style;

They safeguard open communications and transparency. They do not obstruct investigation or silence and threaten whistle blowers and leakers. They protect anonymity by offering hotlines and access to independent arbiters.

They emphasize collaboration and inclusiveness. They do not fear diversity. They embrace it.

They welcome opposition. They do not suppress feedback or dissenting opinions. They listen and learn from them.

They build a shared vision of the future. They do not think perception is reality. They rely on facts, science and logic to shape perception to match reality.

They own their actions. They do not finger point, blame predecessors or deny accountability for their decisions. They understand that once empowered the buck stops with them. Period.

They problem solve. They do not act a prisoner of circumstance or play the victim. They innovate and experiment with new paradigms to limit or remove obstacles.

They prioritize knowing their people. They do not view empathy as a weakness. They know it to be a virtue.

They extend kindness. They do not bully. They nurture.

They encourage teamwork. They do not ostracize, belittle, or build walls. They promote commonalities, break barriers and build bridges.

They lead with hope. They do not rule by negativity and fear. They grow consensus through transparency and communication.

They create opportunity for all. They do not close doors or instill artificial barriers to entry. They rely on objective measures to reward and promote all those who merit consideration.

In the course of history there have been countless examples of leaders who chose to rule otherwise. Who ruled through fear mongering, authoritarian accountability and slogans. Who preyed on the weakness of the disenfranchised to promote their own agenda. Who gave voice to the extremes.

But riddle me this. Has such a leader ever been on the right side of history? Have they ever progressed our collective interests? Brought us closer to that more perfect union our founders dreamed of?

The answer is obvioua

Context is Everything

The dog whistles turn into bugle calls as the beat towards Civil War goes on. Trump has never been more than a paper tiger in this battle. A necessary distraction as the real enemies coalesced, mobilized and fortified undetected. A marionette to amuse the masses with stories of greatness and possibility. A pawn to sacrifice in the battles ahead as the grand masters calculate their next moves; position their knights, and prepare to dethrone their enemies.

Context is everything. To properly evaluate a leader’s effectiveness one must consider their agenda and mission. This is separate from a job performance which is tied to one’s role and responsibility. Though you would hope the interests align, it is possible for a leader to still be effective in advancing their mission, even while simultaneously failing in their job responsibilities.

Take Donald Trump for instance (please). It is clear to most that Donald Trump has failed in his role as President of the United States. He makes no effort to advance the collective interests of our citizenry and in fact takes glee in alienating those who don’t support his cause. He has weakened our national security interests and eroded cultural and societal norms.

As our nation’s Chief Diplomat the President is not supposed to intentionally and with purpose alienate our allies, antagonize foes, leak national security photos and briefings, attack our intelligence agencies or place active foreign agents and known security risks in charge of our National Security Agency. Yet this is exactly what has occurred under Trump’s watch.

Scan the headlines and observe how far the boundaries of acceptability have stretched domestically. Calls for Civil War! Accusations of treason! Demands to out an anonymous whistleblower. Forget the quid pro quod with Zelensky, the layovers at Trump owned resorts and kickbacks to nearby fueling stations! Talk of a second round of tax breaks, permanent cuts to entitlements, escalation of ridiculous trade wars, all new innovations that benefit the oligarchy at the expense of the worker. That advance the agenda of Donald Trump and those he serve. Immigrants and refugees turned away at our borders to ensure the whitening of America. All roads lead to Jerusalem anyways.

Understand Donald Trump has been a successful leader in that his agenda has never been that of a traditional President. His agenda is not to advance the cause of ordinary Americans. Donald Trump seeks to advance the interests of Donald Trump and those he may benefit from, regardless of party or nationality. In this regard, Trump’s presidency has been a rousing success. If that requires the nation be divided and dissenters cleaved from the whole, so be it. All is fair game and potential collateral in the art of the deal.

Suck it Up, Buttercup

Listen, I get it. It sucks to be duped. To get your hopes up believing that someone is the real deal. That they are going to fight the rigged system they got rich off of to level the playing field for the common man. It’s easy to believe in hope when it’s packaged correctly.

Don’t feel bad. Young and old, rich and poor, black or white all of us are susceptible to a good con. It’s truly one of life’s great equalizers that knows no prejudice. As for Trump, well he is the ultimate con man. He identified a weakness and took advantage of it. Spun a yarn and sold America a big heaping turd of a promise to make us great again.

Now is the time to face reality though. It may sting a bit, but suck it up buttercup. We’re at that point of the show where the buffoonish villain has overstayed his welcome. Pull on your big boy pants and get out of the grift now.

Before we lose everything.

Understand Donald Trump is not on your side. He’s never been on your side. He’s not even a real Republican. Without regards to morality or values he simply follows whatever path he believes leads to the most power and money

Scared Schiffless

Initiation of an impeachment inquiry is not a political decision. A sitting President has torn the Constitution into shreds and sent the scraps to our immigrant camps so the inhabitants no longer have excuse to complain about the lack of toilet paper and menstrual pads.

Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats must demonstrate to the world that America remains on the side of morality, law and order. They must seize the daily headlines and shine light on all of the crimes and corruption that trickle down from the caravan of greedy oligarchs, religious fundamentalist and white supremacists that comprise the whole of today’s GOP.

The Democrats need to choke the oxygen that feeds this cabal. Take control of the narrative and sensationalize the crap out of an impeachment inquiry. Make it a spectacle each and every day. The purpose is not conviction, heck the majority of the Senate jury, are defendants in the inquiry; architects of the entire coup. The purpose is transparency.

The only way to defeat a bully is to face it head on and let the world see how weak it really is. To strip it of power you must first publicly expose the naked emperor so the world sees its insecurities. Laughs at its own naïveté and moves on to better things

America’s Choice

Donald Trump is a man of flawed character. The embodiment of the 21st century American dream. A child of the 1% with no discernible talent, skills or virtue beyond that of self promotion. A self aggrandizing narcissistic sycophant with an unhealthy obsession for celebrity and fame. A self hating man child who overcompensates for his shortcomings by bullying, intimidating and surrounding himself with “yes men.”

A man in constant need of validation because deep down he fears he will never live up to daddy’s expectations, never be truly loved. A man with an ego so fragile he can’t deal with dissent or opposition. Who spent a lifetime avoiding accountability and consequences by silencing critics with bribes, quid pro quos and empty promises. Who justifies his deplorable behavior through incredible displays of cognitive dissonance; scapegoating, and otherwise shifting blame to the underprivileged, the disenfranchised, and those less able to defend themselves.

Like most bullies our so called President stands for nothing. He is driven by vengeance, looking only for the next score to settle, fight to win. Rules of the games do not apply, traditions and protocols be damned. All he knows is how to marginalize, belittle, conflate, de-legitimize and, when necessary, squash dissent and opposition. This allows him to continue presenting alternative facts, only now without the alternatives. Lies then become truth, and perception reality.

We As a country are at a crossroads. All Americans need to carefully consider their next move. Will it be impeachment or appeasement? Reflect on your history. Get informed. Ask yourself; when has the leader who ruled through fear, intimidation, propaganda and slogan been on the right side of history?

I’ll spare you the research.

The answer is never.

Impeachment or appeasement? Choose wisely #HistoryHasItsEyesOnYou

The Power of Impeachment

Those who continue to support our current POTUS understand this. All you are doing is publically identifying yourself as a dinosaur. Painting a scarlet letter on your sleeve that your way of thinking and very belief system will soon be relegated to the history books.

Pelosi’s announcement of an overdue impeachment inquiry will set off a chain reaction. Awaken the majority of this country from its long slumber and national nightmare. Accountability is infectious. Publicly shame and expose a bully and it is only a matter of time until the masses will turn on it, no matter how popular they once seemed. New and unexpected alliances will soon form to unite those who have longed to stand for virtue and defend the vulnerable. Make no mistake, morality has no color, creed or political allegiance.

In every corner of America you will find shared values and identity. The impeachment inquiry will be the alarm that finally awakens the majority of our citizenry. Republicans, Democrats and Independents, young and old, Muslim, Christian, Jews, atheists and other, scientists and clergy, gun enthusiasts and gun control advocates, men and women who wish to stand for the American dream, defend our immigrant nation.

The right to a free and independent press. The right of assembly. The right to be free from religious persecution. The necessity of checks and balances with 3 equal, though often inept, branches of government. The realization that we are the great melting pot. That diversity IS the American identity. We can’t change that anymore than a tiger can change its stripes. A list of all the great contributions immigrants and refugees have made to this country would dwarf a list of their misdeeds a million times over.

Americans are waking. We know who we are. And we like it that way. Our days of passiveness are done. We will demand transparency. We will proactively seek the truth, engage and speak out against false equivalents. No longer will we be intimidated or bullied into silence.

This is not to say we should let our guards down. Far from it, the resistance is just getting started. Dinosaurs fight hardest the nearer to extinction they are. We must brace ourselves for whatever Trump and his merry bannon of criminals and corrupt enablers plan next. Even domesticated animals grow unpredictable when desperate and afraid; when the inevitability of their predicament grows apparent. In the case of Deranged Donald, extinction is near and #ImpeachmentIsComing; for progress knows but one direction #Forward

The Birth of the Birther

Donald Trump has had a noose around his neck from the moment he rode down that escalator. The problem is there’s never been a hangman strong enough to pull the rope.

Trump knows what is at stake in the days ahead. Is well aware that if his finances are fully investigated he’s cooked. His family name, his fortune, his legacy, his freedom, perhaps even the same fate met by Jeffrey Epstein. The very things he promised his daddy he’d never let be taken away. That he’d do anything to protect.

You need look no further than his past to understand the depths Deranged Donald would sink to remain relevant. You know the stories of the flamboyant alter egos who served as his own PR men. The nonstop Page 6 antics and over the top personality. The willingness to pay millions to accountants simply to avoid paying even one penny more in taxes than legally required. The lack of philanthropy. The refusal to pay contractors. The slum lording. That was Donald Trump in the good times. Even then he refused to go away or act in the public’s interest.

Consider what he’d do when he actually feared he may lose everything. When after filing a 6th bankruptcy the self proclaimed tycoon found himself broke, over leveraged and with nowhere to turn. A hard luck loser who learned the hard way that the house doesn’t always win. At least not the one’s with the word “Trump” in their title.

To make matters worse Barack Obama had recently been elected and in one of his first acts delivered what must of seemed like a groin kick to any dreams Dear Donald had of making a comeback. You see the passage of Dodd Frank and other regulations made it impossible for Donald to take a loan from any domestic financial institutions. The over leveraged real estate speculator directly in the crosshairs of the legislation.

So with nowhere else to turn what was Donald to do? We know the rest. Enter Deutsche Bank. The direct link to the Russian oligarchs who would go on to direct the ascendancy of Trump’s political career. The art of the deal; the hangman’s rope for the marionette strings. Who cares who controls the strings. You live to see another day. The birth of the Birther complete.

The fight ahead isn’t political, it’s moral.

Cognitive Dissonance

The pathway to perdition is caked in the blood of those who thought it could never happen to them, never on their native soil. Those who refused to believe their eyes and ears as the boundaries of civility slowly erode. Those who willfully chose to accept alternative facts and alternative charts rather than deal with the hard realities of life and be forced to confront some unpleasant truths.

Ignore the blatant patterns and lessons of the past at your own risk. History rewards early adaptors. Movies are made about those who risk everything to flee over mountains rather than join up with the rising authoritarian. Statues erected of those who resist in plain sight. Those who smuggle refugees across borders, hide entire families in their crawl spaces. They are the heroes of yore and exemplars of man’s perpetual progress.

The same cannot be said for those who bury their head in the sand. No honors will be awarded to those who appease the madmen in his quest for absolute power and silently benefit from the new power structure being erected to serve the ruling elite. Those everyday citizens who temporarily fall victim to the allure of the golden calf; who normalize the inane, illogical, and inhumane policies of the rising authoritarian, until one day the spell is broken. They wake up to find lifelong friends or coworkers have been rounded up or deported simply because their name showed up in an immigrant database, designated a clear and present danger. By that point it’s too late to resist, too late to play the hero. By then they are relegated to the shadows, to play the roles of the nameless extras that looks glance sympathetically, biding their own time as the horrors around them unfold.

Restore Our Democracy

The loyalty to the nation to which they serve should not be an open question of a sitting President. This is not a political issue. This is a matter of national security. The constitutional crisis is here.

“We, the people” need to demand transparency. We need to look at our brethren in Hong Kong, London, Puerto Rico and across the globe who courageously rise up against the greedy oligarchs, religious fundamentalists and deplorable dinosaurs who seek to interrupt the progress of civilization. We need to take to the streets and rally behind an opposition leader who will unite the majority and restore our democracy