Archives for August 2015

For all those worriers who are beginning to believe a Trump presidency may be possible; to all those delusional supporters who believe the man has more than a snowball’s chance in hell of becoming our nation’s 45th president, I have only one thing to say: Melania Knauss-Trump.

The news media has been so consumed with covering the improbable rise of Donald Trump that very little time has been devoted to Melania, Trump’s third wife. Since the Republican Party’s mouthpiece, Fox News, has not covered the potential First Lady, conservatives don’t have a clue what they’re dealing with.

Safe to say no First Lady has ever posed nude for a magazine spread, as did Mrs. Trump. Nor has any other First Lady talked about her incredible sex life (with Trump) on the Howard Stern show. If the puritanical, family-values conservative base were to see what many others around the world saw in a 2000 issue of British GQ, their knickers would be in a bunch!

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against the current Mrs. Trump. In fact, I would be more than pleased to call Melania my First Lady. She is not an airhead. Many have likened the former Slovenian model to Jackie Kennedy, in her style and grace. But as hypocritical as Christian conservatives may be, they could never abide a nude model in the White House. We, as a nation, are just not as hip as the French or Italians.

If true craziness were to take over a majority of the electorate, voting Trump in as our next Commander in Chief, I can just hear Pat Robertson now … “We have revisited Sodom and Gomorrah. Another clear sign that the End Times are nigh!”

Hillary, for her part, has dispatched a cadre of staff members to dig up dirt on Melania, just in case. “I’ve learned the hard way that it ain’t over until the fat lady sings. I’m taking nothing for granted.”

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Many political observers have called Donald Trump the Frankenstein of the Republican Party; a monster of their own creation that will now inflict great pain and suffering, not only on the villagers, but also on his master.

This, no doubt, is true. But it does not explain Trump’s continuing dominance over the other Republican presidential candidates. To understand what is taking place in today’s Republican world, you have to look at what can only be described as a “ perfect political storm.”

A unique set of circumstances has converged this election cycle the likes of which has not been seen before. This rare combination of powerful forces, many years in the making, has given the GOP what some might classify as its worst nightmare.

Five disparate events have combined to give the Party of Lincoln the “Trump perfect storm.”

1. Government Bashing – During Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address, he famously said, “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Trust in government is at its lowest sustained level since Pew started collecting that data in 1958. Republican voters’ hatred of Washington D.C. is so great these days that it spills over to any career politician. Conservatives are tired of being lied to by their representatives. They are flocking toward any non-politician. Besides heavily favoring Trump, Republicans are strongly supporting two other non-pols, Carson and Fiorina.

2. Money And Politics – Many voters today rightly believe their representatives are bought and paid for. While Citizen’s United has exacerbated the influence of money in politics, that has always been the case. Voters are sick of politicians promising them one thing on the campaign trail then doing something else (the bidding of their financial overlords) once in power. Trump brags about how he can’t be bought; how he turns down millions every day. As he keeps reminding his audiences, “I am very, very rich!”

3. Political Correctness – Most mainstream politicians have to resort to “code” or “dog whistles” to get their hateful messages across to their public. Donald Trump has turned all that correctness on its ear. People like him because he tells it like it is. He gives people the “hate on a plate,” if you will, and the rabble is eating it up.

4. Weak Field – With sixteen chances of fielding a non-extreme, electable candidate, one with passion and personality, this field was the best the adults in the GOP could come up with? Jeb, the anointed one, has not turned out to be the Establishment’s savior. While he looked good on paper, he is about as exciting as that … a sheet of paper. He has turned out to be the most disappointing candidate. Trump, on the other hand, has guts, cojones, energy, style and pizzazz. All his mainstream opponents are weak and mealy-mouthed in comparison. They may have the steak, but today’s conservative voter wants sizzle.

5. Dumbing Down – Years of conservative bashing of intellectualism, science, logic, facts and history have taken a toll on the collective intelligence of the American electorate. Add the conservatives’ war on public education and the teaching profession, you have a toxic combination.

The Trump bid for the Republican presidential nomination continues to have legs because of five “perfect storm” factors: he is not a politician, he is independently wealthy, he doesn’t talk like a politician, he has style and the average American today is less factually-informed (and I’m being kind) than those in years past.

The GOP establishment can try to derail the Trump Express, but in a “perfect political storm,” the worst possible result inevitably becomes the reality.

Safe travels, Donald.

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It was inevitable. First the baker would not create a cake for a gay couple because of “deeply held religious beliefs;” then came the wedding photographer; then the pizzeria owner … and now the college student?

Some freshmen at Duke University have objected to an assigned summer reading list that included Fun Home, an award winning, New York Times best-selling novel. The book has been adapted into a Broadway play, winning five Tony awards, including Best Musical. Yes, the book is graphic and contains very personal, challenging and emotional issues of its author. But really?

“I feel as if I would have to compromise my personal Christian moral beliefs to read it,” Brian Grasso wrote on the Duke University Class of 2019 Facebook page.

Now, mind you, Duke University is not some second rate institution of higher learning. It is one of the more selective schools in the country. Last year it accepted only 14% of its applicants. In the most recent U.S. News and World Report survey of the top 100 American universities, it comes in at #8.

One could understand a baker or a photographer not wanting to participate in the celebration of a gay wedding because it offended their “deeply held religious beliefs” … however un-Christian that may be. But students at a select American university complaining about a book on a list that offends their Christian beliefs? As John McEnroe might say, “You can’t be serious!”

Perhaps those offended students should have researched colleges and universities better. Some top schools really do want to expand a student’s mind by subjecting them to material they might otherwise not be exposed to. Perhaps it’s the guidance counselor’s fault? Liberty University might have been a much better fit.

What next, an EMT refusing to give CPR to a gay person because it “offends their deeply held religious beliefs?” Talk about a slippery slope!

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If you listen to both Democrats and Republicans, America is no longer around. It is a lost country and each political party is doing all it can to get our poor little country back.

Republicans firmly believe our great country has been hijacked by “the liberal agenda.” You know, gay rights, universal healthcare, belief in science, a fair justice system, a woman’s right to choose, clean air and water, energy independence, an equitable tax system, separation of church and state, combating climate change, sensible gun regulation … just to name a few of the evil things Democrats stand for.

Democrats on the other hand believe “conservative orthodoxy” is the reason our country has gone missing. The America they came to know and love has been taken over by a new American aristocracy, the military-industrial complex, a radical Supreme Court, the NRA, religious zealots, the blissfully ignorant, racists, misogynists, trickle down (voodoo) economics, defunders of public education, creationists, and Neanderthals.

You might say that the way I’ve described conservative and progressive values is unfairly slanted towards the Democrat viewpoint.

If you are Republican/conservative/right wing/red-neck/traditional/a stuffed shirt/a fossil … you would be right!

Politics has always been a tug of war between change and stasis, progress and regression, advance and retreat, expansion and stagnation.

For those who still care about the subject, history has shown that the arc of the universe firmly points towards the light, not the abyss; that the march of progress never ends.

When scholars study our society many years from now, they will rightfully wonder how any woman, middle-class American, non-millionaire or person over the age of 50 could have voted Republican in 2016 … the year that saw the death of the Grand Old Party of Lincoln.