Politics During My Life

I am not going to drone on about politics in this collection of things I'm doing for my boys (or will I?).  They hear it from me all the time as it is.  But, what I will capture, is the sad state of where we are today as there has literally been nothing like it in my lifetime.

One of my all time favorite movies is "All the President's Men."  For those of you who don't know this film, it's got Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as Woodward and Bernstein tracking down the details about, then breaking, the Nixon Watergate scandal.  

I remember my earliest memories having flashes of the Watergate scandal.  One, I was up-close to Gerald Ford at the Texas State Fair one year, and I had to have it explained to me who he was and why he was important.  I would watch Saturday Night Live, and "Pat" would throw another "tape on the fire."  I had to have that explained to me.  So I had bits and pieces in my very early years.  My mom even had newspapers from my first day of life.  Watergate, Vietnam, the Munich Olympics, etc. were the headlines.  So, I had to have that explained to me as well.

Naturally, Watergate has always been a part of my formation.  

I saw gas lines during the oil embargo during Carter's presidency.  The Iran hostage situation.  Reagan's rise, which was quite important at the time.  His assassination attempt.  The Iran-Contra hearings.  HW Bush and his bumbling sidekick, Dan Quayle, whose Monroe, LA visit in 1988 I attended and took pictures for the Neville High Yearbook.  Politics was a big part of my growing up.

As I've mentioned in other posts, I wanted to be a news guy in college, at least early in college.  My first story I had on the Associated Press wire was about a crime being committed near the college at a local bank.  But I submitted several while covering the 1990 mid-term elections in Monroe.  I was fascinated.

By the time 1992 came, the economy under HW Bush was a disaster.  Turning against his 1988 "No New Taxes" pledge (look it up) really solidified HW losing in 1992.  Bill Clinton also was NEW blood.  Young.  Played a saxophone on the Arsenio Hall show.  He was cool!  Fun!  In hindsight, maybe a little TOO fun, but nevertheless.  He was everything HW wasn't.  And the economy exploded under him, thanks, frankly, to the rise of Microsoft, HP, Compaq and the internet.  Not so much anything Bill was doing.  But a lot can be said for simply giving the population a shot in the arm.  Some excitement.

After Bill's fall from grace with Monica Lewinsky, Al Gore had little chance to follow his boss into the White House.  By 2000, the flaky population wanted something different.  And bringing a Bush back seemed to be the remedy.  Those 8 years were bland, aside from 9/11.  We entered into conflicts and wars we had no business seeking, and the country was just in a very weird place.  Bush himself didn't make things better because he came across as a complete boob.  But he did win a second term, primarily because of 9/11 since there's never been an incumbent who has lost during war time.  

But, as it was in 2000, 2008 was a time for something different.  Again.  Enter Barak Obama. 

Bush left us with a devastating economy, as most Republicans tend to do, and I worked in mortgage banking during this time, so digging out of that mess was a Herculean task for Obama.  I watched it every single day firsthand.  And, like most Democrats, we got out of it, and flourished.  

I've been pretty hardcore since 1992 at wanting a Third Party revolution. So, in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004, I voted third party. I basically threw my vote away, regretfully.  And in 2008, I actually voted for John McCain, whom I really liked (although Palin was a boob). By 2012, though, I voted third party again.  Regretfully, since I thought Obama did a phenomenal job as president.  Probably the best in my lifetime.

And here is where my regret really shined.

2016...I was continuing on my third party nonsensical stance.  It's embarrassing to say now, but I thought the only path to real change was chaos.  This ping-ponging back and forth was such a non-productive waste of taxpayer time, and we kept falling right into it.  8 years of one, 8 years of another.  Congress never achieved anything since Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America" stopped congressional action in its tracks in the mid-90s as a response to Bill Clinton.  And, frankly, Congress had done nothing since except Obamacare, which was an impressive achievement, actually.  The first of its kind. 

I felt like chaos was the only way to light a fire in Congress.  Boy, was that a stupid stance.  

Without going into a crap ton of details, Trump being elected in 2016 was an embarrassment.  He is a complete buffoon who had snowed the dumbest of our population.  However, the truth is, I've always despised Hillary.  So, the idea that she was the person, who represented more of the same, if not worse, was the one going up against the guy saying everything about the parties everyone had been afraid to say, pretty much made Hillary's loss inevitable.  She was not a liked person.  And the split in the Dem party with Bernie Sanders made a unified party backing impossible.  

Thus, we got Orange Titty Baby.  

I remember the night of the election, turning to Ethan and Sam and saying, "Wow.  I'm stunned.  In four years, I'm either going to be saying we finally voted for chaos and it worked!  Or we voted for chaos and got way more than we bargained for,"  Of course, we got the latter.

Trump immediately went in with his Republican Congress and passed the tax cut bill for he and his buddies.  Then...accomplished nothing else in 4 years.

No infrastructure deal, even though he kept promising one "in a couple of weeks."  

No Obamacare "Repeal and Replace," even though he kept promising one "in a couple of weeks."  

Trump did what every hater said he would.  He'd hire/fire everyone. Anyone with a brain who worked for him came out against him, and literally none of them work for him today.  He even had to get a new VP.  He's the worst business man ever, who tried to run the government like a business, although Washington insiders kept throwing true Washington people at him in key positions in order to make sure he didn't royally screw something up.  And, frankly, it worked.  Aside from his tax cuts, which were set to expire anyway, he didn't get a single thing done.  And we destroyed relationships with all of our allies in the process.  He was a complete disaster.  And...that was BEFORE COVID.

Then COVID hit.  Literally every good decision this idiot SHOULD have made, he did the opposite.  Hearing him talk about science, medicine, etc. made my ears bleed.  This was the equivalent of me talking about quantum physics.  It was embarrassing to see this already-embarrassing president of the United States addressing world leaders with the most idiotic, fantastical solutions for things he didn't remotely understand, while at the same time, undermining people who DID know what they were doing.  It was disgusting at a level never seen in the presidency.  

So, when Biden went up against Trump in 2020, it seemed like a no-brainer (pardon the pun).  There was no way we were stupid enough to let this dumb fuck run our country again.  And we didn't.  It was frightening how many idiots voted for him, but still, there were enough people tired of his antics, that Biden won handily.  

Thank goodness.

And, like that, I realized that my third party stance was not the smartest.  I don't like the fact that we are so two-party, especially since both parties have a corrupt way of fucking us, but the truth is, you'd need a consistent third party presence (not a ton of them) at all levels of government in order to actually see the kind of change I was wanting.  Not that it really would have mattered in Texas, but I hate that I didn't vote for Hillary in 2016, if just feeling guilty for impacting Trump's win at a microscopic level.  So, I voted for Biden in 2020, and feel great about it.

That being said, 2020-2024 was a weird term.  We had the remnants of COVID, recovery from the worst economy since the Depression (thanks, Trump), and a MOUNTAIN for Biden to climb to get us out of it.  And by 2024, we had jobs and the economy stabilized and inflation steadily declining.  Maybe not fast enough, but definitely in the right direction.  Stability was the key.

So, when Trump decided to run again in 2024, I laughed my ass off.  His fragile ego couldn't take losing to Biden, so he continued the incorrect narrative to his brain-dead supporters that it was a "rigged election."  It was easy to laugh at it because literally every single lawsuit he and his idiot pals threw at the election results had zero proof and were thrown out.  Because they were raving lies of a madman.  In fact, Fox News, which had continued his nonsensical narrative, had to pay millions for lying to the American public about the election.  

I come from the days of Cronkite, Rather, Jennings, Koppel...real news guys.  So, seeing the "stupid" that lies on Fox News was causing to members of my family and some friends, was disheartening.  On one hand, it was a sad display of how far our integrity as news organizations had fallen, but what was worse is how gullible and stupid some members of my family, and some friends, turned out to be.  But, hey...we all learn lessons and do stupid things, so after Trump's absurd display and handling of COVID, the insanity of the January 6 insurrection, and seeing the slow, but steady recovery during Biden's term, 2024 would be a slam dunk, right?  I mean, I said (with a straight face) that it will be interesting to see who the GOP candidate would be because Trump wouldn't make it out of the first round of primaries.  

Wow.  What an idiot I turned out to be.

I completely misjudged the level of stupid in this country.  Despite being found guilty of 34 felonies, cratering every business he's ever run, was responsible for thousands of deaths during COVID due to his poor leadership during a crisis, and the clear recovery of the economy, MAGA was still a thing.  

In 2016, I was genuinely surprised MAGA had enough power to win, even though he didn't win the popular vote.  And in 2020, I was stunned MAGA had enough votes, even though he lost, to make it as far as he did.  I mean, his disgusting handling of COVID and cratering of our economy alone should have made him unelectable.   

But...no.  I didn't see just how many racists, Christian Nationalists, meth-heads, gullible conspiracy theorists still had the ability to listen to complete media lies and make a decision based on complete bullshit, forgetting the FACTUAL results of his previous presidency.  

I come from the 70s and 80s Republican rise, so I truly though Nikki Haley would have destroyed anyone on the Democratic side, and openly laughed when the GOP picked Trump.  What a WASTE!!  Right???

I truly underestimated just how stupid MAGA people really are.

But...enter Democrats.

Biden swore he wouldn't run a second term.  Yet, he did.  Didn't give anyone a chance.

Dems weren't going to turn on their incumbent, so...they sat back and let him proceed...until it was too late.

Then after that debate where Biden clearly showed his decline, the ONLY two choices were to let him continue, or yank Kamala into the race.  I was genuinely shocked when Biden stepped down.  I was genuinely excited that a younger, woman of color was going to be the Dem candidate.  Sure, she had a short time as candidate, but I mean...who was going to vote for TRUMP?  He is a complete fucking moron! Even more so now!  And how in the world could a progressive woman of color NOT win???  

Oh, Jeff...you fool.

I was stunned on election night, for some reason.  I was so thrilled Trump never got a second term in 2020.  The country had realized what idiocy it had pursued.  They weren't about to make that mistake again.

Until 2024, apparently.

Low IQ voters who have no idea how the economy works (still don't) believed the NewsMax/FoxNews lies about what was happening in the economy, and at the border.  Their racism toward "illegals" was just too palpable to be contained.  Egg prices! Gas prices!  Neither of which were controlled by the president, which you can see now as Trump's economy continues to go up in prices. In fact, as of today, inflation is STILL rising. Trump's pure lunacy will drive us into a recession, it is said, by Q4.  Brilliant.

And...in November 2024, the dumbest of our population chose a crusty old white felon to run our country back into the ground.  

Of course, Trump lied about Project 2025, since the puppeteers have been executing it line for line since he took office.  Just like last time, he's trying to start everything off with huge tax cuts for his buddies, making the last ones permanent too.  He will add trillions more to the deficit, just like he did in 2017, which couldn't be more UN-Republican, in theory.  At this point, though, who the hell knows?  Everything in the Republican party is about racism and Christian Nationalism that fiscal irresponsibility seems to be the cost of giving the racists and fundamentalists the America they've wanted for over 100 years.  

Trump hired literally no one from his first term.  No one will work with him again.  So now, instead of Washington insiders trying to guide him through the maze of US politics, he's being TRUMP. Hiring unqualified Fox News morons in key positions because they won't question his chaotic direction. Republican politicians too scared to defy him for fear that he will primary them, so they're essentially impotent or neutered. The entire machine has ground to a halt.  Nothing is working democratically at all.  We aren't America anymore.  And we won't be until there is a revolution, or at the very least, a Congress that decides to be the Checks and Balances our forefathers designed them to be. 

Congress is so scared to lose their own livelihood, though, that idea of actually displaying integrity and fulfilling their oath to protect the Constitution, they are sucking his tiny mushroom dick.  

So many Republican voters are complaining that this isn't what they voted for.  Um, yeah.  It is.  And why the rest of us thought it was idiocy to elect him again!  These people have short memories.  

At this point, there is only protesting (which Trump is sending out military to snuff), free speech (which Trump is trying to stifle) and Congressional/Supreme Court action, which seems unlikely.  I'm astounded that the movers and shakers in this country are frozen in fear of this dumb fuck.  

Watching town halls with Republican Congressmen and women at their local events is humorous.  Republicans yelling that this isn't what they signed up for (even though they did) and having "But I didn't know" as the response from the brain dead politicians.  Even when it comes to why they voted for the tax cuts, which clearly was a stupid idea.

It will be interesting to see where this goes.  If we even have a Republic left when this is all said and done.  I don't want to be dramatic, but seeing what he did during COVID, what Biden had to dig us out of, and what he's done in 5 short months back in office, there is, either wittingly or unwittlingly, a plan (Project 2025) to destroy America.  

I try to be optimistic.  One, voters will get a clue again and Dems will win back Congress, which will kill anything Trump wants to do legislatively, like what happened in 2018.  Two, Trump will drop dead since he's as old as the hills.  Three, the GOP will wise up and realize what he's doing to the party and the country (not feeling this at all), and stop him.  Four,  courts, including the Supreme Court, will stop him. 

The truth is, though, it comes down to the people.  Trump is simply being Trump.  In the words of the late, great Dennis Green, "He is who we thought he was."  Or something like that.  I'm more concerned with the large number of truly racist and Christian Nationalist nutbags who don't understand the country they live in and the desire they have to make this a whites-only Sharia-like law police state, even though literally all of that is the opposite of what the Founders created.

I have to hope the 2008 country, who voted in the first black president, and the 2020 country, who realized Trump needed to go at any cost, will be back in 2028.  I just hope we survive until then.