I was driving in my car today and decided to give MSNBC a try (it’s hard most of the time) and, of course, there was Donald Trump giving a speech on “foreign policy” – or so I was led to believe.  What really caught my attention as I listened to (as much as I could stomach) his speech was a part that seemed to be to be a clear (and dangerous) deviation from “foreign policy.”  I believe he was back on the “immigration” agenda when he pointed out that as president he would have an aggressive – he called it “extreme vetting” – campaign to “root out” people considered to be “radical Islamist’s” and they would be rooted out (I can’t remember his exact term) from our (America’s) society – “viciously” if necessary.  In fact, he made it a point to repeat the word “viciously” several times, evidently to drive home his point.

This all reminded me of two things: first, the reason I started writing in this venue in the first place – the Bush/Cheney arrogant, irresponsible, dishonest, and ILLEGAL invasion of Iraq in 2003 along with their failed “adventure” into Afghanistan, which continues to this day.  Secondly, my initial “red flag” as a President Obama supporter when Obama began his administration back in 2009.  The Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld et al regime came up with the term “enemy combatants” which included essentially ANYONE they chose to hang that moniker on – AND, they claimed the authority to TORTURE these so-called “enemy combatants” which they did on a regular basis (in their futile search – in most instances – for “actionable intelligence”).  It was President Obama who enabled their ILLEGAL behavior when he said, “We’re going to look forward instead of back” and he blocked virtually ALL investigations into the ILLEGAL activity of the Bush/Cheney administration which clearly included WAR CRIMES.  (Not to mention, illegally surveying their own people – among a plethora of other transgressions).  Obama stated, at the time, “The United States of America does not TORTURE.”  (I can still remember thinking, “well maybe you won’t, but what happens when we elect another republican along the lines of Bush/Cheney – ie Trump?)

So, now we have a republican nominee for president who’s already BOASTED that he’ll authorize WATERBOARDING “and a lot more” should he be elected president  claiming he’s going to “extremely vet” – who? Well, I inferred from the part of the speech I heard he’s talking about Muslims and if he decides they’re “radicalized” well, I’m not sure exactly what the plan is, but all I can say is he used the term “vicious” repeatedly in how he would “root them out.”  I’ve written several times on this site about the alarming parallels between Donald Trump’s various proclamations during his campaign and those of the Third Reich in Germany during the 1930’s.  Honestly, this does nothing to calm my fears – it only confirms what I’ve been seeing.  My hope is that those in our “liberal media” will take the time to research out these parallels and educate our public that seems to operate via the “sound bite” world we’ve evolved to since the advent of the 24 hour cable “news” cycle emerged in the 80’s.

I’ve recently written about the book I’m presently reading, “American Amnesia” by Hacket and Pierson and Donald Trump is making their book more of a “must read” for anyone wondering how did we get to this place in America?  Clearly, the push by the right wing of the republican party to create a “permanent republican ‘majority'” has backfired with the election of Trump.  The republican strategy to OBSTRUCT everything coming from “the other side of the isle” has been the engine that has “blown up” – causing so many Americans to lose total faith in our government.  The problem, as I see it, is that our “liberal media” refuses to educate the public on why (and how) we’ve gotten to this point – which leaves me with no alternative but to believe they are part of the problem.  Of course, it doesn’t take a “brain surgeon” to understand that Fox “news” is essentially GOP TV – they are basically “feeding the beast.”  The other participants (MSNBC, CNN, etc.) I guess, are much less overt in their role.  But, the reality is that it’s been the republicans who’ve essentially had a POLICY of blocking EVERYTHING progressives are for and then BLAMING the democrats for the quagmire in Washington DC.  And, “we the people” have to research what’s really happening in our nation’s capital to find out who’s at fault here.

In “American Amnesia” there’s a chapter devoted to the United States Chamber of Commerce and the right wing “think tanks” and “Super PAC’s” that have been funneling money by the “truckload” to our elected representatives – right in the bright of day – and, I NEVER hear much discussion on the CORRUPTION that is inevitable when our representatives are part of a “play for pay” government.  It’s really no secret that, especially with republicans in Congress, if you want to keep your job, you’ll do as you’re told – you’ll vote according to those pulling the purse strings.  And, I’m finding out in this book, who’s pulling those strings.

Most people are aware, now after their scheme has been exposed in recent years of the now infamous “Koch Brothers.”  Yet, most Americans have no idea how far the “tentacles” of their moneyed elitist network has been woven into our nation’s government – from local city government all the way up to Washington DC.  They have unlimited funds and they’re willing to spend it to get their way (legislatively).  What many of us aren’t aware of is how the Chamber of Commerce works and special interest groups like Karl Rove’s “Crossroads PAC.”  The Chamber is totally disgusting to me as I read about their agenda and how they’re going about succeeding in their mission.  (The aforementioned “Powell Memo” was written to the Chamber back in the 70’s and when “new blood” took over (I believe the guy’s last name is Donahue who now runs the place) in the mid seventies, the Chamber changed from something that at least resembled a bipartisan advocate for business to a cut throat lobbying arm of the right wing “free market” agenda that’s been chipping away at the “New Deal” since, well, almost since FDR was put in his grave.  What was a fringe element of our society, essentially until Powell’s memo, is now the “mainstream” of the republican party.

I’m going to tie this back to Trump, but I’ve got to add a little more background.  There are THOUSANDS of American businesses that spend money with the Chamber, but the large corporate interests and Wall Street interests are giving them “donations” in the MILLIONS of dollars in return for the Chamber lobbying Congress on their behalf.  The Chamber keeps as many of these “donations” SECRET as they can (although many are exposed in Hacket and Pierson’s book) so that “we the people” have no idea who’s buying off our representatives in the Congress.  And, something in the neighborhood of 90% of the Chamber’s “donations” end up in the “coffers” of republicans.  Big businesses who are what Hacket and Pierson refer to as “rent seekers” – (especially polluters and companies on one side or the other of the health care crisis in America – ie, tobacco, coal, oil, pharma, health insurers, etc.) – rent seekers are businesses which don’t want to pay the costs of them doing business – for example, the tobacco industry doesn’t want to accept responsibility for the health issues of smokers, the coal industry doesn’t want to pay the costs of the environmental damage they cause both mining and burning coal, the oil industry is pushing the climate change deniers, etc – they want “we the people to pay those costs.  And, the top executives of many of these corporations “donating” to the Chamber are hauling in MASSIVE compensation packages as they increase their “bottom lines” at the expense of “we the people.”

Of course, Wall Street and the financial sector is in lock step with the Chamber of Commerce as they FIGHT regulations, many which were put in place during the Great Depression, designed to prevent what almost happened at the end of the Bush/Cheney regime – an economic “meltdown.”  The Chamber has lobbied Congress to make it easier for the “too big to fail” banks to rip people off with their subtle financial tricks and they’ve fought “tooth and nail” against people like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and by extension Hillary Clinton who are trying to make sure they can’t use “we the people’s” money for the purpose of gambling on exotic “swaps” that produce nothing of value and is simply bankers figuring out how to make money using money.  (I’ve read some books on how they do this, and I have to admit to being a bit lost in my attempt to understand the process – no one suggests these people aren’t very smart- that’s not the issue, the issue is their greed and their reluctance to “give back” to what Thom Hartman calls the “commons.”  With the Chamber’s help, hedge fund managers, for example, are still paying significantly LESS in taxes because of loopholes (carried interest? Another thing I’m not too sure of) that cut their tax bill something like 50% (or more).

OK, I’m bringing this up because tonight I happened to turn on MSNBC – and, true to form, there was Donald Trump giving a speech somewhere in Wisconsin, and, sure enough, MSNBC was (evidently, I couldn’t stomach to watch more than a few minutes of the speech) showing the ENTIRE speech.  More FREE airtime for Trump (honestly, he’s got these people fooled).  I’m referring to this because in this speech he accused Hillary Clinton of being the recipient of the money and support of “Big Business and Wall Street.”  Trump essentially listed almost all the groups that have a history of association with the Chamber of Commerce and that have been almost EXCLUSIVELY donating their MONEY to republicans – as they’ve FOUGHT to BLOCK virtually EVERY initiative the the Obama administration.  These Trump accusations were so absurd that my stomach got queezy and then he switched to BLAMING the problems in the African American Community (somehow) on (unidentified) actions of Hillary Clinton.  This was so ABSURD that I was almost in disbelief.  However, I couldn’t bring myself to check to see if the commentators “fact checked” Mr. Trump upon the completion of his remarks (I should say LIES).

What also caught my eye was that Trump was reading from a Teleprompter and it’s been reported that Roger Ailes (the recently fired head of Fox “news” – he essentially created Fox “news” – but, evidently, despite his advanced age he still has a problem respecting women in the work place) is now affiliated with Trump.  Ailes is one of the sleaziest political operatives of all time AND (and here’s the indictment of America’s voting public – that doesn’t “fact check” information) one of the most successful.  Ailes is a strong proponent of the “Big Lie Theory” that I’ve written about ad nauseum and, as shown by tonight’s speech by Trump, there are no boundaries he (and Trump) won’t cross.  They say, pathological liars believe their own lies as the words are coming out of their mouths – Ala, Donald Trump.  He calls himself a “truth teller” which would be laughable, but he’s running for President of the United States.  “We the people” MUST defeat him a the polls in November, and AS MANY of his republican cohorts who refuse to disavow Trump along the way.

As I listened to Trump tonight I couldn’t help but feel a sense of frustration that so many good American people have been sucked in to thinking he’s the way to “change” America.  The republicans have brought our government to a halt, ON PURPOSE, and, with the help of Fox “news” and people like Ailes who can’t even spell the word integrity, they’ve brainwashed a significant portion of America to believe that this right wing fascist movement is the way solve the problem of government gridlock.  The republican goal is, has been, and will be, to plunder the American public of as much of their tax dollars as possible before we “wake up.”  They’ve convinced millions of Americans that a man who has NO government experience or knowledge and who has bankrupted something like 6 companies at the expense of untold thousands of working people is somehow qualified to be president.  (maybe they’re trying to find a way to make Bush/Cheney look better?)  I guess the only way this could be more ridiculous would have been for Trump to pick Sarah Palin as his running mate!

Watching Trump tonight I realized he’s an amazingly good LIAR.  All I can say is that I sincerely hope the commentators on MSNBC (who curiously ran this speech in “prime time”) commented on the absurdity of what Mr. Trump was claiming!