OK, I decided to watch as much of the Vice Presidential debate as I could stomach.  When it was over, I tuned in to MSNBC to see how the “experts” saw the “debate” and, as usual, by the time I turned off the TV I was simply shaking my head.  I guess I should stop acting surprised at how things are going in our nation when I see, time after time, a “liberal media” that’s more about entertainment and trying to, I guess, say the “right thing” – while amongst peers than “reporting” what actually is going on.  I’ll preface whatever is going to come out tonight by saying I was a bit prejudiced against Mike Pense right from the start because I was aware of many of his anti-worker, right wing proselytizing positions before tuning in and I didn’t expect much from him.  (After all, he accepted the “honor” of being Donald Trump’s VP candidate – which implies that his political career in Indiana was headed for a “fall”)  I didn’t know much at all about Tim Kaine.

What got me to repeatedly have to tune out was Pense REPEATEDLY LYING about Trump’s comments/positions.  What I thought was good was that Kaine REPEATEDLY called him out on the LIES.  At the end of the “debate” I had to listen to the commentators on MSNBC defend Pense for his “demeanor” – or something along that line – while essentially attacking Kaine’s performance as “caffeinated.”  Yikes!  That kind of explains it all to me.  If you’ve been on this site before, you might know that I don’t believe there’s a “liberal media” and I’m concerned (majorly) that MSNBC is considered by many to be (at minimum) giving the “progressive” viewpoint while instead they’re focused almost exclusively on building ratings and helping to create a “contest” in this election year that will keep their viewership “up.”  To me, I didn’t hear hardly a whimper about the number of LIES that Pense was spewing (and, keep in mind, I was only able to stomach a portion of the “debate”) and yet people like Chris Matthews jumped right in panning Tim Kaine for “interrupting” Pense – personally, I was very pleased he did so.

I can’t say how many times I’ve heard Donald Trump on MSNBC (and, it’s probably worse elsewhere – I just REFUSE to watch/listen to Fox “news” or CNN or pretty much any of it any more) spewing OBVIOUS lies and “getting away with it.”  Occasionally, there will be a commentator who points out the fabrications, but I’ve seen it rarely.  It’s as if people like Matthews, Chuck Todd, and now Brian Williams are bound and determined to give Donald Trump – and his campaign – credibility.  The other day, for the first time I can remember, I heard an extended portion of one of Hillary Clinton’s speeches on MSNBC.  Up until that point, it had been Trump, Trump, Trump – all the time Trump.  It’s as if they’re so fascinated by Trump that they don’t realize he’s manipulating them for BILLIONS in free advertising.  I’ve been following politics in America since the Eisenhower/Adlai Stephenson days and I’ve never seen what I’m seeing in this election.  I guess the networks won’t make the money they’re planning on if America sees Trump as the political buffoon he actually is.  There was nothing of substance coming from Pense’s mouth in the “debate” and that falls in line with EVERYTHING I’ve heard from Trump.  It’s always GENERALITIES and LIES.  (And, most of the lies are obvious enough that if the commentators are actually following the race – they should know they”re LIES and SAY SO!).

I started this post a few days ago and the “establishment” of the republican party was still “endorsing” him – basically, in my view, because they’re covering their asses in case he actually wins.  My hope is that “we the people” will hold ANYONE who is supporting this person accountable at the ballot box.  Now, more of Trump’s “deplorable” self (to borrow a term from Mrs. Clinton) has come to light with the release of a couple of recordings of Trump being Trump “back in the day.”  Now, in my mind, it should be no surprise that the man is “deplorable” – for heaven’s sake – he hired a White Supremacist to be his CEO, and expert “fabricator” (I’m trying to be nice) as his campaign manager, and a man right out of the “Big Lie Theory” to be his media mogul for his campaign.  Trump’s racist and misogynist comments have kind of piled up all over themselves since he began running for president and a significant portion of the republican party bought into his nonsense right from the start.  Only a very few republicans have been willing to acknowledge what an almost sick man Trump really is.  I keep wondering if he getting all this attention because people are afraid of him???

So now some REALLY lewd comments he made a few years ago have many of his (hypocritical) supporters running for cover.  His bragging about trying to F@#k a married woman, bragging that because he’s famous women let him grab their “p@#%ies,” and a lot more seems to have finally gotten their attention.  I mean, I was in almost disbelief when Trump defended his lewd comments regarding Rosie O’Donnell by saying “no one would disagree with me.”  (Of course, I certainly would)  Tonight Trump gave about as disingenuous an apology as anyone could imagine about his lewd comments and ended his “apology” with what appeared to me a warning that he’s going after Bill Clinton’s infidelities.  This is no surprise.  He has deflected EVERY attempt to get him to say something of substance in this campaign – along with ALL of his surrogates – to unsubstantiated attacks on Hillary Clinton.  The upcoming presidential debate should be some spectacle.

Tonight, on MSNBC (I actually tuned in to Fox just to see what they were saying – and they were talking about Hurricane Matthew) I heard republicans – who were previously “endorsing” Trump going so far as to suggest he drop out of the race.  I seriously doubt that he’ll do that, but Lawrence O’Donnell seemed to be suggesting there may be a plethora of video showing Trump as his “deplorable” self on the shelves of various production outfits.  As I said at the start of this post – Mike Pense is nothing to shout about.  He’s part of the right wing fringe in America that has this nation retreating to the days of the robber barons.  I have no doubt that, from the standpoint of the republican establishment, Pense looks like a savior – despite the FACT he didn’t run for president, and he’s very unpopular in his home state due to some right wing policy decisions that have harmed Indiana.  That being said, I can’t imagine Trump stepping aside to placate the establishment that he so despises.

I guess the part that bothers me the most out of all of this is that it took F bombs and “grabbing p@#$ies” for these people to get disgusted.  All the other racist rhetoric, the association with the alt right and neo Nazis, all the LYING and on and on wasn’t enough.  What if these videos hadn’t come out and Trump would actually win the White House.  And, all of this, is without mentioning his TAXES.  All these people have been willing to vote for someone who’s hiding his TAXES which would educate ALL OF US on ALL the conflicts of interest someone like Trump would have as the president of this great nation.  The world is watching, and I believe Trump winning would lead to an economic crash of mammoth proportions (there’s probably some kind of crash in the offing as is) and could lead to America’s undoing as the center of world commerce.  People around the world can see what a disaster this man is, apparently – maybe until now – the republican party was unwilling or unable to do so.