There’s an old saying: “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.”  It’s day two of the Donald Trump administration and MILLIONS of people (not just women) are in the streets MARCHING in protest of the reality that the right wing in America along with the Russians and the FBI managed to get Trump elected.  I’m an old man and I’ve  been watching politics since the days of Eisenhower and I, apparently along with all these people marching today (I was not allowed to participate due to doctors orders), are in near disbelief that a man like Trump could win a national election in this nation.  I’ve seen many win the White House who I clearly disagreed with, but nothing along the lines of Trump.  The man is dangerous and MILLIONS around the world see this.  Republicans are trying to convince “we the people” that Trump is going to “Make America Great Again.”  Think about what Trump has said, who he’s associating with, and hold on for the next four years.  He is what it appears!

I’m not sure what was the most uplifting for me today as I watched footage of the MILLIONS of people in the streets, but I have to say that watching the HUGE numbers of people marching from places all around the WORLD was very encouraging.  I saw, in the words of Bernie Sanders, Yuge crowds in London, Paris, Berlin, and even somewhere in Greece.  I heard there were protests in 66 countries.  Trump gave an inaugural address that further showed his commitment to the White Nationalists who were the engine behind his campaign.  The reality is that Trump’s “base” will believe him no matter what happens and it will be a long time until they get over the FACT a person of color was in the “White House,” so there is going to be issues in the next four years.  The people on the streets today are going to have to stay strong and they’re going to have to PUSH those in the democratic party to stand up for them.  The frustration in America has been driven by people’s anger at our politicians not listening to them.  The democrats had better start listening or there will be a third party by 2018.

Trump has already started the implementation of his “agenda” and much of what he’ll try to do will be “under the radar.”  For example, I heard last night that shortly after Trump took the oath of office, the Justice Department sent a request for a delay in proceedings on a Texas voter suppression law that clearly is/was aimed at preventing Blacks and Hispanics from voting – a law that was apparently soon to be ruled unconstitutional.  Without the support of the Justice department, which was apparently ordered to request this delay the moment Trump became president,  who knows what will happen with this law.  I’m just pointing it out as a clear statement of their true intentions as we move forward.  Trump is already thinking ahead to 2020 and he’s going to need to block a lot of voters to get re-elected.  The man is NOT stupid and he’ll (as we’ve already seen) do anything to “win.”

I listened to Trump today as he was speaking to members of the CIA.  It was sobering, to say the least.  I’m not sure how many Americans are putting two plus two together (well, in watching the numbers in the streets, apparently it’s in the MILLIONS) but, Trump was pandering to the CIA – the “intelligence” community – saying he was going to give them “probably more support than you want.”  As he was pointing this out he was sharing how “dishonest” our media is.  Now, considering it’s highly likely that the FBI – via James Comey – was responsible for Trump’s election by prompting the swing to Trump in the last week of the campaign after Comey’s “letter to Congress” re-opening the Clinton email “scandal,” and Trump “kissing up” to the CIA (who he recently accused of being like “Nazi’s”), what do you think his plan is regarding “shutting up” our so-called “liberal media.”  My hope, in fact, is that his election will re-invigorate a “liberal media” – which, in my mind, has been terribly missing for many years.  (Keep in mind, this so-called “liberal media” is controlled by, essentially, 9 CONSERVATIVE corporations – that are all about the “bottom line” – and, not so much about “news.”)

But, just put yourself in the place of journalists, just like anyone else – I’m sure – keeping their jobs are priority number one.  Trump is not bashful in going after anyone who does or says something that is unflattering toward him.  And, he’s already busy creating his own “reality” as far as “news.”  Today, I listened to his press secretary, Sean Spicer, blast the “media” for it’s portrayal of the number of people who attended the inauguration.  It was a blatant attempt to create their own reality.  As the saying goes “A picture tells a thousand words,” and the images of those witnessing Trump’s inauguration paled in numbers compared to the total number of people who witnessed Barack Obama take the oath of office.  It wasn’t even close.  Yet, to listen to Spicer, Trump’s crowd set the all time record.  He started parsing numbers from different parts of the Washington Mall and suggesting something approaching one Million people were there.  However, from all reports I’ve heard – and from the images I’ve seen – there were more people in Washington today for the “Women’s March” than were there for the inauguration.  And, when you look at the pictures of the “YUGE” numbers of people around the globe – the backlash was staggering.

In New York alone, the people walking along Fifth Avenue (approaching Trump Tower where they were re-routed) was almost unbelievable.  I watched film of those in New York slowly making there was towards Trump’s so-called “Tower” and the street was packed for hours – for as far as the eye could see (which was about 3 or 4 blocks – from one side of the street to the other.  Now, I’ve never been in New York, but the numbers of people protesting there appeared to me to AT LEAST number in the several hundreds of thousands.  The last image I saw was after dark, around 6:00 PM in New York, and the line of people looked the same as it did hours earlier.  Then there was Chicago – another “YUGE” number of people and, I didn’t see the video of Los Angeles, but the report I heard was something in the neighborhood of 500,000 people in Los Angeles alone.  Yet, Trump and Spicer were claiming that they had record support during the inauguration.  You can believe NOTHING that comes from Trump’s mouth or any of his surrogates.  It was announced today that Trump is entering the “White House” with an approval rating of 32 percent, BY FAR, the LOWEST in history.  His supporters are dwindling down to the die hard White Nationalists who were so adamant in their hatred of President Obama.  It won’t be long and we’ll know where the “floor” is of his supporters and then the republicans in Congress are going to have a “YUGE” decision on their hands.  Do they bend to his wishes, or do they start listening to “we the people.” (hint: don’t hold your breath)

I believe Trump is the catalyst that was needed to cleanse America of this right wing corporatist political party that has commandeered the republican brand.  I listened to Michael Moore today suggesting the “old guard” of the democratic party “needs to go.”  I could not agree MORE!  He’s calling for new and YOUNG leadership of the party – which would include many of the segments of the population that Trump and his faithful despise.  This should get interesting.  Evidently, there’s a strong segment of the population, when faced with the reality of what’s at stake who have been energized.   The democrats clearly need better messengers of their platform.  Now, I’ve never been a strong Hillary Clinton advocate, but I found it interesting and ironic that the agenda that was being put forth today, at least for the protests I heard in Washington DC, was eerily similar to Clinton’s “platform.”  I had to wonder, how many of the people in the streets this weekend failed to vote, or failed to vote for Mrs. Clinton?  I know that she was very unpopular with a significant segment of America – partly due to the Russian meddling – and, mostly due to the 25 years of republican unsubstantiated assaults aimed directly at her (evidently, because, like Putin, they fear her) but, I thought, “how many of these people know what she was proposing?”

I’m not sure how much of that is “on her” – she did spend, in my view, way too much time attacking Trump – but, how much of her pushing her actual message was never covered by the “liberal media?”  All the time during the election cycle, it felt to me as if the media was totally caught up in the war of words from the candidates attacking each other.  I felt as if Trump was allowed to get away with an endless amount of baseless accusations against Mrs. Clinton that the “liberal media” allowed to happen without challenge – as if they were equally “guilty.”  I was – and am still today – convinced that our “liberal media” allowed a “false equivalency” to prevail during the campaign.  Even though there were “fact checkers” – out of the limelight – putting facts to much of the “spin,” not much of that made the “news” outlets – from what I could tell.  I have to admit that as the election wore on, I was so sick of the “news” and how things were presented – even the so-called “liberal equivalent” to Fox (GOP TV), MSNBC, which was busy legitimizing Trump day in and day out.  I couldn’t stand to watch it – for probably the last two or three months of the campaign.  I will always believe one thing Trump claimed – right up to election day – and, that is our system is rigged.  We just didn’t understand how rigged it is – and, looking back, it’s kind of scary.  That’s why the sheer numbers of people in the streets today was so encouraging.

I heard that last Tuesday the first of what conceivably could be many lawsuits accusing Trump of sexual assault was filed.   I’m expecting several of the women who came forth during the campaign will have pro bono attorneys willing to defend them in court and it should be interesting as to how it plays out, to say the least.  Of course Trump has unlimited funds to defend himself and I’m sure among the best lawyers in the country – but, I believe he’ll make Bill Clinton look like a raw amateur when it comes to his sexual discrepancies.  “We the people” need to honor the courage of any of the women who come forth – because they’ll be in line for Trump’s full fury.

But, that brings up another interesting (and ironic) point – which doesn’t give us much confidence there will be courageous republicans standing up to this man.  One of the republicans in Congress, Jason Chaffetz, is the head of the “House Oversight and Government Reform Committee,” and he’s planning on more hearings investigating Hillary Clinton.  Benghazi? Emails? When will these guys get enough?  Yet, here’s a president who’s admitted to being a sexual predator (numerous women came forth and confirmed he had sexually assaulted them), there’s increasing evidence suggesting his surrogates were in cahoots with the Russian government during the campaign – in which the Russians were attempting to get Trump elected, he’s probably ALREADY in violation of the emoluments clause of the constitution, and he’ll probably NEVER release his tax returns just to name the “tip of the iceberg” –  and, I don’t believe Chaffetz has planned a single investigation of Trump.  But Hillary?  They just can’t get enough in there 25 year vendetta to tarnish her image.  It’s a miracle she made it as far as she did.

So, for anyone out there who might be getting fooled by anything Trump, or one of his surrogates might say, I remind you of the saying at the beginning of this post.  Trump is what you think he is!  Don’t be fooled by people like Kellyanne Conway – who could argue with a fence post and win.  I have to give her credit – she’s good at what she does, but the truth as I see it is that she will say whatever needs to be said to deflect the truth away from her boss.  Pathological liars are people who’ve lied so much that they believe their own lies as the words come out of their mouths.  Trump is beyond anything I’ve ever seen and “we the people” are in  for an incredible four years.  If Trump’s election was necessary to wake up the apathetic voters in America then he will lead to the change we need.  It remains to be seen, but today’s marches were encouraging, to say the least!  Our republic is WORTH fighting for!

“We the people” elected Barack Obama and then sat back and expected the “change” to just happen.  Well, I’ll be the first to say that much of what President Obama did shortly after his inauguration didn’t sit well with me.  I knew trouble was on the horizon when his chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel, referred to people like me as “f@#%ing liberals.”  But, the reality is that we sat back and expected things to happen as we envisioned them.  Obviously, that didn’t work.  The republicans are resilient and they understand this is a WAR for the heart and soul of this nation.  Trump is a MAJOR setback, but maybe that’s what we needed.  As a “glass half full” person, that’s how I’m going to look at  this – and, again, the MILLIONS of people in the streets today – day two of Trump’s administration – was extremely encouraging!