The level of damage Donald Trump is doing to America is mounting FAST and, unfortunately, I believe we’re at a point ALREADY where “we the people” are relying on the republicans to save us from as much of this “damage” as possible – and, sooner rather than later.  People around the world have to be shaking their collective heads in a disbelief that could exceed many of us in the “homeland.”  The reality is that the United States plays such a significant role in the WORLD that every day Trump pushes his “America first” agenda – which is clarifying the role of (unelected White nationalist) Steve Bannon in our politics  – a larger chasm is growing with the traditional allies of our great country.  If republicans don’t reject Trump and do “the right thing” (impeachment) we’re looking at a world that will be drifting closer and closer to chaos.

The other day, for example, the chancellor from Germany visited the White House and it was clear from everything I read and heard (and saw) that she, Angela Merkel, was the “adult in the room.”  Trump is out of his league around a sophisticated leader like Merkel and it must remind him of his campaign against Hillary Clinton (who beat him by almost 3 MILLION votes) where his incompetence showed through in each of the debates as it did in his meetings with Merkel.  He seems to almost show childish behavior around women who are intellectually superior to him.  He needed the Russians and the FBI director’s intervention in the election to pull off a surprise Electoral College victory (along with two decades of right wing Clinton bashing on talk radio and outlets like Fox “news” in the GOP’s effort to stop Mrs. Clinton – remember, in many of the “rust belt” areas, the predominance of “information” comes from the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Fox)  The problem is that now Trump is actually in a place where he needs to be the president and he’s in WAY OVER HIS HEAD.  As I’ve said in previous posts, if it weren’t so important this would all be comical.  (actually, the comedians, not just in America, but around the world, are having a field day.  Click here for an example from the Netherlands – watch the video – it’s really funny)

I’ve written before that those of us who call ourselves liberals (if we’re timid we use the euphemism “progressive”) have no choice but to hope that the democrats, as the saying goes, grow a pair – and put up a FIGHT against the Trump/Bannon agenda.  After all, Trump/Bannon/Conway/Miller are all closely tied to the Breitbart side of America which includes what Mrs. Clinton (foolishly – from a campaign standpoint – despite the “truth”) referred to as a “basket of deplorables.”  Of course, she was referring to the segment of Trump’s “base” that includes groups like the KKK, the “Skinheads,” Neo-Nazi groups, and essentially the so-called “alt right.” I have to believe that a significant portion of the “rust belt” working class voters – who believed Trump would bring back their jobs which have gone to China, Mexico, and elsewhere around the globe where there’s “cheap labor” – are not part of the “alt right.”  They’re just disenchanted because they’ve seen their economic situation remain stagnant at best since the days of Ronald Reagan.  To me, these are good hard working Americans who are confused as to how things “got like this.”

Unfortunately, many of these people are vulnerable to what Noam Chomsky and Herman Edward refer to as the “Propaganda model” of media which has been pretty much the norm in America since I was old enough to start paying attention to what our government has been “up to.”  There are so many instances over the years where our media has given “we the people” information that fits the wishes of those in power.  For example in the Viet Nam “war” (and the Iraq “war”) the American public was rarely given the truth about our government’s actions or motivations.  This was true in Central America during Reagan’s time in office, it’s been true in places around the world over and over again since WW II, and it was terribly true in the 2016 election as media outlets (like MSNBC – which is the one I watch when I can stand it) refused to call out the constant LYING of Trump and his surrogates.  I believe people like Chris Matthews (I point him out because I’ve written about some of the stuff he did that “got to me” during the election – at the time I said: “he should know better” regarding the enabling) never thought Trump could win and helped to legitimize him with the purpose gaining better ratings and  more money for MSNBC. (The amount of advertising revenue media outlets generate during the election is staggering)

Matthews (and several of the others) are now “singing a different tune.”  For example, I believe Matthews now fully understands the DANGER of Trump continuing as president although I doubt he’ll ever admit his role in making this possible.  The other day I heard him say, “I hate the word LIE” as he was fighting to find another way to characterize one of Trump’s, well – LIES.  Trump masterfully manipulated the media to get elected and now he’s lashing out at the media in a classic effort to ensure that his “base” doesn’t get “thinned out” as the TRUTH about his ties to Russia (and who knows who or what else) becomes known.  “We the people” can only hope that people like Matthews – we can’t change what’s happened in the past – will continue pushing to “connect the dots” that are leading to exposing Trump for what he really is – which very well might be a corrupt businessman with ties to the Russian Oligarchy.  Personally, it wouldn’t surprise me if everything in the so-called “dossier” published a month or two back by “Buzzfeed” is true.  (Decide for yourself by clicking here)

Trump campaigned on the slogan “Make America Great Again” (as I’ve said numerous times here, similar to Hitler’s “Make Germany Great Again” back in the 30’s – sorry, but I can’t seem to help myself reminding anyone of that similarity.  I think the only  other politician to use that phrase was Stalin – or maybe Putin) and yesterday, when “Trumpcare” went down in “flames” in the House of Representatives because – first, the bill was TERRIBLE, and second the republicans in Congress, obviously, are already figuring out how incompetent Trump is and they’re “circling the wagons” in an attempt to keep their majority in the next election – ALREADY – after just 9 weeks of Trump’s administration.  UNBELIEVABLE! – I couldn’t help but think of how ironic it would be if Trump’s presidency actually made America “greater.”  (In my mind, it’s already a great country – “we the people” have simply fallen for the scam pushed by Republicans for the past 35+ years. (“Trickle down” – which in reality means “trickle up”)  Trump began his “blaming” after the “health care” bill (really a tax cut for the top 2%) went down in flames by naming Nancy Pelosi and Charles Schumer (democratic minority leaders in the House and Senate respectively) because NO DEMOCRATS voted for the terrible bill that was advertised as “repeal and replacement of Obamacare.”  (I could write an entire post – and probably will – on that topic) Of course, republicans didn’t even try to get democratic support (and wouldn’t have had they tried) but the real heroes in stopping this terrible bill were “we the people.”

I’d like to think my representative was going to vote against the bill because of my call urging her (a republican) to do so, but the reality is that the phones were VERY busy in her office and those of virtually EVERY other House republican OVERWHELMINGLY urging members to vote this terrible bill down.  Apparently those republicans who voted for Trump aren’t that eager to lose either their own health insurance or they don’t want to see those they know and love lose their health insurance.  For all its problems, “Obamacare” evidently isn’t so bad.  Most people know it needs “fixin” – but, the republicans don’t have a clue about how to go about it.  I saw Sean Spicer, when he introduced the bill at a news briefing some weeks back, claim it was far superior to the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) because the pile of pages was significantly smaller.

The American people didn’t like the FACT that their premiums (especially, the older Americans who aren’t quite to Medicare age yet) were going to go WAY UP, the coverage was going to go WAY DOWN, and anyone who’s been sick before was likely to be out of luck completely.  The LIES coming from Trump, Pense, Ryan, McConnell, and others were almost unbelievable to me – as if “we the people” are actually as stupid as they think.  (Maybe they  think we’re stupid because how else would Trump get elected in the first place?) However, the exciting part of all this is that the American people responded in a RESOUNDING manner to demand Congress defeat this bill.  That, in itself, is exciting for me.  One of my biggest frustrations is watching election results in our nation with one third to sometimes two thirds of the voters failing to participate – especially younger voters.  (or people who should be voting)  Republicans have been pushing voter suppression legislation almost continuously since the Supreme Court GUTTED section five of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which was designed to prevent states from creating obstacles to voting aimed at minority groups such as African Americans, Latinos, or any others.  In my mind, if the people rise up and participate in the process this country will be “greater” – and, maybe the reality of Trump in the “White House” will cause them to do so.  I guess what I’m suggesting is that Trump may be the antidote to voter suppression!

Here’s the scary part of what happened this past week.  (Not only did the “health care” bill fail, but Trump’s claims about President Obama “wiretapping” him were TOTALLY debunked by the head of the FBI and the Director of Intelligence – two people who would KNOW the truth – although, any sane person knew how ridiculous that “tweet” from Trump actually was from the “git-go” – AND they also announced that Trump’s campaign has been under counter intelligence investigation into possible colluding with the Russians since last July)  All in all, it’s been a very bad week in a series of very BAD weeks for Trump.  The defeat of the “health care” bill will bring (and, has already brought) a lot of derision toward Trump and scrutiny as to how incompetent he is and how damaged any plans he has for future legislation has become.  Putting two plus two together – the mounting failures in policy with the investigations – and,  I’m very concerned that Trump is likely to do something BIZARRE.  He’s likely to fight back in the ways he’s always managed to “succeed” (despite all the bankruptcies, etc. from his business career) in “Trump land.”  As with most bullies, Trumps “mantra” is to lash out at critics and to throw blame when things go “south.”  That is on the horizon – and none of the possibilities in my mind will be helpful to our nation.

On the mild side, for example – there are probably ways he can make executive orders that create havoc in the Affordable Care Act – so that he could possibly try to help it become the “disaster” he claims it is.  It’s certainly unlikely that he would understand how to or be willing to attempt to “fix” Obama’s signature piece of legislation to make it better.  He’s committed to “repeal” it and he’s promised to replace it (which, obviously he’s got no idea how to do that – and, if he did, the republicans wouldn’t go along with him – the ONLY way to “fix” this bill is to work with the democrats) and considering this week’s failure I can see him trying to help it FAIL – just so he could say, “I told you so.”  In other words, Trump could react to this defeat in the House by causing problems for Millions of Americans by trying to mess up the Affordable Care Act in subtle executive order ways. The question then becomes are the republicans with him?

Clearly, he’s already committed impeachable offenses. We all knew that his refusal to divest himself of all of his business interests would put him in violation of the emoluments clause of the constitution almost from the moment he took the oath of office.  The question with Trump becomes, how much can the republicans stomach before they intervene?  (He’s got family members in the White House and I’ve already heard reports they’re making MILLIONS since Trump took office – yikes!)  The likelihood of democrats working with Trump to fix this bill seems to me to be near zero, so maybe, as a sign by republicans that they want to save their party, we could have them, along with Mike Pense, attempting to actually create something that works for as many “working class” people as possible.  Pipe dream?  Probably, but, hey, we all like to dream once in awhile, don’t we?

On the serious (more dangerous) side Trump could do something BIZARRE on the foreign policy front in an attempt to draw attention away from the investigations into “Trumpgate.”  Things are looking worse and worse for several of Trump’s surrogates re: Russian collusion (among other interesting things apparently being found) and it all might lead right back to Trump.  Do you seriously think he’ll just sit there and watch this happen.  I hate to even speculate on what he might do in an attempt to draw people’s attention away from the investigations into how serious the Russian intrusion on our government actually is.  We have to hope that republicans in Congress are getting to the point where they’re going to put the reins on this man.  I’ve predicted he won’t last 6 months but I’m getting to the point where I’m hoping republicans end this nightmare sooner rather than later.  (Think: North Korea, China, ISIL, etc.)

I’m absolutely certain that republicans see an opportunity to pass legislation that they’ve been wanting to pass for years – that they thought they could get Trump to sign while they tried to “stomach” all the “stuff” in the meantime.  Well, if they can’t get “stuff” (tax cuts for their millionaire and billionaire friends) passed with Trump in the “White House” what good is he to them?  Do you really think they like someone who made the Access Hollywood admission?  Do you really think they want to go into the 2018 election defending this man?  Personally, I believe those who’ve been falling all over themselves to get close to him are already in “second thoughts” mode.  Trump is down to 37% approval after just two months – that’s the “HONEYMOON” period – it gets harder and WORSE after this.  Do you think there’s a lot of republicans eager to stay on the bandwagon?  Personally, I think most of them wish they had never had the choice – that their greatest fears of what Trump could do to their party are becoming clearer and clearer.  I myself felt Trump would be the catalyst to finally force the republican party back to sanity.  The problem, again, is how much damage can he do to “we the people”  before republicans put a stop to all of this?  (Even though it was James Comey who helped Trump get elected, I’m pretty sure republicans don’t want to wait long enough for it to be Comey who takes him down.)

2018 will be here before you know it.  And, the members of the House of Representatives are painfully aware of how many people are paying attention to what’s going on in Washington D.C.  One thing we know about these politicians is that they want to keep their jobs and they’ll do pretty much whatever it takes to do so.  I believe it’s just a matter of time until the republicans in the House impeach Donald Trump – and, we can all just hope they do it before there’s too much more damage.  Personally, I’m not at all impressed with Mike Pense.  He’s been a willing LIAR since taking the oath of the office of the Vice President in attempting to defend Trump.  And, Paul Ryan comes across to me as a person with no principles – plus, he’s proven himself to be more than willing to LIE to the American people, himself, with no contrition.  The options aren’t good – but, as my granddaughter (12 years old) said to me: “At least Pense isn’t crazy”)  If Trump wasn’t do dangerous I’d say, “leave him in there and stew in your own juices” to republicans – but, for the sake of the nation, it’s time for Pense to be our 46th president.  (sooner rather than later)