OMG, I just listened to an interview on MSNBC with Rand Paul and I had to turn it off and write ASAP to prevent myself from throwing up.  Every once in a while I try to at least give Paul the credit of being someone with principles.  Today, he proved me even more naive than I usually feel is an appropriate criticism.  A couple of days ago Paul apparently played a round of golf with Donald Trump (if he ever starts acting like an actual president I’ll give him the moniker) and apparently that was all it took to get him “on board.”  In this interview Paul was pushing the latest Trump strategy of deflecting attention from the investigation into Russia’s “invasion” of our nation during the last election by accusing Susan Rice of collecting intelligence material and using it for political purposes.  Suggesting that President Obama actually did order the “wiretapping” (in quotes :o) of Trump and Trump Tower.

Of course, Trump’s ridiculously STUPID “tweet” of one month ago – which has caused him to lose even more credibility (except for the “uneducated voters” – that he claimed he “loves” after the Iowa primary last year) with those Americans who are genuinely concerned about the Russians not only influencing our election but, quite possibly, the actual functioning of our government under a Trump administration.  I don’t believe Trump will last one term in office – the TRUTH will eventually become public and the republicans who are shielding him right now will no longer be able to do so.  If they decide to push this absurd scenario until 2018 I have enough confidence in the American people that the republicans will be voted out of the majority in the House – and, even though it seems highly unlikely in the Senate – maybe even there as well.  I don’t believe the American people will react kindly to those in our government who colluded with the Russians (yes, I know it’s just “allegations” at this point, but the lying and obfuscating leads me to believe there’s “more to the story”) and my hope is they hold republicans accountable for aligning themselves with Trump.

The sad reality of Trump’s “first 100 days” – which isn’t yet complete – is that while Trump is claiming he’s “keeping his promises” as he signs one executive order after another he’s actually doing nearly the opposite, at least with the first piece of legislation that ALMOST made it to a vote in Congress.  “Trumpcare” would have VIOLATED serious promises Trump made to those who actually voted for him.  While he said he was going to provide “affordable” health care to ALL Americans with lower premiums, lower deductibles, and better quality the TRUTH is that “Trumpcare” would have eventually reduced the number of insured Americans by 24 MILLION, it wouldn’t have reduced premiums and deductibles would have gone up.  In addition, the so-called “doughnut hole” for those on Medicare would have returned – violating his promise to preserve “Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.”  In FACT, it was Medicaid that would be bludgeoned by “Trumpcare” – so, right off the bat, he proposed a plan that would VIOLATE his promises regarding both MEDICARE and MEDICAID.  Oh yes, and while those depending on Medicare and Medicaid are among “the least of these” (in the words of Jesus – I point this out periodically because it’s the so-called “Christian Right” which is the bulk of Trump’s “base”) “Trumpcare” would have provided the top 400 earning families in America $7,000,000 per year in tax  cuts.  (Keep in mind, they’re BILLIONAIRES)  The total tax cut “Trumpcare” would provide amounts to something like $600,000,000,000 (Yes, that’s $600 BILLION) with the bulk of it going to those who earn in excess of $200,000 per year.  Someone earning $1 MILLION per year would save almost $55,000 per year in taxes.

What’s clear in all this is that the people who would benefit from “Trumpcare” are those who don’t need it and who are the very people that Citizens United (Supreme Court’s decision to flood our elections with unaccounted MONEY) enabled to further CORRUPT our congress through their “faceless” “donations” er- “investments.”  It was Trump himself who said when he “invests” in a politician he’s expecting a return on that investment.  Now, I have to admit that I too “invest” in politicians.  I’ve given as much as $25 to several members of the House or the Senate – some, I’ve even given money on repeated occasions (ie – Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Patty Murry, and a few others) – However, I’m pretty sure they’re not asking me how I want them to vote on any particular issue and, in fact, I’m confident none of them know who I am.  I give them money because I believe they are fighting for the “little guy,” the person who could be me if I hadn’t been so fortunate as to somehow become a teacher among the various jobs that got me to the age of retirement and to have the benefits of Social Security and Medicare so that I can enjoy some of the remaining time I have on this planet.

They believe in the middle class and the democratic values that many in the democratic party have abandoned since the days of Reagan – the so-called “blue dog” democrats.  It’s the democrats who decided to “go along to get along” who’ve allowed this right wing push that has turned America dangerously close to a corporatocracy.  People like Sanders (yes, he’s an “independent” – like me) and Warren who believe in the “New Deal” values that turned America’s middle class into the envy of the world are willing to FIGHT for “the least of these.” (That’s why I support them)  It took the courage of the “greatest generation” – that is, my father’s generation (WW II) and my grandfather’s generation (The Great Depression) to fight for worker’s rights, human rights, and NUMEROUS benefits that Americans today take for granted and Trump and his cronies want to repeal.  It was Franklin Roosevelt and then Dwight Eisenhower who pushed the first examples of investment in infrastructure that “we the people” have benefited from since the 1950’s.  However, our “leaders” have allowed the roads to deteriorate, the bridges and dams to become – in many instances – unsafe, the schools to be outmoded, and on and on – all because of either political infighting or our addiction to the “military industrial complex” that Eisenhower so presciently warned us about before he left the office of the president. (All while the wealthy in America have been laughing all the way to the bank as republicans legislate one “tax cut for the rich” after another)

President Obama wanted a huge investment in infrastructure during his term in office (when interest rates were at all time lows) but, he was continually BLOCKED by Mitch McConnell and the right wing House – in reality controlled by the so-called “freedom caucus” (ie “Tea party”) – both committed to the “strategy” of “If Obama is for it, we’re against it.”  The good of the nation was never a consideration with the republicans in Congress while President Obama was in office.  Now, we’ve got Trump and he’s proposed an investment in infrastructure, but I’m sure I’m not the only person in America who doesn’t trust anything that comes from his mouth and wonders who is he trying to benefit?  He’s the epitome of the saying, “If his lips are moving, he’s lying.”  For example, during the past month, instead of debating the merits and particulars of a plan to rebuild our “infrastructure” our “leaders” have been embroiled in a debate over whether or not President Obama “wiretapped” Trump.  (Of course, the allegation was absurd on it’s surface – but, Trump and his enablers have spent the last moth trying to figure out a way to justify his “tweet.”)

Of course, we all know that in the end the tweet will still be absurd and ridiculous – along the same level of the “birther” argument or the “I saw thousands of Muslims in New Jersey cheering 9/11” argument or the “three to five million illegals ALL voted for Clinton or I would have won the popular vote” argument – but, evidently, Trump’s supporters simply pretend that Trump’s “alternative facts” are real – they actually believe him  (personally I have no idea how they can get duped by this person – today, it was Rand Paul who was working as the enabler in chief – yikes! There was actually a time when I thought he might be one of the republicans who’d save us from this pathological liar of a president)

One thing about Trump that is important for everyone to understand; he’s lied so much that he believes his own lies as they come from his mouth.  That’s exactly why he’ll never admit he made a mistake – he’ll keep pushing the narrative to the point where the rest of us just get tired of dealing with it and we let it lie. (no pun intended)  Take for example, the “Access Hollywood” tape.  Trump claimed his comments were “locker room talk” and as one woman after another came forward to validate the comments Trump made on the tape – he attacked the women, threatening lawsuits, and repeated over and over that it was simply “locker room” banter.  The strategy worked – with the help of the Russians releasing the first of the Podesto emails via Wiki Leaks.  So, it’s denial, denial, denial – attack, attack, attack – deflect, deflect, deflect.  That’s the strategy Trump uses and our media (and “we the people”) keep falling for it.  He’s still in office, he’s still making absurd “tweets” and he keeps the focus of the media off the real issue – which is that his campaign was very possibly COLLUDING with the Russians during the election.  The circumstantial evidence is pretty telling (that which has come out so far) and reports are that there’s much more.  Hopefully, James Comey (who’s likely responsible for the Trump presidency) will stay on the story and eventually anyone who  COLLUDED will be held accountable.  (Comey got Trump in office, maybe he’ll be the one to get him out of office)

We already know that Mike Flynn is in deep enough that he’s seeking immunity so that he might “tell his story.”  It was Flynn, if you remember, who led the “lock her up” chanting at the republican national convention after saying “If I did one tenth what Hillary Clinton did, I’d be in jail.”  Well, it appears that he actually did quite a bit MORE than Hillary Clinton’s using a private email server – in fact, not including the possibility that he, himself, was involved with the COLLUDING with Russia, he accepted MONEY from the Russian intelligence service (RT TV – apparently, in violation of his U.S. Military obligation), sat at the table with Vladimir Putin at a big dinner where Putin was receiving some award (and, Flynn was the first to stand and applaud after Putin finished his acceptance speech), and he was working as a foreign agent (for Turkey) and receiving over half a MILLION dollars for two months work – all while working for Trump as his “national security advisor.”  I’m guessing Flynn will be wanting to tell his story so that those of us who were offended by his speech at the republican convention don’t start chanting “lock him up.”

Getting back to my main point – people like Rand Paul seem to just need a round of golf with Mr. Trump to become part of the enabling republicans.  The strategy, as I said earlier, deny, attack, deflect is something they keep using – I’m sure because they think it’s working.  I’m hoping that those in the media (who are much smarter than me) don’t fall for this and keep pushing to, as most of them keep saying, until we “get to the bottom” of the Russia story.  (Trump, Paul, Sean Spicer, and the other enablers would have us believe the problem is Ms. Rice doing her job as President Obama’s National Security Adviser – I hope the media doesn’t fall for this “trick”) The possibilities with Trump’s connection to Putin and Russia, in my view, makes Nixon and Watergate look like child’s play.  Even though Nixon was a paranoid president who needed to be pushed out of office, the possibility that Americans would work together with the Russians to affect our election process is MAJOR alarming and, in my view, far worse than Watergate.  It falls in the category of Benedict Arnold lore.  This isn’t hard to see and my hope is that either republicans acknowledge what may have happened and they speed up the process of “investigating” this or “we the people” should consider them accomplices if they continue enabling Trump.  Devon Nunes – the head of the House Intelligence committee, for example, should be in line to lose his job, already, based on his actions in the investigation he’s supposed to be conducting.  He’s definitely acting like an accomplice.

And, keep in mind that while all this “stuff” is going on, there’s the normal role our presidents are supposed to play.  For example, the world is in a mess and we’re supposed to be leaders “of the free world.”  So, North Korea fires off another ballistic missile with the plan to be able to send a nuke to the United States – our Secretary of State responds: “We’ve said enough about North Korea, we’ll have no further comment.” (I’m telling you the truth, that’s almost EXACTLY what he said – in fact, it’s the first thing I’ve heard him say since taking office! In case you’re confused – this is BAD).  Then, less than a week after Trump said we would no longer focus on the removal of Basher Asad in Syria, the Syrians attacked the rebel-held town in Idlib province with chemical weapons (Sarin gas) and, instead of blaming the Russian enablers of Asad it was not surprising to me that Trump blamed President Obama.  Yes, that’s  correct – just as he claimed Putin was a great leader during the campaign, he continues to point fingers at Obama after President Obama’s been out of office for three months.  As I’ve said several times on this site, this would be laughable if it weren’t so serious. (100 people, including around 25 children were killed by the Sarin gas).

I’ve wondered many times here as to how much damage Trump will do before the republicans in Congress come to their senses and remove him from office.  Yes, the “alt right” will be angry when that finally happens, but the damage done already will take a mammoth effort to reverse and it’s going to keep getting worse until Trump is gone.  (Trump’s “approval rating” is already down to 35% and he’s still in the “honeymoon” stage of his administration – it’s going to get worse) In truth, I have little confidence in Mike Pense (the next in line – who’s also proven to be comfortable lying to the American people) or Paul Ryan (the next after Pense – and, yes another competent liar), but Trump has no idea what he’s doing and, for the Christians that are supporting him I would remind them of more words from the Bible.  It’s the FOOL who thinks he knows and the WISE man who knows he doesn’t know.  Trump believes he alone can solve America’s problems despite the fact he’s got no idea how to do this. (the classic fool)

Aside from the potential reality that his campaign (and, by connection him) colluded with the Russians during the election, he’s likely violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution (which I don’t believe he understands, either) EVERY day and he has no idea what he’s got himself into.  (ISIL recently referred to him as an “idiot”)  If the republicans continue enabling Trump, instead of impeaching him, they will own the results.  They were blaming President Obama for the Bush/Cheney deficits before he took office and now Trump is blaming him for his own incompetence in Syria three months after Obama is out of office.  Here’s my question:  When will republicans stop blaming President Obama for their shortcomings and begin actually trying to solve America’s problems?