I’m watching all this Covid-19 stuff pretty closely and I’ve come to the conclusion individual 1 simply is unable to deal with this crisis – and “we the people” are simply forced to just go into the abyss with him. He’s the (IMPEACHED so-called) president and there’s nothing we can do about that until November’s election – and, of course, it could get even worse with individual 1 in office for almost three months during the transition period – he could get even more deranged, if that’s possible. I keep telling myself he’s going to realize he’s got to come up with a plan and then………. more of the same. He says one thing one day and almost the opposite the next. It’s as if he still doesn’t really understand what is happening.

Sadly, his focus has been on getting re-elected and he’s got what appears to be a serious level of paranoia based on his “ratings.” He’s either a mob boss or he’s a pseudo mob boss and he takes out revenge on ANYONE who even suggests he’s NOT a “stable genius.” His incompetence and/or his corrupt behavior goes way beyond what is happening with the coronavirus – although, obviously, the virus is in the headlines every day – we’re stuck in our homes and people are dying by the thousands every day so you’d expect that to be where “we the people” have our focus.

However, there’s a whole bunch of other stuff going on which will be in the “pile” of lasting “DAMAGE” individual 1 is going to be leaving behind once he’s out of office – this is why many people who are “in the know” are suggesting it will take at least 10 years to recover from what our IMPEACHED so-called president leaves behind. Of course, his plan is to “win” re-election apparently so he can make all this “DAMAGE” worse. And, of course, if you don’t understand he will CHEAT in any way he can in order to “win” the election you’ve had your “head in the sand.”

How might he do this CHEATING? Well, we know the Russians are still busy trying to keep individual 1 in office although they have a rapidly increasing Covid-19 crisis of their own so maybe they will be a little less focused – but, at least we know they’re here. We know he tried to enlist the Ukrainians to help him CHEAT and that’s what led to his IMPEACHMENT – and, I might add one more time, republicans had the opportunity to end this nightmare last January – but, I digress. Well, now he’s getting much more sophisticated in his attack on our voting system. While democrats all over the country are fighting for a “vote by mail” election this November, individual 1 and his sycophants are surreptitiously working to either eliminate the Postal Service or to put cronies in place who might…………….????? I don’t know what they might do, but……

Just the thought of what could happen with the Post Office and how that might effect the upcoming election I couldn’t help thinking about a group of disaffected republicans who’ve formed an anti- individual 1 group called the “Lincoln Project.” This group is a bunch of republican operatives who, to a degree, are the reason individual 1 is in office and they’ve realized what a mistake that has become. The members include Kelley-Anne Conway’s husband George, Bill Crystal, Steve Schmidt, and Rick Wilson (who wrote “Everything (individual 1 Touches dies).” This group’s first anti-individual 1 ad caused individual 1 to have a 24 hour “tweet storm” calling all of the members derogatory names, of course. That is something which our IMPEACHED so-called president has a lot of practice.

I bring this up because these former republicans know how to forge a campaign for national office – they get right to the point and they know what they’re doing. Democrats would be wise to unite with this group and LEARN something. As I’ve said over and over here, this is a WAR for the heart and soul of America. And republicans, well, they’re going to be republicans and they believe “The end justifies the means” – hence, CHEATING = OK. And, the democrats just continue to get “played” by the republicans and they need help – from where? Yep, from these former republicans. I just listened to Chuck Schumer complaining about how Wall Street is doing “just fine” and the republican donors are doing well. The reason Wall Street is doing well is because democrats have allowed TRILLIONS, for Wall Street, to be part of the CARES Act. When that “act” was being negotiated democrats had leverage. Not as much now.

I pointed out when all these “CARES Acts” were being proposed that democrats needed to take advantage of the leverage they had at the time. Of course, the democrats were focused on getting as much money to the working people as they could as quickly as they could – which was honorable, but a week or two wouldn’t have caused any more of a bottleneck than what happened anyway – but, democrats “saved” things like the Post Office, Vote by Mail, money for State and Local governments, and money for hospitals – for some of the critical needs “for the next bill.” I pointed out what a HUGE mistake that was. It’s a rare time when democrats have had “leverage” on republicans and, hopefully, that opportunity has not passed, but……

Here’s the deal, when Schumer was pointing out how well Wall Street is doing – which, of course, is the focus of republicans – that was because democrats “gave” republicans something on the lines of $7 TRILLION to be used by either Jerome Powell or Steve Mnuchin to bail out the markets and, now? Well, what more do republicans need? Clearly, they don’t care what “we the people” think – that their support of Wall Street is SHAMELESS. Of course, there was a need to provide some money for Wall Street, it’s just a bit awkward to see the stock market respond to unemployment numbers at depression era levels with an upswing on the DOW. Reports that Billionaires have increased their wealth by almost $200 BILLION during this crisis is going to, at a minimum, raise a few eyebrows.

So, now, as democrats are going to be proposing the relief for the Post Office, the money for “Vote by Mail,” the money to keep police officers, firefighters, and other public sector workers on the jobs around the country they’re getting a “shrug” from republicans. They’ve given up their leverage – maybe for a “promise” from Mnuchin or individual 1 or Moscow Mitch. You’d think they’d learn. That’s exactly why I believe democrats would be wise to enlist the services of people who understand how the republicans are going to attempt to STEAL this next election. And, as an aside, just imagine individual 1 dealing with the climate crisis which very well could be at the “you can’t ignore me anymore” stage once “we the people” are on the other side of this Covid-19 crisis.

Well, this is where the “Lincoln Project” could come in handy. They know how the republicans work because, well, up until individual 1 came along, they were all republicans. And, they’re not so worried about offending the “other side” in this WAR which is why I believe democrats need to join forces with them and LEARN from them. There’s an old saying, “You fight fire with fire” whereas many people say democrats go to a duel with a “butter knife.” It really is time to take the “gloves off” – if it’s not too late. I guarantee you, republicans will attempt to pin the blame on democrats for any issues with legislation helping the republican donors, so the democrats might as well earn the “blame.”

So, there can be NO more help for Wall Street or any of the other things on the republican “wish list” unless democrats are able to take full advantage of ANY leverage they still have. (There must be “red” states who need funding, don’t you think? Like, for example, Kentucky? or South Carolina? or Texas?) If democrats are unwilling to draw a “line in the sand” over the Post Office and the Vote by Mail at this point in time, for example, their chances for “winning” in November go way down. (And, by the way, democrats MUST absolutely refuse to relax the payroll tax – but, that’s a story for another day) And, as I said, republicans are going to be blaming democrats for all the cops who lose their jobs without a “swift” passage of the next bill – and, they had better NOT fall for it! Many wonder: Can things get any worse? Answer = Yes!

Another, maybe even more serious abuse individual 1 will either leave behind or, somewhat more unnerving, boost him going forward should he manage to “win” the November election can be summed up in two words: William Barr. Individual 1 constantly lamented for his “Roy Cohn” as he was lashing out at his first Attorney General Jeff Sessions and, it appears, he’s happy now because Mr. Barr fills that role. And, if you’re not aware, Cohn was a disgraced Mob lawyer who defended the infamous Joe McCarthy back in the 50’s and, apparently, individual 1 during the early days of individual 1’s business failures. Based on what I’ve read it was Cohn who taught our IMPEACHED so-called president to NEVER admit a mistake and ALWAYS “hit back 10 times harder” when you feel attacked. Which, as (our IMPEACHED so-called) president you have to expect you’re going to be criticized. Yikes!!! This is a dangerous situation!

So, today, Mr. Barr said the Justice Department is dropping ALL the charges against Michael Flynn who actually pled GUILTY to the charge of LYING to the FBI early in the “Russia thing.” Still, not many of the people on TV commenting on this travesty are reminding us all of the other “stuff” Flynn was alleged to have committed, which amount to much more serious crimes than LYING to the FBI and VP Pense. For example, I never for a minute thought what Flynn said to the Russian Ambassador was unknown to those in the “White House” – and I always felt the reason individual 1 wanted James Comey to “let Flynn go” was for reasons we still likely don’t understand. However, what we should all understand is that Flynn was working as an unregistered lobbyist for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president (dictator) of Turkey.

In his work for Erdogan Flynn was ALLEGEDLY involved in a kidnap scheme designed to return a Turkish Cleric who is a critic of Erdogan out of Pennsylvania and back to Turkey where, apparently, he could be executed. Flynn collected nearly half a MILLION dollars in his work for Turkey (without registering as an agent) all while working for individual 1 as his proposed National Security Adviser – as a three star general you’d think he’d know better, especially after leading the “Lock her up” chant at the republican convention. This money from Turkey was in addition to the $45,000 he took from the Russians for some reason after spending an evening having dinner with Vladimir Putin after being fired as America’s head of the Department of National Intelligence. Do you think he should have known better? I hope you answered – Yes!

Final Thought: Today as I logged in to “Yahoo Finance” – it’s just a habit to see how the stock market is doing – the headline read: “Futures hold gains as data show collapse in job market.” Well, if that doesn’t make it clear – the disconnect from Wall Street to Main Street – I’m not sure what it will take. At some point I believe the reality of what is happening will set in, even on Wall Street. With over 30 MILLION workers collecting unemployment benefits the market appears to be thinking there’s going to be a “V” recovery – meaning it’s going back up as sharply as it went down and that doesn’t make sense to me. Jerome Powell has access to TRILLIONS to funnel into the market which has apparently caused it to stabilize.

Of course, I believe the market being stabilized is important, I just hope republicans stop with the “free market” scam they’ve been pushing on “we the people” since the day Ronald Reagan took the oath of office. When taxpayers are called upon to bail out Wall Street periodically when there’s some kind of crisis, well, to me, that’s closer to socialism than capitalism. I keep thinking of how some people have said, on Wall Street they “capitalize the gains and socialize the losses.” Well, I certainly hope there will be oversight of the TRILLIONS which have gone into the market since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis. Individual 1 has fired virtually any inspector general who might be watching how these TRILLIONS are being dispersed and I’m assuming democrats are going to find a way to figure out where all the money is going. After all, $6 TRILLION or $7 TRILLION is a lot of money!

Republicans, for instance, seem to have no concern with how much money is going to Wall Street, BUT – they are REALLY concerned that they somehow were convinced to agree with a bill providing $600 per week for unemployed workers. My son is a minimum wage worker (works in a restaurant – where NO one works full time – except the managers – and, there are NO benefits beyond wages and tips) and his job is temporarily on “hold” based on the virus. He’s actually able to buy stuff he needs right now because the unemployment benefits finally have come through. I told him to be thankful because I’ve never seen the government providing REAL help to working class Americans – EVER!

Well, after writing that last sentence, I remembered the unemployment office providing great help for me 30 years ago after the Sawmill I was working in was shut down – it was just a different form of help. They helped me get “retrained” and that may end up being a “need” as the effects of this virus play out. I hope my son uses that $600 per week to help him get some kind of retraining – because the restaurant industry may be facing a really difficult next few years. The benefit I received came as a result of Bill Clinton signing the “Timber workers relocation act” – so “we the people” have a history of caring about each other, it has just seemed to me that every time something like this happened we’ve seen democrats fighting against republican obstruction.

In the case of this present unemployment compensation, I still remember Lindsey Graham and a group of other republicans fighting the bill until the final moment when it was passed. And, since I’ve heard many republicans complaining about “workers” receiving that kind of money – “They won’t want to come back to work.” So, as they “open” the economy at a point when MOST people believe it’s “too soon” these “workers” will have to decide between their unemployment benefits and risking their lives if they’re uneasy about, for example, going to work in a restaurant – or, like in the meat packing plants around the country where, in many cases, a majority of workers have the virus. Stay tuned……………………

Oh yes, I believe no matter what is done to re-open the economy, if it’s too soon, it’s too soon. I’m not sure how much money republicans can come up with to keep the “market” on the upswing – but, the reality is when people are dying at a rate where there’s no room for all the bodies and when close to 20% of the population is unemployed, you have to wonder why the market is going up? Should all be interesting…………………