We’re all going to die

The President is a Nazi

• by GeekMan • In Politics •   0

Sadness.

That’s what I’m feeling right now. Sadness for my country, sadness for my countrymen, and most of all, sadness for being unable to do more to avert the disaster I’ve seen coming for the last 10 months. For those who might be reading this in the future without understanding the context of my words, let me set the stage. Yesterday was August 15th, 2017, the day President Donald Trump gave his “Remarks on Infrastructure”. The bland sounding name of the speech belies the shockingly horrible Q&A session that followed where Trump excused the actions of, and ultimately aligned himself with, Nazis and white supremacists.

Let me be clear here. The President of the United States has, through both his words and actions, aligned himself with Nazis.

This cannot be denied. It cannot be taken back. No one can claim Trump was mis-quoted, or joking, or being sarcastic, or anything else. Trump said what he said and now everyone in the world knows what is in his heart and what the so-called “Leader of the Free World” thinks about racism and domestic terrorists in America. And although he has been almost universally rebuked by everyone with a conscious, it is notable that David Duke, the former grand wizard of the KKK, personally thanked Trump in a tweet minutes after Trump expressed his belief that white supremacists and those opposed to them are on the same moral plane and equally responsible for the violence in Charlottesville. It’s also important to note that the republicans in Congress, while denouncing Nazis and white nationalists in tweets, have all refused any and all calls for interviews (even from Fox News) and have very obviously refused to rebuke Trump specifically.

And that refusal to publicly condemn Trump speaks volumes.

In the past, meaning 10 months ago, some people were able to justify aligning themselves with Trump by claiming he was a successful businessman who would finally shake up Washington and bring about the kind of change in government they believed the country needed. No matter that he incited violence at his rallies, that was the fault of the protesters. Forget about the video recording of him saying he assaults women by grabbing them by their nethers, that’s just locker room talk. Let’s all ignore how he claimed a judge of Mexican descent shouldn’t be allowed to preside over any case involving Trump because he had insulted Mexicans by calling them rapists so the Judge wouldn’t be impartial, that’s just the ‘truth’. Time and time and time again, people made excuses for Trump’s words and actions in the hopes that by doing so he’d actually help them get what they wanted.

Well, that all ends today.

From this day forward Donald Trump must be considered a Nazi and/or white supremacist sympathizer. Period, end of story. No matter who you are, or whether you voted for him or not, you need to understand that Trump will now and forevermore be considered one of the bad guys of history. If you’re tempted, even a little, to try to defend Trump, you are now aligning yourself with Nazis. If you think you can hold your nose and back him because of policy X, or reason Y, then you are now aligning yourself with Nazis. If you voted for Trump and refuse to denounce him now, then you are aligning yourself with Nazis. There is no longer any grey area here. If you don’t condemn Trump himself for his lack of moral leadership, then you are a Nazi sympathizer by association. If you back Trump in any way, you are a white supremacist by association. Thanks to Trump, the office of the President itself has become befouled by the stink that is Nazi-style racism and it may never recover.

One cannot admire Hannibal Lecter’s cooking skills without being stained by stigma of his choice of entree.

America is now a country with no leader, no leadership, and no moral center. When the members of his own party refuse to condemn his words and actions Trump is emboldened to be even worse. To drop the moral bar even lower as he drags the entire country to the depths of the abyss with him. And if you think this is as low as Trump can, or will go, then I have sad news for you.

I don’t believe we’re even halfway to the bottom.

The 45th Prediction

• by GeekMan • In Politics •   0

I’ve said this since November 2016, but I want to codify it here for posterity’s sake.

Donald Trump will not be impeached unless and until his approval ratings fall below 40% for two consecutive polling terms. Once that happens, then and only then, will Republican Senators feel ‘safe’ enough in opposing Trump that they will denounce him. Once the Republicans begin opposing Trump, whispers of impeachment will grow loud enough to be considered a reality, and that’s when I expect Trump to resign in disgrace.

Well, if he’s smarter than a five-year-old he’ll resign.

But none of that, none of it, can happen until Trump’s constituents are personally and demonstrably affected by something he does that cannot be pushed off onto someone else. I believe this because people are loath to admit when they are wrong during the best of times and for the smallest of reasons. How much more resistant do you think foolish people can be when it comes to the fool they voted into the highest office of the land? People hate looking foolish when they’ve been fooled, but I hope they learn to hate the fool who fooled them more than their own foolishness.

Personally, I believe this will all happen sooner, rather than later.

In November, when Trump became President-Elect, I predicted that by end of summer 2017 enough of his constituents would turn on him to bring his approval ratings under 40%. Based on what’s been happening lately, I wholeheartedly stand by that prediction. The only problem I have is figuring out whether Pence or Ryan become the new President. As it stands, I think the odds are 50-50.

And that scares me. A lot.

President Trump – Week 1

• by GeekMan • In Politics, Rants •   0

Below are 22 things President Trump has done during his first week in office. I am not including things his cabinet members, advisers, and surrogates have said and/or done during this week because I’m only interested in the what the President himself is doing. While the people he surrounds himself with, and who claim to speak for him, are a window into who President Trump actually is and how he will govern, there is no better way to REALLY know him than to list out everything the man actually does. I’m also not including actions others have taken in response to President Trump (the Women’s March, government senior management resignations, etc.). So, without further preamble, here are 22 things President Donald Trump has done during his first week in office.

  1. Signed an Executive Order aimed at rolling back the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). The order instructs the Secretary of Health and Human Services and heads of other departments to “waive, defer, grant exemptions from [and] delay” requirements of the Obamacare law.
  2. Announced a new, and potentially illegal, national policy of taking the national resources of sovereign nations (for example, keeping Iraq’s oil)
  3. Signed the “Border Security” executive order stating that Congress will allot federal funds (taxpayer dollars) for the immediate construction of a southern border wall. It includes plans to increase the number of border patrol agents by 5,000 and construct more detention facilities, and outlines a broad crackdown on immigrants who cross the southern border.
  4. Insulted the nation’s third largest trade partner by insisting Mexico would pay for the aforementioned wall despite Mexico’s refusal to do so. This has led to strained relations with our southern neighbor, the first sign being the canceled meeting at the end of January.
  5. Issued executive orders to withdraw from the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal negotiations.
  6. Escalated tension between Israel and Palestine by beginning discussions to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
  7. Has signaled a change in policy regarding the use of torture during interrogations, directly at odds with longstanding international rules and regulations on the treatment of prisoners, potentially putting the US Military in a position of having to refuse to follow a direct order from the President.
  8. Signaled a shift in the Justice Department’s civil rights efforts when it requested a delay in the lawsuit over a Texas law requiring voters to present certain types of government-issued IDs.
  9. Halted a reduction to the annual mortgage insurance premiums borrowers pay when taking out government-backed home loans, increasing mortgage payments for thousands of homeowners.
  10. Signed three executive orders to benefit oil pipelines, including the completion of the highly controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, and remove Obama environmental protections. Noteworthy is the fact that President Trump may be personally profiting from the pipeline.
  11. Reinstated the 1984 Mexico City Policy which bans U.S. support to foreign organizations that offer abortion or abortion counseling to women.
  12. Ordered a hiring freeze on nearly all government workers, including thousands of highly skilled scientists, engineers nurses, and veterans.
  13. Announced his intention to renegotiate, or end, NAFTA.
  14. Targeted “Sanctuary Cities” by signing an Executive Order that bans giving federal funds to jurisdictions that “willfully violate Federal law in an attempt to shield aliens from removal from the United States.”
  15. Put gag orders on multiple government agencies and removed vital internet content, including scientific studies pertaining to climate change.
  16. Announced he is preparing to sign an executive order to block the entry of refugees from war-torn Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Libya and Yemen.
  17. Ordered agencies to freeze new regulations, giving the new administration time to review them (nearly every new President does this).
  18. Announced his intention to let his son-in-law play a prominent role in his administration, potentially putting him at odds with anti-nepotism laws.
  19. Proposed, and then quickly rescinded, imposing a 20% tax on Mexican made products sold in America.
  20. Announced he will ask for a “major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time).”
  21. Regardless of the hypocrisy, President Trump continues to use a private, unsecured cell phone, while many of his staffers use private email servers.
  22. He still refuses to release his tax returns.