Dear America,
I wonder what kind of hyperbole Donald Trump is going to apply to the Iranian breach of the first of the terms of the agreement that he had the United States pull out of. The rest of the world is already devising ways of avoiding American sanctions imposed on Iran by The Trumpster, and pretty soon, we will no longer have an agreement with Iran not to produce nuclear weapons, and our sanctions won't be working either. Trump has gone this alone, and now we...and the world for that matter...are going to wind up with nothing rather than at least a forestalling of nuclear arms in Iran. Do you sense a pattern here?
Russia has tainted our internet data base with false information of a political nature and thus distorted our election process. And since elections are the quintessence of democracy, they have polluted our political system in its entirety. But when our fearless leader meets the man responsible for that degradation of our nation's political process--of course I'm talking about Vlad the Putin--Trump jokes about it all effectively putting his imprimatur on the Russian sabotage of our 2016 election and the obvious complicity of Russia in polluting our impending 2020 election as well. The absurdity of Trump's repudiation of his own intelligence network in favor of Putin's "strong and powerful" denial of culpability doesn't seem to effect the loyalty of his blind supporters, but no matter whom the Democrats run against him, I would assume that independent and moderate voters would prefer that candidate over someone who would so blithely betray our fundamental national principles. And he did it with a glib smirk, a mock finger wagging, and a sarcastically condescending tone as if to say, go ahead and interfere. It works for me, as it did in 2016.
And of course you can add Trump's infantile crush on Kim-jung-un. He took a public stroll with Kim over the southern border of what is surely one of the most cynical, corrupt and oppressive realms on the planet and then patted himself on the back as if that was an achievement. No one else has done it, so Trump thinks it's progress, but this kind of cultivation of Trump's delusions of grandeur is exactly how Putin is using him so easily. Trump touts himself as a brilliant negotiator, but all he has shown the world is his infatuation with tyrants' power and arrogance. Trump has as yet accomplished nothing with North Korea, and this stroll in the park with Kim is just another gesture simulating capitulation when all along, Kim is using Trump's egotism to wheedle tons of rice out of us a give nothing for it while he sells it to his people and pockets the change. He's done it before and he is going to do it again while Trump basks in the sunshine that he thinks shines out of his...well, you know.
What I don't understand about all this is how those who support him can defend that support. It was reported today that we are now in the longest period on record without a recession. The last one ended during the Obama administration and it ran from June 2009 to the present: seven and a half Obama years to just two and a half Trump years tacked onto the trend started a decade ago. But just wait for Trump's twitter reaction. The Trump self-promotion machine will churn out false claims of his greatness for at least a day, even though his administration is projected to preside over the end of that continuous period of prosperity any time now. It would be laughable if it weren't so ominous an omen.
My fear is that the Trump administration will turn into a juggernaut and we will be stuck with him not just for another year and a half, but for another five and a half years. Just imagine the damage he might do to our standing in the world, not to mention the quality of our lives here. The rich continue to get richer and the rest of us continue to stand still if not lose ground in every respect. I fear for myself, but more importantly, I fear for us.
Your friend,
Mike
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