So it
looks like Donald Trump is in a firin’ mood again – this time going after his
chief of staff for apparently not being nice enough to his wife and the
head of the Department of Homeland Security because of, well, reasons. He seems
to have this pathological need to be at the top of the news cycle – so when bad
shit happens that comes under his watch he has to do something that shows his
power and his ability to control the message.
As I
write this, there is word that indictments are coming today from Robert Mueller.
I don’t’ know if they’re actually going to happen or not but the day is young
and I won’t be posting until early evening so who knows? Check the Cheap Shots
to see for certain.
Cheap
Shots (it’s Wednesday – so Gin):
Anyone
else notice that Matt Drudge has deleted
EVERY POST he’s ever made on twitter?
So –
digesting last night’s Blue wave. Don’t be fooled by anyone saying otherwise –
it was a Blue Wave. The Democrats gained 28 seats in the House of
Representatives. 7 Governorships, including Michigan – which means Flint might
just get real drinking water back. Kris Kobach was given his walking papers.
Stacy Abrams is pushing for a runoff and just might get it. Bill Nelson of
Florida is demanding a recount and meets the legal threshold to get one.
ICE-friendly sheriffs all over the country LOST. The Mississippi Senate Race,
although unlikely to flip, is still headed to a runoff. The very state where the
first cake for a gay wedding was refused elected a gay Governor. We have two
now. 100 women in the House of Representatives. Dana Rohrabacher is out. Scott
Walker is out. Two Native Americans will be in congress. Two Muslim women as
well. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as well. 1.4M Floridians got the right to vote
back.
Yeah,
Beto didn’t win but because of his race several house seats and local to Texas
races went the other way. He took down Pete Sessions without running against
him. It was a blue wave. To quote Beto in his concession speech, I’m so fucking
proud of you.
Okay,
now the other side of the coin. Because we’re dealing with Trump, I think these
next two years are going to be even worse.
There
are a bunch of reasons for this, but at the top of the list is the fact that
he’s an egomaniacal racist tyrant who in his own mind can never do anything
wrong. His defense, EVERY TIME, is “I didn’t do it, YOU did it”. He has the id
of a 2 year-old, the communication skills of a 9 year-old, and the temper of a
14 year-old whose parents took him of his meds. His reaction to finding himself
the target of congressional investigations was, and I’m not making this up, “I
can investigate you TOO”. His very game plan – said aloud – involves turning the
House and the Senate against each other. Budget time is going to be lots of fun,
let me tell you. Look for lots and lots of continuing resolutions over the next
two years.
Another
reason is that no matter what happens with the Meuller investigation I don’t
think the house impeaches Trump. Quite simply, the votes just aren’t there in
the Senate to even hold a trial. It may come down to the question of whether or
not a sitting President can be arrested by courts that aren’t congress – which
the constitution simply doesn’t address. And Trump won’t step down – tyrants
just don’t do that. Anyone can see that what the Republicans in the Senate want
is Mike Pence in the White House, but Trump will not surrender the toys. The
only way he walks away willingly is if he dies.
Thirdly,
Trump is going to keep holding his rallies – except now they’re going to be
campaign stops for HIMSELF. I expect he’ll start them within a few days.
Certainly before the new congress is installed. I expect his followers to get
even louder, even meaner. Lock her up chants will include Nancy Pelosi, Maxine
Waters, Elizabeth Warren, and just about any other woman. I expect acts of
right-wing violence in increase. Don’t expect logic. Remember – the Republicans
elected a dead brothel owner to the Nevada State Assembly last
night.
Fourthly,
I expect the evangelical base for Trump to get even louder still. I except them
to completely fail to recognize the cognitive dissonance they are creating in
endorsing an actual Golden Calf, just because they get their way while he’s in
power. I expect to see even more psychotic breaks in this
community.
I
expect racism to run rampant. Yes, there will be checks on Trump’s ability to
use the Military to prevent brown people from legally entering the country, but
it’s not actually going to STOP him, or stop ICE for that matter. People are
just going to be forced to testify. I expect that hatred of brown people to
carry over to black people, just as it has for the past two years. I expect more
black lives to not matter to poorly trained police officers, many of whom are
young racists themselves.
It’s
nice that there are no more election e-mails, texts or ads this morning, but
hang on to your butts people. The race for 2020 started last night and right now
the only person on the field is Donald Trump.
Keep
fighting. Last night was a great Blue Wave. But waves recede if there isn’t an
ocean pushing behind them. I picked my meteor metaphor with some care. We’re
trying to rid ourselves of the dinosaurs here, and it takes that kind of an
impact. We had the first wave but the waves have to keep coming until they drown
– until they go extinct because of the effects of US.
