Readers: this blog is set in the future (sometime after the year 2020).  Each entry assumes there has been a 5th revolution in the US — the Revenge Revolution.  More about the Revenge Revolution and author, Entry #1.  List and general description of entries to date.

Note: most entries are formatted as conversations.  Characters appear in a number of entries, with many entries building on previous conversations.  Profile of characters (see link at top of page).  You’ll catch on quickly.  Thanks for your time and interest…and comments.

Scene: Jordan and Matt (reporter) run into each other at coffee shop near Jordan’s office in Washington, DC.  Conversation begins Entry #277.

Matt: “While getting a coffee refill, I was thinking about what you just said.”

Jordan: “You mean, ‘…in the first 12 months in office King Donald did as much damage to America…if not more damage…than Hitler did to Germany in his first 12 months in office.’”

Matt: “You really think that’s possible? I mean look how bad Hitler was.”

Jordan: “Keep in mind the time frame. I didn’t compare Trump’s first year to Hitler’s entire time as Chancellor. Just one year to one year.”

Matt: “Just to make sure I understand your point — Trump was dragging down American faster in the first year than Hitler was dragging down Germany in his first year. Right?”

Jordan: “Yes. And still during the first years in office there were lots of people supporting actions by Hitler and lots of people supporting actions by Trump. Trump still was very popular with his base, which made up about 25% of the population. While his overall approval rating was somewhat higher, his rating was lousy by historical standards for presidents after their first year. And as time went on his approval rating kept dropping…and the disapproval rating kept increasing.”

Matt: “Somehow the high disapproval rating didn’t seem to ring alarm bells for most people. Frustrated, yes but no alarm bells. However, alarm bells did go off for those who understood history. Historians are good at looking at patterns…and what they saw and talked about was the Trump Administration demonstrating a pattern of obfuscation and cover-up that was similar in many ways to Nixon and Watergate.”

Jordan: “I’ll tell you another pattern of the Trump Administration that paralleled Nixon’s…discrimination and anti-Semitism.”

Matt: “OK, I’ll buy Trump and discrimination. But anti-Semitism? Trump’s son-in-law was Jewish…and Ivanka converted.”

Jordan: “I look at actions over time, not appearances. Trump’s father was an anti-Semite, refusing to rent his New York apartments to Jews. King Donald’s major confidant…at least during the campaign and the early part of the administration…was Steve Bannon. Bannon and Breitbart were no friends of Jews.”

Matt: “What about Trump’s attitude toward immigration? He didn’t specifically cite limiting the number of Jews…did he?”

Jordan: “Like I said, I look at actions. Remember the meeting at the White House in early 2018 to discuss a proposed bi-partisan senate deal on immigration reform and DACA?”

Matt: “You mean the meeting with the infamous ‘why do we want to let in people from those ‘shithole’ countries?’…or something like that. I know the shithole countries part is right, and Trump’s shithole-countries included Haiti and parts of Africa.”

Jordan: “What does that comment tell you?”

Matt: “The most obvious was Trump preferred white to people of color.”

Jordan: “What else?”

Matt: “He thought immigrants should already be educated…and he didn’t think people in shithole countries weren’t educated. Some lived in huts.”

Jordan: “What about religion?”

Matt: “We know he disliked Muslims. Hated Muslims might be a better word choice but leave it at ‘disliked.’”

Jordan: “What kind of people did he like?”

Matt: “As I recall he wanted more people from Norway to immigrate.”

Jordan: “Yes, white, Cristian-focused people were Trump’s ideal immigrants. But, guess what? Trump’s perfect Aryan people had no reason to immigrate.”

Matt: “So Trump was OK if immigrants had a background like his but not interested in anybody else. But he was from a fairly recent immigrant family. I think his grandfather immigrated sometime in the late 1800’s. Wasn’t his family name Drumpf, which is German.”

Jordan: “So now we have the president openly expressing distaste for anyone other than white, western European Aryan-like immigrants. Except, the US population was full of all kinds of immigrants who didn’t fit Trump’s profile.”

Matt: “Except the hard-core Trumpsters, who thought they fit his profile and loved his shithole comment. But most of the rest of America was mortified with the comment.”

Jordan: “As were our allies, which were doing a lot of head scratching trying to figure out what was really going on. In a normal administration, the allies would turn to the Secretary of State for some guidance. Where was Trump’s esteemed Secretary of State during this period…Mr. ExxonMobil himself? I think he was MIA.”

Matt: “Come to think of it, I can’t recall seeing him in any meetings on immigration. Also, no comment about Trump’s remarks.”

Jordan: “What I thought was even worse than the Secretary of State seeming to hide was the sudden amnesia that overcame two Republican senators in the meeting…not Lindsey Graham. Who were those other guys?”

Matt: “You mean senators Perdue and Cotton? Purdue went so far as to wait a few days and then claim his colleague in the senate Dick Durbin was lying. As if someone would hold a press conference and claim the president would use the term ‘shithole countries.’ I mean Purdue seemed to be the one lying.  Besides, how stupid did Purdue think the public was?”

Jordan: “Perdue apparently thought he could lie to the public with no consequences. He was concerned about appealing to Trump’s base in Georgia, which put Perdue in office. Well, at least Graham supposedly scolded Trump in private. Why Graham didn’t do so publicly, I don’t know. Probably didn’t want to offend Trump and his fellow kahuna-less Republicans. I still cannot understand behavior of those Republican senators.”

Matt: “On a broader note, do you think Trump’s shithole comments contributed to the Revenge Revolution?”

Jordan: “Shithole did contribute, but as part of a trend. The longer Trump was in office, the more he acted like a dictator. He played more and more to his white-racist Republican base.”

Matt: “You’re not implying all Republicans are racists, are you?”

Jordan: “No. But, I’m also saying Republicans in Congress did nothing to stop Trump. As we talked about earlier, look how senate Republicans, including Graham, acted like Trump’s puppets, trying to block the Mueller investigation. Republicans in Congress were complicit. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Trump got so out of control he was taken out…but no thanks to Republicans in Congress.”

Matt: “When Trump got taken out, the country seemed to start to return to normal…but never quite made it. The damage was too great to the structure of government and to the public’s confidence in Congress.”

Jordan: “And so, we had the Revenge Revolution…and after the revolution the beginning of a return to normalcy. Thanks goodness.”

Matt: “And unless I get out of here and back to the office I’ll be overthrown in a revolution. Jordan, nice to see you. Enjoyed the chat. And thanks for buying.”

Jordan: “Matt, nice to see you. Let’s do this again soon…and you buy.”