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’s office, Washington, DC. Conversation began Entry #289.
Jordan: “So, you two want my guidance whether articles about the Revenge Revolution should include content that is clearly not politically correct?
Greenie: “You got it.”
Jordan: “Why not just lay out the truth? Really, what’s the downside?”
JC: “What about the backlash from all the evangelicals? And the screamers on Fox News?”
Jordan: “What about them? Since the Revenge Revolution, Fox News has become a non-entity. As far as the hard-core Trumpsters, they are never going to change no matter the evidence against Trump.”
Greenie: “In that same vein, I’ve never heard an evangelical openly question their religion. OK, maybe a few question openly…but they’re rare birds.”
Jordan: “That’s my point. Your articles will not change the hard-core’s mind so why be concerned?”
JC: “We were trying to be more diplomatic post revolution. Won’t laying out the bare facts open old wounds?”
Greenie: “I think Jordan’s point a good one. See, Jordan, I gave you a compliment.”
Jordan: “You’ve made my day.”
Greenie: “Seriously, we need to be straightforward. Not vicious but no sugar-coating content. Otherwise, key lessons from the revolution will get lost.”
JC: “Being straightforward should make the writing much easier.”
Jordan: “Greenie, you know better than I, but isn’t crafting an objective article oftentimes more difficult than say a pure opinion piece?”
Greenie: “Yes, and often maddeningly so.”
JC: “Now that we’ve agreed not to be pc in the articles, I’ve got a related topic we probably should write about.”
Greenie: “Whadda mean ‘we’ Kemosabe? Who’s writing these articles?”
JC: “OK, you are…but I’ll help draft this one. We need an article or two focusing on how the lack of Republican leadership in the House and Senate enabled Trump’s craziness.”
Jordan: “An example is…”
JC: “Cabinet nominees. Most of the first round of nominees: (i) lacked any experience for the job; (ii) were intellectual lightweights; (iii) and/or were known scumbags.”
Jordan: “Maybe this article will need to be a bit more pc.”
JC: “Why?”
Greenie: “Good question. Why? If the article is about lack of Republican leadership in the House and Senate, why hold back? Mitch McConnell did the country a major disservice by not squashing some of the cabinet nominees.”
JC: “Think back to the Trump transition. Was there one…maybe two cabinet member nominees who were highly qualified or didn’t have a clear conflict?”
Jordan: “What about General Mattis as Secretary of Defense?”
Greenie: “Qualified, probably. But he never should have been allowed to head DOD. This country has a long history of civilians being head of the military. He might have been one of the few adults in the room, but having a general at DOD set a terrible precedent. It was like having the fox guard the henhouse.”
Jordan: “What about Rex Tillerson?”
Greenie: “The guy had been awarded some medal by the Russians. Look, I have no qualms about the head of ExxonMobil, or another oil company, working with the Russians. But don’t take the guy and put him in as Secretary of State. At State, he needs to protect American interests and not be concerned about personal or company interests. Making him Secretary created an immediate and obvious conflict.”
JC: “Did the Senate leadership know the Russians meddled in the election? Of course. McConnell had been briefed by Justice. Even the public knew. Yet, still no pushback by McConnell or any other Republican senator. Why?”
Greenie: “The list of incompetents goes on and on. Try Ben Carson. What did an alleged brain surgeon know about running HUD? Maybe because he saw some HUD housing growing up in Detroit? He might have lived in some HUD housing. But so what?”
JC: “DeVos to be head of Department of Education was another lightweight. During the Senate hearings, Betsy, bless her little heart, couldn’t answer the most fundamental questions about how the education system works.”
Greenie: “Then, of course, we have “Mr. Lie-Under-Oath” himself. At Sessions’ confirmation hearing to be Attorney General, McConnell had to know he was lying.”
JC: “Jordan, do you think McConnell could have stopped many or all of these nominations from going through?”
Jordan: “Maybe not all but he could have stopped most. McConnell could have worked behind the scenes telling Trump that nominees with an obvious conflict or no experience in the field should be changed. He needed to make clear to Trump that without some different nominees, there would be a series of embarrassing ‘no’ votes by the Senate.”
Greenie: “But McConnell didn’t tell Trump. So Trump took the upper hand, berated McConnell publicly and McConnell shrank like a violet. In the process, McConnell became an enabler for Trump’s wacko behavior.”
JC: “What about Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House? The House doesn’t approve cabinet nominees.”
Jordan: “True, but the House has oversight and investigative powers in many areas.”
Greenie: “From my perspective, Ryan lost all credibility when he allowed the committee investigating Russian meddling to disband.”
JC: “Wasn’t the decision to disband really up to the committee chairman. What was his name…Nunes?”
Greenie: “The Speaker of the House appoints many of the committee chairs. Ryan could have gotten Nunes replaced with someone willing to pursue the investigation. It’s possible…and we need to check this for the article…it’s possible Ryan could have appointed Adam Schiff, a Democrat to lead the investigation.”
JC: “Wouldn’t that have been suicide? The Speaker is elected by the party in the majority. Ryan would have lost his speakership.”
Greenie: “True. But if Ryan had done so, he would have set an example that what is good for the country is more important than what’s good politically. And Ryan likely would have been remembered for generations as a hero. Instead, like McConnell he caved and became an enabler for Trump’s wacko behavior.”
[Note: within a few days after this entry was published, Paul Ryan announced he was not going to seek re-election to the House in November 2018.]
(Continued)
“OK with me. Anything in particular they want to talk about?”
Jordan: “Evangelicals must not have thought having multiple affairs constituted adultery. C’mon, only one of those affairs, as far as we know, was with a high-profile porn star. What’s the issue?”
Greenie: “Jordan, see what we mean? Repeated adultery, constant lying, publicly ridiculing people who had sacrificed a lot to work in his administration, mistreatment of women…and on and on. Yet, the evangelicals kept supporting him. Why?”
Greenie: “Good old Lincoln came to mind. And one of his famous quotes.”
Jordan: “But why do you think evangelicals were so easily fooled?”
JC: “Have you ever heard evangelicals question the fundamental tenets of Christianity?”
Jordan: “It’s as if the group was brainwashed.”
Jordan: “Let’s not forget evangelicals believing the absolute truths of the religious leaders of Fox News. OK, now how do you intend to write-up this politically incorrect analysis?”
Greenie: “OK, now that we’ve solved the mystery of the creation of the universe, I have another topic.”
JC: “You mean what event or action by Trump caused the FBI, or whatever group was responsible, to say, ‘enough, already. He needs to go.’”
Jordan: “Because by early 2018 it had become clear Trump was in the hands of the Russians…at least financially. They had him by the you know what.”
Greenie: “So why did Trump have Sessions fire McCabe? Firing McCabe accomplished nothing. Then Sessions got fired by Trump soon thereafter.”
Greenie: “Do you guys think Trump really understood who held all the cards? In the Washington poker game, Trump didn’t have a pair of deuces and Muller had a full house, yet Trump thought he could bluff Mueller.”
JC: “Pissing off mama bear is not smart. And doing so never has a good outcome.”
Greenie: “Most serious adults in the US…and worldwide…have great admiration for the FBI. I think it’s fairly well-known that when joining the agency you pledge to ‘support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.’ The people who I know connected with the Agency take the pledge very seriously.’ Trump’s behavior violated the pledge and effectively left them no choice.”
Greenie: “Even after the transition from Trump, the country had the Revenge Revolution. Granted a few years later but probably a lot more peaceful that it might have been.”
First, it appears more and more people are realizing what the military and gun enthusiasts have known for some time – the AR-15 is not a sport rifle, is not a hunting rifle but is an assault weapon designed for killing as many people as possible in as short a time as possible.
Why such a harsh recommendation? First and foremost, these type weapons are not needed outside the military. For those who insist on firearms to protect self and/or property, hunting rifles, shotguns and pistols are more than adequate. For hunters, using AR-15’s is hardly sport, even if hunting elephants, lions, tigers or bears, which you shouldn’t be doing anyway.
Banning assault weapons is not unprecedented. Beginning in 1994 Federal law banned the sales of newly manufactured assault weapons. Former presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan, wrote to the U.S. House of Representatives in support of banning “semi-automatic assault guns”. The law passed with bi-partisan support. Congress let the law expire in 2004.
ll not be infringed.”
In that context, the Second Amendment seems perfectly logical. Guys, get it? The regular citizens of the country made up the military when the Constitution was written. And, if you’re a strict “Constitutionalist” and interpret the Constitution as originally written, the weapons were single-shot flint locks, not AR-15’s.
Get serious conservatives. If you understood government, you might realize that you already live in a country where the government allows you basic rights. That piece of property you think you own? Your right to ownership is a function of government. The freedom to travel? That freedom is a function of government. Hate to burst your conservative bubble, but the freedoms that you have are because the government lets you have those freedoms.
I hope these students ask their grandparents to coach them about how the grandparent protested the Vietnam War. Then the kids can go to Washington, march in front of the White House and chant, “Hey, hey, Donald J! How many kids did you kill today?”
Then came the week of February 12, 2018. The week started with some people celebrating the birth of a truly great president…Abraham Lincoln. The rest of the week, however, was mind-numbing blur of events…at least mind-numbing by pre-Trump standards.
The week ended with indictments of 13 Russians and a couple of Russian-run companies for meddling in the 2016 elections. So when the indictments were announced, how did the White House respond? Praise for the Justice Department? Condemnation of Russian interference in the elections? Nope. Only a claim there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians since the indictments indicated the meddling started before Trump formally declared his candidacy.
The Donald and his incompetents club are not close to being off the hook. Truth is Mueller didn’t exonerate Trump but tightened the noose a notch or two.
So what’s most disappointing then is the behavior of Republicans in Congress. And if you’re a hard-core Republican reading this, please no attempted counters that the Democrats are at fault. Pal, Republicans control the House, Senate and the White House. What more do you want? Yet, the Republicans seem clueless…and have stopped thinking. Did Trump suck out your brains so you can no longer think…and then take your morals along with the brains?
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan was talking out of his you-know-what, babbling incoherently about the usual Republican talking points – enforce the gun laws on the books, help the mentally ill and oh, yes, the Second Amendment is sacred. Oops, I almost forgot, we need to pray for the families of the people killed. While not next in line, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell repeated the meaningless drivel.
Guns are designed for one purpose…and one purpose only – to kill. What’s more, weapons designed for the military – AR-15-like weapons – are designed to kills lots of people quickly.
don’t hold water. As awful and frightful as this sounds…and it is…I could go to a gun show and buy weapons that allow me to shoot down a commercial airliner. What’s even worse, at most major airports I could position myself outside the perimeter of airport security and still be able to take down the airliner. Scary isn’t it.
Board Member: “Mr. Trump, during the break did you think about your managers’ concerns? What about their concerns was so unreasonable that you allowed the company to effectively shut down?”
Trump: “You keep pointing the finger at me. I haven’t done anything.”
Board Member: “…Excuse me but I wasn’t finished speaking. Let’s see if you understand this. ‘Little Donnie, quit whining like a brat, and be quiet until the adults in the room tell you it’s ok to speak. Understand?’”
Trump: “You mean ‘The Buck Stops Here’ sign?”
Trump: “But I told you before about the plan to make the company great again. Step #1 is to change the compensation structure. The 1.0% management team needs more money. The peons who work for the company don’t really deserve any more money but we can throw them a few crumbs for a while…then gradually take it back. They’re too stupid to understand what’s really going on. Step #2 is…”
Board Member: “But what about their connections to shady Russian oligarchs, let alone Putin? Associating with the Russians will compromise the company.”
Board Member: “Mr. Trump, the trickle-down approach, which president George H.W. Bush called voodoo economics, has never worked. He was right. Trickle down has never worked in the US or anyplace in the world. The trickle-down approach slows economic growth, not accelerate it. You know that don’t you?”
Board Member: “You realize, of course, the workers contributed to their medical plan and their retirement plan. And they’ve done so for a long time. Your plan will basically screw them.”
company going forward.”
Gelly: “Jordan, I was cleaning out some files. Found an article you wrote at the end of Trump’s first year in office.”
one could have done it better. Now let’s adjourn and play some golf.”
Trump: “Why? I told you my performance was fantastic. Let’s go play golf.”
Board Member: “Just to be clear, the majority of the Board did not support you to be CEO. Only because we have an odd way of counting votes that were you elected.”
Trump: “There’s so many I don’t know where to begin. No other CEO has ever accomplished so much in such little time.”
: “The only thing I need to be more effective is total loyalty from everyone in the organization.”
Trump: “Experience running large companies doesn’t matter. I don’t need to know…in fact, I pride myself not knowing about lots of things you consider important. Remember, I’m a genius. Why waste my time learning anything new? I’d rather watch TV and play golf. What’s knowledge worth anyway? I go with my gut…and I’m always right.”
Trump: “In my way of thinking, all deals are zero-sum games. And I have to win. The other party in the deal needs to cave in to my demands.”
Matt: “While getting a coffee refill, I was thinking about what you just said.”
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.”
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.”
obfuscation and cover-up that was similar in many ways to Nixon and Watergate.”
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 about religion?”
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.”
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: “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: “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.”
Jordan: “And so, we had the Revenge Revolution…and after the revolution the beginning of a return to normalcy. Thanks goodness.”
Jordan: “And that is?”
Jordan: “The Republicans in Congress and some alleged grown-ups in the Trump Administration who put party loyalty over protecting the country. Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham were two perfect examples of party-loyal senators falling on their hands and knees in front of King Donald. Nikky Haley, then ambassador to the UN, was an example of an alleged grown-up in the administration who was acting like a child, claiming no one in the White House considered Trump a loose cannon. What were they all thinking?”
Jordan: “Support the president, support the Republican Party but endanger the country? The last time I looked, the oath of office for those in Congress and those in the administration is to uphold and defend the Constitution, not uphold and defend some idiot in the White House, even if a member of your party.”
Jordan: “Let’s start with Republicans ignoring and protecting Trump’s behavior. Despite the Donald’s repeated claims that he was a genius and mentally stable, he was neither. How much more obvious could it have been that the guy was thinking and acting like a whiny 3rd grader? How many presidents throw a tantrum every time they don’t get what they want? As far as being a genius. That’s laughable. Matt, you went to that other school in Cambridge. Do you think he could have held a candle to any of your classmates at Harvard?”
Jordan: “Incendiary by design. At the time the head-in-the-sand…maybe head up someplace else…senators Gassy, I mean Grassley and Graham were making every effort to divert attention away from Mueller’s investigation and possible collusion with the Russians. The two of them made a claim that some statements to some committee about the dossier could have, maybe, or in southern terms, might could have been just a bit misleading. No evidence to support their claim, just conjecture. All this noise while ignoring a legitimate investigation of actions by Trump, family and some in the administration that could have been treasonous. So why the diversion? What was in it for Grassley and Graham?”
Jordan: “Go back and think about when the article was published. Trump’s one year into office and hell-bent on destroying institutions that are the bedrock of America’s democracy and hell-bent on destroying America’s relationship with key allies. Remember all of what happened in just one year. On top of all that the guy is clearly mentally unstable.”
Jordan: “Just as Germany’s situation grew worse and worse. I haven’t done a line-by-line comparison but I’ll bet in the first 12 months in office King Donald did as much damage to America…if not more damage…than Hitler did to Germany within his first 12 months in office.”
Greenie: “Let me add something. Before the Revenge Revolution, I think many elected representatives were brainwashed.”
JC: “Like during the Obama Administration, the Republican-led House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act what 50-60 times? It was some ridiculous number I remember that.”
Jordan: “You’re right and so was George Bush senior. It really is voodoo economics. Read my lips, there is no, zero, nada empirical evidence supporting the trickle-down theory. In fact, the empirical evidence indicates what actually happens when trickle-down plans are implemented is exactly the opposite of what the Republicans claimed.
JC: “You know who did understand…and more than 100 years ago? Henry Ford. One of America’s greatest industrialists and a one-tenth of one percenter if there ever were one. He understood more about what creates demand than the Republican clowns in Congress who passed the give-to-the-wealthy act disguised as a tax reform. Ford increased wages to $5/day for two reasons: (i) stabilize the work force; (ii) increase worker take-home pay so they could afford to buy his cars. Did he benefit? Yep. He made even more money. I agree with you Greenie, what is so hard to understand about basic economics?”
Greenie: “Technically, yes, some taxes for individuals were scheduled to go down for a couple of years. But then lower-wage earners got the finger. Cuts for individuals were temporary…unlike the cuts for corporations which were permanent. You want me to continue with the list of lies? It’s a very long list.”
Greenie: “The claim that the tax revenue associated with the additional growth in GDP would offset the deficit caused by the wealthy welfare program. Another big, fat horse-pucky lie.”
Greenie: “I do expect people, and especially those in the Senate, to at least have some moral character. The biggest pants-on-fire lie was the intent to not offset the added deficit…even the Tooth Fairy knew the deficit was going to happen…to not offset the deficits with reductions to Social Security and Medicare.”
Greenie: “You mean, if you’re going to steal from the masses, make sure the peon’s bellies are full before you start stealing? Otherwise they get pissed. And they did get pissed.”
Jordan: “And then these same a-hole Senators claimed to be members of the party of Lincoln. Party of Lincoln, my ass. Lincoln Republicans were a whole lot more ethical than McConnell’s crop of Republican bandits.”