Friday, February 7, 2020

DISPATCHES


Voted For Him....Celebrated....Fool Me Once....Not Twice

"I have the right to do a lot of things that people don't even know about." That was President Trump yesterday....along with this strange way of describing how he he views the Stafford Act...."I have it memorized practically as to the powers in that act..." Memorized? Both of these statements should show that there is something amiss in this man. I've got a little advantage in that I've read sixty-five books on him since it became obvious almost immediately after the inauguration that there was a big problem. There is nothing that he could say that I would automatically believe without verification. There is nothing he could do that I would not analyse in consideration of who he has been for the last almost six decades. If others choose to believe him....that is their prerogative....but I choose to keep history in mind....on how tyrants evolve....and how psychological disorders often show up in the profiles of such tyrants.

Note on the above: The President tweeted this past December after a large drop on the Dow Jones...."if the stock market goes up or down--I don't watch the stock market." His first tweet today was...."BIGGEST STOCK MARKET RISE IN HISTORY YESTERDAY!" This man has no truth grid in place whatsoever! None of his 'promises' are based on any kind of truth....but only political and personal imperatives. We've had evidence time and again over the past three years where he 'floats' an idea to see the initial reaction of conservatives....only to drop the idea....when he sees that could not swing it....but with a second term all bets would be off.

Note on today's press conference: President Trump was asked about his dispanding the National Security Council's pandemic response team in 2018. He began his answer by calling it a nasty question. Then denied knowing anything about it. Now everyone may not know that John Bolton disbanded the pandemic response team when he came on the National Security Council....but many know about it....I know about it. How could the President not know? My thoughts are that he just pretended to not know about it because it was unflattering. As far as calling the question nasty....we know that the President considers tough questions from the press to be attacks.....but is this what his cabinet and staff have to deal with on a daily basis? Would they therefore be afraid to ask difficult questions or make unflattering comments?

One of our arguments against getting too concerned about the Coronavirus is that the mortality rates are really only hard on the elderly. I heard that comment again only a few minutes ago on talk radio. Aren't we.....conservatives....supposed to be the ones concerned about all ages? Isn't the other side the ones who think that pre-born babies don't matter and the elderly aren't very useful anyway?

I knew the names of his first two wives....that he was a big real estate developer....that he owned casinos before they went under....that he almost lost it all in the 90s....that he owned golf courses and dabbled with beauty pageants....that he had best-selling books....and that he had a long-running television show of which I had not watched as much as a minute of it over its entire run....and after the primary season I knew that as an individual he was thoroughly disgusting....but that was about all I knew about him....so I thought and hoped that after taking office as president that he might see the enormity of his responsibilities and settle down....but it became obvious early on that that wasn't going to happen. By March of 2017 I knew that there were serious problems with Donald Trump....so I started reading. I just put down A Very Stable Genius by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig....that's roughly 65 books in the last three years on the life and adventures of Donald Trump....with a couple others ready to open. When I first saw the book a few weeks ago at Barnes & Noble I passed it by for something else but it kind of fell into my lap....so I read it....but Trump supporters are not going to read it....because they have been successfully indoctrinated in that every book that is critical of Trump is fake news. Much of it is rehashed stories on the Trump White House. It's not a primer for a debate about Donald Trump. It's not an expose on his business dealings such as Andrea Bernstein's American Oligarchs, The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power. What it is is a character sketch on the President of the United States....primarily through the witness of those who tried to work with him. You wouldn't have to read the entire book....maybe only two or three of its five parts....to see that Donald Trump is totally unfit to occupy the position that he does....and when you would see this....you might then look at the Democrat candidates....and then at Trump....and maybe back again at the Democrats....and realize....if you are a Christian....that God has severely judged both sides of this divided nation. Would you still vote for him? I don't know....probably....but you would not be looking forward to four additional years of what you had just read....for you might not have realized until now the scope of the petulance and arrogance and risk in this man who has very little knowledge of what he is dealing with....no desire to learn....and no wisdom to apply.

President Trump is always on the back of the Fed chairman to cut the interest rate....and always with threats and ridicule. Today after the Fed cut the rate a half point.....the President Tweeted that he wants more. Donald Trump has only one real policy interest and that is in wanting explosive economic growth....now. He has no vision. Have you heard about his comment to advisers early in 2017.....when they warned him by charts and graphs that the national debt problem would hit about the time that he would leave his second term? His comment was..."Yeah....but I won't be here." There's your champion!  I was always under the assumption that we need needed room on the interest rate as a safety net. Donald Trump doesn't want that room....he wants everything right now....for all he thinks that he has to do is get through November....and it will be....'Katy....bar the door!' Ivanka changed her voting status to Republican. Now why do you think that is?

There is a remnant of us out here....in conservatism.....and in the church. They may indeed roll over us.....but they are not going to push us back....as we have not abandoned our principles for filthy lucre....nor do we desire to be nursed on the teats of power and glory....nor have we obediently laid down our minds to false shepherds...and a false prophet. Many of us evangelicals may be asleep for the moment....but that is only asleep....and my prayer is that we may be about to wake up to the voice we will indeed recognize and run to.