BRILLIANT MOVE TO THE BASE AND TO COVER HIS TRACKS

What do I mean by the above statement?

Let's take a brief view at the approach of anti-Semites and how they have presented their views to the world-at-large or their own particular geographic spheres of influence.

During Roman times, the leaders within Israel supposedly "worked" with the leaders of the Jewish people to slowly introduce anti-Jewish laws and edicts to the general populace.  This type of approach has been used time and time again by the Church and various governments over the ages.  Show "support at first" but then introduce the laws and edicts against or orchestrate the masses against the Jews. 

Now we have a person with tremendous power who needed the strong Jewish lobby for major assistance during his campaign.  He has a Jewish son-in-law and has a strong base among Republican Jewish donors.  But, he has to cater to his "base" of white supremacists at the same time while wooing the Jewish lobby.  The campaign leaders worked on this and realized that much of the Jewish lobby needed something to move them away from Hillary.  The answer was "easy" - campaign on promising to move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  Couple this with the Jewish lobby feeling that Hillary would be continuing the hated Obama anti-Israeli position and you have the makings for support for "the lessor of the two evils".

Fast forward to now and the continuing need to stoke the base and keep Steve Bannon working for his movement from outside the strains of Washington.  What is going to keep the base of white supremacists, KKK members and neo-Nazi's in line?  How about keeping the promise to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem and immediately placing the Israeli people and government in danger while "appearing" to placate the Jews and keeping his promise.  Taking a move from the age old anti-Semite playbook as described above and you have now met your obligations and advanced your agenda.

Those that have survived the Holocaust and have experienced the perils of government sponsored anti-Jewish campaigns know exactly what is happening now with this strategic move by Trump and his sick backers.

Israel will be fighting on many fronts with this pronouncement; PLO and Hamas plus all the Arab mid-East countries will take up the cause.  All the other countries of the world who have been continuing to show their hatred toward Israel (I am referring to the ongoing UN resolutions and proclamations) will also take up the cause.

As I said at the start - a brilliant move by a very sick individual who, to our combined detriment, is the leader of our country.  To the unknowing masses this is a positive move for Israel.  Watch and learn and remember what happened in 1933 in Germany and then Europe.  Remember the move to the Ghetto's?

I rest my case.

TOO MUCH ALREADY!!!

We are being overloaded with so much BS by so many people that I am thinking of creating a Scorecard for BS.

When did the American public cede their rights to a few?  When did the American government start to take on the characteristics of a Totalitarian government?  When did the vocal minority of hate-mongers and bigots start to take on leadership of America?  When did we cede our international leadership and start to be take on the mantle of Isolationism?  When did our national lands and sacred sites is so many states become fodder for the oil and gas industries and special interests?  When did our country start protecting child molesters and womanizers in government but ostracizing them in all other industries?  When did the divide become so bad between our two political parties that our method of government has started looking more like Venezuela than Washington?  When did we have to endure bald face lies on a daily basis from our "leaders" and their spokespeople?  When did our government make the decision that 33% of the people are the majority and their views and actions are what counts?

I could go on and on but I think I made my point.

I pride myself on being an open-minded person who will try to listen to both sides of an argument before making any type of informed decision.  I am also a person who has extensive international experience and still maintains active participation with many friends and business associates in different countries.  The daily barrage of emails asking, and I quote, "what the hell is happening and where is the America we knew"?  I don't have any answers to these questions.  In this age of internet and immediate news, when comments and tweets are immediately flashed to the world, how does one maintain a neutral position?

I watched a spokesperson for our president lie and lie and lie during a TV interview and nothing the interviewer said in response (stating from facts I might add) did anything to deter this person.  And then I watched the leader of the US Senate backpedal so fast on the upcoming vote for a child molester who is running for the US Senate and has the 100% backing of the president, that it made me dizzy.  There was no remorse or no mention of his previous comments that this person should not be running and that this person will not be seated in the Senate if he wins.  The overall need for a Republican to be voted into the Senate so they can continue their fragile majority to overturn and steamroll questionable laws is now more important than seating a predator of children and hater of gays and non-whites.  When is this going to stop?

We have a president who is a narcissistic liar and womanizer who has been accused by many women of abuse.  Why does he get away with it?  Why does the public outcry that has toppled so many others not touch him?  When did we spray Teflon on the president so nothing sticks?  When did we start to accept the daily lies and excuses from a press spokesperson who looks like an unmade bed?  When are we going to rebel against the constant misdirection and lies being fed to us on a daily basis?

On Friday night the fragile majority in the Senate passed a tax bill that will add over 1.5 Trillion Dollars to our deficit.  The bill was one type-written page and a margin full of handwritten items.  Not once did the majority hold sessions to discuss the bill.  Not once did the majority enter any type of debate on the bill.  This is a tax revision/rewrite that will have far-reaching effects to our country for years to come.  Make no mistake about it - the top earners of this country (including the president, his family and businesses, his cabinet and many supporters and lobbyists and major corporations) are ecstatic with this bill.  The ones who the bill is supposed to benefit will actually be worse off.  The bill has been put together to target the large blue states.  How convenient!!!

I love this country and always will but am so worried that we are in the hands of people who are more like Hitler and Stalin than Reagan and Roosevelt.  Don't let history repeat itself to the worse and not the better.   

How Did We Get Here?

I want to start this off by stating that this is not a "Hillary vs Donald" or "Democrat vs Republican" debate or issue.  This is an American Values issue which has spilled over to the rest of the world.  I don't care who you voted for last year and what the reasons for your vote.  I do care that I am living in a country which has been divided on a methodical basis and is continuing to be divided.  The scary part is we are being played and played and played.  What do I mean by this?

There is a pattern to what we see and are experiencing from our country's leadership.  Yes, we are being led by a narcissist who cannot handle any criticism.  We are being led by a person who will not hesitate to attack anyone who does not play to his ego or who is critical of things said or done.  We witness this on a daily basis.  There is no hesitation to the tweet attacks which, in many cases, are relentless and bombard common sense and decency.  But, once again, notice the patterns.  Not only are there Twitter bombardments, but the pattern of "misdirection" is also maintained.  For example, the terrible response and attack on the Mayor of San Juan in relation to the Hurricane's devastation of Puerto Rico brought about the attack on the NFL.  All of a sudden at a political rally for a Trump backed candidate in Alabama (who lost by the way), the NFL is put under scrutiny.  The lack of compassion and humanity for the horrors of the citizens of Puerto Rico (and also the American Virgin Islands), is now brushed under the rug.  All of sudden we are faced with "non American values" by our athletes.  This now takes over the press and Twitter.  The failings in the really important areas are now in the background.  Think about how many times this has occurred during the campaign and after the election.  Way too many times.  And we continue to be the audience for the master magician (misdirection is one of the key areas in the arsenal of all magicians).

Our country has been systematically divided.  This started with the Republican primaries where the base was established.  Playing to the fringes of our society (i.e. white supremacists, Klan members, anti-Semites, etc.) with a theme that was compared time and again to 1933 Germany, proved to be a successful strategy.  The rallies were covered 100% by the press and the other candidates were successfully put into the backgrounds.  His bombastic style of attack was appreciated by the base and his numbers were on the rise.  Each rally contained more and more deplorable actions and words (i.e making fun of a reporters physical affliction, pointing out people of color, etc.) but the base was ecstatic.

I am not going to relive the election process any further.  I only want to show the patterns that were started early on and, when successful, carried across to the present.  Time and again we are reminded of the importance of the "core"; Charlottesville  is a prime example as well as the continuing immigration emphasis.  But these were based on the earlier examples of questioning an African-American president and his credentials and policies.  The Republican Party had a choice to make and, wanting to be the party of complete power, they fell into line.  Yes, there were some defections, but not many.  It did not make a difference that one of America's heroes, who is a sitting U.S. Senator (John McCain), was attacked or that disparaging remarks were made time and time again against the two Republican leaders of the House and Senate.  The conservatives wanted a win and wanted a Supreme Court appointee as a result.  So, the party swallowed their principles and fell into line.  Success was assured with an unlikely ally coming through against the opposition right before election time.

If you read the Headline for this post - "How Did We Get Here?" - the above is a quick description of the road to success for our current president.

What Can We Do?

Real answer?  Nothing.  What did I say?  Nothing?

We have a president who is bringing us to the brink of a real military confrontation with a similar nut job (North Korea for those who have not read a paper, watched TV, listened to the radio or have been locked away).  He does not seem to listen to our military leaders or allow diplomacy to be done by our current Secretary of State.  The latest attempt was Twittered away by the president telling the Secretary that diplomacy is a waste of time!!!!

We have a president who talks down to anyone who does not agree with his actions and/or words.

We have a president who continues to show his ignorance and prejudices but is sheltered by members of Congress who are too afraid to publicly criticize him lest they lose the Trump base in their respective States.

We have a Democratic Party that shows some signs of defiance in Congress but has yet to define a platform for the 2018 elections.  Joe Biden - "come on down!!!"

Today I witnessed our president in Puerto Rico talking down to the country that has been devastated by the recent Hurricane.  He compared their Hurricane to a previous Hurricane (Kristina) and told them theirs was not as bad and they were lucky that they "only had few deaths".  Where the hell is compassion by the supposed leader of the free world?  Then he starts to throw, yes you read this right, he was throwing packages of paper towels to the audience.  This was not a Rock Concert where they throw T-shirts to the crowd!!!  What is wrong with this man?

I have not even started on his Cabinet or his failed Congressional actions that he promised during his campaign; repeal of Obama Care, build the wall, infrastructure, tax reform, etc.  His continuing writing of Executive Directives comprise his "law making" abilities.  He has no idea on what Government is or how it works.  His son-in-law, another piece of work I might add, continues to lie and has been caught with private mail servers (sound familiar?) as well as other members of the White House staff.

As long as the base continues to blame everything on the previous administration, especially former president Obama, then things will remain the same.

Just to let you know how far this goes let me relate something that happened this week that made me sick.  We had this horrific situation in Las Vegas.  I was at early morning services (for those of you who are not aware, I am an Orthodox Jew and go to daily services in the Synagogue) and the information about the shootings were coming across the Internet.  After services I was walking with some of my companions when one of them (an avid Trump supporter I have to add) said they put the blame "squarely" on Obama for the shootings.  I was stunned and could not believe my ears.  I just walked away shaking my head and realizing there is no way that his supporters are ever going to change.  They wear blinders and will not acknowledge anything negative about their president and leader.  This is the problem we face.

So, let's come back to what can we do?  I said nothing earlier but there are things that can be done.

Elections in 2018 needs to be defining against Trump and the Republicans.  Remember, the Republicans are having their own internal problems with incumbents being challenged in many primaries.  The Democrats need to get their act together and appeal to their base and the independents.

Full support for the Mueller investigation.  This is the best case for Impeachment proceedings.  Long shot?  Maybe not.  Be prepared for a Tweet storm that one has never experienced!!!!

A fight fire with fire policy.  This is something that I think can be very effective.  First of all there needs to be a notable champion who can fight the Tweet "war" with Trump.  For every stupid and distasteful Tweet by Trump, there needs to be Tweets in response.  These need to be just as bombastic and aimed directly at Trump.  His ego will take a beating if the responses are effective and unrelenting.  Just think about it.  Just remember who and what Donald Trump is and play to his weaknesses (of which there are many).

Thanks for letting me vent.  There will be much more coming but I needed to get this initial one out.  I know there was so much more to say but I do need to get to sleep!!!

Thanks for reading and I will look forward to your comments.