BY VERN TURNER
This one was teed up quite high, and I couldn’t resist.
Perhaps the only light moment of the president-elect’s press conference was realizing that the stacks of folders used as a prop to illustrate his plans for his administration were empty. This fact screams irony all over the place, especially in view of the p-e’s inability or lack of interest in answering good questions from the media.
The obvious and easy conclusion is: The p-e has no plans for governing. As just about every thinking person has concluded, the p-e is an empty suit covering up a big mouth, a hostile countenance and hiding a fundamentally corrupt persona.
So, we are now about to enter our version of the Third World. In my book, Killing the Dream: America’s Flirtation With Third World Status, I shamelessly forecasted this eventuality. This prediction coincides perfectly with H.L Mencken’s oft-quoted passage about our system eventually electing a moron as president. We came close with Bush II, but recovered, for a moment, with a true intellect in Barack Obama.
Well, like a rubber band, our electorate snapped back to form and managed to elect – with the aid of the outmoded Electoral College – perhaps the most dangerous man on Earth this side of Kim Jung Un. Well done, voters.
But, wait. It may not be that bad. If we count the fact that the sum total of votes against the Republican candidate was nearly 10 million more than he received, we can take heart that the majority of the American people saw through the con game being played by him.
Some idiot I have the misfortune to know sent me a sympathy note telling me that I’m not going to like the “new sheriff in town.” What I see instead, using the Western movie metaphor, is the snake oil salesman standing on the back of his wagon.
Moreover, Democrats actually gained seats in the House and Senate dispelling the false verbiage that we “lost” the House and Senate. The Republicans keep trying to fill their own empty folders with more lies, deceit and falsehoods.
The most recent Quinnipiac poll shows that the p-e’s approval ratings, in virtually every category that matters, is historically low, and falling like a rock. This pathological liar will enter office with his honeymoon already over and his poll ratings circling the drain.
Once the Republicans get over their moment of joy by squeaking by on repealing the ACA, they’ll realize [I hope] that they’re backing an empty folder of a president, too.
I can’t help but assume that these poll results include those who voted for the p-e because they hated Hillary Clinton so much. Buyer’s remorse is a bitch. Any new health care legislation coming from this Congress [if any does at all] will be known as CareLess-PayMore.
In less than one week [it’s another irony that I write this on Friday the 13th] our future will take a dark and ominous turn with the inauguration of the next president.
The scandals are already surfacing and rumbling, some of which could compromise the office of the president, the nation’s foreign policy and security, and our economic status with our real and valid trading partners.
Forget the sordid details of hotel visits, and the p-e’s denials [he always lies and denies]. The fact that he and his appointees [Rex Tillerson] have made business deals with those who would do us harm is enough to challenge the validity of the in-coming administration. This is how third-world countries operate, and with the p-e’s family waiting in the wings to run the businesses, we will sound more like Equatorial Guinea than the land of the free and home of the brave.
Oh, Guinea. That oil-rich country is the role model for despotism and family-run government.
Exxon-Mobil, run by Tillerson, dumps millions of dollars into Equatorial Guinea’s bank account in Washington [legal] as purchase of their oil, and lets the family for life have it all.
Meanwhile, the family lives in stupefying luxury while 90% of the people of Equatorial Guinea are starving, living in squalor and receive virtually no government assistance to make their lives livable and worthwhile.
Well, that’s big business for you, and the p-e wants the boss of the biggest business to be our Secretary of State, the person who extends our idealism to the rest of the world. By selecting Tillerson as SecState, the p-e shows, once again, how empty his folders really are.
Tillerson may know how to swing multi-billion dollar deals like the one he did with Russia to drill in their Arctic barrens, but will he be able to perform at the meetings that try to keep peace in the world?
The whole world trembles. Maybe “little” Marco will be the vote that dumps Tillerson.
Finally, Barack Obama performed in a graceful and dignified series of events to mark his second-last week in office. His farewell address was part recapitulation of his accomplishments, part thank you to all that supported his administration and part call to work.
The latter is what we the people haven’t been doing enough of. The activism by the thinking, compassionate and, yes, idealistic people in the United States is necessary to assure fairness in the distribution of our ideals as well as the opportunities for everyone to lead a dignified life, not one of poverty or ill-health or poor education.
On Thursday, President Obama bestowed the Medal of Freedom with Distinction to his No. 2, Joe Biden. It was a touching and moving ceremony that personified his grace, classiness and decency. Nobody is more deserving today than Joe Biden. Add to all that, the Chicago Cubs will shun the p-e before and after inauguration, and visit the Obama White House for their moment of congratulations by a real president, President Barack Obama.
This week is special, and I will cherish its moments as they apply to the outgoing administration of Barack Obama. It is also special in an opposite view, in that it precedes perhaps the most disgusting electoral accident in our history.
The political horror show I see on TV every day involving the p-e has motivated this writer to get to work at defeating the Republican agenda, and supporting all legal methods and means to remove this man from office as soon as possible – before he destroys the nation and perhaps the world.
– Vern Turner lives in Marble Falls, TX and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer. His latest book, Racing to the Brink: The End Game for Race and Capitalism, is available through Amazon.com.
