BY VERN TURNER
The volume and intensity of news regarding the Trump Administration is becoming more convoluted than a John LeCarre’ spy novel. It seems that the corruption, lies, deceit, sedition, incompetence and embarrassing episodes have no limits with this latter-day Romanov impersonation. With each breaking story line, that wonderfully salient line from All the President’s Men keeps cropping up: “Follow the money.” Yes. The money. It’s always been about money for Trump and the Trump-ites, hasn’t it?
As each investigation plods along, more and more evidence and suspicion is unearthed to cast a dark, thick pall over this presidency and its players. Is it any wonder that Trump has surrounded himself with his faithful family, sycophants of high loyalty and nobody to tell him the truth … who are still around. Firing the unfaithful seems to be the modus operandi for Trump’s management “style.” Ironically, it is this action plus the words from the recently departed Mike Flynn that damns this group of miscreants the most: If they have to invoke the Fifth Amendment or ask for immunity from prosecution, they must be guilty of some crime. Mike must be gagging on his own words these days.
Enough about the current news avalanche. I can’t keep up with it and still write a coherent essay without it being out-of-date by the time you read it. No, this essay is about you. You, the voter, or the potential voter. Voting is all we have short of outright revolution, you know. So, which will it be? Will you educate yourself by following the truth? Will you finally realize that much of the media that Trump whines about is indeed worthless? That’s the part that includes Fox News, the Sinclair Group, Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
These entities are indeed fake news. The rest of the ink-stained wretches are actually trying to do their job that the Constitution itself asks them to do and that guarantees them that right to investigate. They are not fake news. The irony about Trump’s “fake news” rants is that he is the fake. His latest adventure to Europe laid to rest any doubts that he is absolutely clueless about anything but himself.
So, people, here we are stuck with a complete incompetent fool as our national mouthpiece [with a little help from the frightening ideology twins, Steven Miller and Steve Bannon], and a Congress that is shamelessly whoring itself out to him in order to get some bizarre, mean-spirited and self-immolating budget passed. They do this so that the rich Republicans running these Congressional Republicans get yet another pound or three of tax relief flesh from the somnolent taxpayer who isn’t paying all that much attention.
That’s the con, folks. The Republican agenda fronted by House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is, and has been, predicated on lies about economic realities and regulations that have saved us all from the evil of unchecked greed and avarice from the money moguls.
Trump and the current collection of Republicans – especially the completely mis-named Freedom Caucus – are there at the explicit invitation of the .1% of the richest people in this country. Their sole purpose is to create even more wealth for themselves. It is no coincidence that Congressional districts have been gerrymandered to the point of meaninglessness to the people who live in them. It is no coincidence that brain-dead ideologues like Ryan, McConnell and the rest have only one purpose: to create an oligarchy run by the plutocrats through what is left of the Constitution – which Trump sees as an inconvenience for his dictator wannabe self-serving ideals.
Do you not see what is happening? Have you been so subsumed by the anti-Hillary and anti-Obama propaganda by the racist white people who want to deny so many of our citizens their rights that you can’t fathom that our democracy hangs by a thread now? Think of the following scenario the next time you read or hear Trump’s mouth or the Congress’s apology for him:
– The investigations into the Trump collusion, treason and corruption cases starts to identify family members and close associates of Trump that lead directly to him.
– Trump invades North Korea or bombs them back to the stone age. He could also declare war on Iran for sponsoring the terrorism we can’t defeat.
– Trump suspends the Constitution and declares that Congress is no longer valid. He places himself as absolute authority. Sound familiar?
Game over. Democracy in the United States dies. No elections. No free press. Suppression of protests. Sounds other-worldly, doesn’t it? Well, the model is well-worn. Every Third World, tin-pot dictatorship has done it this way. Clearly, Trump has the mindset of one of these pots. Remember: “I alone can fix the system.” Get it yet?
Yes, I mean to scare the daylights out of you, and I don’t mind if you think my concerns are too far-fetched or around the bend. What I care about is that you and anyone you can influence get off your asses and start organizing while we still can. We must prepare to defeat every Republican we can in the coming elections – at every level, in every election, local or national. It is the Republican brand that is undermining our democracy and destroying the American dream for those who work for a living.
Our middle classes don’t go to work every day and shift billions of dollars around the world for the sake of the rich and their enrichment. The middle classes actually make stuff. They actually come home and put their elbows on the table and try to figure out how they’re going to pay for everything including their child’s education. Ask Betsy DeVos about how they’re going to pay for private school when their tax dollars and more will be needed because the public schools failed for lack of funding. Go ahead. Ask. What you’ll get is a vapid smile and silence. She is one of the most egregious entities in our government today. Why? Because she is attacking our children’s future and their education quality.
It’s never been more important to get involved. Your country’s future depends on it.
– 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.
