Countdown to January 20, 2021

 

Only 35 days until Donald Trump is sent packing

Another top Republican disowns his party in disgust

The exit of the latest Republican to dump the party is further evidence of the decline of the GOP. The good ones are departing, leaving only those with the mentality of their mentor, Donald Trump. Thankfully, the Trump era is almost over, putting an end to one of the most appalling White House administrations this country has ever known. Rep. Paul Mitchell (R-Mich.) even laid it out in a letter in The Hill's piece for his leaving. Reason: "President Trump's efforts to dispute the presidential election."

This is his thinking...

"If Republican leaders collectively sit back and tolerate unfounded conspiracy theories and 'stop the steal' rallies without speaking out for our electoral process, which the Department of Homeland Security said was 'the most secure in American history, our nation will be damaged."

"Will be damaged?" It is already beyond belief the damage Donald Trump and his minions have done to this country. The most important is his inattention to the COVID-19 pandemic, letting it run wild while calling it a hoax and exclaiming it would go away soon. Because of this there have been 310,331 deaths in the United States, leading the world. 7,098,109 cases of the virus, also leading the world. It might also be noted that Mitchell voted 95% for Trump's agenda. Not admirable.

Karl Rove started it all in 1977 when he joined George W. Bush to turn the GOP into a fear-mongering party of corruption and misinformation. GWB enjoyed two terms using this strategy, but Donald Trump turned all three into an art that has prevailed and almost brought down America. It will take Joe Biden at least one full term to dig out if this disordered anarchy. It will also require the removal of Moscow Mitch McConnell to realize the U.S.'s full potential.

Who is to blame for Democrats' poor performance in Tuesday's election?

 

Here's a quote from an AlterNet article by Meaghan Ellis...

"The strong voter turnout for Trump, which stands at more than 68 million voters as of Thursday, October 5, proves that bigotry, white supremacy, and racial division are still alive and well in the United States."

Even with all three of the above Donald Trump abhorrent idiosyncrasies prevalent both in the 2020 campaign and in the last four years of the White House maniac's administration, the Democrats could not convince Trump supporters to get rid of this cancer that is destroying our country. Don't know if it was the ineptitude of the Democratic Party or the fact that this 68 million is mentally retarded and/or misinformed. Probably a combination.

Owen Jones from the Guardian says this...

"How could the electoral circumstances for the US Democrats have been more favourable? A quarter of a million Americans have died in a pandemic bungled by the incumbent president, and at least 6 million have consequently been driven into poverty."

Remember Brandy Lee, the Yale psychiatrist, who has been telling us for most of Trump's time in office that he is completely unfit for the presidency, and definitely mentally unstable? She now adds that, "Trump’s mental illness infected 48% of the electorate," the percentage that voted for him. Yet, somehow, the Dems were unable to turn all these horrendous flaws into the kind of message that says, 'You must get rid of this loser.' Which should have brought a landslide, but did not.

As a Progressive I am worried, very concerned, over the run-down state that liberals are in. Look at what happened in the House and Senate. We had a chance at Bernie Sanders, and I again wonder what would be our state of affairs today if the Bern had won in 2016, again in 2020???

Mary Trump exposes uncle Donald as "World's Most Dangerous Man"

 

George Orwell predicted Donald Trump

 

Orwell's classic, 1984, was published in 1949, one year before his death in 1950. He died of Tuberculosis, another respiratory disease, which is rare today but can still be spread by anyone who is infected. There is a vaccine for TB but isn't normally given in the United States because of the low risk of infection. When I was in my teens, I remember a neighbor who caught TB, was quarantined, and the neighborhood went on about its business. 

The above is given based on the fact that we are currently going through the coronavirus pandemic, also a respiratory disease, that as of today has spawned 8,380,969 cases and 224,643 deaths, with 60,000 of those preventable by Donald Trump in a grossly mismanaged campaign to control the virus. Most of this is attributable to the Oval Office lunatic's authoritarianism which is so similar to similar to Orwell's dystopia.

Ken Abramowitz, writing for the Jewish News Syndicate, says...

"It [1984] dealt with the consequences of a totalitarian government, mass surveillance, unending propaganda to distort the truth, and the suppression of freedom, including even the freedom of thought. The totalitarian state, which is at the heart of the story, perpetuates its rule by continuously spying on its citizens, systematically manipulating the truth, and rewriting history.

Sound familiar? Trump is not a fan of George Orwell but was compared to 1984 when making the statement in 2018, “What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.” Abramowitz added...

For some, the quote immediately recalled a line from Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984: “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

The big difference here would be Donald Trump "told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears." And, of course, the poor souls who follow Trump have done just as he told them to do. There are some quotes in this article that are downright terrifying when compared to the real Donald Trump. Like...

• The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.
• Free speech is my right to say what you don’t want to hear.
• It’s frightful that people who are so ignorant should have so much influence.
• A society becomes totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial: that is, when its ruling class has lost its function but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud.

Abramowitz had one last shot...

"One of Orwell’s observations is particularly appropriate today. He warned of the authoritarian enemies who, driven by an intoxication of power, will be waging a campaign of fear, rage and loyalty only to their party. Already in 1949, Orwell foresaw the budding of dystopia in the world."

For those of you who haven't read 1984, Remember Orwell’s warning: “Don’t let it happen; it depends on you!” VOTE DONALD TRUMP AND ALL HIS REPUBLICAN CRONIES OUT NEXT MONTH!

American public has right to know Donald Trump's condition

 

Let's see, this is what we know so far. Donald Trump announced late Thursday that he and Melania Trump have tested positive for COVID-19. There are reports he knew he had been exposed when Hope Hicks reported she had the virus earlier, but Trump still attended a fundraiser in New Jersey, potentially exposing several Republican donors. T-rump, of course, rarely wears a mask. Then he was mysteriously whisked away to Walter Reed Hospital. 

The White House doctor Navy Cmdr. Dr. Sean Conley reported that things were going well, although "a source familiar with the President's health," said

"The President's vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care. We are still not on a clear path to a full recovery."

As usual, it is hard to believe those closest to Donald Trump because of all the misinformation and lies that have come from him in the last four years. Conley stated flatly Trump is not receiving oxygen, yet, again...

"a source close to the White House said Trump has received supplemental oxygen since his illness began. Trump 'definitely has had oxygen,' the source said, adding that it was on Friday."

Conley couldn't even get the reported date of the announcement correct and commented, "that the President had a fever at one point, but refused to say what it was." Although Trump proclaims that he feels fine, "the treatments administered to the President in the past 24 hours have raised concerns about his condition." While still in the White House, he was given...

"the experimental Regeneron polyclonal antibody cocktail, a promising treatment that has not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration."

Then after arriving at Walter Reed, he was administered the antiviral drug remdesivir. In the case of both of these drugs, experts have said that they are normally given to the more serious coronavirus patients. And then a rash of notices of the virus from former aide Kellyanne Conway and Trump campaign manager, Bill Stepian, both in close contact with T-rump. Add to that a third Republican Senator plus former New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. 

But Donald Trump is still in charge, not yet turning control of the White House over to his second in command, Mike Pence. And this probably wouldn't happen unless he suffers the ultimate. Like the earlier source said, "the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care." The world is watching and one can only hope that the White House gang will put misinformation aside just this once and give us the truth on Donald Trump's condition.

Read more here.

White House nixed coronavirus masks in West Wing

 

Okay, it was early, in February, when the "first masks arrived on the White House grounds by special order of the National Security Council." Followed by, "Job One in their [WH staff] emergency response was to take personal precautions, preparing for the critical work at hand." But wait, the word got out this was happening and the higher-ups, assuming all the way up to Trump, decided this would not look good so the following decisions were made...

"If you have the whole West Wing running around wearing masks, it wasn't a good look," one administration official recalled of the directive that came down from senior staff and lawyers.

The West Wing wanted to "portray confidence and make the public believe there was absolutely nothing to worry about," the official said, revealing the image-conscious reason for the opposition to masks for the first time.

What this "confidence" got them was 7,489,417 cases of COVID-19, resulting in 212,506, mostly unnecessary, American deaths. The United States leads the world in these dismal statistics, all because Donald Trump was completely incompetent in the handling of the virus. Officials wanted to talk about Trump's ineptness but could not for fear of reprisals. But anonymously they...

"tell a consistent story of how White House attempts to deal with the virus were dogged by President Donald Trump's fixation on one thing: optics."

CNN reports...

"The radical polarization that now grips the country traces back to the very first workplace where it really sank in, at the West Wing of the White House."

As usual, the administration blamed its failures on Democrats. There's more...

"We lost so much time," a former administration official said, looking back. "The whole thing was mind-blowing. This could have been so different."

But it wasn't different and Donald Trump will have to live with those 212,506 American lives lost as long as he lives. Unfortunately, we know he doesn't care.