This is what Democracy looks like!

Two seismic events shook the body politick of America within the span of twenty four hours.

The first event was the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as POTUS.

The second, and much more important event, was the women’s march that took place across many cities in our nation and in other countries. According to many published reports, more than a million protesters gathered in Washington D.C. and around the country and the world Saturday, sending a loud and unequivocal rebuke of the incoming administration.

In typical alt-right fashion, the White House Press Secretary Sean Spice had his first official press briefing and never mentioned the marches, but instead berated the media for supposedly misreporting the size of the crowd at Friday’s inauguration.

The complaint, while bordering on extremely trivial and bizarre, showcases the authoritarian impulses of the new administration, and more alarming, the pathological, unabashed distortions and outright lies that Donald Trump and his lackeys will spew to divide and conquer. Case in point, Chuck Todd on Meet The Press called out senior adviser Kellyanne Conway when she tried to explain away Sean Spice press briefing falsehoods as “alternative-facts.”

The new regime is showing its hand, and its built on lies, propaganda, and good ole fashion Stalinist demagoguery.

Yes to be sure, the next four years will test our democracy and national resolve. However, the marches and protesters have sent the GOP and Gropenfuhrer in Chief a very loud message: business as usual will be challenged and soundly rebuked. Men and women across this nation and around the world are appalled and disgusted by the new regime and its early attempts to roll back eight years of progress.

The fact that the new administration scrubbed the White House website of any mention of climate change, LGBTQ rights, and Trumps first action as POTUS was to sign an executive order to undermine ACA or Obama care, is a clear indication of the priorities and mindset that will not make America Great Again.

Of particular note, the Trump era begins with the POTUS entering office with a deeply divided nation and with historically low approval ratings. According to a FOX news poll, 37 percent of the American people had a favorable view of Trump. In the world of Washington politics those numbers are a huge liability not only for the new regime, but also for the GOP itself. Political capital is very important for any new administration, and the new guy on job has none.

The Donald Trump honeymoon is clearly over before it actually began, and the GOP is looking at the very real prospect of a dismal defeat in the mid term elections of 2018. As I said, in one of my earlier blog’s, the pendulum is always in motion. For the time being, the resistance needs to stay the course, and fight Comrade Trump and the GOP every day until their agenda is thoroughly defeated.

This is what Democracy looks like.

One Term or Bust

Recently, one of my neighbors admitted that he found Hillary Clinton so odious as a candidate that he actually voted for Donald Trump.

He gave me all the standard talking points about her past misdeeds and how she could never be trusted. Then he asked me to give the president-elect “a chance.”

I was incredulously to put it mildly and response was immediate and straight to the point: Not going to happen.

Truth be told, I gave Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt for the last 16 months. And in all that time he confirmed my worst fears: he is a xenophobic narcissist that is equal parts snake-oil sales man, egomaniacal robber baron and petulant sociopath. The president-elect is the gift that keeps on giving, but ultimately the joke is really on the American people.

In the last 16 months, Trump has made a mockery of our electoral process and has prevented any kind of serious political debate about the real issues that our nation must contend with. And worst still, he has successfully divided our country with his fear mongering and late night tweet storms.

However, my greatest grievance against the usurper-elect is the four years he is going to steal from America. Four years that our country cannot afford to lose. Four years of GOP maneuvers that will attempt to undo all the gains of the last eight years. Four years of trying to check the attacks on our constitutionally protected rights, and freedoms. Four years of trying to make Trump a one-term aberration in our nations history. Four years of fighting for the heart and soul of our nation.

Perhaps we’ll get lucky.

Perhaps the GOP will come to see Trump as a severe liability and decide to impeach him. Or perhaps, in an uncharacteristic moment of clarity, Trump comes to the realization that he really is unfit to do the job and resigns. I seriously doubt that would ever happen, but who knows, stranger things have happened.

Or perhaps a huge asteroid suddenly appears out of nowhere, smashes into our planet and wipes out human civilization and the universe takes no notice. Admittedly this last point is purely wishful thinking on my part. 

At any rate, I have no reason to give Donald Trump “a chance.” In the last 16 months he has made himself perfectly clear … people like me are not a part of his vision of America. Inclusion and tolerance are foreign concepts to the tweeter-elect, and all his supporters would do well to remember that point. Instead of draining the swamp, as he pledged during his campaign, Trump as been filling his cabinet appointments with a rogues gallery of deplorable’s that would give the villains of Batman a run for their money.

 One doesn’t need a crystal ball to guess what a Trump presidency will bring to the poor and working class in this country. However, a perfect example of what is to come can be seen in North Carolina, where the Republican controlled legislature staged a political coup, undermining the incoming Governors power, and refusing to repeal House Bill 2, or the “bathroom bill,” a discriminatory law that has led to an economic boycott of the state by many business organizations and artist such as Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam. 

I and all the other people that Trump has spent the last 16 months attacking and vilifying can take comfort in the following thought: for the next four years, barring any impeachments, WE THE PEOPLE get to tell the Usurper in Chef that he is not a part of our vision of America.

Democracy in action … gotta love it.