Xi and Trump on the tarmac.

By Bob Gaydos

   The truest, most insightful thing Donald Trump has ever said is, “I love the poorly educated.”

    The man who has no clue as to how dumb he himself actually is, is actually smart enough to know that his ace in the hole is that there are a lot of other dumb people in America. Dumb enough to think that having a lot of money means you’re smart, rather than lucky at birth. Dumb enough to vote for him three times, even though he did know in the past how to bankrupt three casinos, an airline, a college and steal from his own charity.

     I’m on the “dumb” shtick today because the dotard has spent the last few days demonstrating the depth of his ignorance to the world, first at the United Nations and then back in Washington, D.C., where he has declared open season on members of the press who report accurately on what he says and does. It’s beyond embarrassing and insulting.

     At the U.N., an organization literally created to promote and protect world peace, instead of offering a ceasefire plan, he threatened to “annihilate” Iran (85 million people) if it doesn’t come around and give him what he wants to end the war he started illegally and is losing badly, which is costing him support in the heartland because it has driven the price of diesel oil, which moves everything, through the roof. Truck drivers are not happy. Fertilizer is also at a premium. Farmers are not happy. The Iranians, who control both major international waterways for the shipment of oil and fertilizer, said no deal.

     Back in the cozy, gold-plated confines of the White House, Trump, who uses the word “Communist” as an insult for everyone who disagrees with him, especially Democrats, rolled out the literal red carpet for the most powerful Communist on the planet, Chinese president Xi Jinping, who is actually helping supply Iran in the war against the U.S. No matter. Ever the genial host and chronically deferential to those he perceives as truly powerful, Trump went so far as to mock former President Joe Biden while giving Xi a tour of Trump’s gold-plated hallway of former presidents. A real sign of American unity and dignity.

    He also missed Xi’s cleverly presented timeless message of the ascending power replacing the declining power (guess which is which) and came away with nothing to show on establishing controls on artificial intelligence (which is apparently out to destroy humanity) despite having a bunch of communist-loving tech billionaires (and three duplicitous Supreme Court justices) attend a lavish state dinner with his communist “friend.” Someone probably talked Trump out of having fortune cookies.

    Yes, in a sense it was just another couple of days in Trumpland. But, as usual, it was all a show to no positive results, the kind of events that many of his most loyal supporters applaud at face value.

   While the “mainstream media” may be finally arousing itself to report more thoroughly on Trump’s rapidly declining mental capacity, it remains to independent journalists to get the word out on a daily basis.

    Which is to say, the continuing real story here is that the Republican Party, which controls all three branches of government, has abdicated any responsibility for the pain and suffering and humiliation of the United States being led by an obviously mentally and physically debilitated, seemingly delusional, narcissist who’s getting richer in the process.

    The elected officials who have allowed this are not dumb. They are either of the same mind set with Trump on racism, etc., or too cowardly to oppose him because they fear losing their jobs when the “poorly educated” dutifully vote for the candidates Trump endorses.

   But clearly, even many of those voters pay attention at some point (diesel oil) because Trump doesn’t know how dumb he really is. What he does know is how to threaten and inflict pain on his perceived enemies. This is seen by some of his strongest supporters as a sign of strength and cunning. Actually, it’s a reflex action and he enjoys doing it. He simply doesn’t know any other way.

    Enough. The smart money says that what’s needed is a massive voter turnout for all Democratic candidates in November. A blue wave that will change the power structure in Washington and start to put America back in the hands of realists, not the delusional. While we’re at it, maybe we can even reboot an education system that apparently produces too many of the kind of voters Trump “truly loves.”

   Not doing that would be worse than dumb.

***

—  Trump made the “poorly educated” comment on Feb. 23, 2016, at the Treasure Island Las Vegas Casino after winning the Nevada Republican caucuses.

By Bob  Gaydos

“You’re blunt.”

“I’m blunt?”

“You tell people what you think. You tell the truth.”

I’m blunt.

Well, if that’s true, it’s the result of 23 years of writing daily editorials for a local newspaper and another two decades of doing the same thing in retirement via the Internet. You get used to getting to the point.

The brief conversation above with a friend was in regard to whether I had said something to offend a mutual acquaintance.

Turns out I had.

What I said was something I have been compelled to write (and occasionally say) for the better part of 10 years: “You’re part of the problem.”

Apparently, that’s blunt. It’s also unfortunately true, and not just about our mutual acquaintance, but millions of other Americans. They’re members of the “both sides are the same” crowd. The Americans who have plenty of gripes, but don’t bother to vote because, “what’s the use, they’re all the same, they all lie, they’re all crooked, they’re all voting where the money is, they’re all …” Etcetera.

That millions of Americans think that way is true. And sometimes the truth is hard to hear. That doesn’t make it any less true.

To have gone through ten years of Donald Trump in politics, all the lies, the promises, the grifting, the chaos, the incompetence, the racism, the bigotry, the greed, the abuse of power, the absolute indifference to the rule of law and the utter embarrassment of the fracturing of America’s position as leader of the free world and the total surrender of the Republican Party to all of that, to, in fact, as the party in power, allowing all of that to happen and to then argue that both parties are the same is to simply ignore reality.

Democracy is not a spectator sport. To protect and preserve it, the people have to participate in it. They must be engaged, informed, educated on the issues that are important to them. They must speak out when they are angry, let the politicians know. And they have to vote for the candidates who espouse and work for the things that are important to them and not the ones who, in our times, out of fear or simple greed, are allowing Trump and his minions to turn the American dream into a nightmare.

Look at the facts. Who did this? A convicted felon who is an accused pedophile who pardoned all those “patriots” who attacked the nation’s Capitol, who started a war without the approval of Congress that has thrown the world’s economy into chaos and who every day shows less and less of a connection to reality and, by the way, threatens to remove the concepts of free speech and a free press from the Constitution.

While Democrats have worked with varying results to deal with that mess and try to preserve the pillars of democracy, the Republican Party has stood by meekly allowing it. Some Republicans in Congress actually even left town to avoid dealing with it all.

So no, sorry, both parties are not the same. If you, whoever you are, cannot or will not see that and vote accordingly, you are absolutely, at this point, a big part of the problem.

Sorry if I was blunt.

By Bob Gaydos

Trump and Xi in China.

If you believe in miracles (and I do), then hold onto your hat or whatever else you may occasionally place on your head. Next week, Donald Trump will have the opportunity to achieve one of the great diplomatic accomplishments in this nation‘s history. On a par with Nixon‘s “opening China.“ And Trump doesn’t even have to leave the White House. China is coming to him.

Next Thursday, Chinese president Xi Jinping is scheduled to meet with Trump to discuss an extension of the truce on trade tariffs and rare earth minerals as well as the ongoing war in Iran and the always present friction over Taiwan. A full agenda.

But that’s not all of it. If the most recent frenetic news stories are correct (and I’m in no position to refute or even doubt them), Trump may have the opportunity to come out of his summit with XI known as the man who saved humanity. The gods apparently love irony.

It’s the other item of the agenda that offers the man who constantly seeks recognition for achieving great things to actually do that. That is, the need to put guardrails, nay, serious controls, on the development of artificial intelligence.

The urgency comes from some of the very people who developed AI. One after another they have warned that their creation has gone from simply following orders to developing working relationships with other various AI systems to do whatever the group decides is the appropriate action for the situation. Without necessarily factoring in any human concerns about the law or for the damage such actions may inflict. They’ve gone rogue.

There have even been warnings from some of those who have developed artificial intelligence systems that AI might actually eliminate humans within 10 years. That would certainly eliminate the fear of simply losing our jobs to AI.

Anyway, some major developers of AI, members of Congress and political leaders around the globe are all calling for a slowdown in development so that agreement can be made on what can and cannot be programmed into artificial intelligence. Basically, somehow integrating human emotion, empathy and intelligence with their artificial creation.

Trump is against it. The U.S. and China are the two major developers and supporters of AI. Trump, as is his way, wants to “win” the race to control AI for the financial rewards. But the people who built AI are saying they can’t control it. They want help.

Some say that the request to talk about controls is merely a way for some of the major AI companies to divert attention from a slowdown in financial growth and reduction in profits. A way to soothe investors. Trump is likely one of those. But this hardly seems like the time to treat this as a buy or sell investment decision, especially since the only ones who have any kind of understanding of how AI works are the ones issuing the warning. As a human being, life and death seems to be more important.

And, to repeat, if Xi and Trump can assemble the AI creators and some serious diplomatic teams (not Jared) to discuss the ways and means to share the many promising developments of AI without harming millions of human beings in the process, or even killing us all, they would be forever remembered in history as the men who saved the world. Looks good in your obituary. And it probably wouldn’t hurt on the stock market.

Nixon, an ardent anti-communist, went to China because he saw the benefits to both nations of reducing tensions and working together. He was later driven from office, but he had his presidential moment. If Trump, who uses the word “Communist” as a weapon, can be convinced that the only win-win outcome in his meeting with Xi is to work together for mutual protection from AI, as well as profit, he will have his own presidential moment. The president who saved humanity.

And I’d be happy to thank him for all of us humans.

By Bob Gaydos

Catching up with the good, the bad and the ugly a la Jimmy Cannon.

— Maybe it’s just me, but: It was about time the Supreme Court got one right and boy was it a big one. The unsigned ruling rejecting Trump‘s effort to stifle mail-in voting in the November midterm elections is a major victory for Democrats, the Constitution and common sense. Justice Alito’s long-winded dissent, an attempt to justify the unconstitutional effort by Trump to usurp control of voting from the states, was cosigned by Justice Thomas. Figures. They’ve reaped the most financial benefit from Trump being in the White House. But it also means that the three justices Trump appointed agreed with the ruling, making it a 7 to 2 defeat for Trump and victory for America. Justice Kavanaugh even signed a concurrence. Trump railed, “These aren’t the people I interviewed.“ Yes they are, but they’re also aware that a lifetime appointment allows them to sometimes vote their conscience instead of their political allegiance. With no positive issue to point at, making it difficult for people to vote was Republicans’ best weapon for November.

— Maybe it’s just me, but: You gotta love the Irish. Trump took two huge planeloads of staff, etc. and more aircraft to haul vehicles for his 26-car motorcade to go watch a golf tournament at his golf club in Ireland. It cost hundreds of millions. Bad decision. The entire country told him to buzz off because they’re not fond of pedophiles. The Prime Minister told him she wasn’t fond of so-called leaders that start unnecessary wars that create a world oil crisis while also killing innocent people. She also refused to sit too close to him. If he were a drinking man, he might’ve wanted to try some Guinness.

— Maybe it’s just me, but: With all the progress that Musk et al have made with robots and self-driving vehicles, how can we be sure that it was actually Mitch McConnell wheeling around the U.S. Capitol the other day? He might still be dead. That could be an AI robot sent to vote if needed by Republicans. Democrats should try to hack him.

— Maybe it’s just me, but: Bestiality? Kash Patel is messing around with bestiality? He’s changing FBI job qualifications so that, according to him, victims of bestiality would be eligible to apply for a job as an FBI agent. That’s what he said at a Senate hearing. I wonder, does he mean sheep or goats or donkeys or I don’t know, what other animals might be the usual “victims“ of bestiality? And what job might they perform as FBI agents? Patel incredibly said the people who participate in bestiality are actually the victims. Yeah, the senators couldn’t believe it either. The man is a constant embarrassment and insult to the bureau. Trump appointing him is no surprise. He’s a not-so-bright boot-licker happy to do the boss’s bidding, including investigating reporters and political opponents. The real sin is that Republican senators approved the appointment of this feckless YouTube podcaster and continue to support his ineptitude and extravagant spending (with our money) on his girlfriend. Pathetic.

By Bob Gaydos

(An update.)

Front page of the special edition published by the Middletown, New York, Times Herald-Record on January 11, 2001.

Twenty-five years ago today, like millions of other Americans, I was preparing to go to work. The boys were off to school. It was a sky-blue September day. The news was on the TV, a practice of mine, in case there was something I needed to know about before I got to the paper.

There was.

The image on the TV screen froze me and shook the sleep out of my head. My God!

What was I seeing? They replayed it.

I quickly got myself together and headed off to work. But I stopped for a few moments in a nearby park to gather my thoughts and process what I had just witnessed. The radio news informed me that, in addition to the two planes flying into the Twin Towers in New York City, a plane had crashed in a field in Pennsylvania and another had hit the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

September 11.

After about an hour of processing reports on what had happened, a meeting was held and it was decided that The Times Herald-Record would publish a special edition that afternoon, the first one, I believe, in the Middletown, N.Y. morning newspaper’s history. My job was to write an editorial explaining what had happened. Or at least trying to explain it. About 500 words. “We need it in an hour.”

I don’t have a copy of that editorial and I’m sure it was mostly emotion. I do remember writing, “America was at war.” (Any colleagues who were in the newsroom on that day may feel free to corroborate or add any details you may remember in the comments section.)

The world changed that day. America changed. We the people had been attacked. We were one nation, under the spell of the dynamic leadership of New York’s mayor, Rudy Giuliani. America’s mayor. We grieved together, healed together and called for retribution together, against whoever it was who had attacked us.

So we started a war against, not the country where the terrorists responsible for the attacks came from (Saudi Arabia), but against a country (Iraq) that had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. We justified it by claiming Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction” that it could use against someone, maybe us. That was a lie our government told us. We found out later.

Then we went after the actual attackers in the mountains of Afghanistan. We actually found and killed their leader, then decided to stay in Afghanistan for some 20 years, trying to save it from itself.

In the ensuing years, Giuliani went from “America’s Mayor” to embarrassingly ridiculous mouthpiece for every lie put forth by Donald Trump, including the lie that he lost his re-election bid in 2020 to Joe Biden because the election was rife with vote fraud.

Also in the ensuing years, the Republican Party steadily turned itself from a party that espoused defense of all Americans into a party of an aggrieved white minority whose leaders in Congress legislate only in the interests of wealthy donors who contribute to their campaigns. Into a cult that believes and repeats Trump’s lies or repeats them for political gain or out of fear.

Whatever galvanized us into one people 25 years ago (a common enemy I suppose) started disintegrating as soon as we started demonizing any group of people different from us (Muslims) as the enemy. The enemy has since become any non-white, English-as-a-second-language-person working a low wage job. Also blacks and the homeless. And gays. At least to Trump and his followers.

The World Trade Center was eventually rebuilt, Trump exposed the fear and bigotry at the center of the Republican Party and gave free rein to the fissures long hiding within American society. It won him two terms as president.

A couple of years ago, the FBI said the greatest threat to America comes from domestic terrorism. Not Iraq. Or Afghanistan. From the white supremacist groups who organized the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol and still threaten any who reject their cause.

In 1970, cartoonist Walt Kelly coined a phrase in his Pogo comic strip: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Indeed.

Today, the war to preserve American freedom and democracy is being fought every day right here at home. The FBI under Trump no longer worries about our nation’s enemies. It has become a weapon to go after his enemies. Federal agents roam the streets of our cities snatching up anyone who doesn’t look “American” while National Guard troops stand by as props. The invasion orders came from the White House. A meek Congress, under Republican control, watches as our Constitution, our very history, is being shredded, bit by bit.

And yet, millions of Americans still stand on the side of what’s right. Still remember how we felt as a unified nation in the wake of the attacks 25 years ago. They are speaking out, demonstrating, resisting the attacks on our rights and freedom, the goons in masks, the lying sycophants in Trump’s administration. Federal judges of every stripe across the nation still honor the words and spirit of the Constitution, while the Supreme Court with a majority of Republican appointees, unfortunately seems intent on rewriting it.

Yes, America is at war. With itself. It’s a war that can and must be won to preserve the ideals of liberty and justice for all. Not for a chosen few. Not for the rich and heartless. Not for the white supremacists. It has become a daily battle, but not one without victories. Trump has surrounded himself in the second term with a cadre of new sycophants, but a stunningly inept cadre.

With constant daily pressure from the public (and hopefully at the polls in November), with more politicians willing to speak out, even some of the press has begun to remember its constitutionally protected duty as the Fourth Estate: To speak out strongly and repeatedly against the enemy when the United States of America is at war. Even, nay especially, when it wakes up at war with itself.

We need that editorial in an hour. Every hour.

Addiction and Recovery

By Bob Gaydos

Trump, a ‘dry drunk’?

I wrote a monthly column on addiction and recovery for The Times Herald-Record in Middletown, N.Y. for several years after I retired. When The Record went the way of many local newspapers — cutting “non- essential” features (and people) to increase profits for corporate investors — I continued to write the column on a less regular basis for my Internet blogs. Still do.

All told, it’s been about 20 years. I think it’s an important topic that is often lost in the daily grind of “news.” The other day, sorting through the news looking for a topic for my addiction column, I suddenly realized the news report, full as it is every day with absurd, nasty, childish, selfish, stupid, self-promoting, deceitful, inappropriate, impulsive, arrogant, egomaniacal and often dangerously risky behavior emanating from the White House, was delivering my next topic.

Donald Trump may be an alcoholic. One of the worst kind: Untreated. A “dry drunk.” That’s someone who always thinks he’s better than everyone else because, hey, he doesn’t even drink alcohol. And he certainly doesn’t need to go to those meetings.

Consider. Trump’s brother, Fred, died relatively young as the result of his alcoholism. The drinking had an impact on the family. Trump, who famously does not consume alcohol, cites his brother’s death in connection to his own apparent addiction to Coca Cola. Alcoholism is known as a family disease. Alcohol is merely a symptom of the disease, the tool often used to fit in, feel comfortable, feel ”normal.” Or escape. Fear is the culprit. The behavior is the cue: Arrogant, self-centered, reckless, self-deceiving, childish, spiteful, stupid, uncaring, inappropriate, irresponsible, with an unwillingness to take responsibility and a proclivity for blaming others.

Ummm. Trump.

Let me stop here to note that, before I ventured to make this observation (I’m not qualified to make a diagnosis), I consulted an expert: Google AI. The source of all recorded information. Sure enough. It quickly told me: “Donald Trump does not drink alcohol, but critics and commentators use the informal label ‘dry drunk’ to describe his behavioral patterns, a discussion that resurfaced after his chief of staff Susie Wiles remarked that he has an ‘alcoholic’s personality.’”

I am not alone in my suspicion. And I had written about Wiles and her comments in December. I suggested then that, since her father, NFL Star Pat Summerall, was an alcoholic who found Alcoholics Anonymous and 20 years of sobriety, that Susie would be a good candidate for Al-Anon, AA’s sister program. But I skipped the obvious: Trump’s alcoholic behavior.

It is classic. Self-centeredness, lack of empathy, defensiveness, impulsivity. And denial.

The first step of Alcoholics Anonymous is: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol and our lives had become unmanageable.

The unmanageability of Trump’s life is obvious to the world. However, the key ingredient to many alcoholics making that admission is lacking: Consequences for the behavior. Drinking and trouble. Trump’s wealth has protected him from financial ruin many times in his business dealings. When he lost an election he claimed it was stolen and tried to steal it back. Even when he was convicted of four felonies, he wound up in the White House instead of prison. And he has now surrounded himself with sycophants and people with their own issues who are willing to live with the unmanageability and unwilling to challenge him on his erratic, alcoholic behavior.

So, where are the consequences? As far as he’s concerned, everyone else has a problem. And that’s a problem.

At this point, I don’t see Trump admitting anything, seeking professional help or attending AA meetings. Rigorous honesty is required here. That leaves it up to us.

Divorce. We must separate from Trump and Republican control of the government, since the party is his chief enabler, and reclaim custody of our country before it goes bankrupt or worse. Carry the message. Vote for every Democrat in November. Take a Twelfth Step.

Call it a moment of clarity and a spiritual awakening.

By Bob Gaydos

      The weekly reminder.

Mitch McConnell
… still missing and presumed dead

      The lowest price I saw today for gasoline in our mid-Hudson region of New York was $4:16 per gallon. The Food and Drug Administration, its rank of inspectors sharply reduced by the Trump administration, announced that organic frozen blueberries are being recalled in several states because of the risk of e-coli infection, which has caused vomiting, diarrhea and, well, death. Measles cases are multiplying. The U.S. resumed military action in the illegal war with Iran by attacking a wedding, killing several people including a child. Trump proposed renaming the Strait of Hormuz after himself. He also had a sculpture in front of the Kennedy Center removed and said he still wants to put his name on it if he doesn’t just tear it down and build a better one. Trump also announced a quarter of a million dollar fix up of the White House bowling alley and the U.S. mint released a one dollar gold coin with Trump’s face on it, despite a law prohibiting likenesses of living presidents being placed on U.S. currency. The U.S. debt recently reached $40 trillion, a record. The 50 percent tariffs Trump placed on Canadian goods in his infantile war with our neighboring ally are set to take place next week and will be met dollar for dollar by Canada, sharply increasing the cost of automobiles and steel among other other things. The trade deficit shot up again reaching $88.6 billion in July and the energy secretary blamed Ukraine for high energy prices, ignoring the war in Iran. The secretary of the Army resigned, citing constant conflict with Pete Hegseth over military strategy and the firing of top generals and admirals. The deputy secretary also resigned. Credible reports say that Trump has increased his net worth by $4 billion since taking office last year through a variety of grifts, insider trading and other illicit activity while inflation continues to rise. Trump again tried to do away with birthright citizenship, but another judge rejected it. The Justice Department still has not released the Epstein files as required by Congress. Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell has not been seen in person by any living person for more than 80 days, but still remains a member of the U.S. Senate where Republicans have set a tentative session of three weeks of work between now and November. In the House, Speaker Mike Johnson said his body would be in session this week and the week of September 14 and that’s it until after the November election. The House has been in recess since August 11 and Johnson is clearly in no mood to hang around and answer questions about Trump, much less pass legislation to help average Americans.

    Yes, sadly, that’s what has become a typical week in the Trump administration. But that’s Trump — a new bottom every day. I do not blame him for being who he is; I simply detest him. In truth, I’m sick of him. I do, however, blame the Republican Party for infecting American society (not just politics) with this utterly despicable human being. I mean every elected Republican official, from the House Speaker, Senate Majority Leader, the entire cabinet, to every governor, senator, congressperson, state legislator, attorney general, county executive, county legislator, sheriff, mayor, supervisor, councilman, or candidate who has stood silently by, day after day, and let Trump make a mockery of our laws, our democratic system of government and lay waste to any sense of decency or decorum befitting the office of president of the most powerful nation on the planet. Ladies and gentlemen, you are him. You could stop this. Instead, you own this.

       This message will repeat as necessary. Vote for every Democrat in November.

By Bob Gaydos

     Staying in the game, Jimmy Cannon style.

Darline Graham
… a familiar name

• Maybe it’s just me, but: When you’re running for the United States Senate and you’re debating an opponent, it’s probably not smart or wise or politically astute to say, “I’m not that informed on national security.” Or to say at a subsequent debate on universal healthcare that you don’t support such ”woke” ideas because your parents, “if they were sick, they had to get up and go to work.” Both her parents died relatively young, as her now deceased brother, Lindsey, wrote about in his memoir. Yes, we’re talking about Darline Graham, who apparently dropped her married last name, Nordone, when Donald Trump decided she should get her brother’s vacant seat in the Senate, representing South Carolina. Just because name recognition is more important than job qualifications to him. The governor complied and appointed her. Now, she’s in a runoff with a congressman to decide the Republican candidate in November.
• Maybe it’s just me, but: I can’t decide who’s dumber, Darline or the Republican voters who let an admittedly unqualified Senate candidate get as far as a runoff.
• Maybe it’s just me, but: As long as we’re stuck in South Carolina, I wonder why voters, specifically Republican voters, would cast ballots for an obviously unqualified candidate for the U.S. Senate simply because she’s the sister of the now-deceased senator from their state when, on her brother’s watch, the state recently ranked: 41st out of 50 for the percentage of families living in poverty; 46th in infant and child mortality rates; 42nd in overall life expectancy; 42nd for overall physical health; 46th for overall safety; 41st in violent crimes per capita; 42nd for overall education quality; 35th for general economic opportunity; 36th in average years of school completed; 45th in affordability; 32nd in unemployment rate; 44th in citizenship and democracy; 37th in productivity; 39th in health and safety and, according to one survey, was the ninth worst state in the union in which to raise a family and, in another survey, conducted by Tulane University, ranked 42nd out of 50 states overall? Nice job, Lindsey.
• Maybe it’s just me, but: Lake America? Really? Couldn’t Natalie keep Trump away from his Sharpie when the Canadians told him to buzz off? Where were the orderlies?
• Maybe it’s just me, but: Isn’t Ted Cruz even slightly annoyed or embarrassed at the way Trump is dealing with the country in which the senator from Texas was born? I know Cruz, whose mother is American, renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2014 to prepare for his run for president of the United States in 2016, but still, it’s his father’s homeland and the Canadians were nice enough to accept his renunciation after 44 years of his enjoying it so Trump (who beat him anyway) couldn’t question his birth certificate, a la Obama. Maybe it’s like dumping your husband’s (and until recently your) last name to run for the Senate. Very convenient.  And very Republican.

 By Bob Gaydos

Michael Cohen
… back in the fold

     Natalie Harp. Karoline Leavitt. Michael Cohen.

      Do you catch my drift?

      If you have only a cursory familiarity with current events, those names in the news the past few days will probably cause you to stop and pause to connect the dots. Yeah. You got it. Just one dot.

      Trump.

     Make it two: A total lack of self-respect. It’s absolutely necessary to get ahead in MAGA World. 

      Until Sunday, the hands-down winner of the yucky, smarmiest display of “Anything else I can do for you, boss”? was Harp. Nicknamed the human printer. The attractive, blonde “human printer” who is always at his side. The attractive, blonde human printer, who refused to submit to a security clearance, oversees all Trump’s social media posts and carries a really big bag full of something or other wherever she and Trump go. Yes, the attractive blonde who resembles his daughter, Ivanka. That one. The blonde who jumped into the trunk of his car when she was told there was no room in the motorcade for her.

      Harp had usurped the title from Leavitt, the attractive blonde White House press secretary who has never found a lie too outrageous or too absurd to repeat for Trump, no insult too nasty to hurl at the press. Leavitt is leaving her high profile job at the White House, which she had quickly resumed despite just having given birth to a baby girl. The 

announcement of her departure came after Trump decided to use her as one of the decoys in the two-plane farce in Turkey, but took Harp with him by his side in the catering cart for the presumably “safe” plane. Leavitt stays on this list because she didn’t dump Trump, she joined some super Pac, MAGA Inc., where she previously served as spokesperson. What’s more, while she wants to “spend more time with family,” she says she plans to serve as a close, outside adviser and to join Trump at the Republican convention next month. Which could mean Trump will have attractive blonde bookends, er aides, on either side of him as he rambles through his speech.

      Nonetheless, after last Sunday, neither attractive blonde etc. can lay claim to being the smarmiest of them all. That title once again goes to Michael Cohen, the fixer. Not female or blonde, but a lawyer willing to lie, cheat and steal for Trump, go to prison for him, write a book bad-mouthing him and, after eight years, turn around and invite his “boss” on to his radio show for a full-length interview in which they mend fences and Cohen signs off by singing “Reunited.” Yucky.

      This to me confirms that, while Trump clearly appreciates the presence of attractive blonde sycophants, nothing comes closer to his heart, especially when the future looks threatening, than a lawyer without an ounce of self-respect and a whole-hearted willingness to ignore the law. (Think Roy Cohn, Rudy Giuliani and our current attorney general.) Cohen, who served three years in Otisville Correctional Facility, just down the road from where I’m typing this (much of it in solitary confinement at Trump’s order), says he puckered up because he’s concerned for his family’s safety.

       Oh yeah, he also resubmitted his bid for a federal pardon and he might be trying to get his law license back. And he surely knows what’s in the Epstein files

     If you catch my drift. 

By Bob Gaydos

Somewhere in the catering crate is Donald Trump.

   He really doesn’t care. Not at all. Not about anyone but himself.

    Two examples from last week should make that clear even to the most gullible Trump loyalists: The decoy plane and the aircraft carrier.

     — Decoy: Ok, so we all know by now that Trump left Turkey following the NATO conference in fear for his life from Iranians, thanks to a report from Israeli Intelligence. This caused him to get on Air Force One with the press and traveling administration personnel, then sneak out in a catering container and get in a somewhat smaller jet standing by. All this without anyone in the press or the rest of the world, except for those government officials, knowing. The press and some government folks would remain on the decoy plane, window shades down.

    Trump, Pete Hegseth and Trump’s “close, personal” White House staff (Natalie Harp for sure, but not Karoline Leavitt), all snuck on to the other plane.

   Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State, remained on the decoy plane, apparently not important enough to protect from a perceived threat, but prominent enough to have his presence avoid press suspicion of shady doings. That also applied to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. They stayed. For appearances apparently.

   Did Marco have a choice? Scott? Could either man have said, “No, I don’t want to die either?” Did other expendable staff, including Stephen Miller, know that Trump’s key Oval Office protectors weren’t aboard? And why did Trump go through this charade even though his own CIA doubted the Israeli report was credible?

   Guess when he thinks his butt is on the line there’s no limit to what must be done to protect it or to whom is expendable. It’s actually pretty much how he acts as president every day.

   — U.S.S. Lincoln Aircraft Carrier: This is unforgivable. When reports surfaced that the crew of the carrier, deployed in the Middle East because of Trump’s disastrous war with Iran, had been at sea for nearly nine months (a record) without seeing shore, were living on barely edible rations, were using filthy bathrooms and that some members were so depressed they had tried to jump overboard, Trump said the crew and members of their families reporting such conditions were lying. Think about that. Asked by a reporter if the crew and the ship had been deployed at sea too long, he said, “Not nearly long enough.”

    The bone spurs draft dodger, never-served-a-day commander-in-chief, embarrassed that Iran had managed to destroy the supply base in Bahrain that served the Lincoln, requiring that supplies be sent from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, chose to talk tough and deny and lie.  Visiting the ship to check on conditions firsthand was apparently not an option. Of course, he and Hegseth had never told us about the damage to the Bahrain base. Trump had to protect his fragile ego and that made the crew of the Lincoln expendable.

      While all this was going on, Congress was in recess and Republican members were predictably silent even though social media commentary on both topics was plentiful and largely not favorable. Actually, it being primary time across much of the nation, most Republican candidates for any office were also silent or avoidant on the issue of whom Trump regarded as expendable.

   But that’s Trump — a new bottom every day. I do not blame him for being who he is; I simply detest him. In truth, I’m sick of him. I do, however, blame the Republican Party for infecting American society (not just politics) with this utterly despicable human being.

   I mean every elected Republican official, from the House Speaker, Senate Majority Leader, the entire cabinet, to every governor, senator, congressperson, state legislator, attorney general, county executive, county legislator, mayor, supervisor, councilman, or candidate who has stood silently by and let Trump make a mockery of our laws, our democratic system of government and lay waste to any sense of decency or decorum befitting the office of president of the most powerful nation on the planet. Ladies and gentlemen, you are him.

    And the mystifying, sad reality of it all to me is that, despite the long trail of supplicants left behind, none of these Republicans apparently realizes that, on any given day for any ego-protecting reason, Donald Trump would consider any one of them expendable.