By Bob Gaydos

Trump ( center) is led out of the hotel after the sounds of shooting.

It was fast.

Government officials were still semi-scrambling over their wives to get out of the room, hotshot White House correspondents were still on their knees under tables turning on their phones and the older gentleman with glasses seated up front was still munching on his salad when reports started popping up on social media that the latest assassination attempt on Donald Trump was, like the first one, a fake.

Just as quickly came the response from the MAGA crowd and the too-cool-to-take-sides crowd that people should stop spreading conspiracy theories about such a serious occurrence.

Fine.

I happened to be on my phone when the news was thrust upon me. I was not watching the White House Correspondents Dinner because I didn’t want to listen to a half hour or more of Trump rambling and berating the press while they sat there in their tuxedos and gowns pretending to laugh as he dumped all over them as he has for the last 10 years.

The group lost my respect when it agreed not to have a comedian roasting the president at the dinner, as was the custom, but rather let Trump be the only roaster. That’s the only grounds on which he would agree to be there. Capitulation for the sake of access. No guts, no glory, no sense that this man had indeed made them his enemy many years ago.

That’s fact one on my list of why conspiracy theories sprung up so quickly. It was so convenient.

Then there’s the fact that someone apparently managed to get into the Washington, D.C. Hilton, where the president, vice president and assorted top Cabinet officials were assembled in one room and get off a bunch of gunshots (reportedly ten) before being stopped by the Secret Service. How could this even happen if the first two reported attempts on Trump’s life were legitimate?

And then, back in the safety of the White House and looking none the worse for wear, Trump praises the security detail and then immediately invokes whatever happened as a reason for the construction of his gaudy ballroom where the East Wing of the White House used to stand because it will include a secure bunker.

Huh?

The Hilton ballroom holds about 3,000; Trump’s proposed ballroom would hold about 1,000. Also, is this to suggest that all future presidents would never venture out of the White House to events? That’s ridiculous. The fact is that a judge had recently ordered construction of the ballroom stopped because of a lawsuit claiming it was illegal and the only option the judge offered to let the construction continue was that it was deemed to be a necessary secure site. How convenient.

Trump did not talk about the need to tone down the political dialogue. No talk about there being no place for violence in politics. No talk about that because, well that’s the way Trump always talks. Anger, insult, retribution, accusation and blame. It’s his whole game.

And of course, referring back to that first “attempt” in Pennsylvania, in which an innocent bystander was killed, we have the miraculous healing of Trump’s right ear and the virtual disappearance of any mention of the shooter, motive, etc. Gone with the wind.

Pack all this up with Trump’s addiction to lying, his background in television and his love for theater and staged events, creation of conspiracy theories about what happened in Washington was, in my opinion, inevitable.

Now, as for the facts. The so-called “manifesto” of the shooter, which was reportedly released by two unidentified law-enforcement officials not authorized to do so, says he was surprised that no one bothered to check his baggage when he checked into the Hilton the day before the scheduled event with his guns and knives. Seems like a flaw in the security arrangement.

Also, he managed to get within one floor of the ballroom before being stopped by security, but not before firing about 10 shots. The manifesto suggests the accused shooter was aware security officers will be wearing bulletproof vests and hoped they worked. The one person who was shot was indeed wearing such a vest. It worked.

These could easily be interpreted as failures of security or part of a script to save a ballroom.

One part I’m sure was not in any script was Norah O’Donnell on “60 minutes” Sunday night reading from the so-called manifesto in which the alleged shooter, in explaining his actions, said he was no longer willing ”to let a pedophile, rapist and traitor coat my hands with his crimes.”

O’Donnell asked Trump what he thought about that. Predictably, he called her “horrible people” for reading it and said, “I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anyone. I’m not a pedophile.” To which she replied, “Oh, do you think he was referring to you?“

Since Trump’s buddy now owns CBS, Nora’s job may well be on the line for that little bit of legitimate journalism. But let the White House Correspondents Association take note.

By Bob Gaydos

The lucky Ladybug.

  Last Saturday turned out to be quite a day. I woke up to a much-needed warm, sunny day with snow melting everywhere, and wound up spending my afternoon writing about the dotard in the White House starting a war with Iran because people were talking about stuff in the Epstein files about him raping a 13-year-old girl.

   Bummer, right?

   But the universe has a way of trying to balance things out, I believe. You just have to pay attention.

    Later Saturday, I got together with a group of friends over coffee and good cheer to talk about anything other than war. In the midst of this fellowship, a ladybug suddenly appeared on the table right next to my arm. Out of nowhere. Inside, windows closed, no plants, ladybug.

     It stuck around. Pleasantly surprised, I said I was “pretty sure” it was a good omen. In my head, I was saying, “God, I sure hope it is“

     Well, hey, sometimes I get it right. Back home on the couch, I asked my assistant – Google AI – to check out the symbolism of the ladybug. It reported back, “Ladybugs are almost universally recognized as the symbols of good luck, protection and positive transformation. Their arrival is often seen as a sign that wishes are about to come true or that a period of prosperity is beginning.”

     Also, in some cultures they are seen as guardians that ward off negative energy, in others they represent personal growth and in many traditions, AI tells me, “the appearance of a ladybug suggests that true love is on its way or that current relationships will flourish.”

   Gotta love that last flourish. And I wouldn’t argue with that period of prosperity thing either. But I’d really like to cash in on that “wishes are about to come true” sign. For all of us.

   Realistically, I don’t think even a swarm of ladybugs could give the tin man in the White House a heart, but I gotta believe in enough of a swarm, perhaps accompanied by massive demonstrations and thousands of phone calls complaining about starting illegal wars and allegedly raping 13-year-old girls not being acceptable behavior by the titular head of this country, miraculously implanting a brain and some guts in cowardly Republican members of Congress to put a stop to the insanity. That’s my wish.

   They say you gotta believe. They also say you gotta grab a shovel or a hammer or a phone or a pen or whatever is necessary to kind of help out. C’mon, folks. I’d really hate to waste a good lady bug.

By Bob Gaydos

The New York Times played Trump‘s racist slur of the Obamas as the lead story on Page One.

    The racist-in-chief hit a new low, at least for me, last week when he posted a video clip on his social media site portraying President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes. 

     I say “at least for me” because, even though using this imagery has long been considered to be crude, racist behavior for any average citizen and until now has been beyond belief that any American president would wade this deep into the sewer of the history of racism, no one is talking about it. Even though it was only last week.

     How low he has taken us.

     To be fair, in the crisis-a-day atmosphere of the Trump era, it can be difficult to maintain outrage. And the daily release of new names in the Epstein files with the continuing coverup by the White House is legitimate news  and worthy of its own outrage.

     And, The New York Times, rediscovering its role under the First Amendment, did give the racist post the appropriate position as lead story on page one the morning after.

     Still, the initial administration attempts to disavow and the even worse efforts to pass it off as a joke only served to make Trump‘s racism more difficult to ignore. From his long ago attacks on the Central Park Five to his history of demeaning comments about women of color and insulting remarks about non-white nations and American cities with large black populations, Donald Trump has displayed his racism, even eagerly it seems, at every opportunity. Sometimes, perhaps, just for the sake of it. 

   I am just angry and disgusted that he gets to do it while representing the United States of America to the rest of the world, demeaning the position and embarrassing the nation, and that so many Americans think it’s OK because (1) they agree with him, or (2) they  think, well, he’s always been that way.

   I’m sorry. It’s not OK. I just hope that, in the future, history lessons will include full, honest detail of this dark chapter in American history and that teachers will be allowed to teach it. 

    But if we ignore it now, I fear that’s exactly what will happen. So, please, don’t pass it off. Don’t let Trump’s racism get lost in the chaos. He eventually admitted he posted the slur of the Obamas. Fine. Then fight fire with fire. Call a racist a racist, habit or not, president or not. Let him know that it’s not in any way OK.

By Bob Gaydos

Susie Wiles
… the enabler

     Donald Trump has “an alcoholic’s personality.”

      Who says so? The woman who should know. The woman who runs his household, makes sure he looks ready for the day ahead and structures her own life around his anger, insecurities and alcoholic unpredictability.  The one who manages the unmanageability.

      Susie Wiles. His enabler.

      When I read that Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, had given a Vanity Fair writer 11 months of remarkably honest conversations about what Trump is like, how he thinks and operates, warts and all, I was stunned. What the heck is she doing? I wondered. She knows Trump. You can’t tell the truth about him without paying the price. And she knows Vanity Fair is going to report the truth. This is political suicide.

      After sleeping on it, I came up with another explanation. She knows better. She’s not Rudy Giuliani (who also has an alcoholic’s personality), standing in front of Four Seasons Landscaping garage instead of The Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia, arguing that Trump was robbed in the 2020 presidential election.

      It’s not political suicide. It’s a warning shot and the first stage of an escape. The enabler went to Al Anon.

      Now, I don’t know if Wiles actually ever attended meetings of Al-Anon, a 12-step group for people whose lives have been significantly impacted by the drinking and alcoholic behavior of someone close to them. But, as Wiles disclosed, her father was Pat Summerall, who played football for the New York Giants, was a popular sportscaster and, by the way, was an alcoholic who eventually managed to have 20 years of recovery.

     She was certainly a candidate for Al Anon. If she went to meetings, she would’ve learned that she didn’t cause the alcoholic’s behavior, can’t control it and certainly can’t cure it. What she can do is focus on herself and her own well-being, set boundaries and support the alcoholic — without enabling him.

       Wiles may have gotten to the point where, knowing that Trump is not about to change – in fact, appears to be getting worse – that her own self-interest would be best served by getting out of Dodge. Honey, I’m outta here.

       And honey, by the way, I know a bunch of your secrets and a bunch of good lawyers, so please don’t try to stop me or hurt me.

      Of course, in Wiles’ case, she has not been an innocent victim, along for the ride because she had no choice. She had a choice. She said yes to Trump. She knows where the bodies are buried. Like Haldeman for Nixon, she’s seen the enemies list. She bears responsibility, as a primary enabler, for much of the pain Trump has caused other people

      She knows what he’s been doing and has helped him each step of the way, one day at a time. Her  charge that the article was a hit job and claims of trying to persuade Trump away from exacting political revenge ring hollow.

      But spilling the beans and your guts on Trump without having an exit plan makes no sense. If you can’t detach with love, then do it with confidence and a landing pad. Having “White House chief of staff” on your résumé doesn’t hurt.

    So, it doesn’t look like Trump‘s going to rehab. Actually, he doesn’t even drink. That leaves assisted living at Mar-a-Lago or prison. Maybe Wiles sees this happening sooner rather than later and is packing her bags.  She’ll probably write a book. 

    In any event, if my guess is correct and Wiles is planning her escape from the unmanageability of Trump’s “alcoholic” behavior, she might do well to take a look at some of the other steps in the Al Anon program. The ones about taking a fearless personal inventory of her shortcomings, making amends to people she has harmed, promptly admitting when she is wrong and, having had a “spiritual awakening,“ practicing these principles in all her affairs.

      Her father, who went to the Betty Ford Clinic and then attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, spoke openly about practicing those principles.

      Honesty is the first principle of all 12-step programs. I applaud anyone in Trump‘s inner circle being publicly honest about him. It’s rare these days. But it sure would be nice if one of them also took responsibility for their part in enabling the insanity.

      That would be Step Four, Susie.

***

(Bob Gaydos has written a column on addiction and recovery for nearly 20 years.)     

Donald Trump freezes while others attend to a guest who collapsed in the Oval Office. Photo; Andrew Harnik. Getty

By Bob Gaydos

Freeze!

We had a game we played when I was a kid that involved one person turning his back to the group, closing his eyes, counting to 10 and stopping, looking over his shoulder and yelling “freeze”!

If he saw you move, you were out.

Donald Trump would’ve won every time.

Thursday, a photographer caught the quintessential photo of Donald Trump. Surrounded by a group of pharmaceutical executives and their guests in the Oval Office, the “leader of the free world“ froze when one of the guests fainted behind him.

As others, including Dr. Oz, rushed to help the man, Trump stood immobile, looking simultaneously dumbfounded and irritated that someone had dared to intrude on his spotlight.

As others attended to the guest, Trump stood behind the Resolute Desk, staring straight ahead, unable to show concern for someone in distress. This was someone invited to Trump‘s office, to the house he is in the process of destroying in the name of remodeling. His guest.

Nothing. Clearly, no empathy and no clue what to do. In other situations where he has no clue, which is most of them in his current position, he merely starts talking, rambling, lying, making jokes, making a sales pitch for how he is the smartest, best, wisest, toughest of them all, whoever they may be. But this time he had no words.

And, clearly, nothing in his 79 years on this planet that had instructed him on how to react compassionately to someone in distress.

A statue. Unthinking, uncaring, unfeeling, unbelievably unknowing. Donald Trump, frozen in time for all to see.

This really is who he is, people. His mental capacities have clearly been failing for some time now, but I’m not sure a fully functioning Trump with all his mental capacities intact would have reacted differently. His actions as president demonstrate that he is immune to others’ suffering. Sometimes, he  seems to enjoy it. He just doesn’t care. He apparently never learned how.

He couldn’t even fake it.

***

(The guest, invited by one of the pharmaceutical companies in attendance, reportedly had fainted from the heat in the oval office, apparently a recurring issue. Reports said he was fine after being attended to.)

By Bob Gaydos

Wrecking ball demolishing the East Wing of the White House.

— He is tearing down the East Wing of the White House, after saying he would not, to build a garish ballroom. Republicans say nothing.

— He is using our military to murder people on the high seas, in the name of fighting drugs, with no evidence offered of any wrongdoing. Republicans say nothing.

— He is using ICE as a  violent private army to kidnap people off the streets of American cities in the guise of fighting illegal immigration, locking them up in private prisons with no charges filed or sending them to other countries. Republicans say nothing.

— He is three weeks into a government shutdown, with federal employees going unpaid and services curtailed, having made no attempt to reach a budget compromise with Democrats. Republicans say nothing.

— He has scared House Speaker Mike Johnson into keeping the House out of session to work on a budget that will not cause millions of Americans to lose their health insurance because that would also require Johnson to swear in a new Democratic representative, who would be a deciding vote to require release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, which are believed to contain the names of prominent figures (including his) involved in a worldwide sex-trafficking scandal involving teenaged girls. Three Republicans complained.

— He has ordered federal prosecution of persons who he feels have disrespected him in word, in print or in court, offering none or flimsy excuses for evidence of wrongdoing. An enemies list. Republicans say nothing.

— He is ordering the National Guard into American cities governed by Democrats, over the opposition of governors,  while claiming crime is rampant when it is not and ignoring judicial rulings to cease. The Guardsmen are used as stage props. Republicans say nothing.

— He is suing the news media for daring to report the truth and seeking exorbitant sums to settle the suits as a way of silencing the press. Republicans say nothing.

— He is demanding payments from colleges for admission policies and courses which recognize the wide spectrum of people living in this country, as well as its history. Republicans say nothing.

— He is asking the Justice Department, which he has seeded with sycophants and lackeys and inexperienced lawyers, to pay him $230 million restitution for being the subject of several investigations and indictments, which ceased when he became president. Republicans say nothing.

— He has made enemies of America’s traditional allies, such as NATO, Canada and Mexico, through insults and accusations, while cozying up to Vladimir Putin of Russia and other authoritarian leaders. Republicans say nothing.

— He has filled his cabinet with the worst collection of incompetent, publicity seeking misfits in the history of the country. Planes are colliding; people are getting measles again. Republicans say nothing.

— He has played games with tariffs, imposing and threatening huge ones against various countries, disrupting trade, raising the price on imported goods, increasing supermarket shopping costs and causing hardship to farmers already hurting because of the kidnapping of their workers and undoubtedly resulting in profits to family and close associates who know ahead of time when he’s going to change his mind on a tariff and cause some stock to soar or sink because of his illegal market manipulation. Republicans say nothing.

— He pardoned the January 6 rioters, who lay waste to the nation’s Capitol over his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Republicans say nothing.

— He has hawked watches, sneakers, bitcoin and coins with his name on it, held invitation-only dinners for ultra-wealthy influence seekers and accepted a jet from Qatar, which will cost a fortune to refurbish to use as president and as his personal aircraft in civilian life, all in violation of the law forbidding the office holder from profiting off the presidency. Republicans say nothing.

— He is talking about having a coin minted with his image on it (illegal) and maybe building a triumphal arch honoring him in Washington, D.C. Republicans say nothing.

— He acknowledged the No Kings Day demonstrations, as more than 7 million Americans took to the streets for peaceful protest against all of the above, with a social media post using an AI-generated video showing him as a royal ruler flying over the demonstrators and defecating on them. I repeat: Defecating on them. American citizens. Mikey Johnson called it “satire.” Other Republicans say nothing.

— He plays golf virtually every weekend, displays no working knowledge of math, science, history or how government works, lacks empathy, can’t remember who’s the leader of which country, is unable to give a speech without descending into disconnected sentences of self-glorification and lies about virtually everything, including being shot. Republicans say nothing.

   OK, that’s it. I’m exhausted and that’s only off the top of my head without doing any research.

   Here’s the point: There are elections coming up very soon for state, county, town  and city officials across the country. I have been an independent voter my entire adult life. I voted for whomever I thought was the best candidate for the job. The last few years, my decisions have been simplified. I simply vote for the Democrat. Or, put another way, I never vote for the Republican.

      They have sat by, mostly silently, while this man has laid a wrecking ball to our nation. To our ideals. To our reputation. To our heritage. To our sense of community. To our self-respect.

   Whether it be out of fear or pure complicity, at this point it doesn’t matter anymore. Their silence defines them. They are him.

   I will vote for and/or publicly commend the first local Republican official whom I am aware of speaking critically of him publicly. But it’s been 10 years and I’m still waiting. And I’m not holding my breath.

    Republicans need not say anything.

By Bob Gaydos

Just when I thought I had heard every story about what a racist, bigoted, ugly, ignorant, deplorable collection of cowards the Republican Party has become, a new day brings a new low.

The Young Republicans.

A recently leaked trove of hundreds of chat messages on Telegram from January to August of this year among leaders of the group from around the country included those referring to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people.”

Politico, which broke the story, reported that “Chat members joked about putting their political enemies in gas chambers. They joked about rape — one member referred to it as epic.”

And some praised Hitler.

Politico found more than 250 racial, anti-Semitic and other ethnic slurs. All the usual suspects. The chats included messages from leaders of several Young Republican groups, including those in New York, Kansas, Arizona, and Vermont.

Peter Giunta, who was chair of the New York State Young Republicans, was also chief of staff for New York state Assemblymember Mike Reilly. Climbing the ladder. Giunta lost that job and apparently had to return to his parents’ basement to look for some new friends online.

Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, from upstate New York, a strong Trump loyalist until he reneged on her appointment as U.N. ambassador and past recipient of an award from the New York Young Republicans, was critical of the ugly conversations, perhaps aware that they wouldn’t help her upcoming campaign for governor of New York. Just saying.

The ironic part of this whole sleazy mess is that those participating in it were aware that, if their conversations became public, they would be in deep trouble. They even said so. Yet they persisted, perhaps feeling inoculated by the current hateful political climate created by the elders in their party.

While some Republicans have criticized the chats and called for resignation of these Young Republican leaders, a White House spokesperson said it was not fair to try to connect the ugly language to Donald Trump, who, of course, is head of the party and as bigot in charge spews hate and ridicule at those he doesn’t like on a daily basis and has launched a violent campaign against ethnic minorities in America

Number Two, J.D. Vance, described the almost universally horrified reaction to the chats as “pearl clutching.” But that’s J.D. being J.D.

Well, clutch these pearls, Republican officials. These are your party’s future leaders. It’s like a family, folks. The 20 to 40 group. They are simply mimicking the bigotry, ignorance, and hatred they have seen and heard coming from the top because they feel it has been successful. That’s what daddy always says and look at him. He’s a big shot.

No one is telling them otherwise. No one talks about the fear behind the bigotry. Also, apparently no one told them that what’s said in the house, stays in the house. The Young Republican leaders never figured out that if you’re supposed to keep something secret, there might be something wrong with it.

That ignorance, or arrogance, worked until now. Now, the whole world has learned what has been going on behind closed doors and is horrified to learn that it was, in fact, so predictable.

By Bob Gaydos

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

Twenty-four 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 24 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 24 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 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.

The decades-long peace vigil across from the White House that Trump ordered dismantled.

By Bob Gaydos

“Maybe it’s just me, but: If I’m going to keep doing this, I think I’m going to have to come up with a rating system on the absurdity (an all-inclusive, non-profane word for all the negatives imaginable) of news stories emanating from the White House.”

I wrote that sentence a few weeks back at the end of a column that included stories about Trump firing the commissioner in charge of providing monthly labor statistics because he didn’t like the numbers she reported and appointing Fox News personality and legal nut job Jeanine Pirro as prosecutor for the District of Columbia. On a scale of one to five, I gave them both a five.

I have to readjust my rating system, or just scrap it. I should have known better with Trump. He never misses an opportunity to do the more outrageous, stupid, harmful, arrogant, selfish, petty, cruel, illegal and ultimately absurd thing when given the opportunity. And the Supreme Court, one of his primary enablers, has given him that opportunity carte blanche with its conveyance of immunity for acts committed in accordance with his duties as president.

Last week, Trump ordered the killing by U.S. military of 11 Venezuelan citizens on a boat in the southern Caribbean, justifying it as a blow in the war against illegal drugs. He said the U.S. military had identified the crew as members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the U.S. designated a terrorist group in February and that the gang, not known for illegal drug activity, is controlled by Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro.

No warning was given. The boat was attacked, the occupants killed. No drugs were found. Even if there were, proper legal procedure is for proper authorities to arrest the people involved and let the legal system judge them. Not assassinate them with the military. That’s illegal. Some call it a war crime.

The rest is in no particular order since the outrageous keeps coming on a daily basis as Trump, who is clearly sliding to dementia, is also obviously panicked about the growing demand that the Epstein client list be made public.

This has resulted in him threatening war on a United States City — Chicago — not only threatening to send in National Guard troops, but posting a social media fantasy of himself in “Apocalypse Now” declaring, “I love the smell of deportation in the morning.” This also emphasizes the fact that he has given the Department of Defense a new (unofficial) nickname, Department of War. Which would also jibe with that war crime against Venezuela.

He has also tilted his javelin against windmills, stepping up his Don Quixote crusade against safe, clean, inexpensive alternative energy by shutting down a huge, nearly completed clean air project off the coast of Rhode Island, which is designed to serve hundreds of thousands of residents.

Then, after threatening Republican members of Congress who dared to demand full release of the Epstein files by calling them “traitors,” he turned his attention to upstate New York. He showed his absolute pettiness by celebrating the West Point Alumni Group’s decision to cancel the awards ceremony at which Tom Hanks was to receive the prestigious Sylvanus Thayer Award. It is given annually to “an outstanding citizen of the United States whose service and accomplishments in the national interest exemplify personal devotion to the ideals expressed in West Point‘s motto: ‘Duty, Honor, Country.’” Things about which Trump is completely clueless.

Hanks, who has appeared in several notable films portraying members of the armed services as well as the American space program, is also an outspoken critic of Trump. Trump called him “woke.” Horrors! Earlier this year, the Academy eliminated more than a dozen student clubs and organizations for women and minority students, bowing to Trump pressure to eliminate DEI programs. The alumni said Hanks will still get the award, but without the public pomp and ceremony. Maybe the press should show up.

And just to wrap up this mess, the fearless leader apparently looked out the window and didn’t like what he saw in a park across the street — a simple peace vigil that has been there for more than 40 years. Trump ordered Park Police to tear it down as part of his campaign to clear the nation’s capital of homeless people. Unfortunately, the people who maintain it are not homeless. They simply show up every day to sit under the blue tarp. Trump took that blue canvas as a sign it was a homeless encampment. There’s a war on against that, too.

The day after the blue awning, erected to defend against rain, was taken down and signs promoting peace thrown away, one of the founders of the vigil showed up in the usual place to continue the vigil. Without the blue tent awning. Determined to remain. The group found their signs, too.

It may be too much to expect, but it would be nice if one of Trump’s trusted aides could point out to their fearless leader that murdering foreign civilians without providing any evidence or cause, depriving thousands of your own citizens of an inexpensive source of energy, threatening war on an American city, bullying the military into a cowardly retreat on honoring a citizen who had honored them and then (really?) tearing down a simple vigil for peace in the world because some phony MAGA “journalist” called it to his attention are not the kinds of acts that are going to get him that Nobel peace prize he desperately wants.

They’re not likely to get him into heaven either.

National Guard troops picking up trash in Washington, D.C.

By Bob Gaydos

The National Guard is picking up trash in Washington, D.C.  This, my fellow Americans, is apparently the crisis Donald Trump felt could not be handled by regular employees of the nation’s capital. It is also an insult to every member of the National Guard units on duty in Washington and, indeed, to anyone who now serves or ever served in a National Guard unit anywhere in the country.

These are private citizens with jobs and families and responsibilities and lives to lead who signed up to help their communities, their nation if need be, in times of crisis. Like, maybe, an angry mob assaulting the Capitol, assaulting police officers, running wild through the seat of the nation’s government, threatening the Vice President, trying to undo an election. A time to be of service.

Instead. Picking up the trash. At a million dollars a day, no less. Simply because someone in the White House apparently got tired of all the criticism levied at the absurd reason given for the callup in the first place. Crime is running rampant in D.C., Trump claimed. A lie. The crime rate is down.

Beyond that, the National Guard is not a police force. It is not trained or even authorized to make arrests. It does not do riot control. It is not authorized to fire on its fellow citizens and, in fact, it showed up for duty in D.C. without carrying weapons.

And it stood around for days in uniform, looking like a bewildered occupying army, occasionally walking through streets or standing in front of buildings. So Trump could look tough. The man who could have called up the Guard to stop the January 6 assault on the Capitol but chose to watch it unfold on TV for three hours without doing anything, now has his little private army surrounding him and standing around doing nothing, away from their families and jobs and meaningful activities

Someone in the White House eventually had the idea to allow them to carry weapons. Apparently Kent State was written out of U.S. history. Then some genius apparently said have them pick up the trash. Clean up some graffiti. At least they’d be doing something.

Insulting. Embarrassing. Infuriating. Ignorant and arrogant. Everything Trump and his toadies are. Millions of Americans have served or are serving in National Guard units in every state as well as D.C. They signed up for a variety of reasons, going through regular training as citizen soldiers knowing that there was always the possibility they would be called up to help in some legitimate local state crisis and possibly even to serve on active duty with the regular military.

Not to pick up the trash because at least it looks like they’re not just standing around wasting taxpayers’ money.

Trump says he’s going to do the same thing in other Democrat-governed cities because, well, just because he wants to try to scare people by sending in an armed force even though there is no justification for it. The man who has called people who serve in the military “suckers“ or “losers,“ likes to play commander-in-chief but doesn’t know anything but fear, threats and retribution. Hollow, shallow and, more and more, alone in his own mind. It’s beyond troubling.

Fortunately, some governors and mayors are telling him to pound salt. We don’t have a crisis and don’t need you to create one to feed your ego and your fellow racists.

Maybe some military folk should speak up, too. And some Republican elected officials, especially those who have served and may still serve in some Guard unit. The lies and insults and abuse of power can become routine when they are a daily occurrence. Even without a legitimate mission, an occupying army is still an occupying army.

If the Guard is going to take out the trash in Washington, D.C., it should start with the Oval Office. That would be responding to a legitimate crisis.