Trump As President: Oh My God! What Have We Done?

After 7 posts in a row talking about anything BUT politics, yesterday brought that subject to the forefront of this blog but under the very silly umbrella of Broken News.

 

Today, I’m putting on my serious hat.

 

So…

 

Seriously, guys and gals: what the fuck?

 

Let me be honest with you: on the night of November 8^th, as the hours wore on and on, the electoral map kept turning more and more red like blood spreading on the floor of an abattoir. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer was a voice of doom with the litany of announcements: “We’re calling North Caroline for Donald Trump.” “CNN projects Donald Trump as the winner in Ohio.” “Donald Trump wins in Michigan.” “CNN is projecting Florida goes to Donald Trump.” And so on and so on ad infinitum.

 

Or maybe “ad nauseum” would be more appropriate. I decry people who abuse the word “literally” but in this case, I swear to you the use of the word is accurate: I literally felt sick to my stomach. Nausea, dizziness, alternating between chills and feeling flushed, the tightening of the esophagus, that dusty taste at the back of the throat. I really thought I might throw up.

 

Now this isn’t my first Presidential election rodeo and no matter who I was rooting for, if my candidate lost, I may have been disappointed but I would figure, “OK, the other guy won’t be so bad.” Not this time. This time, all I could think was this:

“Oh my God! What have we done?”

 

But that was nearly two weeks ago. In the intervening passage of days, we’ve had to think about it, ponder it, process it, this most massive shock to America’s political system in the entire history of the country. And having had time to think, ponder, process, I believe I can distill my thoughts to this statement:

 

“Oh my God! What have we done?”

 

The days that have passed since the night of November 8^th have done almost nothing to alleviate my worries about Donald Trump as President. Here’s what we’ve got so far:  

• Months of work by Trump’s transition team was scrapped because son-in-law Jared Kushner is pissed at Chris Christie who, when he was New Jersey’s attorney general, prosecuted Kushner’s father and sent him to jail.
• There have been revelations that both Trump and his aides have NO idea what’s involved with taking control at the White House. Trump was surprised to learn, for example, that he has to hire people for the White House staff.
• Various government agencies who are prepared to assist with the transition have received no contacts from the Trump transition team for any kind of assistance or advice.
• Paperwork needed to help the current White House team coordinate with the new team has been slow in coming.
• There has been no communication by the Trump team with the State Department even as Trump is professing to be speaking with world leaders. We have no info on what they told him or what he said to them. Trump did not ask for any briefings from the State Department before engaging in these phone calls.
• The two big appointments that Trump has made so far points his administration in completely opposite directions. RNC chair Reince Preibus was named by Donald Trump as his  White House Chief of Staff; Preibus is probably as ultimate an example of a political insider as you can imagine, an appointment that goes far afield of Trump’s repeated pledges to go to Washington and “drain the swamp”, get rid of the political insiders. On the other hand, after promising post election that that he wants to bring America together, Donald Trump named Steve Bannon as his Chief Policy Advisor. Bannon is known for his strong connections to white supremacists, anti-Semites and other bigoted elements of the “alt right” movement through his association with Breitbart News. Even a bunch of Republicans are questioning that one.
• Names being floated for key cabinet positions are less known for their qualifications for those positions and more for being most loyal to Trump during the campaign. People who opposed Trump are being summarily rejected even if those persons are more than qualified and are willing to let bygones be bygones. Meanwhile, one name being mentioned as a possibility for Secretary of State is… Rudy Guiliani. Yes, an extremely hawkish war advocate is being considered to lead our diplomatic efforts. No, Rudy isn’t qualified to be Secretary of State but neither is Donald Trump qualified to President so who gives a fuck? Besides, Rudy was loyal, throw the bastard a bone.

 

I could keep going on but just like keeping up with the stupid shit that Trump did during his campaign, keeping track of the stupid shit of President elect Trump is just as extensive a task. I’ve got better things to do with my time like, I don’t know, figuring out if this lump of ear wax on my Q-Tip looks more like Lyndon Johnson or Richard Nixon.

 

So this is where we are now and we shouldn’t be surprised. Did we really think Trump the President-Elect would be different from Trump the Candidate? No, not really.

 

The fact that Trump is now President-Elect is a surprise. Well, to most of us. More on that in a future post.

 

For now, I’ll call a wrap on today’s post. I’ll be back tomorrow with some Doctor Who stuff. Until next time, remember two things:

 

1. Remember to be good to one another.
2. Oh my God! What have we done?