Bull In a China Shop

Over the course of the last two years, this blog has expended a lot of words on the subject of politics. My fascination with politics is akin to how some men feel about fantasy football except the object of my fascination is less fantasy and more nightmare. Instead of matching stats between Tom Brady and Cam Newton, politics is more like comparing attributes between Lucifer and Cthulhu.

But I do try to give myself a break after a Presidential election. What’s done is done, you know? Whether my guy won or not, the next guy is probably not going to completely destroy the country, right?

All it takes, however, are two words to shatter that illusion.

Donald.

Trump.

It’s hard to turn away when every single day presents fresh evidence of Donald Trump’s latest effrontery to standards of decency and intelligence. So what has Dufus Donald been up to lately?

Before even taking the oath of office to become President, Trump is royally fucking up our relations with China. Trump took a phone call from the president of Taiwan which is a tiny island off the coast of China that dares to think of itself as a free, independent nation. China doesn’t like it. China’s view is there is but one China and they are it and Taiwan does not exist, nyah, nyah, nyah! America really doesn’t want to get in the middle of that mess so we’ve agreed to go along with China while occasionally someone gives Taiwan a wink to let them know we know they are still there and we wish we could love them like we want to. I mean, we want nothing more than to take Taiwan in our arms and make sweet beautiful love to that freedom loving island. But China has a gazillion people and nuclear weapons. Taiwan has 12 people and a fondue set. So there you go.

But Trump queers the deal by taking a call from Taiwan and China was pissed about that. Now two weeks after that mishap in diplomacy took place, China is still pissed.

Meanwhile, there’s Russia who has all but rammed its dong up Trump’s backside. So here’s the deal: Russia was mucking about with our election process by hacking the Democrats and leaking emails to purveyors like Wikileaks, sowing discord in our Presidential election. But as the days and weeks pass, more and more info comes to light about the involvement not just of Russia but the Russian government and its highest level, Vladimir Putin. AND to make matter worse, all the info points not to Russia just fucking with America’s election process but fucking with it for the express purpose of electing Donald Trump.

As I write this, not all of that is a slam dunk. Not all of the US’s intelligence agencies have arrived at the conclusion that Putin was personally looking to get Trump into White House.*


*I just saw a headline where the FBI is now apparently on board with the CIA on this conclusion. Haven't read the deets on this yet.**


**I've been told I'm too old to use "deets" in place of "details". 


But there is no denying Russian influence in our election and that should be cause for concern, no matter what side of the political fence you are. And  believe it or not, there are Republicans who in tandem with Democrats think this is wrong AND needs to be handled quickly, directly and forcefully. America should NOT permit interference in our democracy by outside forces.

But then there’s Trump who along with his surrogates continue to refute that any Russian involvement in our election system is a thing. So there’s this whole Russian cloud hovering over us and Trump refuses to believe it exists.

Then he makes things worse.

Trump’s choice for Secretary of State is Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil. By the way, if I were writing a novel with a oil executive as a villain, Rex Tillerson is the name I would come up with. Anyway, what Tillerson lacks in any actual skill in international diplomacy, he makes up with a really close relationship with Russia. ExxonMobil has a lot at stake in Russia’s oil industry. Putin once awarded Tillerson with the highest honor Russia can bestow on someone who isn’t Russian. Putin and Tillerson = Puterson. Yeah, I ship it!

So let’s be sure you have all this in context.

• Everyone is in a tizzy that Russia is fucking with America.
• Trump denies Russia is fucking with America.
• Trump nominates a pro-Russian oil dude as Secretary of State. 

On the subject of the Secretary of State position, get a load of this shit. A few weeks ago, it looked like Donald Trump might be making a surprisingly magnanimous gesture by looking to Mitt Romney to head up the State Department. Romney said some particularly bad things about Trump during the election. (Which were all true, mind you, but still…bad things.) Trump would look more like a grown up by looking past those insults to consider Romney for a position in his administration. As a former Governor of Massachusetts and a former head of the American Olympic Committee, Romney has some sincere bona fides that would make him an acceptable Secretary of State. And he has a quality of sincerity and professionalism that would make for an effective counterpoint to Trump’s more freewheeling style. So Trump invites Romney over to schmooze Mitt on the prospect of heading up the State Department and…

PYSCH! NOT IT!

It’s not that Trump didn’t offer the position to Romney. If Trump decided to go in a different direction, that is (God help us) his right to do so. But Roger Stone, a confidant and advisor to Trump, said the whole outreach to Romney was to humiliate the former governor and presidential candidate. It was Trump’s revenge on Romney for all the mean things Mitt said about him.

Your future President of the United States, America! Suck on it! SUCK! ON! IT!

We are so fucked!

And my fingers are getting tired but I’m not done. Oh God! I am so not done!

• Trump nominates Rick Perry as Secretary of the Department of Energy, a man who want to shut down… the Department of Energy.
• Trump’s choice to head up the EPA doesn’t believe in climate change.
• To head up the Department of Labor, Trump wants the CEO of Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr, a strong vocal opponent of increasing the minimum wage.

Trump’s picks for high level government leaders are consistently people with backgrounds and beliefs that are anathema to the missions of the very agencies he is selecting them to lead. It’s like making my daughter Secretary of Vegetables or asking George Takei to deliver a testimonial on behalf of William Shatner or putting a cat in charge of a fish bowl.

Dear sweet Jesus on a pogo stick, I honestly did not mean to write this much! But there’s so much going on with this mockery of a man in his President suit and there’s so much I haven’t even touched on at all in this post.

Jeez!

I need to wrap this up. Before I do, a word about the title. Bull In a China Shop suggests the expression that describes something clumsily laying waste to fragile stuff. Are we dealing with a bull on a mission of destruction that is truly clumsy or is it more willful and deliberate? Neither answer provides much confidence for the future, does it?

Guys and gals, try to be extra good to one another.

Tomorrow, the blog goes live with a post at 5 AM Eastern Time in the United States with Disney Daze – Part Five. The family journey takes us to the Animal Kingdom.