Blog

The founders had competing ideas of how the POTUS would operate. Federalists, of course, foresaw a stronger executive branch, the better to help establish central government’s authority and unite a new nation. Revenue streams for national priorities required coordination, and that wasn’t going to happen without a more vibrant focal point. Southern states, concerned about their slave-based economy, bristled at a more powerful President; many a southern delegate already viewed the North, with emerging wisps of abolition, warily. From the start it was clear that Presidential power would be an enduring bone of contention.

Yet and still, the foundation of US Presidential authority was to lead. More specifically, to ensure that the worst inclinations of its citizens were not allowed to either paralyze the nation’s ability to act, or lash out impulsively in too damaging a manner. History has seldom been kind to Presidents shirking their duty to confront prevailing tides that clearly portended future calamity if not forcibly addressed by White House action.

Historians, at least up until this Presidency, have deemed James Buchanan our worst President due to his catatonia as slavery in the western territories morphed into secession fever. Coolidge and Hoover had no problem coddling isolationists after WWI seemed to teach many in the hustings, who had lost fathers, sons and husbands, that minding our own business was good foreign policy. It was left to FDR to move political heaven and earth in order to aid Europe as blitzkrig threatened to overrun the continent. Since the Soviets fell on the ash heap, the GOP has polished its mantle on Reagan’s refusal to give in to the No Nuke movement of the 80’s, which turned out millions for protests here and abroad.

Good Presidents lead, it’s that simple. Which brings us to Trump, who provides us the worst of all worlds: a refusal to address our gravest national and global challenges such as climate change, gun violence, economic interdependence and nuclear proliferation by creating for his base a “brand” of activist nihilism that merely panders to their ugliest and least informed instincts. Trump’s “keeping his promises” agenda clarifies a determination to subordinate the national interest to creation of a political brand which places image above all else. Trump is Buchanan on steroids. Instead of simply allowing an unacceptable status quo to endure, he’s actively pursuing edicts (they’re too haphazard to qualify as policies) that actually reverse progress that has been made, for no other purpose than to fit an image his base now expects.

Trade protectionism has always appealed to US workers, particularly as the tab for the failure to adjust our workforce in line with the international system we created has come due. But successive Presidents from both parties have understood the economic damage trade wars promise. Moreover, they have reflected a comprehension that subsidizing US industries only promotes bad habits and ultimately makes us less competitive.

So, absent a more informed electorate, better educated on the vagaries of world trade, Presidents have given lip service to populist impulses, while attempting to tilt the debate in line with macroeconomic realities, pursuing “fairer” trade through established institutions and governing accordingly…leadership. Trump has neither the knowledge or ambition to act responsibly on such matters. Knee jerk doesn’t do justice to his reckless approach, proclaimed in tweets and absent any congressional collaboration. Its negative impact is already being felt, by Trump’s wretched core as much as anybody else.

But he didn’t pick trade fights to promote anything but the image he is selling to a base addled by grievance at the expense of facts, whose own economic interests, like the national well being, are subordinate to the delusion they now have a champion.

Even more ominous is North Korea. Nothing is as important to Trump as the myth of his negotiating prowess. Amidst a Presidency crumbling around him, as well as the chaos of an Administration with no coherent decision-making process, Trump has made delivering a deal with Kim a do-or-die proposition. He neither knows nor cares about the regional landscape any agreement will alter. American commitments to South Korea and their critical role in the maintenance of the region’s balance of power are not a Trump concern. Hasty reductions or withdrawal of US forces in South Korea would destabilize all East Asia and benefit China immeasurably, but such a possibility is not on Trump’s radar; he promised the base a deal.

Would Kim say or sign most anything to get the Americans off the peninsula? Of course he would. He has the same attitude toward contracts as Trump. Does Trump care if Kim keeps his word? Of course not, he only promised to get a deal. If Kim breaks the deal, that’s on him! Trump, like Kim, will do or say or accept anything to get what he wants. In Kim’s case it’s the removal of 35,000 US soldiers, who have been at his doorstep for more than 60 years to ensure US military involvement if he gets cute.

Trump’s objective is simply a signature on the dotted line, which validates he kept his pledge. How the consequences of “the deal” play out are not important to him. The abrupt cancellation of scheduled B-52 exercises with South Korea in response to Kim’s predictable petulance provides ample warning of Trump’s priorities.

Had Jefferson et al been afforded a glimpse into the future and got an eyeful of Trump perhaps they would have rethought some things. A moronic narcissist enabled by a collection of cowardly and craven pols may have forced some adjustments. That said, whether our adherance to the framework they did provide will doom us to the whims of a mob they envisioned a strong executive branch able to tame, remains uncertain. As for our South Korean and other East Asian allies, now forced to rely on empty assurances from ashen emissaries of a leader unimpressed with anything but his own worthless bluster – well, they may be in for a raw deal….the only kind Trump has ever delivered. BC

Randy Boyd is a successful Knoxville, Tennessee entrepreneur running for the state’s GOP nomination for Governor, but he has a big problem that may tank his prospects. Up until recently his outsider campaign has been going pretty well, as he chips away at opponent Congresswoman Diane Black, who has represented the state’s 6th district since 2011.

Despite Black’s strategy as portraying herself as one of Donald Trump’s key allies on the Hill, Boyd’s attacks on her voting record as not reactionary enough on the issues that matter, notably immigration, have been making headway. Indeed, polls show that, although Black has an advantage in name recognition, her negatives are high, and Boyd’s assertions that she isn’t the total Trump supplicant she claims, have been resonating with the wretched core’s Tennessee contingent. Latest polls have Boyd within 5 points of Black and closing, but that could change for the worse due to a disturbing new revelation.

Conexion Americas puts forward on its web site a mission of helping to build a community “where Latino families can belong, contribute and succeed.” Indeed, the site points to programs aimed at learning English, employment opportunities, mastering finances and paying taxes…even home ownership. In short, Conexion Americas appears to be the worst of the worst as far as Tennessee GOP primary voters are concerned, a generous, caring organization devoted to assimilating Hispanic immigrants.

But how is this a crisis for Boyd? After all, he has been out ahead defining illegal immigration as issue one of this election. Black, despite her obssessive pronouncements for all things Trump, the Wall, Mideast travel ban, MS-13 destruction…you name it, is still too soft, Boyd has declared in debates and on the stump; she can’t be trusted, she’s tainted by the requisites of governance. I am the pure nihilist you can count on to live down to your worst inclinations, your ugliest grievances, Boyd promises.

Not so fast. Turns out there is an unseemly bright side to Boyd that has been uncovered. In September of 2016 he donated $250,000 to Conexion Americas, the single largest check they have received since the organization’s inception in 2002. Founder, Renata Soto, who Tennessee state republican legislators suspect supports illegal immigration, rallying against a resolution recognizing her initiative, praised the donation as instrumental in aiding CA’s expansion.

It gets worse. Apparently, Boyd was also affiliated with the College Promise Campaign, an effort to provide two years of free community college, and headed up by none other than Jill Biden. Boyd served on the bipartisan board, filled with liberals and RHINOs, and actually collaborated to provide assistance to needy students. Worse, as Black was quick to screech, some of the aid may have gone to illegals!

Of course Boyd has been downplaying his philanthropy, telling anyone who will listen there is no place Trump can go on immigration that he won’t follow, and besides, isn’t the GOP all about second chances at awfulness? Rest assured, vows Boyd, put me in the governor’s mansion and I won’t let you down, “illegal is illegal”, build the wall, send em packing!!

Tennessee GOP voters are no fools. They’ll watch closely to see who is truly the nastiest ethno-nationalist, and they’re hardly different from Republicans throughout the nation. This is not your father’s GOP, it’s Trump’s. It’s ok to be a hypocrite, but bleeding hearts need to get the hell out. In Tennessee it’s a race to the bottom, just like in Arizona, or in Georgia, or every other GOP state primary. Being entrusted to clean out The Swamp means never having to say you’re decent… or at least making sure everyone believes you are damned ashamed of when you were. BC

The night Trump was elected an incredulous friend of mine wondered what his base would do when they realized he was full of crap and would not be ushering in any American revivals. I answered simply they would blame whoever Fox/AM told them to. But now we see it’s more ominous than that: his wretched core is actually subsuming their economic well being to the broader resentment he and Rush foment hourly. That is, it’s ok if your promises of economic resurgence were a crock so long as you continue whitening America and keeping us safe.

Everywhere now the damaging effects of Trump “keeping his promises” are beginning to dawn on his supporters. Landscapers are getting hit hard because H2-B guest workers are no longer available from south of the border and drug-free whites appear uninterested in $12/hour opportunities to work outdoors. Soybean farmers, fully dependent on Chinese markets, are waiting for the other shoe to drop as China ponders retaliating to Trump trade provocations. Auto workers in Ohio are worried about layoffs because sales of the compacts they build are depressed, a direct result of Trump Administration attacks on air quality regulations. Home builders are behind schedule because, in an economy with 3.9% unemployment, they can’t find young red blooded Americans interested in $17/hour jobs. The list goes on and on… restaurants without kitchen help; hotels without maid service; crops without harvesters, crabs without crab pickers!

Interdependence is kicking ass and confirming just how vapid and self-destructive the Trump campaign talking points were. But his base doesn’t seem to care. Many don’t appear cognizant of the hardship coming their way, believing “fake news” tweets instead of the overdraft notices in the mail. But many who do comprehend the policy-result link appear prepared to subordinate prosperity to the piece of mind they get knowing their grievance empath is at the helm. Resentment, it appears, provides a salve to losing the family farm.

There is absolutely nothing to suggest Trumpenomics, a hybrid of the worst of the GOP (supply-side/trickle-down)and the Democrats (protectionism) will lead to anything but recession or worse. Already, the “signature” accomplishment has ballooned the deficit over a $trillion and promised mountainous debt service payments, even as moronic destruction of established pacts and provoking trade wars ensures inflation and high interest rates. And who will suffer worst, aside from the poor and destitute, who always bear the brunt of tanked economies? Trump’s base, collegeless whites.

How they react to calamity brought to them solely by their champion will provide a glimpse of the fight we may be in for. Aside from the fantasy of Mueller slaying Trump with indictments and money trails, dissidents have banked on his base taking him to task once they realized the joke was on them. That is looking less and less likely, as Tucker solemnly warns about human caravans heading to the border, and Hannity rallies his zombies to be prepared for civil war if Trump is impeached.

Trump will spend the run up to election 18’ holding forth for his nihilists several times a week. Anybody familiar with the shtick knows that white grievance and MS-13, as well as labeling vital institutions as traitorous because they, well… exist, take a lion’s share of the recital. It’s not hard to imagine, as the economy begins to buckle, that Trump will add more ethno-nationalist red meat and redefine how they are all MAGAing together.

The degree it works will mirror the broader threat Trump and the Fox/AM beast responsible for his ascent represent. If flyover farmers look past needless destruction of foreign markets as long as they feel the culture war is being won, then rhyme or reason, already in very short supply, has been fully replaced by collective visceral grievance by 40% of the electorate. That guarantees a burgeoning political class of Trumpies, which in turn hastens the GOP’s demise and makes reviving our system that much more difficult. “It’s the economy stupid” may very well be giving way to “speak English in my country!” And that sucks in any language. BC

UN Resolutions 242 and 338 have been the basis for negotiations in the Arab-Israeli conflict since they were passed unanimously decades ago, the first after the 1967 conflict, and the second after the Yom Kippur War in October of 73’. They are monuments to legalese, with hours of arguments devoted to a comma, or a “the”. I suppose this is because negotiators figured haggling over a word, signified hope accord could be reached on broader issues as well.

At their core, the resolutions translate simply to land for peace, peace pertaining to recognition of Israel’s right to exist. The land in question is territory taken by Israel after routing Arab forces in both 67’ and 73’. Specifically, at issue is the Gaza Strip and West Bank. The Sinai bordering Egypt and the Golan Heights bordering Syria were also part of the mix, but the Sinai was ceded back as part of the Camp David Accords in 1978 and Israel, refusing to give up the strategic advantage of the Golan Heights, formerly annexed the area in 81’ even though no country approved the action. But the crux of the issue has always been the West Bank, or as Israeli hard liners, most prominantly represented by the Likud Party and current Prime Minister Bibi Netenyahu, refer to it… Judea and Samaria.

The dispute between the Palestinian leadership, fragmented by the refusal of the radical Hamas wing to accept much of anything less than open hostilities, and Israel is as intractable as any issue in human history. Every layer one pulls back reveals more obstacles. But make no mistake, without at least the idea of a pathway to agreement, regardless how distant, the region would explode, with moderates and democrats becoming endangered species.

Likud is an extreme party, whose vision of the West Bank has never waivered from its status as a rightful Jewish homeland, come what may. Whatever generosity of spirit a Likud government exihibited at the negotiating table on other questions, like Gaza or the Sinai, they have never seriously considered concessions on the West Bank. Likud strategy since Begin in the late 70s has been the same: get enough settlements in place to make it politically untenable for any Israeli government to reverse course as part of a deal. This ambition has been at odds with every US Administration since Johnson. Even W gave lip service to unconstrained settlement as an obstacle to peace. Obama recognized it for what it was and took Netenyahu to task, drawing fire up to and past the line of being dubbed an anti-semite. Yet and still, there can be no argument that, if no Israeli government can negotiate away settled land on the West Bank as part of a peace deal, then there is no deal left to make.

Complicating all of this even more is the status of Jerusalem, which both Jews and Muslims hold as a sacred city. When Israel took control of East Jerusalem in 1967, its soldiers sobbed at the Wailing Wall, and General Moshe Dayan exclaimed that Jewish prophecy had been fulfilled. The status of the city has become as significant as any symbol in the Arab-Israeli conflict, with Muslims just as entrenched about their religious bonds and obligation to secure them. While Israelis declare Jerusalem to be their capital, foreign governments have wisely kept their embassies in Tel Aviv, fully understanding how volatile the issue is and cognizant that to locate in Jerusalem would abandon any pretense as an honest broker…. until today.

That Trump knows precious little about the conflict is obvious; the gibberish he spews on the subject is near unintelligible. When he declared his ambition to “get a deal” and sent his son-in-law – who had zero experience or qualification for anything more than visiting as a tourist – things went surreal. Appointing his bankruptcy lawyer Ambassador was another sign that this Administration had a credibility problem. But when Trump declared that the US would locate its embassy in East Jerusalem, he ended the US days as lead mediator in the region.

It’s hard to think of an issue his wretched core cared less about. Even Netenyahu, who had Trump pegged as a useful tool from the outset, mentioned it only in passing, focusing instead on abrogation of the Iran nuclear deal. But Trump has decided his political brand will be checking off the boxes on declarations he vomited at campaign rallies. He couldn’t wait to make the announcement. Of course, if he had any advisors worth a White House parking pass, they would have blasted the move as idiotic and unnecessary. But the chances these days of any competent counsel at 1600 Pennsylvania is slim and none, and slim never did get an office.

So today our POTUS is proudly tweeting how he “accomplished” what others couldn’t. And he has dispatched a genuine anti-semite to the scene of the crime as our country’s theological emissary to bless the event. Meanwhile, Palestinian kids by the dozens will die today lashing out at another perceived outrage. Just in case any moderate Palestinian holds out hope the US can still be an honest broker, the White House made clear it is unreasonable to ask Israel for restraint in addressing the protests because Hamas is solely responsibe. The Trump approach to Mideast peace vis a vis the Palestinians is just say thank you or else.

For its part, Israel has no carrots left to offer, but Netenyahu and Likud much preferred the stick in the first place. Like Trump, who he already knows how to play like a favorite woodwind, Bibi never met a wall he didn’t like. And also like Trump, he views democracy as the problem, a good way to end up in jail. To Bibi’s eyes a security state has a very nice ring to it. Meanwhile, the Trump faithful are also all for it; they’ll take a Jew over an A-Rab any day…at least for now. BC

Last year geneticists discovered that most people have 1-4% Neanderthal DNA. Turns out that at least two distinct hominid species, Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals, dwelt in European forests together and interbred.

But of course you remember this story, it dominated news cycles due to the enormity of the findings and their compelling implications, right? C’mon! You remember, right?

Not so much.

Why so little fanfare? This is among the most fascinating scientific discoveries of our lifetime, with implications from cellular biology to anthropology. It’s astonishing to discover that we Homo Sapiens interbred with another completely different hominid species.

It also adds a new element to an age old drama, the child who falls in love outside of the tribe; “Guess Who’s Come Coming to Dinner” or “Romeo and Juliet” Paleolithic style.

Coming to a theatre near you:
“Forbidden Love: The Passion of Grall and Gogg.”

“Grall, you cannot marry that Neanderthal boy. I forbid it! Can’t you see that he’s not good enough for you? Sure, you love him now but what will the Sapiens say?! Think of your children -1/2 Sapien, ½ Neanderthal? – what kind of future will they have? And honey I’m sorry, but Gogg? Really? That protruding occipital ridge…I don’t know how you can even look at him, let alone…you know…”

“Father, I love Gogg. If you can’t accept that, we will run off to the Homo Habilus, where we’ll be accepted for who we are.”

So why hasn’t this Neanderthal/Sapien comingling enrapt us? Turns out white people have the most Neanderthal DNA and the only people without a trace of Neanderthal DNA are of African descent. That’s right. African’s represent “Sapien purity” while Europeans aren’t even all “human.” Yet another jagged little pill of irony for the Eurocentric mind to swallow.

So what happened? It appears that those Sapiens who left their Mother Africa for the “new world” of Europe encountered Neanderthals and made babies; then, somehow the Neanderthals died out (which begs the question: Is the Neanderthal story the first, and perhaps most profound genocide in all of hominid history?) Whatever the answer to that one, we know that despite their disappearance for roughly 30,000 years, Neanderthals are still 1-4% of us white people!

Let’s try this thought experiment: Imagine the findings were reversed and black people had 1-4% Neanderthal DNA, while white people were “Sapien pure.” Wouldn’t the story dominate cable news every night for a while? Might we see panel discussions between right wing pundits blowing the “blacks have Neanderthal DNA and we don’t? Makes sense to me…” dog whistles, while white liberal and black pundits push back that 1-4% of Neanderthal DNA in black people is of no consequence? Would the “The Bell Curve 2.0” have exploded on the NY Times bestseller list? Would the “black Neanderthal DNA” issue have become yet another nasty right wing rallying cry? Maybe “BNDNA” could have seeped into the 2016 Presidential campaign?

Clinton: “Donald says the presence of Neanderthal DNA in black people proves their inferiority and wants to prohibit African immigration—shame on him!”

Trump: “No one cares more for the blacks than I do, believe me, but BNDNA is a real thing, and people are saying we need to look into it.”

Sadly, we know these scenarios aren’t too far fetched. As it turned out, the story made page 6 in the science and tech section. Apparently, confounding assumptions both sides of the media hold – the right wittingly, the left less so – regarding the evolutionary leg up Caucasian’s are supposed to enjoy doesn’t seem to cut it as lead story material, even on slow news days.

Europeans have traveled and inexorably disrupted all habitable continents for 6 centuries. This is our present day context and legacy. No doubt, this century and centuries to come will see shifting geopolitical and racial tides of power, as they always do and European disruption does not mean European supremacy on anything but a military level. But like it or not, this has been the era of impact, influence, and dominance of the European Continent by any and all means.

It’s a fundamental human drive to explain our own history in the best light possible. Among white people in the US, narratives that cleanse our skins of our sins, and convert those sins to virtues (eg. Columbus Day, Thanksgiving) are just normal expressions of human nature. Indeed, to the victor goes the privilege of writing one’s own history. These histories inevitably and inaccurately affirm not just the victor’s dominance, but their righteousness.

And so I conclude this thought experiment in this way: no matter our political leanings or our moral compass, we are driven by forces we don’t recognize to confirm that which we think we know (aka. confirmation bias). In the case of our poor cousins, the Neanderthals, the task starts with an entirely racist, or “Speciesist” proposal: that Neanderthal DNA is “less than” Sapien DNA. Who’s says Neanderthal DNA isn’t superior to Sapien DNA? We Sapiens say, that’s who, because we wrote our own “glorious” history, but that doesn’t make it so.

By extension, this trial helps explain racism, or any “ism,” as we move Heaven and Earth to validate our “betterness.” We only evolve as we recognize the limits of our perceptions and impulses to fill in the unknown with content that makes us feel good while batting away those inconvenient truths, like Neanderthal DNA. And if you don’t think so, just ask Darwin or Copernicus whose discoveries were not only inconvenient, but deemed heretical. Now? They’re accepted quite freely (well, Copernicus at least). Similarly, the flawed narrative of today’s racism will march on before dissolving in the ever shifting geopolitical tides, and the higher truth that my race isn’t better than yours emerges with Copernican acceptance, no matter my inherited urge to prove otherwise. JS

I have a friend named Daryl. We connected on Facebook. He is the younger cousin and brother of a couple of old high school friends of mine. Daryl served in the Air Force near 25 years ago, and is of course proud of his tenure, cherishing the relationships he made while based in locales that included South Korea. Not too many days pass that he doesn’t relay a story derived from his tour of duty, or mention his beloved, recently departed brother, Brian, who was also an airman. Daryl is deeply religious and a sharp dresser. Often, he will post a picture of himself with his wife in a stylish suit, adorned w a red, white and blue tie, or hankercheif. Yes, safe to say Daryl is not bashful with his patriotism. He also happens to be African-American.

Like most black community leaders, Daryl has been incensed by the steady stream of police brutality, as well as increasing episodal and organized racism. He lives in Georgia, which seems to have more than its share of bias, so he often posts about incidents. Reading his comments is hard because they express a patriot’s disappointment in his country. But it is perhaps the purest commentary one will find on the issue of whether two Americas exist because Daryl has no agenda, and imbibes no narrative. There is nothing gratuitous or political about his observations. He simply calls it like he sees it.

Fox/AM does disgusting things almost on the hour, but at the top of the pantheon of greatest hits is its attacks on Black Lives Matter and other groups responding to outrageous, often fully documented, police brutality against unarmed US citizens. The tide turned against the south on civil rights in the 60s when a nation watched grotesque cruelty and injustice on television. Now, 50 years later, something has changed. Not only do otherwise decent people seem desensitized to the same type of ugly images, but an entire multimedia platform spins what is right before us, while declaring those seeking redress to be extremists, even criminals. Walter Cronkite, where are you when we need you.

Daryl clearly respects the law and the uniform. He simply sees what the rest of us see and responds accordingly. He trusts his eyes and ears, and has no need for Laura Ingraham to explain how they tricked him. Of course, he is deeply offended that our POTUS seems to think bigots have valid points to make, but appears to do a remarkable job compartmentalizing his love for country from egregious examples of bigotry carried out under its banner. To my eyes, he doesn’t abide injustice, but keeps the faith.

The concept of white privilege comes up more frequently these days. It’s present in a wide range of forums, from academia, as an emerging field of study, to the Shit River, where it’s gaslighted as an egregious form of liberal psychosis. For me, it’s like Oliver Wendell Holmes’ definition of pornography… you know it when you see it. And its there in Daryl’s FB threads because white soldiers don’t have to consider the possibility that the country they served and love feels less about them because of their skin color and ancestry. It’s an emotional dilemma that will never cross their mind. Lucky them. BC

There’s a good argument to be made that Stalag 17, the Billy Wilder WWII POW classic, is the greatest US war movie ever. If you haven’t seen it you should, it is fantastic from start to finish. Detailing the day to day stress of life as American NonComs in a German POW camp, it delivers on multiple levels. William Holden won an Oscar for his portrayal of Septin, the cynical scrounger suspected of being a Nazi collaborator, but fully vindicated in the end after he uncovers who the rat really is.

I first saw this masterpiece with my father when I was no more than 10. It was one of his all time favorites, and I believe he actually suggested I watch it with him one snowy weekend afternoon, which was highly unusual. One particular scene enrapt me then and in reviewings ever since. A Lieutenant Dunbar was stopping over as the Krauts were taking him to an officers camp. Assuming no traitors were present, his friend tells the barracks Dunbar is responsible for blowing up a Nazi ammo train. When the rat clues in the camp’s commandant, a superb Otto Preminger, Dunbar is hauled in for interrogation, which consists of being kept awake and on his feet for hours on end. At one point a Red Cross representative – the “Geneva Man” – at the camp to assess whether it is abiding international law, interrupts the questioning and demands Dunbar be given quarter as a POW. The commandant coolly rejects him, explaining Dunbar is a spy and not entitled to lenience. Before the inspector leaves he warns that after the war those who violate human rights will be held to account, fully implying how nefarious Preminger is.

I remember how much the scene horrified me. As a big fan of warm covers and a good night’s rest, the idea of being denied sack time for hours on end was… well, torture. God knows how much sleep I would have lost if Wilder had depicted Dunbar being brutally waterboarded. Point is, I simply took it as a given, not worthy of a second thought, that my America would never do such an awful thing; that was what made Nazis, Nazis! Had anybody told me the US did it, too, I wouldn’t have believed them. There could hardly be a more basic differentiator between us and them than the treatment of Lt. Dunbar.

After 9/11 and into the Iraq War, Stalag 17 was vivid in my mind listening to Bill O’Reilly lustily defend US interrogation of Guantanamo inmates, who were given the same Dunbar treatment. “It’s just load music, for God’s sake,” O’Reilly bellowed when a guest suggested that refusing to allow men to sleep for days on end violated international law. Sean Hannity, not to be outdone in the tough guy patriot department, boasted he’d allow himself to be waterboarded for charity.
When the horrors of Abu Ghraib came to light, Fox/AM spun the scandal by shrugging that “things happen in war,” and besides, most of the inmates were surely guilty of worse.

That the Bush Administration, led by Darth Cheney, codified “enhanced interrogation” into US law, and actually promoted it in the field was, of course, despicable. That we now have a POTUS who has regularly vomited he’d do “a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding” is unthinkable. But the fact that we are about to confirm as CIA Director a real life supervisor of torture on the ground, and readily overlook that fact because, within the pool of this President’s applicants, she is the best we can hope for….by a lot – think Tom Cotton – clarifies more than a perilous lack of options. That we no longer even have the luxury to debate the ethical and moral records of appointees, conceding that baseline experience and competence is now to be coveted and secured wherever available, confirms our national identity has been lost. Now we stand for exactly what Trump and his wretched core are all about…nothing. Resist for your country! BC

Last January, as Trump stood on the Capitol steps and made clear responsible leadership was not his thing, I wondered what could be done to hasten his exit from office. Of course, I fully understood the paradox we faced; he was freely elected – at least until proven different – and our democracy depended on him being accorded the rights and privileges of the office. Yet and still, his 16 minute deliverance of our worst fears assured that it was not if but when he would live down to the incompetence, graft and generally wretched behavior that would fully disqualify him from such deference. His visit to the CIA the next day was the when, and we’ve been whenning ever since.

Congress has always been the key to checking a reckless executive because, while representing our ever changing inclinations, good and bad, they are presumably, if not exactly honorable enough, at least imbued with enough parochial diversity in both major parties to save us from ourselves.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Longworth Building, the GOP discovered its heterogeneity of local purpose had been consumed by uniform nihilist grievance. This wave of disdain had been growing steadily since Bill Clinton disturbed 12 years of White House dominance. It started against the usual suspects – minorities, gays, foreigners – but soon became an amorphous hatred of anything defined as destructive to an economic and societal order that was already long gone. This collective pathology actually saw government’s proper ambition as the realization of nostalgia, bringing back a time and place… a feel. And the hucksters who promoted this disorder, in between LifeLock and shares of gold – failed DJs, college dropouts, perennial fringe candidates, disgraced politicos – christened it “Reagan Conservatism.”

Of course the gap between fantasy and reality precluded most of this regressive hodgepodge from anything but lip service at the national level. But locally a cottage industry began to form and succeed, a grass roots movement of towns and then whole legislative districts electing opportunists on nothing more than their promise to get back that feeling, that sense of control. Flyover country was soon awash with pretend legislatures dedicated to turning back time, an entire political class of nihilist Walter Mittys.

Fox/AM was fully engaged defending George W throughout his tenure, particularly on all things nasty, i.e. torture, the Patriot Act, Iraq, Abu Ghraib, etc., but bristled when governance ran up against the Shit River. Anything bipartisan became RINO, and when the economy came unglued, a significant GOP number in both Houses were more concerned with optics back home than saving the world from ruin. Responsible governance had become bad politics.

The sick got sicker with the election of Obama, and the absolute preeminence of going back in time was established. Glen Beck held nightly “classes” on the evils of progress. Cass Sunstein, the otherwise obscure head of the White House Office of Reform and Regulatory Affairs, was vilified as an existential threat and agent of totalitarianism. Throughout the Obama years the GOP base absorbed two fundamental obsessions, Christians (read white nihilists) were under attack, and governance was synonymous with moving in the exact opposite direction of that Pleasantville promised land they now worshipped. The GOP leadership castrated itself in 2010 riding the Tea Party, the political branch of the Shit River, to control of both houses, and codified governance as betrayal for the rest of the Obama years.

So is it really any surprise that the loudest and most unhinged purveyor of regression as governance captured the GOP base’s heart? In Trump they got somebody viscerally committed to undoing progress, to canceling out history, to full retreat. Finally, it wouldn’t just be empty promises abandoned to the tyranny of real world concerns. Trump would deliver, come what may.

And so here we are. A POTUS fully committed to destroying American progress, with a wretched core of supporters, who will accept nothing less. The notion many had that the GOP had a line Trump couldn’t cross ignored a simple fact, right there two inches from our faces, that this is a party devoted, not to ideas, or the rule of law, or even the constitution… it is at its base a cult of followers preoccupied with going backward to recover their piece of mind, to find the safe space they remember as children. All of the pundits have it wrong. The GOP isn’t becoming Trump’s party, its base is simply now convinced he is the real deal, devoted to the war against time’s passing. That’s bad news for those of us interested in Earth as a going concern. BC

That we elected a man of abysmal character and zero sense of shame is, of course, an existential predicament for us as a nation. At 2:00pm today our problem again gets shared with the world. Trump never signed a contract he felt committed to abide by. Since becoming POTUS, he has foisted that ugly trait on numerous agreements signed by his predecessors. That his wretched core, and Republican toadies, seem to share a similar disdain for honorable national behavior should disqualify them from governance…more on that in November.

In addition to the US, the Iran Nuclear Deal has six signatories, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and Iran. All have made clear their visceral opposition to the US undercutting the pact’s terms, and warned such actions could spark regional Mideast chaos. Moreover, it has been implied publicly, and surely conveyed to Trump privately, that this is a biggie, abrogating the deal will fully discredit the US as a partner, let alone leader, in any collective approach to the region. Moreover, the other signatories could simply ignore the US and refuse to impose new sanctions, which would fully isolate us. Virtually every past US government official of note, Republican and Democrat, has voiced similar concerns. Nobody believes Trump will heed them.

And what is driving the President to yet again isolate us from our allies and fully breach US diplomacy? Surely he has a grasp on the pact’s details and understands its strengths and weaknesses. He would never risk so much unless his exhaustive analysis led him to the conclusion he simply, in good conscience, had no choice. Right?

Opponents of the deal were always in two camps, those with genuine concerns about its ability to impact Iran’s nuclear program, and GOP/Fox AMers against everything Obama and disdainful of any diplomatic outreach to Iran. Real critics questioned verification and pointed out Iran could still develop ballistic missiles, which could then be armed fairly quickly if Iran decided to ramp back up its program. After all, it only runs to 2030. The zealots quickly linked the pact to Iranian support of Hezbollah and other groups on the terrorist list, declaring that anything less than full disavowal of its current foreign policy made the pact a sham.

A big part of the carrot Iran wanted from the deal was the unfreezing of assets dating back to the hostage crisis of 1978. This was no small figure, totaling billions of dollars of Iranian financial assets seized and held for near 40 years, most in overseas accounts. Also important to the Iranians was $400 million they had paid the US for military equipment that was never delivered after the Shah was deposed. With accrued interest the new figure was roughly $1.3 billion that the US agreed to make good on as part of the nuclear deal.

From the beginning of talks the shit river misrepresented this part of the equation, and focused on it as an outrageous cave to Iranian extortion, more than implying the assets were actually US tax payer money, billions of bucks Obama was ready to pay out of our pockets for a deal. The Hannitys and Limbaughs et al were full throated in their relentless parroting of this lie, creating imagery of bureaucrats carrying suitcases stuffed with US citizens’ hard earned cash to planes bound for Tehran, where the mullahs would get paid. Of course the wretched core ingested every word…as did our President.

Trump never gets much past that suitcase full of our money picture when shrilly denouncing the deal. At rallies it is always the same, complete with him pantomiming carrying them on the tarmac. Any poll of Foxland would clarify an overwhelming majority believe this falsehood. Sadly, it has been allowed to corrode the mainstream perception as well, a casualty of false equivalence.

Yet and still, a clear majority of Americans support the deal and do not wish to see it abandoned. But Trump has his campaign promise to keep and he’s never been one to let facts get in the way of his nihilist herd. As for US treaty obligations…that’s for suckers. Does Trump still believe Hannity’s fantasy? Who knows? But at 2:00pm in the Rose Garden he likely will rely on it to cast us further adrift from a world we are supposed to lead, and then probably make a beeline to his TV, anxious for Ernie Gutfeld’s thumbs up. Pray for your planet. BC

As tempting as it is to make a batch of popcorn and watch Giuliani and Trump compete to demonstrate who is most addled, the Daniels affair is simply a distraction. The main event is being foretold on the front page of the Washington Post today. It is at least the bump stock of a smoking gun that will prove Trump’s undoing and bring our civil discontent to a head.

The Post details how Trump, a man who literally created his brand around the reckless accumulation of debt, began all cash buying sprees starting in 2008 and running right up to when he announced as a presidential candidate. Suddenly, the guy who never chipped in more than chump change on collaborations that bore his name, was paying top dollar with millions in cash for 100% stakes in properties and golf resorts that showed no hint of profitability. In 2012 and 2014 Trump’s Organization spent over $80 million on projects that would require millions more, while taking full ownership.

Aside from the illogic of the metamorphosis, only reinforced by lame justifications put forth by Eric Trump and toadies – gibberish about the Donald’s emotional attachment to a Scotland resort because his mother was from there, and the epiphany of how full cash purchases provide the “freedom to jump on opportunities” – the real question is where all this disposable cash came from.

The cash purchases began in 2008, when the housing crisis made financing more difficult to obtain. Trump was already persona non grata in every North American financial institution due to a sordid history as a borrower, punctuated by bankruptcies, delinquencies, and a general pattern of outright refusal to live up to his obligations, so the changing macro landscape meant little. Only Deutche Bank in Europe would touch Trump, inexplicably they seemed unfazed by his deadbeat reputation. So he did have some leverage, which makes his sudden preference for paying in full a real head scratcher. But even if we ignore motive, the question of where the money came from seems very hard to answer.

Even in good times Trump revenue claims were met with skepticism. Fact is many of his business properties had a higher than normal vacancy rate, and, needless to say, real estate in general suffered badly during the Great Recession. Yet here is the Trump Organization with fresh millions to spend, and claiming the cash was simply the result of their successful business model. Really?

Of course, Trump goes to extraordinary lengths to keep his books private, but it’s not rocket science, simply analyze revenues versus costs and come up with a number. That’s what the Post is doing, and you can be certain Mueller’s team is way ahead of them. Following the money has always been the key. It is tedious and time consuming, but leads behind the wizard’s curtain. Like most all of the pieces in the collusion puzzle, meticulous uncovering, sorting and proper placement will eventually provide confirmation for anyone paying attention.

Trump has been a business failure from day one, but never let that stop him from living the lifestyle of a sultan, always on the dime of others. Things were eventually going to come unglued, not if but when. Surely the economic trauma of 2008 hit him hard, and his ability to borrow to buy time and pay bills was greatly diminished. Sketchy Deutche Bank connections led to sketchier still Russian oligarchs with Everest like piles of ill gotten gains to launder. Trump, and probably his equally inept and desperate son-in-law were ready to play; and even smart, capable crooks couldn’t bury that paper trail.

Long ago, in an 8500-word telegram from his East European State Department posting, George Kennan changed history by educating the White House on the brutal intrigue of the Kremlin. He made it clear how total their reach into Russian society was, and how nothing took place without their knowledge or promotion. Whoever Trump was working for, however deep and compromising his position was, we can be sure Moscow was well aware of every detail. At some point they figured out how they would exploit his countless vulnerabilities…and here we are.

Today’s Post article should be seen for what it surely is, the first real glimpse at the particulars that will constitute the ruin of Trump. How much chaos and damage he will bring on his way down is anybody’s guess, but things are moving apace, and he knows it. Paying off porn stars is small potatoes compared to treason. Watching Rudy get skewered by George Stephanopoulos might be painful, but it’s the best he’s going to get from now on in, and it won’t get that good again. Mueller is coming! BC