State of Disunion

It never ceases to amaze that anyone still believes The Don will be anything but The Don. His state of disunion speech once again bore that out. Some pundits wondered if The Don would take the opportunity to reset and show the American people that he understands what they are going through? A time to address things that will reverse his tanking popularity? 

The speech was a ragefest. He brought the heat. He brought the hate. On the menu: divide, cast aspersions, fear mongering; hate on Democrats (those woke, crazy communists), rail against immigrants and racial minorities (Somalians seem to be the special of the day), trans people, foreign enemies and imagined election fraudsters.

The next day, he picked up where he left off with a social media post that ranted that two Democratic House members, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, had the “bulging, bloodshot eyes of crazy people, LUNATICS, mentally deranged and sick who, frankly, look like they should be institutionalized.”

He has won elections because of his genius at turning people against each other by activating their “lizard” brain, which gets the juices flowing in imagined battles for survival. His power lives in that space. After all, it’s exciting to connect to your dark side: the thrill of revenge, the feeling of superiority that comes with denigration of the other, creating dangerous enemies that are destroying your way of life. Mouth-watering and delicious. 

People love his swagger. They identify with him like their favorite WWF warrior. They champion his off-the-cuff condescension and “kick him the balls” bravado. Journey back to his shocking comment about John McCain being a loser because he was captured; his disgusting mimicking of a disabled reporter. Americans like that. It’s funny to them. The man tells it like it is. He is the only one who has the guts to say and do things like that. Who else would post a video where the Obamas were presented as apes? 

His need for power and desire to remake the world in his image has created chaos. His tariffs disrupted international trade and when the Supreme Court ruled they were illegal, he found another loop hole to reintroduce them. He threatened to take over Greenland, and though he has backed off for now, he has not dropped that bone. He arrested the President of Venezuela, seized their oil tankers and has no plan to help the people there. This is a violation of international law, as is his blowing boats up in the Caribbean. He has blocked Cuba from receiving oil, devastating the people of that country. He has already bombed seven different countries.

He is not just the bully of our country; he is also the world’s bully. He believes that he has the power to do whatever he wants, when he wants, rarely thinking through the consequences. It’s just fun to break and take things. Sometimes he backs down, like when China threatened to withhold rare earth metals in retaliation for his outrageous tariffs. But there is always another opportunity to push boundaries, defy laws, create chaos and assert his maniacal need for power. 

Now it is Iran’s turn. The Don and his team were disappointed in how the negotiations were going and he said fuck it-I’m tired of this shit and we are going to take down the regime that is not doing our bidding. Attacking Iran is clearly unconstitutional as the power to authorize war is strictly left to congress. You can hear him saying, “Do you think I’m going to listen to those spineless and idiotic people?”

His actions once again violated international law and was condemned by the U.N. He told lies in the State of the Disunion address claiming that Iran would soon build a missile that could reach the U.S. A few days later, desperate to justify his actions, he claimed that Iran was weeks away from having a nuclear weapon. This is the man that claimed that Iran’s nuclear capacity was obliterated when the U.S. bombed them months ago. As a pathological liar we shouldn’t believe a word he says.  

There are two very big problems for The Don. One is that he promised he would not engage in wars and 70% of the people disapprove of his actions. They feel duped, betrayed, and angry. 

The second is that he and his cronies have no plan for what happens after the bombing stops. We have no idea how the death of Khameni will play out in the struggle for power. The Don’s fantasy about what happens is expressed in these statements: “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations”, “Now you have a president who is giving you what you want. So let’s see how you respond”. “Now is the time to seize control of your destiny and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach.” In other words, I am parting the Red Sea for you now and all you have to do is seize the opportunity to cross it. A once in a lifetime opportunity. You’ll never see prices like that again!

One serious problem Don: the people in power have all the guns. Are you going to send in American troops to help them make that a reality? (It appears he is willing to.) That means a potentially endless war and death of American soldiers. Could something positive happen out of the removal of a brutal, oppressive, fanatical religious zealot who just murdered many thousands of people who were protesting against him? Maybe, but mayhem is also possible. The world economy will be disrupted by rising prices of oil if the Iranians choose to blockade oil tankers from passing; forty percent of the population is not Iranian, which could lead to a civil war.

In the midst of what was happening in Iran, The Don was at Mara-a-Lago this weekend. (Some golf?) When he returned to the White House on Monday he made a few comments about Iran and then had enough of that and veered off to wax poetically about the curtains. “I picked those drapes in my first term. “I always like gold.” He then riffed on “the most beautiful ballroom anywhere in the world”. While American lives are at risk (six have already died), the stability of the Middle East unknown and the world economy braces for uncertainty, The Don thought it was worth reminding to an audience of military personnel that Melania was getting tired of the noise from the construction of his big, beautiful ballroom. Callousness? Obliviousness? Clueless? I wonder what the vets at the gathering thought of his absurd, tone deaf ramblings. Too bad one of the vets who was receiving a medal didn’t just give it back to him; the humiliation would have been delicious to witness.

We are looking at a weakened president who not only needs to strut his stuff, but desperate for the Epstein saga, people’s anger about the cost of living, and disapproval of his immigration tactics off the front page. His delusional self doesn’t realize that his action in Iran will not save him but will result in more and more in his own party opposing him. If people didn’t understand this before ,maybe they will get it now: The Don is a danger to the world and we must find a way to quell his insatiable appetite for power and destruction.