Author: Robert I. Grundfest

I am a teacher, writer, voice-over artist and rationally opinionated observer of American and international society. While my job is to entertain and engage, my purpose is always to start a conversation.

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Shutdown and Foreign ‘ffairs Follies: Just Another Brick In the Wall

Let’s look at the latest destruction of American norms this way: Which countries seem to be the happiest with President Trump’s assault on the institutions that won the Cold War and have kept the peace since 1945?

China, Russia, Iran, Turkey, Syria, and although not countries, let’s add Hezbollah and ISIS just because.

Could anyone think of a more motley collection of autocrats, dictators, murderers, liars, usurpers, and authoritarians who flout what pass for laws, constitutions, respect for human rights and the dignity of having your own opinion? Vladimir Putin loves the idea of the US pulling out of Syria. So dies Recep Erdogan. They couldn’t comment quickly enough.

And let’s also look at who was angriest at him for even suggesting that he would sign a budget bill without money for the worst policy idea of the past 80 years: FOX, Rush Limbaugh, Anne Coulter, Sean Hannity and the rest of the far right who did not then and do not now represent the majority view of how this country should comport itself domestically and in foreign affairs.


So naturally, Mr. 46% Small Hands, upon settling down in his bathrobe for the evening, sees that the TV is yelling at him and since the TV knows everything, he needs to shut down the government, deny workers their pay, deny everyone else the opportunity to visit national parks, and generally throw the country into an unsettling funk during the holiday season.
Of course, let’s not forget that the president is also stomping on his own economic record by engaging in a silly trade war and being unpredictable enough that the business class, which should be reveling in the shower of money raining down on them, are flop-sweat nervous every weekday morning at 9:30, when the bell to open the stock market shouts its arrival.


The interesting turn in all of this is that I do not altogether disagree with pulling American troops out of quagmires in Afghanistan, Syria, and other nations where for 17 years we’ve been doing relatively little to solve problems. though we have, in some cases, prevented the political and social problems from getting worse. I supported President Obama’s troop withdrawals and I would support President Trump’s if I believed that he could do it the right way.


He proved that he could not. And my evidence:


Whither Bibi?


That’s right, for all of the congratulations Trump received from the Killing Klass, we’ve heard not a peep out of Benjamin Netanyahu, who stands to lose a great deal, as does Israel, by an American withdrawal from the Middle East. Because the president, in one fell swoop, did more to strengthen Bashar al-Assad, the mullahs in Iran, Vladimir Putin and Hezbollah than anything they could have done on their own. And they all hate Israel. So the president who says that he loves Israel turns out not to really know what he’s doing when it comes to our ally.


The same is true for our European and Asian allies as well. The president is talking about pulling back troops from Japan and South Korea because he doesn’t see them contributing enough to their own defense. Making them pay more does make sense, but lessening our influence in a fit of FOX pique is irresponsible and dangerous. China is expanding in that area even with our troops present. Imagine what will happen if we leave.


Of course, Trump’s real fear is that he will realistically lose his shot at history by losing the 2020 election, which is becoming more and more a probability. That’s why he’s focusing more and more on the far right elements of the electorate who supported him in 2016. 


The problem is that by shivving the economy with his unpredictable trade policies, advocating unconditionally for a wall that won’t stop the ladders and tunnels (and private property lawsuits) that will inevitably breach it, and playing sandbox politics by telling the country that it’s his government and if he doesn’t like what’s happening then he’s going to shut it down, he is narrowing his supporters into only those elements and he will lose more of the moderate conservatives who couldn’t stand Hillary Clinton and who then turned on the GOP last month. If he couldn’t get a wall through a Republican Congress over the past two years, he’s not getting it through Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Senators who have their eyes on the party’s nomination.

Perhaps cooler heads will resolve the shutdown this weekend. The long-term problems, though, will live on with the bathrobe.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Did the GOP Just Lose the 2020 Election?

Health care.

Again.

Do the Republicans, and conservatives in general, really not get the fact that most Americans need reliable health insurance that covers the checkups,  basic procedures, and tests they need to stay healthy? Do they really not understand that, yes, you can lower the cost of health insurance, but past a certain point it becomes prohibitively expensive to actually use the plan because deductibles and co-insurance rates are sky high? Are they really that ignorant of the idea that reliable, comprehensive health insurance coverage is in itself a safety net that allows Americans to work productively and plan for their financial and physical future?

I guess not. 

Health care was the number one issue in the 2018 elections, and the overwhelming majority of Americans said they disapproved of taking away, or making more expensive, coverage for pre-existing conditions. They like that physicals require no co-payment and that contraceptives are covered by most employers. So what seems to be the GOP position on health care?

You’re on your own, and if you have a pre-existing condition…stop it!

Of course, the Federal Court ruling last week is only the first step in the process of appeals that will likely culminate in a Supreme Court ruling in the middle of another presidential election. And we certainly know that Donald “Nobody Knew Health Care Could Be So Complicated” Trump is going to be absolutely useless on this issue. His response to the judicial ruling was to say that we’re going to fix the system and get everybody great health care.

Except that he spent the first 8 months of his presidency trying to repeal the law that put us on that course, then supported a GOP bill that would have thrown 20 million people off their plans. And he had a Republican majority in both houses of Congress to help him, but they couldn’t get it done. His opportunity to get a bill that actually fixes the deficiencies of the ACA is gone.

The GOP isn’t getting any help from the states either. Soon to be ex-Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, just signed a bill that prohibits the state from leaving a suit that challenges the ACA. I’m sure that more conservatives, even the ones who lost in November, will continue to try and get rid of the law. And people’s health insurance. Without a workable alternative. Refill the swamp, no?

Now that the Democrats control the House of Representatives, the chances are they will propose a bill more to the liking of most Americans who struggle with paying their bills and maintaining their health, which is mostly everyone with a middle-class income or less. They should make necessary changes to the ACA and make sure that every American knows that the consequences of the Republican assault on their ability to buy insurance will mean a drop in their quality of life.

And it’s not just health care that will ultimately spell doom for the Republicans. The climate, pollution, indictments, the trade war, unconscionable treatment of refugees and those who are trying to flee political and personal terror, a tax law that will explode the deficit and help the wealthy, the stock market, overt racism and sexism and, ultimately, a president who knows no boundaries when it comes to disrespecting the constitution, will all combine to remind voters that the United States is better than those who are presently running it.

It was immigration that likely won the election for Trump in 2016. Health care will be his, and the GOP’s undoing in 2020.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Featured Politics

Gadzooks! It Looks Like There Really ARE Witches!

I’m finally convinced that President Trump is absolutely correct when he tweets that Robert Mueller’s investigation into the alleged malfeasance of the Trump campaign and his possible obstruction of justice is, indeed, a witch hunt.

Because we’ve discovered that there are witches.

Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort have told demonstrable lies about their roles and the actions of others during their time as Trump servants. Manafort has made an art of his lying by first getting a deal on immunity, then breaking it by lying some more. This guy is a machine. Impressive. Cohen’s testimony, which implicates the president directly in authorizing payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal in return for their silence about their affairs with him, is even more damaging because it essentially calls Trump a liar since he denies having affairs with either of them. The weight of the evidence is not in the president’s favor.

And if you thought the witches only came out in the Mueller investigation, then you haven’t been paying attention. The other witches were found in North Carolina engaged in…wait for it…voter fraud.  The best part is that they’re Republicans. You know, the ones who enacted all of the voter ID and intimidation laws that have been suppressing minority voters for the past two national election cycles. The ones who claimed that illegal immigrants were voting in huge numbers against the president. The ones who said that Democrats were stealing elections.

Them.

Yes, they engaged in some fraudulent activities that blatantly affected the vote in a congressional race in North Carolina. And the even bester part is that the GOP contender is an evangelical preacher who says he has no idea that this was happening in his campaign. What a disgrace.

So there you have it, my friends. Real witches doing really witchful things.

The president is right. And it could turn out to haunt him. Eye of newt indeed.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Featured Politics

A Thousand Points of Light Beats One Dim Bulb

I didn’t really care for George H.W. Bush as president, but as history shows us, he certainly looks a great deal better in light of, shall we say, current realities.

At the time, Bush was seen as inheriting Ronald Reagan’s conservative mantle, but Bush was more moderate and came from the old blue blood wing of the Republican Party. You know, the wealthy, business-oriented, somewhat squishy on civil rights cadre that also nominated Richard Nixon. Bush had labeled Reagan’s economic policy as “voodoo economics,” which turned out not only to be prescient, but a fair warning to the conservatives who didn’t know how to balance a checkbook because, well, daddy would always clean up the mess.

Bush played daddy to the extent that he could, but he still gave in to the disgraceful instincts that were becoming part of campaigning in the modern era. The Willie Horton ad (I won’t even justify it with a link, though of course you could look it up) became part of the lexicon of scurrilous political advertisements because it played directly to the racist practices that were embedded in conservative circles. The ad was said to use dog whistle tactics, but that’s big fat lie. The ad screamed and generated sirens and flashing lights. And it worked.

Which of course made Bush’s appeal for a kinder, gentler America seem suspect to say the least, but he soon pivoted to his strengths, which were his close personal relationships in Washington and diplomatic circles, and his economic policies, which ultimately sunk him. During the 1988 campaign he said that the Democrats would need to read his lips; that he was not going to raise taxes. Then he did the responsible thing and raised taxes to put the economy on firmer footing and to close the budget deficit. For the conservatives, though, that was heresy. He lost in 1992 because conservatives didn’t come out for him and moderates thought he wasn’t engaged enough in domestic affairs.

But Bush did have some successes. He ordered invasions of Panama and Iraq to stop their leaders, Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein, from expanding their roles as very bad guys. And he also navigated the country through the end of the Cold War from 1989 to 1991, and did so with a steady hand. Reagan gets credit for ending the conflict, but it was Bush who helped make it an orderly reality. Looking back, it’s amazing to remember that for all of the talk about the Cold War ending with a mushroom cloud, it really ended with hammers slamming away at the Berlin Wall. Bush’s support for Boris Yeltsin’s coup was a masterstroke of realpolitik. He could have stuck with Mikhail Gorbachev, but Bush saw that Yeltsin was the future. And he was right.

Bush also had a successful post-presidency, burying the hatchet with Bill Clinton and generally living the life of an elder statesman with restraint and credibility. He was, though, the last of the old conservative breed, and it was his son who led us into the political world we unfortunately inhabit now. I won’t recap. You know this.

And yet it says something about the disaster that sits in the White House today when he says he doesn’t understand what the thousand points of light was supposed to represent, or even what it meant. That’s because you need to look beyond yourself and see the country as an interconnected community of people who are willing to help each other through volunteerism and a shared vision of what it takes to continue to improve. George H.W. Bush, indeed, most every other president, understood what this meant and encouraged us to give back to the United States. His death leaves one less light shining. Let’s make sure the present occupant doesn’t shut them all off.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Featured Politics

Climate Change Is Real. The Hoax Sits in the White House

Contradiction? Who’s to say.

The federal government released a report based on the judgement of 13 agencies that unequivocally warned of the dangers, both economic and biological, of the comingpresent global warming crisis. The report was mandated by Congress and points out in stark detail why we need to address climate change, carbon dioxide, and everything else that is contributing to major changes in the United States and the world. It hands the Democrats a potent line of attack for the next election, and should make every American stand up and realize the danger we face.

Then, of course, there’s the guy in the White House. You know, the guy who says it’s all a Chinese hoax meant to destroy the US economy. The guy who has issued several executive orders that will enable the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries to pollute more, destroy sensitive ecosystems, and foul the air and water in the name of…jobs and a misplaced, OK, warped, sense of history.

Yes, it’s true that the United States grew wealthy on US Steel and Exxon and Dow Chemical, but those days are over and gone. And killing more people who mine and work around dangerous materials will not bring those days back.

Neither will the air and water, but that seems to be the policy of choice among Trump’s avid supporters, and those sycophants who worry about the latest tweet or the mercurial nature of the man who holds the future of the country in his small hands.

Yes, I am worried too.

At least with the Democrats in control of the House of Representatives, we can have an honest debate about the role and influence of actual science, rather than some warped accounting of the world that has no basis in rational thought. The White House thought it could bury this report in the frenzy of the holiday shopping season. It cannot, nor can it hide the facts that undergird the research.

A president whose approval ratings have never seen the sunlight that shines above 50% will have a tremendously difficult time running on a platform of denial and pollution.

He certainly has his fans.

The rest of us are in the majority.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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We Spoke. Now It’s Up to the Constitution

Do you get the idea that Donald Trump started reading the United States Constitution, got to “We,” decided it didn’t apply to him, and never went back to it? Of course, that assumes that you are giving him the benefit of actually starting to read the document. Or read.

Appointing an Attorney General without the consent of the Senate seems to me to be outside the realm of the president’s duties. Never mind that the person he appointed, Matthew G. Whitaker, doesn’t understand the sometimes fragile system of checks and balances upon which our government rests, having said that the judiciary is supposed to be the weakest branch. He also doesn’t like it when the Supreme Court weighs in on the legality of laws. I suppose he thinks that’s his job.

Of course, the real reason Mr. Whitaker was chosen was to try and shut down the Robert Mueller investigation into whether the president obstructed justice when he fired James Comey as FBI Director. I know that the press and the president are fixated on Russian interference in the election and the extent to which the Trump campaign played along, or worse, but the real issue is the obstruction. And the president knows that, which I think is why he keeps focusing on collusion.

Then there’s the tale of Jim Acosta, the CNN reporter the president threw out of the press pool for asking too many difficult questions. Does anybody remember due process rights? (Does anybody remember laughter?) At least the hated federal judiciary is reading the constitution and ordered the White House to restore Mr. Acosta’s press credentials.

And the elections? Immediately reaching into his vocabulary bag and finding the phrase, “voter fraud,” (the only other words in that bag are witch, hunt, collusion, not, fair, I, me, I, me, and I) to describe the achingly close results in Florida and Georgia, demonstrates that the president has no real respect for the electoral system, nor can he even be respectful, call for a calm, judicious process, and work on a winning issue, such as repairing railroads and airports.

Clearly, the non-stop confrontational attitude is wearing thin as the other results of the election prove. The Democrats are poised to win more than 40 seats that Republicans held in the House, and it’s possible that the Senate will be just as close as it was before. The president and his advisers will now need to answer for their actions in front of less friendly legislators. They’ll put up a fight, but they’ll also show how disdainful they are about the law.

In any event, the next two years will be difficult ones for the president unless he decides that he needs to get something done and works with the Democrats. If not, he will have a difficult time convincing people that he needs a Republican majority in order to succeed.

We’ve been there. And all we got was chaos.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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After the Elections: Moving Forward

Not bad. Could have been a little better, and will be if Florida and/or Georgia recounts change those races, but overall, a good result on Tuesday.

And yet, when all is counted, it looks like maybe 48% of eligible voters went to the polls. That’s terrible. Here we are, the world’s greatest democracy and we can’t even muster a majority of voters exercising their precious right. I honestly have no patience for people who complain or say they want to make this country better, or are seriously upset at the people who are already serving in office, yet do not bother to register, vote and make their voices heard. It’s our duty and our responsibility as citizens.

Moving on.

Democrats garnered more overall votes for both the House and Senate races nationally, which is good news for the party and the country. Midterm elections have traditionally been excuses for the left to be ignorant and stay home while the angry right takes over the Congress and statehouses. I hope this happens no more. And I also hope that, especially in New Jersey, these same voters come out next year when we elect the state legislature and senate, offices that have far more power over our day-to-day existence than federal representatives and senators. Traditionally, only about 25% of voters turn out for those elections. Then they have the temerity to complain about property taxes, school funding, the state of the beaches, and transportation. Again; no patience.

There was a great deal of discussion about what this past election means. There were a number of Democratic Socialists and other far left candidates who won elections, but the real story is that the party is (and must) moving towards the center. This is how the process usually works. The American people are not ready to support Medicare for all or free college tuition or a more liberal immigration policy.

Yet.

These ideas will eventually become part of mainstream discussion in the same way that far right policies that seemed fringe 30 years ago have now become mainstream, such as anti-environmental and pro-business deregulation, and tax cuts that funneled billion of dollars to those who were already wealthy.

But for now, Democrats have to return to the issues that they have traditionally championed; a fairer tax system, being more responsive to the middle and working classes, affordable health care and housing, protecting the rights of all people to vote, to gain a livable wage, and to protect children from exploitation and poverty, not to mention a fairer immigration system. If the Democrats focus on these issues, which most exit polls said were voters’ key concerns, then the party can regain voters who defected to the Republicans in 2016 and build a base of support for future national and state elections.

The party also needs to stay away from talk of impeachment or appearing to be burying the administration under a blizzard of subpoenas in order to satisfy the far left flank that sees the president as illegitimate. Make sure that any actions are defensible, reasonable, pointed, and specific. Fight fire with fire, not a flamethrower. Present an argument for people who should be voting for Democrats to do so. Getting caught up in the minute-to-minute rantings of the president will not show the broader population that it is a party that will get things they want done.

Even with Congressional majorities and the White House, the Republicans were still only able to pass one major piece of legislation, which was a tax cut that didn’t help them a bit on election day, and neither did an economy that continues to create jobs. That’s extraordinary and it demonstrates the extent to which the president’s rantings have muddied, diluted, and just plain blocked what should have been a winning issue. Democrats can build a better tax cut and an economic program that helps the majority of Americans who earn a paycheck but are still struggling.

Let’s rebuild the trust with the American people, fight the groups that espouse hatred and bile, and show that we can truly be a model for the rest of the world.

It starts now.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Change Is In Our Hands: Vote!

Rules? We don’t need no stinkin’ rules.

Political rules?

My choice in the New Jersey Senate race is either the incumbent, Democrat Bob Menendez, or the Republican challenger, Bob Hugin.

Senator Menendez was charged with all sorts of nasty political-insider-corruption-fraud-bad-bad-things, when through the process, and it all resulted in a mistrial. Meanwhile, he’s been an effective Senator and has been a terrific friend to teachers and public education in general. He’s also fought hard to get the current administration in Washington to commit some money to rebuild the transportation infrastructure in New Jersey, which has been in terrible shape for years.

Bob Hugin is a businessman and a Republican. If he wins, whatever centrism that exists in his agenda will be swallowed Jonah-like by Mitch McConnell and the ultra-right-wing Know-Nothings who currently run the Senate. And that’s not to mention that he will be obligated to support the most odious, malodorous politician in, well, ever, that being the president of the country who never met a fact he could ignore or turn into a falsehood.

Politics has always attracted people with, shall we say, malleable ethics, but under President Trump, the rules are gone. He has no moral standing, and neither does the Republican Party that supports him while he attempts to trash the constitution and make a mockery of the inclusive values that we’ve tried to practice as a nation. He has nothing but fear and the now-scary title of Commander-In-Chief, which means that he can order soldiers to the border to possibly shoot women and children if they make the mistake of…throwing a rock.

At this point, it is imperative that we as a country put the brakes on Republican one-party rule, as the Republicans did to Democrats in 2010. The House presents the best opportunity for that, because I think the Senate will remain Republican, which has to make the right very happy since they can continue to pack the courts with young judges who think that meaningful constitutional interpretation means living in 1789. In fact, I think the main Republican strategy since the beginning for October is to save the Senate, which explains the president’s continued screeds against immigrants and the media, even when he should be taking a more measured tone in the aftermath of pipe bombs and antisemitic attacks.

And don’t forget that the only meaningful legislation the Republicans have passed is a giant, whopping tax break for the wealthy that has exploded the deficit so completely, it makes the Reagan deficit seem like a rounding error.

Make sure you vote on Tuesday, and in the interests of returning some balance to the country, please vote Democratic. Just think of what two more years of Republican rule will mean for this country.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Donald Trump

I Love America. Trumpian Nationalism Scares Me

This was a bad week.

Saudi Arabia

Megyn Kelly

Pipe Bombs

Murder at a Pittsburgh synagogue

The Stock Market

We have these kinds of weeks occasionally and they serve to remind us that we have deep and serious problems both at home and in the world that require our thoughtful, serious, sober attention. The bigger problem, though, is that we do not have a thoughtful, serious, sober president who has the skills to lead us effectively through this rough patch. In fact, the president is in some ways is creating the atmosphere in which these events can flourish.

Please don’t misunderstand me: I’m not saying that President Trump is the cause of these terrible events. What I am saying is that he has a hand in setting the tone under which they can develop and grow.

It’s time to retire “politically correct” from our lexicon because all it does is give cover to those people who blame it for repressing free speech, when what they want to say are vile, hateful things to anyone they want, and it’s usually used by whites who don’t quite understand that what they might want to say shows that they have no sense of decorum or justice. Blackface is, and always has been, racist. So has dressing up like a cartoon of someone’s ethnic background.

The president has not helped with this because he ran on a firm rejection of respectful speech, using racial, ethnic and sexist slurs against anyone, even military personnel, members of congress, judges and foreign dignitaries who opposed him or questioned his questionable judgement. Is it any wonder that we have people like Megyn Kelly uttering spectacularly racist statements? Or that we have a company such as Google protecting male executives who committed heinous acts of sexism and harassment at work?

Which of course brings us to our latest example of violence and hate, American style. The president has said, repeatedly, that the media is the enemy of the people. It looks like some people have received that message loud and clear. And what’s worse is that after a few comforting words, the president went right back on the campaign rally trail and continued to vilify the media after more pipe bombs were discovered. The mainstream media is not the problem; continuing to blame and create scapegoats is the problem.

But what made this week even worse when the president referred to himself as a nationalist, and then taunted those who really understand what his brand of nationalism means.

It’s not inclusive.

It’s not positive.

It’s not helpful.

It creates victims.

And you’ll please excuse me for bringing up the past, but as  Jewish American, I cannot ignore what historical nationalism has meant to my people. It’s been used to define us as not: not part of the country, not part of the group, not part of the culture, not part of society. That the president apologized for using nationalism as he does says to me that he understands, albeit in a limited way, what nationalism has meant to minorities and those people who have traditionally been excluded from the nation. At the same time, though, he has excused the actions and words of the very right wing hate groups that promote antisemitism, racism and xenophobia.

All you have to do is listen as he and his followers describe the women and children trying to make a better life for themselves in this country as an invasion force worthy of evoking a military response on our southern border to know that this is the language of hatred, fear and loathing. Presidents are role models and they have traditionally been careful about what they say. This president has discarded that, to the detriment of the nation.

At the same time, without investigating, he nurtured the theory that the Saudi government had little to do with the death of Jamil Khashoggi, even going so far as asking the Saudi Crown Prince if his government was involved. Trump took the Prince at his word. That word was a lie.

I have all but given up on the president changing his tone to one that includes all Americans and exhorts us to use our common wisdom, our vitality and our common sense to solve our problems. As long as he sees this country as one in which there are people for him and people against him, then he will continue to divide us.

It’s up to us to change that. Make sure you vote on November 6 for candidates that will form a bulwark against policies that will enrich the few, blame the other and venerate the narrow at the expense of the many.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Dictator See, Dictator Do. And the Lies Cost Lives

I know it’s tough to be Saudi Prince Muhammed bin . After all, you’re only 33, which is not enough time to know…anything about how the world really works. You’re fabulously wealthy. You head a government with no opposition and you believe it derives its power from the consent of the governed God and your own assumption that only you and your family, although not your brothers and cousins are fit to rule the country.

You also must contemplate a future for which your country is ill-prepared: a future where oil and gas are in decline and the climate, including the E-Z Bake Oven you call your country, is warming past bake and into broil territory. You’ve done some prior planning in response to this and you’re encouraging wealthy business people and other countries to invest in your future so you can keep your mandate, your power, and the billions of dollars to which you’ve become accustomed.

Oh, and then there’s that devastating war you’ve pursued in Yemen. You know, the one that’s been labeled the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet. And you continue the fighting because…um…the Iranians are your worst enemy and they’re arming Houthi rebels in Yemen and you…um…see this as a gigantic threat to your well-being. M, there’s no end in sight mainly because the rest of the world doesn’t see what’s happening.

So the last thing you need now is for the world to focus on the torture, killing dismemberment of a journalist–a journalist!–who lives in Virginia and wrote scathing critiques of you and your government for the Washington Post. You thought that you could slip this one past the world. After all, what’s a journalist’s life worth in Putin/Trump/ land? Journalists write stuff that makes us all feel bad and besides, it’s not very patriotic to critique your country and your dictator-.

At least Donald Trump gets it. He called you and you lied to him about the Khashoggi case and he defended you on the principles of Western jurisprudence, which you don’t really give a darn hoot about. But the point is that he believed you. And with all of this representative democracy that threatens to break out here in Saudi Arabia, it’s nice to know that you can lie to the President of the United States and he will still be your friend.

Of course, buying a few hundred billion dollars of weapons that can be used against Houthi rebels in Yemen helps your relationship with Trump, but those other Republicans are heaving religious morals at you which really, really hurts.

What really hurts the most, though, is that the world doesn’t believe your excuses. You are being questioned. You are being exposed. You have little moral authority. And we didn’t even mention that 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers were Saudi citizens, or that your father tolerated the extreme Wahhabism that has fueled the terrorist ideologies that are presently wreaking havoc in the world.

There is blood on your hands. And there isn’t enough water in the oceans to wash it off.

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You Want Change? Vote.

Are you angry? I mean, really angry? Angry about Brett Kavanaugh? Angry about the administration’s refusal to consult science about…anything? Angry about the weather? NFL players kneeling? Liberals calling for impeaching the president? Conservatives actually taking the president seriously? The president?

This is not healthy for the country or for you. And heading into the midterm elections, it’s not helping the country have anything close to a reasoned debate about the issues.

Time to breathe.

I hate to say it, but it doesn’t look like the Democrats are going to win back the Senate, and the House is going to be closer that many political analysts thought in the summer. If you’re on the left, that means total GOP control of the Congress for two more years. More deregulation, more pollution, less health care, more tax cuts for the wealthy, and more men making decisions for women.

What to do?

I know. Vote. Register to vote if you haven’t done that, but if you have, vote. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to register and vote, especially if you want to back up your complaints with action. Don’t let older voters, who supported Donald Trump and vote in large numbers, outvote you.

Have you seen this video?

Yes? Then if you haven’t registered, what are you waiting for?

No? Then take it as a challenge and register and vote.

That’s the surefire strategy for effecting change. Otherwise, politicians will dismiss your concerns and see you as irrelevant. Because, in a sense, you are.

It bothers me greatly that many Americans will tip their hats to both active duty and veteran soldiers, thank them for their service and defense of this country, and then not follow-up with the one single best way to show your pride and commitment to their efforts.

Vote.

Make yourself relevant.

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The Farce Continues: Wake Me Up When Brumaire Ends

Yes, I’ve been reading Karl Marx while listening to Green Day.

Yes, I’ll explain.

You’ve heard the phrase: “Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.”

Marx wrote that in an essay in 1852, comparing the rise to dictator of Napoleon’s nephew Louis Napoleon to a farce when compared to Napoleon’s rise in 1799, which occurred–you guessed it–on 18 Brumaire according to the French Revolutionary calendar.

Yes, I know, great way to ruin a pithy historical reference.

I digress.

The farce seems to be upon us, but this time it’s the second time around of the Reagan Revolution and it’s being perpetrated by a clownish president, the High Holiness of Hypocrisy, Mitch McConnell, and the tragic figure who smiles while having her reputation ripped off of her like a cheap bodice, Senator Susan Collins of Maine. There are, of course, other actors, including the nominee himself, Brett “Keg” Kavanaugh, Joe “DINO” Manchin, and Senator Lindsay Graham, the Frddie Blassie Award winner for his lack of decorum or of saying anything that someone should want to listen to, and the media machine that kept it in front of us for the past two weeks.

But farce it is, and my sense is that Ronald Reagan is spinning so fast in his grave we could tap him as a power source. Yes, the main ideas of smaller government, increased recognition of religious rights, tax cuts, and increased military spending are still in the GOP jukebox, but now they’ve added the overt racism that comes with opposing social programs and housing opportunity, a tax cut bill that punishes vast swaths of the middle class and will result in them paying more in April than what they received in their checks, anti-unionism, voter suppression, tolerance and, in some cases, acceptance, of white supremacist groups, unchecked sexism, and the vile, uncompromising, inappropriate, dangerous, misogynistic, insulting blather that comes from the president’s mouth and phone on a moment-by-moment basis.

And you know what? The GOP doesn’t care. The president doesn’t care. The right wing media doesn’t care. The Senate clearly doesn’t care, and the House hasn’t cared since 1994.

That’s the farce.

But we can rebuild this country. We have the technology. And the effort has to come from both left and right. We start by electing Democrats to the Congress, but more importantly, to the statehouses. If you have a state legislative or Gubernatorial election this November, it’s key that you keep or elect Democrats to office because they will have the responsibility to remap state districts in 2021, after the next census. It’s also important because state legislators become seasoned at that level and then become attractive candidates for federal office. The GOP has dome this masterfully for the past 30 years, and look at where they are now.

And when you consider that of the 7 presidential elections held since 1992, the GOP has one a popular majority…once–that’s right, once, in 2004–then  you can see the effects of a state strategy that pays off. You can also see how farcical the GOP claim is of being the majority party or of garnering support from the American people.

It’s crucial to come out and vote.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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