Surreal is No Longer the Breakfast of Champions!

I have been in an odd and a much more voracious reading mode the last week as this shit-show that is the Trump presidency continues to plod along an unfettered path of knocks, missteps, miscalculations, and any other number of other wrong-headed decisions that knowingly or otherwise undermine good programs, the news media and the confidence and trust that might be remaining in institutions that exist in these United States of America.

I can not help but put my head in a place where when I read about the events that occur, the decisions that are made, the people that are making them that I have to somehow perform a discount calculation from reality to process what it is I am reading and somehow separate it from being a political cartoon. This shit is surreal! How many times have you read something in the news and wondered aloud “is this for real?” Why is this even an issue? Why is this person in this role? What are their credentials? I have had that moment about 80%+ of the news I have come across of late.

This FBI Director Comey thing is mind boggling and the sheer breadth of how poorly it has been handled in itself is a giant red flag about our president. Now he wants to stop doing press briefings? He wants us to believe he cares about Hillary and the email investigation? Nothing you say anymore can be uttered without being suspect. Because he can not keep his mouth shut and can not effectively manage a press operation the press and the public should be kept in the dark? How watching these events unfold in real-time and listening to the words he is saying not the “Fake news” interpretations of said words are not causing an absolute uproar amongst the people that voted for him is difficult for me to understand. As you can see below that partisan beliefs are strong and has me struggling to understand how someone who voted for Trump can honestly look you in the eye and say that all of these allegations are not serious and warrant an in-depth investigation to get to the bottom of the matter. Rather they believe that it is more of a distraction. That is somewhat mind-boggling in my estimation.

Just this morning I attempted to turn the question back on myself and evaluate how I might have thought through a similar question if posed to me if the president I voted for was in a challenging spot. It turns out that Bill Clinton can be used as an example. When Bill Clinton had impeachment proceedings brought against him he was acquitted and remained in office. He lied. He was caught in a lie about an extramarital affair. He got a blowjob. If he was not married then who cares. Whether Republican or not I do see these issues as wildly different. He literally got caught with privates out of his pants which is wrong, embarrassing, cause for mistrust in his relationship with his wife which is something between him and her NOT him and me. He owes it to her to keep it in his pants. His fidelity is not of my concern.

Concealing the fact that you played around with an intern is an order of magnitude different than colluding with a foreign power to sway an election for personal gains and for who knows what other untold reasons. Clinton did not fire the prosecutor that was looking into his actions. He did fire an FBI director for misappropriating funds for personal gains but that is a damned good reason to do so. He did not in any way obstruct justice. He sounded like an ass with some of the answers he provided during any number of hearings but that is what happens when trying to cover up anything.

So when I explore the idea of how partisan would my evaluation of the events be I would not simply agree with his actions just because he was a Democratic president. I do think that he was wrong for doing what he did. I also do not think that fooling around with an intern because you are the MOST POWERFUL MAN ON THE PLANET is something that would cause adverse decision-making when it comes to executing the duties of the office. Now if he were in the pocket of the Russian’s, able to be influenced by them, had massive business holdings with them or the like my level of concern would increase significantly as his ability to lead would be compromised and I would pivot my thinking to this guy has got to go. Country over party would be the immediate basis for my thinking. If a Democrat was tied to the Russians I would help vote in an American Republican that was independent and trustworthy in a heartbeat.

So you see I do struggle trying to understand how someone can, at this point, still line up behind their person that has exhibited such a plethora of clear and present dangers to the United States and our Democratic way of life with all of its imperfections, warts and lumps. All I can ask is that all Americans put aside their me vs. you partisan way of thinking and take a step back and evaluate what is going on with a clear set of lenses, evaluate multiple news sources and and draw a conclusion from them and bring some independent and critical thinking to their own conclusions and be as informed as possible. Our country needs this more than ever today!