Captain Chaos Rules the Day!
Captain Chaos strikes again, this time pulling the United States out of the global climate change agreement. The President claimed this was about saving jobs in Pittsburgh and putting America first. None of this is true, of course. The President simply loves chaos. You can watch him jump from one self-made crisis to another the way a deft skier might jump from one mogul to the next. If things calm down for too long, The President always has Twitter to fall back on to make a mess of things.
As the owner of a global company, I can tell you that we look for employees like this — those who thrive in chaos and who, as a result, create challenges and confrontations where none existed — and we fire them. Quickly. The signals President Trump sent going as far back as his campaign were clear — he’s a cancer to any organization, what with his thriving on chaos instead of calm control and order.
What does it tell you when the head of Homeland Security states clearly that he doesn’t know how to stop terrorist attacks, when the Senate Majority Leader says that he believes President Trump is a man of his word while the President himself when asked to back up a recent statement he made claimed prophetically, “I don’t stand by anything.” Captain Chaos rules the day.
It’s true by the way. Back in April, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said on CBS’s Face the Nation that he didn’t know how to stop homegrown terrorism. His exact words: “You got the homegrown terrorists. I don’t know how to stop that. I don’t know how to detect that.” Captain Chaos shrugged, this is perfect for him. On the same program some weeks later, President Trump also stated clearly, “I don’t stand by anything.” Maybe you missed that one but it’s telling, don’t you think?
In other news, Reuters reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to share a transcript of a private White House meeting between President Trump and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Excuse us, but when and how did Russia end up with transcripts of private White House meetings? Is anyone okay with this? Anyone? Captain Chaos?
As far as climate change goes, Congressman Tim Walberg (R-Michigan) said we have nothing to fear since, “If there’s a real problem, God will take care of it.” Brilliant. I’m reminded of the parable of the man clinging to his roof during a flood. He can’t swim and is sure to drown. A boat comes by to rescue him, but he demurs. God will save him. A helicopter hovers overhead and drops a line, but the man stays put. Finally, a man on a surfboard swings by and offers a ride. The man declines. God will save him. The waters rise, the man drowns and he ends up before God. “I thought you would save me,” the man cries. God’s response is calm. “I sent the boat, the helicopter and the surfboard. What more could I do?”
I would suggest to Congressman Walberg that the many nations of the world came together and carved an agreement to save the planet. I am an atheist, but were I to believe, this inter-planetary harmony would clearly strike me as an act of God. If you have faith, then God is sending us one signal after another that we are destroying our planet. And she’s even given us a roadmap to survive. But like the man clinging to his roof and his faith in God, we’re ignoring all of it. Captain Chaos is in his element.
Across the spectrum of America, we have become too accustomed to the manufactured drama of reality television. We have lost touch with our planet, with ourselves and with the magic of life itself. As a result, we have fallen for a con-man who is most comfortable in manufactured chaos and confrontation and we have gone so far as to have elected him our leader. As part of our national myopia, we have overlooked the actual Garden of Eden, our Planet Earth. And this while we’ve eaten from the fruit of knowledge and the resulting un-checked use of the technology that we’ve built as a result is leading to our demise.
Here’s to preserving our planet — which to my twisted way of thinking is the first fundamental step to looking after America. Perhaps most of all, here’s to doing our very best to ignore Captain Chaos until he finally departs the stage. Indeed, the vacuum of silence is one way to eviscerate Captain Chaos. Like any schoolyard clown, Captain Chaos thrives on our reactions. Take away our reactions and we’re one step closer to the restoration of sanity and the preservation of our planet and of our democracy.
