I drank a lot in my early 20s. I wasn’t an alcoholic, but I was still drunk at my college graduation which was at 9-10 a.m. on a rather hot Saturday morning in early May 2001 at Georgia Southern University about an hour drive out of Savannah. I moved away as I got older because like a lot of things, such as driving, it lacks the enjoyment once the novelty wears off.
It’s now 60 days into 2024 and I haven’t drunk a single alcoholic beverage. The closest was a swig of cold syrup when I felt a cold coming on. However, the Scotch-Irish in me will get outrageously drunk when Donald J. Trump, Mitch McConnell and many others such as Chuck Grassley and especially Vladimir Putin are no long on this Earth. Henry Kissinger lived 100 years and six months. Grassley is 90 years and six months. On this President’s Day, we seem to be left wondering why on 2024 seemed like such a far-away time when I first voted in the 1996 General Election.
I was told we’d having flying cars and a more automated system of technology. Instead we have people wanting to turn back the clock 100 years to when Kissinger wasn’t an itch in his daddy’s pants. And people whine so much about self-checkout, I just want to grab them and say, “This is supposed to be the future, you dumb fucks!”
Some calendars still refer to today as Washington’s Birthday. George Washington had a shady history that has come up more in recent years such like Thomas Jefferson and many others. John Adams defended the British troops charged in the Boston Massacre. If he did it today, he would’ve been crucified if he was anything but a Republican. There was a consideration of making America a monarchy modeled after European countries, but the Founding Fathers, flawed as they were, decided to make it a republic.
King Charles has only sat on the throne for 18 months and with his recent cancer diagnosis, it’s possible he may not sit another 18 months. The craziness of life to dangle something in front of his face for decades only to take it away after a lifetime of waiting. But now, England is a constitutional monarchy. It seems America almost started that way with the aristocrats of the colonies no different than the Lords of England. It was ironic the first President to be elected by the common man was the 1828 election of Andrew Jackson, a man who would become more controversial in later years. And now, his Presidency is shrouded in embarrassment following the genocide of the Native Americans and removal from their homes in the original colonies.
It seems since the election of Jackson, the 19th Century had a tumultuous time with its Presidents for the rest of the century with the exception of Abraham Lincoln. It’s almost like being President in the 19th Century was a position most dreaded like a kid who forced to play Little League Baseball sent out to right field. But by the 20th Century, the position became more respectable and rather glamourous. That’s why people I think romanticize Donald Trump so much. They see him more as a celebrity icon than a public servant.
It goes back to John F. Kennedy, which I’ll admit wasn’t a great President. Like Firefly, JFK is more treasured by what happened rather than what didn’t happen. One can’t doubt the John Birch Society and the Republican Party would’ve hoisted Barry Goldwater up as the one they needed. Kennedy had the fiasco of the Bay of Pigs. If he had survived the shooting in Dallas, it might have garnered some sympathy but the Republican Party would’ve worked with the Southern Democrats to quell the Civil Rights movements. It would’ve given them to power to take the White House in 1964.
Stephen King wrote about this in his book 11/22/63. President Lyndon B. Johnson knew this was the way to go. He had to use Kennedy’s death as a way to unite America and that may have cost him the Southern Democrats, but it bought him a re-election and a legacy that would be undone by 1968 with the Tet Offensive. LBJ was right to step down. He had no way of rebounding from that. Both sides hated him now. They elected him to unite America and it became more divided with the Vietnam War. If the voting age was 18 in 1968, it’s likely LBJ would’ve been the subject of a massive recall.
Johnson knew his time was over. Trump doesn’t. He lost the popular vote twice. The only reason he’s the front runner is the Republican Party doesn’t have anyone who they can put up against him. And they know it. As former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said, “You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later date.” And for now, the Republican Party is hoping they can make due with Trump.
With the recent judgment in the New York fraud case, it seems it would be the final thing for the Republican Party to continue to support him. But it seems to keep giving them the ammo that the courts are all wrong on this issue. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering whether or not Trump or any President can have immunity for things they’ve done while in office. And does the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment apply to Trump. Considering that three of the justices on the Court are the ones he appointed, what is the likelihood they’ll take into consideration will it open up a loophole for future Presidents?
This comes after it was announced Alexei Navalny was found dead in a prison in Siberia. Navalny, a Russian lawyer was a major opposition leader to Putin. Putin, who has been in power too long, seems to dispatch of his enemies and people he finds troublesome. This is what happens when you have someone who used to be a member of the KGB. All they know is how to get rid of their enemies. It’s the same as a bully like Trump knows to downgrade and belittle people. He also knows how to use strong-arm tactics to get his way. Yet wouldn’t President Joe Biden be able to use these same tactics or any other sitting President.
And while it’s no secret that many politicians have used these tactics over the years, no one has been as brazen as Trump. If you look at the people who support him, they all have a peaked in high school feel to them. Yet, while most of them seem to have blue-collar jobs or have manual labor jobs, they support someone who probably can’t tell you the difference between an Phillips screwdriver and an Allen Wrench. This was a joke in A Man Called Otto where Millennials don’t know what an Allen Wrench is.
The criminal hush-money case involving Stormy Daniels is set to go to jury trial on March 25, during the middle of a tense primary election. No other former President seeking another term or any political candidate dealing with this much problems would’ve bowed out already. Or they’d been forced to bow out.
Yet, Trump, as always wants people to send him money to help. He’s never paid his bills while demanding Russia go to war for NATO for not paying its bills, which isn’t a thing. He sold shoes some as high up as $399. Let me reiterate, he’s selling shoes. Back at one time, this was a joke on Married…With Children. Now, those shoes sold out within hours, more than likely so someone could resell them at a higher rate online. A GoFundMe website campaign as also been launched. But let’s be obvious, the money won’t go to pay the huge judgment. It’ll go to pay his lawyers or give him some money to use elsewhere.
Trump and his sons are barred from operating businesses in New York state for three years. Yet, they are working to move things around to other entities to continue to operate. Remember, his buddy is O.J. Simpson who tried to reroute the process of If I Did It to another account so he wouldn’t have to repay the families of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. Simpson just didn’t have the better lawyers Trump has to make sure he’s able to operate. Part of the reason he’s continuing to run for re-election is he needs the money in his other business to stay afloat.
And people are donating. It’s because they don’t understand the Presidency is more than one person. They want Project 2025 to become a reality. And that’s not a republic. That’s not even a monarchy. It’s a dictatorship. It’s what Russia has. On paper, America might have been a republic but it’s still just a young concept in execution. So naturally, a lot of people unfamiliar with how things are supposed to be will push back when they may lose a little. Maybe we shouldn’t get too comfortable that some things will last for a while when we should always be on our toes. That’s how we learn how to keep it.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 