The Republican National Convention

I have truly spent little time watching the Republican National Convention. It's like a train wreck though, you have to see a bit of it to understand what is happening. I can only handle so much of the hatred and fearmongering that seems to be the new Republican platform. Since they don’t really seem to have a platform of ideology, a few tried and true platitudes will have to do. Gone are the days of the Republican conservative ideals that I consider to be of genuine merit and which should not be dismissed out-of-hand. We do need to manage our financial house. Welfare needs to be smartly administered to those most in need and provided where it does the most good. We must better manage our immigration process along all of our borders and points of entry. The old Republican Party would have been promoting those ideals and pointing out where they have made progress since they gained control of the White House.

What I now hear from the remains of the once-respected opposition party, are the spewing of hatred and the unwarranted warnings of Armageddon if this authoritarian is not reelected. Claims of rapists running amok and attacking your womenfolk or, the horror of horrors, your menfolk too, are being chanted with alarm. They are breaking out their tried and true classics like, the “libs” are coming for your guns, and brown people are bringing crime and drugs and taking away your jobs. I don’t think either Dwight D. Eisenhower or Ronald Reagan would recognize the remnants of the once-proud party of Lincoln.

I guess that, with our economy in tatters (please ignore the stock market) and unemployment at record highs, there is little to brag about. Attack and blame the opposition for your ills. After three and a half years of control, I find it almost laughable that they are still blaming all of their problems on the Obama administration. They have squeezed all that they can out of that first envelope if you know the old joke. In that classic story, an outgoing administrator tells the newly appointed replacement that he has left three envelopes in the desk drawer with advice for troubled times. When the first envelope was opened it read, “Blame your predecessor.” When the second envelope was opened it read, “Reorganize.” Then when problems again arose, the third envelope was opened which read, “Prepare three envelopes.” I think this administration has gotten as much mileage as they can with the first envelope and they are in a constant state of reorganization between indictments and firings.

In times of trouble, open one envelope

I doubt that this president will be preparing three envelopes between November 3rd and January 20th. He is just not that sort of person. There would be nothing in it for him. I do have respect for those Republicans who have seen the chaos and destruction that has been brought down on their former party and have had the courage to denounce this heretic for the charlatan that he is. The ads from the Lincoln Project are among my favorites. While I have no respect for Kellyanne Conway, I do see that she has watched the waters rising and has followed others who have abandoned ship. I likewise have little respect for Jeff Sessions but I do give him credit for having had enough character to recuse himself from overseeing the Mueller investigation. Kellyanne and Jim join the human flotsam left in the wake of the floundering and rudderless Trumptanic. Indictments, incarceration, ignominy, and tell-all book deals seem to be their destiny.

We Americans are at our best when we can have opposing viewpoints, sanely discuss our feelings and ideas, and come to some compromise for the future. We are not at that point today and I fear we may never recover from the division being promoted at the RNC. That division existed before Trump took office, but it has been exacerbated into the ever-widening chasm that we are witnessing from this administration.

The Excited Trump Crowd

I will leave you with a few reasons to vote for Donald Trump.

[warning, may contain sarcasm]

1. I don’t believe in climate change. Scientists tell us that manmade pollution is killing our planet, sea levels are rising, and the ice caps are melting. I’ll believe that when I see a polar bear strolling down Collins Avenue on Miami Beach. I think the politicians know more than scientists do.

2. I believe environmental regulations are unnecessary. Who cares if a few national parks have oil rigs dotting the landscape or a pipeline crossing my picture? That’s what Photoshop was designed to fix. Why should I care about future generations? This is my time.

3. I believe this pandemic is all a hoax and that whatever this is will just go away. Donald Trump knows more than these so-called doctors and scientists. The coronavirus is nothing that a little bleach or eating a Tide-pod can’t cure. [to the Facebook censors who claimed I was promoting a fake cure for Covid-19, the preceding is known as sarcasm]

4. I believe that the Trump Royal Family should dominate our politics for generations to come and that we don’t really need elections when we have such a religious and truthful person running things. Elections are all rigged anyway, except of course the 2016 election that brought us our savior.

5. I believe that Donald Trump is a religious man. I saw a picture of him holding up a Bible in front of a church and know that he had to tear gas and bludgeon a few folks in order to get that opportunity. That, my friend, is religious dedication. He supports family values and keeping families together unless you are an illegal immigrant. Donald Trump believes in marriage. Hell, he’s been married three times.

6. I believe that Qanon is the only thing standing between us and baby-eating pedophiles who operate out of pizza parlors where "deep dish" is a cover for the Deep State conspiracy. Don't ask for extra toppings and don't get me started on their "secret sauce."

Get your Q-pizza fresh from the oven

If you believe all of the above, make sure you vote for Donald Trump on November 4th. Don’t trust those mail-in ballots, just show up at the polls the first Wednesday in November.