Use Your Own Work

You know, the funny thing about politics is that the politician’s family is supposed to be off limits to the criticisms and slanders thrown at the politician. It seems like such a small thing to do, to leave the family out of the fray. I get that politics is blood sport now, but if MMA fighters started tearing into their opponents entourage, someone would call “foul”, right?

I think the “off limits” rule should apply as long as the politician’s family doesn’t decide to mix it up politically. Clearly the physical attack of Nancy Pelosi’s husband by a would-be assassin and the follow up character assassination by the right-wing nut job pundits is an example of how the family should be left out of the argument as long as they are not active themselves. That said, once you get into nepotism, the gloves can come off.

Just for grins let’s forecast a nightmare 2024 election result and the Donald has returned to the throne that he had built specifically for the occasion. He has named Don Jr. Secretary of Defense, Eric Secretary of Treasury, Jared Secretary of State, and Ivanka First Lady-in-Waiting. Obviously, family in that situation should be open to all of the scrutiny due the candidate. Of course, in that nightmare scenario, there would be no more agencies to provide scrutiny. The appointment of Rudy Giuliani to Attorney General and Roger Stone to head the FBI would negate any self- introspection of the administration.

All of that said, the Donald made his announcement this week that he is running again for dictator of the planet. Everyone’s favorite prevaricator formally threw his hat in the ring for the 2024 presidential race. The hat thrown into the ring was not the Donald’s hat actually, it was snatched from the head of a sycophant standing at ringside. The Donald loyalist is now working as a truck stop lizard to be able to earn enough money to replace the hat and continue their $19.99 a month commitment to Make America Great Again.

The announcement speech was offered to all of the networks and even Faux news cut away for a round table discussion while the Donald wandered aimlessly through the desert of his discontent. Interspersed with promises of taking America to places it has never been before, that hits an 11 on the “pucker factor” doesn’t it, the Donald regaled the audience with the abuses he has received from a free people exercising their rights. The famous wit and writer Molly Ivins might have commented about the diatribe, “It sounded better in the original German.” Which brings me to my point.

First wife Ivana said that the only book on the Donald’s night stand was of Hitler’s speeches. Over the years we have had ample examples of the Donald’s xenophobia, his racism, his bigotry, and hatred for anything that doesn’t fit his worldview of white supremacy. We’ve seen how this worldview plays out. There are parts of Europe that are still rebuilding from World War II, eighty years later. Rather than plagiarize Hitler’s Generalplan Ost why can’t the Donald and the republican party break out in a new direction and lead us to some place better than we’ve already been?

Of course, a new direction requires new thinking, a new plan, and the ability to communicate the new paradigm to others. It’s just easier to cheat off of someone else’s work, I guess.