October 18, 2018 by lonbud

Res Ipsa Loquitur

I have been beside myself lately, wracked by an incredible yearning slathered with guilt and self-loathing, at not having written much at all about the Current Occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.

I mean, seriously, it’s not like the man and his organization (if such a rag-tag cadre of sycophants and grifters can be so described) have not, on nearly a daily basis since the 2016 election, provided grist for the mill of criticism and analysis. George W. Bush, who was but a cypher of the behavioral, philosophical, intellectual, and policy-driven cluster-fuck that is President #45, inspired nearly bi-monthly missives at this blog during his eight years in office. Yet, I have managed exactly 10 posts since January 2017 – and not all of them have been about Frederick Drumpf’s most unloved son.

But I think I’ve found a path to absolution. I’m just going to let the thing speak for itself – which, for those unfamiliar with the meanings of classic Latin phrases, who did not rush to translate the title of this post before getting this far, is what the title of this post means.

Who can forget the quote that might, in a different age, have provided a warning sufficient to prevent the slow-rolling deployment of shit-show incompetence, personnel turnover, and federal indictments that have characterized the present administration?

The entire country had time to digest this prior to Election Day 2016:

“I moved on her. Actually, she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her and I failed. I’ll admit it. I did try and fuck her. She was married.”

Ho ho. You thought I was going to list that quote about being a star and grabbing them by the pussy because when you’re a star they’ll let you do anything, right? No. The quote that came before that little paean to narcissistic delusion is the one that should have shocked the conscience of Family Values Americans enough to make, oh, five or ten million voters reconsider their support for a man who would brag about having failed, despite his personal charm and a furniture shopping spree, to have convinced a married woman to let him fuck her.

So, yeah, that’s the foot we got off on. Of course things careened into “alternative facts” universe right off the bat with claims about the biggest audience in the history of inaugural speeches.

But I think what I’m trying to get across here is the absolute insanity, the total delusion underlying some of the things that have come out of this man’s mouth in the past 21 months. Like this:

“I have tremendous respect for women.”

Absent context, that quote appears innocuous. In the light of the following, however, we get a sense of the man behind the quote:

“Ariana Huffington is unattractive, both inside and out. I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man – he made a good decision.”

“If I were running The View, I’d fire Rosie O’Donnell. I mean, I’d look at her right in that fat, ugly face of hers. I’d say ‘Rosie, you’re fired.’”

“All of the women on The Apprentice flirted with me – consciously or unconsciously. That’s to be expected.”

“Who wouldn’t take Kate’s picture and make lots of money if she does the nude sunbathing thing. Come on, Kate!”

“You know, it really doesn’t matter what the media write as long as you’ve got a young, and beautiful, piece of ass.”

Such pithy asides, from a man who has publicly, unashamedly fantasized about dating his own daughter, comprise the foundational perspective on which he’s constructed his “respect” for women, and which most recently informed this exultant Tweet, after a trial court judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed against him by a former porn actress with whom he’d had an extra-marital affair.

Ah, “let us care not about personal peccadillos!”, one might protest. In fairness, LBJ was famously crass and foulmouthed. JFK was spared a public airing (while he lived) of his less-than-respectful treatment of his wife and other women, too.

Fine. We’ll always have policy.

“I will build a great wall – and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me – and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.”

That was a campaign promise. Nearly two years into his presidency, as the similarly deluded Ann Coulter likes to remind her Twitter followers from time to time, “Today’s BORDER WALL CONSTRUCTION UPDATE: Miles completed yesterday-Zero; Miles completed since Inauguration– Zero. NEXT UPDATE TOMORROW.” As is par for the course with these folks, she doesn’t actually post a daily update, but the fact is ain’t no wall going up on the southern border.

“But taxes and the economy,” some DJT dead-enders will wail.

“I understand the tax code better than anybody that’s ever run for president.”

“I will be the greatest jobs president that God has ever created. The tax relief will be concentrated on the working and middle class. I will be president for all Americans.”

“And the rich will not be gaining at all with this plan.”

Yes. Well, there’s this, and this, and this to consider on that score. As well as the always confusing relationship between employment and wages.

But goddamn, this motherfucker, excuse me, married-woman-wanna-fucker, was going to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN ™, right?

He addressed the United Nations in September 2018 and it was comical, to be kind.

North Korea, though. Huge progress. Defusing the nuclear threat. The President leveled with the American people on how he’s approached diplomacy with Kim Jong Un, the, uh, questionably balanced leader of North Korea:

“I like him, he likes me! I guess that’s okay. Am I allowed to say that? I was really being tough and so was he, and we would go back and forth. And then we fell in love. He wrote me beautiful letters. They were great letters. And then we fell in love.”

For those of you keeping score at home, there are no letters.

What really got me off the schneid with this post, though, was his reaction/response to the murder of Jamal Kashoggi, a Saudi-born, permanent resident of the U.S. and journalist employed by the Washington Post, who entered the Consulate of Saudi Arabia in Turkey last week and, well, came out in pieces.

Initially:

“It’s in Turkey, and it’s not a citizen, as I understand it.”

Once the heat turned up, we got a glimpse of the President’s true priorities:

“If they don’t buy it from us, they’re going to buy it from Russia or they’re going to buy it from China. We’re going to be punishing ourselves if we do that.”

He was referring to $110 Million in arms sales the U.S. books annually with Saudi Arabia.

And you know what? In the end, I can’t slake off any of the guilt or self-loathing, even with this post. It’s that bad. He is that much of a monster. And I am that powerless to do or say anything that might change the course of events. Only We the People have that power and only an overwhelming turnout in the November election will stem the tide of ignorance and avarice that defines the current administration.

There is so much more I might have touched on in this piece, so much more that exposes the criminality and disdain for American values that defines Donald J. Drumpf and his crime family. In the end, though, I am confident he will hang himself and his co-conspirators with his own words.