You Can Say the F Word Now

During Trump's first term, I knew many people that called him a fascist. I wasn't biting. Extreme terms get thrown around a lot during political discourse: Fascist, Nazi, Commie, etc. I remember actually looking up fascism in the dictionary and going through it carefully to see if it actually applied. He came close, don't get me wrong, but he wasn't there ... not yet.  We had a Congress controlled by an opposing party and a court that wasn't stacked yet. We might have become a fascist state had we not the controls in place to prevent it.

If you haven't figured it out yet, the F word I am talking about is Fascism, not that other one. 

I hate to sound like a high school term paper, but here we go, Google AI defines Fascism as follows:

extreme nationalism, glorification of a dictatorial leader, and the belief in a natural social hierarchy. Key characteristics include militarism, suppression of opposition, and the subordination of individual interests to the state. Other traits include a disdain for human rights, identification of enemies or scapegoats, and the control of media to promote propaganda.

Let's go through this. 

1) "Extreme Nationalism." All politicians cling to nationalism to one degree or other. Trump's extreme nationalism is obvious in his "America First" trope. As if we are not in a global community. When our neighbors and alleys succeed so do we. His nationalism is odd. He basically says, America used to be great, at some unspecified time in history, but not now, and only he can fix it. 

Trump's nationalism has an old name: isolationism. We've seen this before and we know it doesn't work. He seems to want everyone to fail, even our neighbors and allies, while America succeeds. Going after Canada based on fabrications, weakening NATO, pulling out of agreements like the Iranian deal and the Paris Accord and threatening Greenland ... these seem more like the acts of a mad king than an American president. While he tries to gain points with the idiot fringe of his base of supporters, he aliens everyone else. 

When our allies and neighbors succeed. A rising tide lifts all boats. 

2. The "glorification of a dictatorial leader." Trump has been kissing the asses of dictators since his first day in office. On the day I started this entry, he pardoned the President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted of drug trafficking and has been sitting in jail for two years. Trump let him out 43 years early. Trump never met a dictator he didn't like.  Meanwhile, he promotes his own supremacy. Have you ever seen Trump admit he was wrong? Admitting you are wrong is a difficult thing for any leader, they all have problems with this, but not to the extent that Trump does. He will double down when cornered and lie through his teeth.

3) "The belief in a natural social hierarchy." This is the toughest one, because Trump is unpredictable and often contradictory. He often agrees with whomever he talks to last. He is not ideological but transactional. The natural hierarchy he clings to is hard to tamp down because of this.  

This MAGA movement got going during Barrack Obama's presidency. By promoting a lie questioning his citizenship, Trump was able to tap into some racial tensions that no one else dare touch. Clinging to such bullshit is an old habit of his. Remember the Central Park Five? He paid $85,000.00 for a full-page ad in four of New York City's most popular newspapers with the title: “Bring Back the Death Penalty. Bring Back Our Police!” The boys were eventually exonerated. 

He seems incapable of gaining any political cache without dragging someone else down. At the bottom of Trump's hierarchy is the vulnerable, political or otherwise. If he can take someone down and benefit from it, he is all over them like flies on shit. They are usually non-white, immigrants or women. 

At the top we can find wealthy white guys (Peter Thiel, Musk, Epstein.) 

The Trump hierarchy looks like this: 

• (top) billionaire and millionaire scum and foreign dictators,
• (2nd tier) MAGA ass-kissers and sycophants, 
• (3rd tier) MAGA base, 
• (4th tier) everyone else who is male and white and 
• (bottom tier) people who are of color or non-MAGA women.

4) "Militarism." Trump's first term was not very militant at all. I remember saying it was the one thing I did like about him, he had no love of war. But his second term has been so different. We are currently very close to being at war with Venezuela and at least 163 people have died in 21 strikes on vessels apparently importing drugs into the US. This is the greatest abuse of power of any US President in my lifetime, perhaps since Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears. We'll never know for sure if there were any drugs on any of these boats. These attacks were all illegal, they were not enemy combatants, and we are not at war with anyone in the Caribbean. Congress did not approve the attacks. If there are illegal drugs being imported on these ships, we have a legal process for this. We wait for them to come into our waters, and we get a warrant, seize the ship and search it. If the drugs are found, we arrest them and they face trial. Killing people without doing so, without due process, is called murder no matter who does it.  

Then we have this disastrous war in Iran. There is a reason why countries want nuclear weapons ... so that they don't get treated like Iran is being treated. If they had nuclear weapons, Trump would be their chums just like North Korea and Russia. This is such a waste of life, money and resources.

5) "Suppression of opposition." Trump tends to demonize his opponents labeling them with silly monikers and catch phrases. The moniker disappears if that person becomes his ally. We don't hear him calling Marco Rubio "Little Marco" anymore, because he is now Secretary of State and an ally. 

But this is not suppression. The off-cycle Gerrymandering that the Republicans are doing/attempting in Florida, Texas, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio and Missouri is suppressing entire of swaths of Americans. These votes aren't being taken away but are being made meaningless. Redistricting during a non-census year is unprecedented. 

Trump has cut election security and cyber-security. He said that Senator Mark Kelly, (a possible 2028 Democratic nominee), should be "hanged." He's accused Democrats of "seditious behavior, punishable by death." Our country has a long history of political violence. This kind of shit from a president is so irresponsible. His approval rating is at 28%. Who the hell are these people that approve of this crap?

6) Subordination of individual interests to the state. It is clear that Trump is more interested in boosting his own coffers and his own ego than helping out the average American. He has made $45 million selling his $WLFI crypto coin and his $TRUMP meme coin since taking office in 2025. In that time he has made $23 million in licensing his name overseas. He was paid $28 million for the "Melania" so-called documentary, made over $90 million in legal settlements and was gifted a $400 million plane from Qatar. His net worth has improved, overall, roughly $2 billion since his second term began. 

By the way, how have you been handling the $4 per gallon gas prices?! That is not going away soon. If this bullshit war stopped today, the prices will not be coming down quickly.  The Middle East has been devastated by this war. Oil is a global market. The president can't do shit about it. 

7) Disdain for human rights, identification of enemies or scapegoats, and the control of media to promote propaganda.

I would be repeating myself if I went through all of this, but we haven't talked about the media yet. 

Trump has sued both CBS, BBC and ABC. His administration has gone after Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, 60 Minutes and The Wall Street Journal. The fourth estate has never been more embattled and more in danger of being irrelevant. In the meantime, less responsible media outlets have become the propaganda arm of the Republican part (Fox News, Breitbart New Network, Newsmax, etc.) It is very Orwellian. 

The idea that individual rights are subordinate to the state is right out of Orwell's 1984, aka the Fascism handbook. How did Orwell know so much? He witnessed it as a citizen of British owned India; fascism is merely colonialism turned inward. He witnessed it in Burma when he worked as a policeman, witnessed it as a soldier in the Spanish Civil War and as a writer during World War II. He would recognize Trump for what he is. Every Trumper I talk to justifies his actions as the ends justifies the means, that lying or breaking the law for the betterment of society is justified if it gets them to a place where they want America to be.

The slogan "Make America Great Again" implies that America is in decline, that there is a time in the past when America was great. When was that exactly? 1940's with its World War and internment camps? The Jim Crow Era or before then, when slavery was legal? If/when someone calls Trump a fascist, they are no longer being hyperbolic but just stating the obvious. America, what have we done?  Thought we were better than this? Guess again. 

The Best Movies of the 21st Century (so far)

Let's face it, the 21st century has really sucked so far. It started off with a contentious election and then the worst terrorist attack in American history. We had two unnecessary costly wars, a pandemic and introduction of the worst two-word phrase in the English language: President Trump. But what has been great is our art, namely movies ... hence I've come up with this list of the 100 best films of the century so far. I love making lists. 

Coming up with a list like this is a Herculean task. I started it about a year ago. I did spill over to 104 because I couldn't decide which four films to knock off the list, so I just left them there. I also included 2025 and 2000 so, technically, it is 26 years. 

My biases show on this list. A good many of these picks have a sci-fi / supernatural element to them. Seven in the top 11 have either vampires, aliens or elves.  I gave up on the vampire genre quite a while ago because it was getting very tiring and formulaic, but there were three great vampire films so far in this century: Sinners, Let Me In and Let the Right One In. The latter two are basically the same film; one is American and the other Swedish. I am back in on vampire films. 

I adopted a child a few years ago, so my other bias is there are fantastic children's films on the list this is mostly due to the fact I am watching more of them. You may also notice there are some obvious exclusions: no Star Wars, Star Trek or Avatar. I didn't forget these. They just didn't make the cut along with Gladiator. Not a fan. 

Another bias: there are five Marvel films and only two DC. This is because Marvel is so much better than DC ... obviously.

No doubt I have forgotten some and will want to revisit later. Enjoy! 

1. Get Out
2. Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
3. Lord of the Rings: The Followship of the Ring
4. Moonlight
5. Sinners
6. Amelie
7. Fantastic Mr. Fox
8. Almost Famous
9. Let the Right One In
10. Let Me In
11. Arrival
12. Sideways
13. Midnight In Paris
14. The Lives of Others
15. Y tu mamá también
16. Anora
17. The Florida Project
18. Lost In Translation
19. Birdman
20. Parasite
21. The Big Short
22. Training Day
23. Inglorious Bastards
24. Spiderman 2 (2004)
25. Memento
26. Guardians of the Galaxy
27. Bugonia
28. Spotlight
29. The Visitor
30. Lady Bird
31. Best in Show
32. School of Rock
33. Up
34. Vanilla Sky
35. Black Hawk Down
36. Beasts of the Southern Wild
37. The Road
38. Black Panther
39. Gravity
40. Pan's Labyrinth
41. Moneyball
42. Roma
43. Donnie Darko
44. Kill Bill Vol. I
45. The Big Sick
46. The Martian
47. Room
48. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Danish version)
49. 12 Years a Slave
50. Zone of Interest
51. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
52. Mean Girls
53. Knocked Up
54. In the Loop
55. Billy Eliot
56. I, Tonya
57. True Grit (2010)
58. Adaptation
59. Hugo
60. Interstellar
61. Blue Jasmine
62. Whiplash
63. Thank You for Smoking
64. Lars and the Real Girl
65. American Psycho
66. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
67. Edge of Tomorrow
68. Manchester by the Sea
69. Mud
70. High Fidelity
71. The Cabin in the Woods
72. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
73. Hotel Rwanda
74. Slumdog Millionaire
75. Moon
76. The Ring
77. Boyhood
78. Anatomy of a Fall
79. Whale Rider
80. O Brother Where Art Thou
81. Life of Pi
82. The Worst Person in the World
83. District 9
84. Django Unchained
85. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
86. Avengers: Endgame
87. Inside Out
88. Wadjda
89. Harold and Kumar go to White Castle
90. Little Miss Sunshine
91. Paddington 2
92. September 5
93. Palm Springs
94. Joker
95. Shrek
96. A Complete Unknown
97. Knocked Up
98. Shop Girl
99. Garden State
100. Watchmen
101. Half Nelson
102. Kick Ass
103. Quiet Place
104. I Am Legend

The Great Tune-Out

Louis C.K.'s comedy is based on how completely disgusting he is. When it was revealed that he was actually a disturbed and disgusting person no one should have been surprised right? Of course not, people freaked out anyway and he was cancelled. People are weird this way. He said exactly what he was, and people laughed, but when it was revealed that it was true, I guess not so funny anymore. Woody Allen is a similar story. He told us exactly who he was. In Annie Hall, he portrays a self-obsessed neurotic who is clearly him. In Manhattan, he was a pedophile. Why is anyone surprised when he ends up being exactly that? I see this same phenomenon with Trump. He told us exactly who he is and what he was going to do. Yet now that he is in office, they seem surprised about what he is doing. Why? He doesn't hide how awful he is. Why is anyone surprised?

During his first term, he had strong opposition in Congress. He couldn't get anything done. He had no capacity to do so. He wasn't a politician. He had no idea what he was doing. He was a bad businessman, a complete fake, out of his league in the public sector. A little boy in a big chair. Trump 2.0 is a bit different in that Republicans control both Legislative chambers and, arguably, the Supreme Court. He basically has a sycophantic, negligent and complicit Legislative branch. The Republican party's motto should be: lean over, open anus, thank you sir may I have another. 

When Trump won his second term, my first reaction was to tune out. For at least a week, I stopped listening to my current event and political podcasts. No radio news. Music only on the road. I deleted my NY Time and Washington Post emails, immediately, unread. I knew it was coming but it didn't stop me from going into shock when it happened. This is the country I live in, I guess. They would rather to be led by an incompetent, hateful egomaniac than ... say ... anyone else. I'd be happier, or more likely, less miserable with anyone else. We voted for the worst person in our country to be President, probably the most powerful person in the world, a second time. The first time wasn't a fluke. We are actually that awful! 

I slowly started up again. I started by reading the titles of my podcasts. Two weeks after the election, I listened to a few. By December 2024, I was completely ensconced in my news-junky lifestyle again. I know many people who are still tuned out. I understand, it is overwhelming. That is what Trump wants, right? For the people who hate him to tune out. He floods the zone so that there is so much going on that you cannot complain too much about one thing, here comes another and another. When it time to start paying attention again. Wake up! 

Filter out the shit and concentrate on the important stuff ... and, man, there is a lot of shit. If you tune out everything, he wins. Tune out the shit: the impotent comments, the juvenile arguments, the social media stuff. 

What he actual does, as opposed to what he says, is more important. 

Here are the bullet points:

• appointed a person who thinks vaccines are bad to be in charge of vaccines.
• claimed to hate entanglements in the Middle East, withdew from Iranian Nuclear agreement in his first term because it was Obama's, tried to get Iran to sign virtually the same agreement in his second term, and then bombed them because it looked cool when Israel did it. 
• alienates our allies
• cozies up to dictators
• claimed that Ukraine started the war with Russia (Orwellian scariness).
• tries to impeach judges that rule against him
• deports people, some who are actually citizens, without due process
• pardoned the January 6 terrorists
• cut funding of public media, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and the Voice of America. 
• over 1,000 grants cancelled funding scientific research. 
• over 100 lawsuits filed against his administration
• his Big Ugly Bill cuts funding to Medicaid and Food Stamps (aka the poor) to fund tax cuts for billionaires.

Approximately 135,000 government employees have either been laid off or left voluntarily. About one third of them were hired back (oops, we need those people). So efficient! 

I always assumed that I would slowly become more conservative as I got older but they aren't letting me. Between W and Trump, all the awful things I have said about Republicans throughout the years ... just weren't awful enough. I've been too nice. This current Republican party is not exactly conservative, not the conservative ideals I grew up hearing about from Eisenhower loving Republicans. Those Republicans respected the law. This shit we got here is new. It is not conservativism. It is just bullshit and it needs to be stopped. 

Courier Journal - Fall/Winter 2024

As it turns out, working as a courier in the deep of winter in Northern New England is exhausting. I was doing this job last winter, but that was an unseasonably mild winter. This winter kicked my ass. Working a job that you can sometimes walk over 18,000 steps in a day, my being in my 50's and having worked a desk job most of my life ... you could say it was rough. This is my explanation, my excuse, for not putting out a Courier Journal for Fall 2024, I was too exhausted to write. Not only that, but the heater in my living room went on the fritz. For the last month, the room where I do my writing has been freezing cold. 

Fall in Vermont elicits images of idealistic scenes of leaves changing, people raking and lots o' pumpkins. For us locals it means leaf peepers driving slowly and pulling over to take pictures of their trips north. We've gotten so used to the foliage, we often don't notice. You really have to watch your driving this time of year. You can turn a corner on a rural highway and come up on someone pulled over taking a scenic picture. Visitors don't always know how to drive on these roads. It reminds me of how bad I drove in Ireland. As it turns out, round-abouts are extremely confusing when you drive on the left side of the road. My brain doesn't work that way. I had to take several revolutions before I could get off. I have to remind myself of this, when I get pissed off at tourist drivers. 

Ever since I've moved to Vermont, I've noticed something very weird about Vermonters. They talk about Burlington like it is unsafe. I just don't get it, and it annoys me. It appears to me to be the safest city I've ever been in. Maybe it is an example of people not having travelled and not having experiences with any other cities, but it seems so preposterous to me. Business Insider magazine recently rated all of America's cities based on safeness. Burlington came in #4 while its neighbor, South Burlington, was #1. I am very lucky in that I work in both of these municipalities. New England fared well with Warwick RI, Nashua NH and Portland ME all making the top twenty.  

Crime isn't the only factor that is included on this rating but suffice it to say, I am safe when I walk around town or into people's backyards carrying packages for the good people of Burlington. It is not only a safe town but a happy and friendly place. People say "hi," smile and sometimes hold the door for me. One day recently, a woman on Church Street saw me carrying a very heavy package and walked along with me so that she could hold the door for when I got to the storefront I was going to.  One of my coworkers recently said that he feels like he needs a "bulletproof vest" when he delivers in BVT.  (No, he really said that.)  This is just completely fucking bonkers to me, but I lived in Boston for ten years and I never once felt unsafe, so maybe I am the one that isn't normal.  

Another thing I really appreciate about Burlington is this:

That's right porta-johns. Here's another:

I drink a lot of coffee so I have to pee a lot. Having these spread around the city is a godsend. The first one is in Battery Park. The second is on the corner of North Prospect and Loomis, I think. There are quite a few of them and not all of them are on construction sites. I love this town. 

Courier Journal - Summer 2024

Twenty four years ago, when I moved to Vermont, a Boston friend told me that I'd be back. I would get bored. She could not be more wrong about me moving back. I defend boring as a lifestyle. Of all the times of year, Summer in Vermont is the least boring. It is full of tourists and construction and a ton of things to do that are not accessible in the Winter ... like kayaking, hiking, wading in mountain streams. It is my favorite time of the year. Working as a courier in Vermont for the Summer is also great. Sure, it is hot, but Summer in Vermont is by no means as hot as most of our country.  Burlington gets a wind off of Lake Champlain that is quite lovely. 

Burlington vs. South Burlington: When I first moved to Vermont, I was surprised that it wasn't as liberal as I expected. Having moved from Boston, I am not sure what I expected but the people I was getting to know were not as liberal as I expected. Then someone explained to me that it was because I was working in South Burlington, that is where all the Republicans in Vermont live. I have not found anything to back that up. The county that both towns are in, Chittenden, is quite blue. The conservatives live up in the Northeast Kingdom not here in liberal Chittenden, but South Burlington is definitely more conservative than its larger neighbor to the north.  

Burlington is Vermont's largest city. To put things in perspective, it has a population of 44.5 thousand people. This is when school is in, the University of Vermont and Champlain College are in session. It gets significantly smaller in the Summer. South Burlington, a suburb of Burlington, is actually the second largest city in the state at 21 thousand people. Colchester, a town, is third with 17.5 which is also a Burlington suburb. The point I am making: Vermont has very few people and most of the people that live here, live in this county, Chittenden. Burlington is the funky college town. South Burlington is its mildly more conservative neighbor to the south that has no real downtown and a couple of malls. When college students move here and fall in love with the place, some of them stay. When they get older and grow tired of the city, they move into the Suburban city, South Burlington or the cozy lake town of Colchester .... hence they are slightly more conservative. 

People seem less happy in South Burlington than Burlington. I have no data to back this up, only anecdotes. When you don't have hard data, by all means, rely on anecdotes. What else do you have? I deliver in Burlington Tuesdays through Fridays, part-time. I work one full-time day and that is in South Burlington on Mondays. I deliver to doctor's offices, law firms, retail outlets, big corporate and government buildings and residences in both municipalities. In general, people in Burlington are a joy to deal with. They seem to be happy with what they are doing whether at home or at work. The woman that runs the bagel place on South Union St. or the people on the loading dock at the Red Cross ... they are a joy to deal with. I can't say that I run into anyone in Burlington that seems to hate their job or life in general. I can't say that about South Burlington. Some people are very pleasant, but I deal with some truly miserable people in that city. The joy is not there, just one zip code number away. My imagination or bias, perhaps. Take it for what it is worth. I've never liked the burbs so perhaps it is I that is miserable in South Burlington.

The problem with horns: One day I was approaching an intersection. I realized that I was in the wrong lane. Right directional on, I tried to change lanes. Visibility isn't great in a cargo van. The rearview mirror is blocked; the only reason it has one so that you can have a reverse camera. So it has a significant blind spot. I was taking a long time to change lanes. I heard a horn, someone was really leaning on it. When I heard the horn, I thought I was driving into someone that I couldn't see. So I pulled back into my lane. But I wasn't. The person beeping was just angry with me because I was taking so long. Because I didn't understand his beep, I took even longer. The problem with horns is that they don't come with explanations. A horn that says "you are going too slow" sounds exactly like one that says "you are about to crush me." Maybe someday we'll have a solution to this but until then. We will just have to be patient with each other. My rule about horns is that if I am using it in anger, then I probably shouldn't be using it. 

Fall has come. Students are back. Tourists (aka leaf peepers) are still here. Life is back to normal in Vermont. 

How Jim Rice Cured Me of Racism

I grew up around a lot of racism. We were a neighborhood of mostly white, working class Catholics of French Canadian origin. The N word was used often and not ironically. Awful Jewish jokes were told involving ashtrays. The term Puerto Rican was used as a term that meant someone couldn't follow the rules of a game or a lazy person. Stereo-types of the Polish, Asians and Portuguese were accepted as truth. I found myself buying right into it, because I was a kid I didn't know better. I remember an internal dialogue of trying to figure out what it all meant and how true it was. I didn't really have anyone strong in my life to set me straight.

At the time, in the 1970's, the media didn't help. We watched a lot of television, which was three networks of mostly crap with a lot of racisms mixed in there (along with a lot of other isms). We had the natives on "Gilligan's Island," the natives on "F Troop," or the Chinese on "Kung Fu." In serious shows, black characters were pimps and prostitutes like Sugar Bear on "Baretta." Occasionally we had a show that had a diverse cast of complex characters, I remember "Barney Miller" being one of them. The one real thing we had on television, that was not scripted, was sports. In my house, it was baseball.

1974 was the year Judge Garrity ordered Boston schools to be desegregated and forced busing began. For four years, he was kept under guard for his safety. Protesters burned him in effigy outside his home. Boston was a very racist city. In 1975, the Boston Red Sox were in the World Series. On that team were two amazing rookies, Fred Lynn and Jim Rice, often called the Gold Dust Twins for their able to cover each other in the outfield. Lynn won rookie of the year that year, Rice placed second. Lynn also won Most Valuable Player and Rice was voted third. They were an amazing team. If not for the slightly more amazing Cincinnati Reds (aka the Big Red Machine), they would have won the World Series. One year later, 1976, was the year I became a Red Sox fan. I knew nothing of their history.

The Red Sox, historically, was a very racist team. There is no denying this. They had early opportunities to draft Jackie Robinson and Willy Mays and did not do so because of their race. They were the last team to integrate, doing so in 1959 with Pumpsie Green twelve years after Robinson joined the Dodgers. This nonsense was so bad that at one point, they wouldn't even allow anyone on the team who wasn't Catholic. This explains why they were so bad for a long time. Their losing ways was mostly their own making. They were not alone in this, every team in Major League Baseball was doing it, but the Red Sox were one of the worst. It is our cross to bear as Red Sox fans. 

I didn't know it at the time, because children have no sense of history, but when Jim Rice became a star in Boston sports, this was a big deal. He was the first black star in Boston. He was the first of many to come. He was not just an incredible player and future Hall of Famer, but he was a gentleman and truly gentle spirit. Any time I heard a racist comment among my friends and at school etc., my go-to-black-man was Jim Rice. I'd ask myself is that true about Rice. Of course not. How could say that this guy was lesser than anyone else? This guy:

That was that. From there on, racism was nonsense, an embarrassment really. His soft spokenness, his classiness, on and off the field, his friendship with Lynn, Yazz and Dwight Evans, his amazing athleticism ... that's all it took.  I was cured. 

In 2016, I mourned David Bowie by playing nothing but Bowie for at least a week. My wife was a little irritated particularly with the obscure stuff. When Bob Dylan passes, I have no doubt, much to my son's displeasure, I will react in kind. When Kurt Vonnegut died in 2007, I walked around saying things like "So it goes" for at least a week. When Woody Allen dies, I foresee a moviefest even though his private life seems ... well... disgusting. Along with Walt Whitman, all their works have been formative in how I think, see the world and lead my life. Yet not a tear will be shed when they pass. I am not so sure about Jim Rice. I dread the day I hear about him passing; I get weepy just thinking about it. 

Trumps Second Term: Worst Case Scenario

I have always been a bit of pessimist. It is more of defense mechanism than anything. If I assume the worst is going to happen, when it doesn't, it feels like good news. When I was younger, during the Cold War, I'd wake up each day expecting Armageddon was coming. I'd put the radio on to catch the news, when the missiles weren't on their way, whatever I heard was happening in the world, yay, good news. We weren't all going to die today. 

When Trump was elected in 2016, this served me well. While others were shocked, stunned, and/or pissed off, I was thinking, "I knew it." In 2024, I do what I can to prevent him from being elected, but if it does happen, I will be prepared, emotionally anyway. What will his second term look like, I assume the worst of course. 

In 1934 Germany, an event took place, under Chancellor Adolph Hitler, often referred to as the Night of the Long Knives. I apologize for bringing up Hitler, but it is difficult not to when Trump is using words like "vermin" when he refers to Americans that disagree with him and is threatening retribution. For a three day period, Hitler's thugs (aka "brown shirts") went on a killing spree, executing Hitler's political opponents. The official number of victims is eighty but some say it was as high as a thousand. The real number was lost in the fog of war that was soon to come. It is something like this, that I see as a worst case scenario. Trump's "brown shirts", either under his direction or not, go after his political opponents. Not just other politicians, like Harris, Biden and Pelosi etc., but judges, lawyers, journalists, maybe even bloggers. He'll claim he had nothing to do with it and he'll get away with it. 

Trump's language at his rallies suggest that I am not too far off. He said some really disgusting things about fellow Americans, about me and probably you as well, and his crowd of supporters cheer him on. Some have even elevated him to a religious icon. What saved us from his first presidency is his administration's incompetence. Their total lack of direction was their ball and chain. This time around he already has more direction with Project 2025 backing him up. He also had a lot of traditional conservatives around him preventing him from going completely off the rails. His second administration, according to him, is going to have no such people in it. He has talked about a loyalty oath and firing anyone that won't sign it. 

Hopefully, I am wrong about all of this. Kamala Harris seems like a decent and capable person. Since, I'd vote for anyone running against Trump, she definitely has my vote regardless.