Get Into Position, Please!

 

I think he’s sicker than they’re letting on.  I think he has an expiration date, known only by a few insiders.  People are jockeying for position, working to envision themselves in a post-trump world.  Mike Johnson is trying to slither his way into the Presidency.  Bible in his pocket, right hand ready to spring into oath-taking position, he seems to be an appealing alternative to JDVance.  That is, if you haven’t been paying very close attention to what a nazi he is.  The entire nation will collectively barf at the idea of JDVance being President of the United States.  He’s already such a laughing stock…not someone who can take on the role of manly leader.  

 

Mike Johnson will be a new face to the masses of people who don’t pay attention to politics, beyond knowing who is President and whether or not to hate him.  The only thing most Republicans know about Speaker of the House is that it is no longer Nancy Pelosi.  

 

Johnson has made sure to be right in step with Donald Trump at every hair-pin turn.  Now, suddenly, he’s diverging, ever-so-slightly, so very gently with regard to the Epstein Client List.  Johnson would likely be among those in the inner circle to know the extent of Trump’s illness.  He’s on the slide.  And he won’t stop sliding until he lands at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue…or so he thinks.

 

Upon closer inspection, Mike Johnson isn’t much more appealing than JD.  Not really.  Sure, he doesn’t look like a goon.  But he doesn’t look or sound like a manly leader.  There’s no bombast.  Where Trump had a bullhorn Johnson will force people to turn up the volume.  My guess is that they won’t bother.  

 

So, who?  Who will be this manly leader to spring from among the Republicans?  This isn’t a rhetorical question.  I really want to know who the heck could keep the Republicans engaged the way Trump did.  He entertained everyone.  I mean everyone…love him or hate him, he’s the center of every news story.  The volume around Donald Trump is loud no matter where you stand.  He convinced half the nation that he was the superhero they have all been waiting for, leaving the other half of us wondering how anyone could believe his crap.  Think tanks will conduct studies for decades to try and parse the abyss between Who Donald Was and Who Donald Projected Himself to Be.  Maybe just as interesting is Who Saw Donald As He Was vs. Who Drank the KoolAid?  Why did so many drink the KoolAid?

 

Anyway, the spell is somewhat breaking, and it’s kind of fun to watch…or it would be if the Media hadn’t turned it into such a feeding frenzy.  Trump has finally thrown a tantrum to the very category of people you can’t aim a tantrum at…other great big babies.  When a baby screams at another baby, the other one screams back.  Yeah.  They’re pissed.  Damage is done.  Bell rung.  I can see Trump in my mind in that last scene of Ghost, where the bad guy is dragged, screaming, into hell by dark demons.  I see Trump’s face, mouth stretched into a yawning scream, as he is dragged by demons to a prison unlike any prison anyone has ever seen. 

Trump on Maxwell

Trump's reaction when asked about Maxwell was surprising.  "I wish her well," he said.  "I just wish her well." 

 

He seems to be afraid of her.  I mean, really. When has he ever NOT thrown someone under a bus, whether they represented any visible threat or not.  I think he tires of people, and they suddenly turn evil before his eyes.  But not with Maxwell.  He wishes her well.  

 

This whole business has awakened a rough beast.  He spoke of her as someone he slightly knew, much the way we might speak of some of our neighbors…”Oh, yes. I knew her.  She lived two doors down.  I think she came to a couple of our barbeque parties….”  Yes, he knew her, slightly.  

 

There’s talk that Maxwell recruited young girls from Mar a Lago.  There’s talk that, since Trump has declared the entire thing a hoax, Maxwell will demand to be released and cleared of all charges.  There’s talk that Maxwell has petitioned to speak before The House, ready to answer all questions.  

 

If the Executive Branch’s goal was to turn American Politics into a reality show, it has arrived.  What a pickle, Mr. President!  He can’t kill her.  That would be too obvious, since that’s what he likely did with her partner.  He can’t stop her, no matter which way he goes.  Threaten, cajole, intimidate, sic the MAGA hounds on her, declare her a radical lunatic.  Yet, he has done none of his usual thugwork.  Why?

You Just Can't Argue with Crazy

 

It’s the ones who buy into the Qanonie conspiracy theories I don’t even try to engage in discussion.   

 

A while back, I went to a local tavern for dinner and sat at the bar.  When my beer arrived, the guy next to me lifted his glass and said, “Cheers!”   

 

I cheered back.   

 

Then, he lifted his glass again and said, “To better days!”  Now, I’m thinking that this isn’t his first pint.  “To better days,” I chime back.   

 

That’s all he needed to launch into this bizarre story about how the Bidens, Pelosis, Harris’s, and Bushes were all holed up in bunkers with a cabal of international bankers, and a top secret law enforcement agency is closing in on them…

 

Oh, criminy!   

 

“Everybody knows about this.” he declared.  

 

 I asked for my bill and made my order to go.  Aimee, the bartender, was laughing as she rang me out.