TOO CLEVER BY HALF

Twice, in the span of 2 years, Mitch McConnell has used parliamentary tricks to mold the Supreme Court to conservative leanings.  He really should brush up on history, as well.  After all, there has been an impeachment of a Supreme Court justice, by the House of Representatives, for political bias.  The Justice, Samuel Chase, was, subsequently, acquitted by the Senate, but McConnell, should remember that there may come a time when Democrats have control of both Houses of Congress, and Democrats remember that a precedent for impeachment, for political reasons, of Court judges does exist, and exercise their Constitutional rights to rectify  McConnell's wrongs. 

MORE UNFAIR TREATMENT

It is rumored that when aides brought him notice that one group of his core supporters, soybean farmers, were unhappy with having to declare bankruptcy because of retaliatory tariffs imposed by China, Trump responded, incredulously, that bankruptcies had always worked for him.

Considering the money he always made with bankruptcies, Trump  believes he is being treated unfairly by the farmers. 

"SOMETHING THERE IS THAT DOES NOT LOVE A WALL"

As the poet, Robert Frost, noted, "Something there is that does not love a wall."

History records that not only have walls like the Great Wall of China and Hadrian's Wall not served to keep out their intended targets they have not served to instruct mankind in the folly of having erected them, to begin with.

THE MAN WHO "ALONE" CAN FIX THINGS BLAMES EVERYONE ELSE FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO

How is it that the man who claimed that he "alone" could fix things in the government, needs so many people to blame for everything that goes wrong?

"SQUATTER IN THE WHITE HOUSE"

When Barack Obama was President, his critics denied his legitimacy, claiming that he was born, in Kenya, and, therefore illegitimate as President and was a "squatter in the White House".  It is, most strange, then, to hear. these same critics, invoke Obama's name every time they feel it necessary to legitimize the actions of Donald Trump.  Trump separates thousands of families at the border?  Well, Obama separated hundreds of thousands  of families (this despite even a shred of evidence that Obama separated even a single family) therefore what Trump did was legitimate,  They see no irony in invoking a supposedly illegitimate President to legitimatize the actions of their candidate.

GUEST POST

New post on The Octogenarians

Skimpier Health Insurance for All:Enter the AHP a new Trumpburger(AHP=assciation health plan) by daedal2207 In what appears to be a last ditch measure to destroy the ACA (Obamacare),repugs(republicans)  have unveiled a seven page blueprint for finally destroying Obamacare.The LA times says it faces long odds because it is so inadequate.Backstopping this latest assault on healthcare need is the MOM, aka Potus supported assortment of state by state and regional inadequate health care plans which avoid pre-existing conditions and rehab and restitution;Many so bad that they are on a par with low rent accident policies. Interested? Click on the medallion,Then Claudewell Thomas expert,then select your choice among recent posts.

WHY TARGET DEMOCRATS?

Trump has made it quite clear that he is trying to extort funds for his border wall by wresting children away from their parents and blaming the Democrats for not coming to the Republicans to  beg to remedy the situation.  Democrats fail to see why the Republicans just don't get their fellow Republicans to vote the funds since they have majorities in both Houses of Congress.  Trump supporters claim that this is disingenuous on the part of the Democrats as they are perfectly aware that there are insufficient Republican with any humanity to be moved by the sight of terrorized children losing their parents.

THE ULTIMATE IN NEGOTIATIONS

Say what you will about Donald J.Trump, but he has just proven himself to be the ultimate in the Art of Negotiations.  I doubt that there is another person who could come up is sure to be the most unique concept, ever, in the history of international negotiations.

By giving his opponent everything they could ever have hoped to achieve before negotiations began, Trump has so befuddled his adversary that it is expected t0o facilitate actual negotiations when they begin.

DIPLOMACY MEETS THE HONOR SYSTEM

By introducing the Honor System to nuclear weapons control, Donald Trump,  has, forever, changed the nature and protocols of controlling nuclear proliferation.

Think of how much better off we would have been had we let Trump negotiate with the Ayatollahs.

MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN

Only twice in my lifetime has the American public applied the appellation "Great" to an American era or period in its history.  The first time was the Great Depression and the second time was the Great Recession.  Both times were not happy periods, for me, and I hope I can be forgiven if I continue to be apprehensive about Trump's promise to make us "great" again.

My sense of apprehension is further aggravated by seeing repetitions of actions which have been singled out for having possibly caused both previous calamities, namely tariffs restricting foreign trade on the one hand and removing restrictions on common sense regulations on the other.  

My disbelief that anything good will come of repeating the same old mistakes, expecting a different outcome, makes me suspect that the next economic downturn will be a doozie that will not be remedied by bumper sticker talk or other traditional cures.