Relentless

The news comes in waves.

Mitch McConnell—is he alive, or at least conscious? Is Putin as evil and crazy as he wants to make us think? Is Trump going to blow up NATO? Did Trump interfere in the process of getting Mr. Balogun back for the Belgium match? That worked out, well, about as expected. Balogun’s presence didn’t matter. In fact, it may have messed with the U.S. players’ mojo, and all Trump really did was to hand Belgium additional motivational fodder and confirm us to be the bad guys the world already suspects us to be.

Did the latest news about Graham Platner’s checkered past hit of its own accord, or was this a calculated, well-timed Republican ploy to drag a potential challenger to Susan Collins even deeper into the mud? If so, how much did the woman who came forward with the allegation get paid?

Politics is indeed a slimy, cutthroat business, and humans can so readily indulge the enterprise. To add to the mess, Donald Trump is so damned inspirational in this regard.