After all the accusations and denials and acquittal in the Senate, the nation now gets to endure the bona fide 2020 campaign for President, in which the current office holder will almost inevitably go louder and lower than in 2016.

The prospect of four more years of this ugly excuse for a human being conjures up at least two scenarios: either a motivated electorate shows up and votes him out, or the bastard prevails and we endure four more years of dumbness and Republican claims of working for “the American people.”

Of all the excrement that has been flung, this is the phrase that pisses me off the most. For someone with maybe half of the country expressing support for him, the fact that he could win again is at once maddening beyond words, but also mystifying. How can a person and party claim to be working for the American people when north of half of the American people would prefer to cast their vote for an inanimate object before giving support to Trump? Of course, this applies in the other direction as well– the Democrats can’t use the same default language about working for the American people when a large percentage of supposedly rational voters equate Democrat with Communist.

In any event, half of the American electorate is not with you, DJT. Not with you.

Hear that. Understand that. And if you happen to win again, try to remember that. For the good of the country, try to remember that a small majority of us find you to be an appalling aberration, a loud-mouthed nightmare, and the last person on earth to whom we’d throw support.

The least you could do is make an effort to acknowledge this divide. Surprise the hell out of everyone and actually make an effort to chart a healthier course.

Trouble is, many American people think you are incapable of such behavior. That you just don’t have it in you. And worst of all, that you just don’t care.

I can picture it. Boris Johnson and Donald Trump kicking back, enjoying a libation of some sort, basking in their respective victories, a real mutual admiration society. Both of them marveling at how wonderful they are and how stupid the people are. It wasn’t easy, they’ll confide– pulling the wool over so many eyes. But they managed to do it, because they are masters of their respective domains.

There will always remain an unbridgeable chasm. I will never be able to empathize with or relate to those who find Donald Trump and his goons to be the answer to our ills.

I will never understand how we can be in such different places, how we seemingly don’t share any of the same concerns. Mitch McConnell and the rest are fine with defending Trump and wonder why many are so upset, while the other side sees McConnell and most Republicans as spineless toadies trampling on the Constitution and propping up a puppet who didn’t want the job in the first place.

Half the country feels like the sky is falling, and half is doing its best Alfred E. Newman imitation, seriously wondering what all the fuss is about.

To hardly anyone’s surprise, it looks like the impeachment trial could be over soon. And someone’s President will prevail. All wrapped up in time to bellow and brag and preen at the State of the Union address. But there won’t be real vindication, even as someone’s President loudly proclaims otherwise.

Here’s hoping the electorate have long memories and, come November, have had their fill of His Ugliness.

A driver’s survival depends on the willingness of other drivers to obey the rules of the road, which include not crossing over a two-dimensional painted line and into oncoming traffic. There really isn’t much keeping someone from doing just that, except a sense of self-preservation, a concern for people traveling in the opposite direction, along with a decision to play by the rules, to obey the law.

In a similar way, I think, the foundation on which this nation was built is at once robust and fragile. The rule of law is only as effective as the willingness of citizens to honor that law. Which isn’t to say that laws can’t be reviewable or amendable or struck down. It’s just that what makes this or any nation’s attempt at self- governance so remarkable is that the only thing keeping a society from descending into anarchy and chaos isn’t unlike a two-dimensional line painted on the pavement– if someone is so inclined, that line can be easily breached. There is almost nothing standing in one’s way.

It’s what makes America and its existence both great and tenuous, an ongoing experiment– immense strength but predictable vulnerability to the human proclivity for navel-gazing hubris, an abandonment of reason, and a blindness to any sense of a collective good.

If one is of a certain mind, we are currently witnessing a descent into chaos, an abandonment of rational thinking engineered by Donald Trump and a group of people around him who hold a dim view of human nature. We are, perhaps, witnessing the beginning of the end of The Great Experiment. Done in, as has happened before, by small-minded, forgetful, monumentally selfish and power-hungry people who care about the law only as it can be creatively interpreted and bent to benefit them.

Witness the recent performance by Alan Dershowitz at the Senate impeachment hearings, presided over by and in earshot of Chief Justice John Roberts. First of all, Dershowitz had to convince himself that the words coming out of his mouth were worth uttering. I’ll say one thing- if I needed a lawyer, I’d want Alan Dershowitz in my camp. Because he’ll say anything in defense of his client, even if it’s jaw-droppingly, bat shit ridiculous. He’s obviously playing people in the room and a large segment of the American populace for fools, gullible and dumb as a bag of hammers. Freestyle jurisprudence at its best.

Trump and most of the Republican party are trampling all over the rule of law. And they keep getting away with it.

It is often difficult to conceive of the notion that Trump has allies.

The impeachment proceedings have reached a point where the introduction of witnesses, or at least John Bolton as a witness, is being whispered in the press. I hope the trial is still going on at State of the Union time. It’ll be good that Trump still has the trial hanging over his head as he stands before the nation and tries to say something that resonates beyond his “God-fearing” base. I still think nothing much is going to come of any of this and Trump will walk, but maybe he’s at least feeling some heat. 

I can’t watch any of the proceedings, mainly because my mind is as closed as anyone’s and I can’t stand listening to what the Republicans or their lawyers have to say. I guess this is mainly because recent history reveals they really don’t have anything to say. They change their stripes and their stance to suit the moment. They talk with raised voices and hope the feigned passion and increased volume pass as validation of their righteousness.

I’m already weary of the Kobe Bryant coverage. It’s amazing how quickly that happens anymore. I was a bit shocked on Sunday when the news came, but the shock has given way to fatigue. The media have now managed to saturate the airwaves with follow-up coverage and turn it into an emotional roller coaster.

It’s amazing how many people live vicariously through someone else. They feel their own lives aren’t amounting to much, but at least they have some hero to worship and look up to and shed a tear over.

We have to work on who our heroes are. More often than not, they’re just old kids who get paid shamefully well to play a game. Yet they get put on a pedestal and worshiped as deities of a sort. It’s the same for actors and musicians and anyone who somehow looms larger than life because we see them on TV or a movie screen. No doubt there’s a certain amount of envy in this view of things, but I also think the reason this bothers me so much is because it contributes to a culture of self-centered priorities and aspirations.

Let’s just cut to the chase: it exposes a clash of philosophies. It challenges one’s profession of faith as a Christian. We appear to live in a world that claims one can have it all, that it’s always both/and and never either/or, or not at all. “We want it all and we want it now” is a gross and terrible mantra, but indicative of where many are at. 

Why are people grieving Kobe Bryant? Did they know him? Many think they knew him. They were well aware of his athletic exploits, his lifestyle, his fame and wealth, maybe his philanthropic efforts. But did they really know him? Of course not. People live their lives based on myths and dreams and envy and a desire to be anywhere but where they are. Or to be anyone but who they are.

This American culture, at least at first glance, gives off a vibe of crippling superficiality and selfishness. One might get the impression that all we want from life is to be rich and famous and to always be able to call the shots.

And a Christian nation? Hardly. The brand of Christianity being espoused by the party with the real power at the moment is ill-informed, narrow-minded, and strategically deployed to reach the undiscriminating ears of small-minded lemmings who think of themselves as true patriots possessive of unassailable moral character.  And the current Dynamic Duo in the White House are the worst offenders and enablers. 

Especially Mike Pence. He’s just plain scary.

Trump, on the other hand, is just an entitled bully from Queens who loves the sound of his own grating voice. The fact that he’s POTUS renders this problematic.

“Soon we’ll find out if breaking the law is illegal.” Leave it to Stephen Colbert to give voice to the absurdity.

Are we supposed to be OK with Donald Trump and his legion of yes-people? Is that the message being driven home in the midst of all this impeachment debate? Are we really supposed to be OK with everything he’s said and done over the last three years? OK with him in general?

Enough questions.

This country is heading for a confrontation, most likely violent, because there are two disparate camps who have never been able to see the wisdom in listening to each other. We can no longer envision any scenario that involves compromise or a change of heart. Each side is convinced of the other’s misguided thinking. One side’s blind allegiance is countered by the other’s deeply felt mistrust and suspicion. One side is convinced of Trump’s unassailable character and even his chosenness (!), and the other is convinced he is rotten to the core.

Nothing is going to convince anyone of anything different.

I’m enjoying the taste of winter we’ve had the last couple of days. Not ridiculously cold, but a wintry crispness with a hint of wood smoke in the air. I’ve been reminded of winters past.

I guess temps are going to moderate and by Friday it’ll be in the mid 40s. Oh well. I’ll always have the memory of getting home from school and heading to the pond, skates and stick in hand, homemade nets, a good sized rink, and enough neighborhood kids to play a spirited game of hockey until the sun went down.

We had a good thing going there, first at the little pond across the street, and then on the big pond behind our house. We actually learned how to skate and stick handle pretty well, but I never had the stamina or temperament to consider playing in a league. It was just the fresh air, the freedom of movement, those rare days when we could skate the whole pond. And especially those moments when we connected on a pass or scored on a tipped slap shot just like Bobby Orr and company were doing.

It was great fun. It made winter bearable, maybe even my favorite season.

Has it always been a tool in the box? You get caught red-handed in a bald-faced lie, but you simply deny everything.

This apparently is common practice for politicians and media moguls, among others. You know– special people with a lot at stake. Get accused, then simply, with as much righteous indignation as can be mustered, lie your ass off. Or let your lawyers do it for you.

Donald Trump doesn’t know anything of Lev Parnas? The pictures would say otherwise. Yet Trump feels totally comfortable refuting what’s there for all to see. Lying and breathing are all the same to him. Seamless, shameless deceit.

How does he do it?

I’m with Bill Maher when it comes to the nightly news. There’s really only a few minutes of actual news and the rest is sensational, voyeuristic, heart strings fluff. And weather.

Every single time someone in the Trump administration claims they are doing the will of the American people, then every single time they have to know they are kidding themselves. They need to qualify that statement and acknowledge the asterisk. No doubt there are many who support Trump and his League of Assholes, but it is by no means a majority. They have carried on as if they won by a landslide in 2016, choosing to ignore the fact that they lost the popular vote by ALMOST 3 MILLION. Not three thousand, not even three hundred thousand.

3 x 10 to the 6th.

3,000,000.

Apart from the fact that the Electoral College is your enemy until it’s your friend, being on the short end of a 3- million-vote deficit doesn’t exactly give you bragging rights.

Let’s talk royals. As in Meghan and Harry and their latest rough patch.

Who the f**k cares?

The royal family is mind blowingly inconsequential, yet why the fascination? Is it because people want to be them? Is it just envy of a lifestyle? It’s a glaring anachronism, from the queen on down. Just another example of holding onto something that serves no purpose anymore. The world’s worst soap opera.

I’ve never understood the mystique. I’ve never understood the lingering affection for Diana or her offspring. It’s beyond rational, somehow. At some level it seems to be about envy and fantasy, seeing someone live the life many apparently dream about. A harmless diversion, I guess, like Hollywood. More palatable than Trump, but certainly not newsworthy.

And how can Donald Trump be tied with Barack Obama for most admired in America? Donald Trump and “admired” shouldn’t appear in the same sentence. Yet here we are.