So the gist of one news story is that Trump is licking his chops. I guess because he can’t wait to start in on whoever ends up being the Democratic nominee. The expectation, apparently, is that he’s going to bring things to a whole new level, have a field day with whoever gets the nomination. But it’ll be particularly gruesome if Elizabeth Warren gets the nod.

Oh, there’s no doubt things are going to get ugly in the lead-up to the election, but I’m hoping Ms. Warren can handle herself. Whoever gets the nomination will have to handle him- or herself against the Trump machine, because they will not hesitate to throw the kitchen sink. Imagine how pissed he’s going to be after the impeachment hearings, no matter the outcome of those. “Bloodbath” is too tame a description. I hope we survive this.

But hey, the economy is good, right? Isn’t this all that matters?

We’re losing sight of the intangibles- integrity, a sense of unity and purpose, trust and respect for elected officials. It’s all anger and raised voices and “my way or the highway.” It’s unsustainable. This is no way to run a country.

Might, may, could, should, maybe, possibly. 

News outlets and editorial writers are always grasping at straws, using words that hint at hoped-for eventualities, trying to keep the light burning at the end of the tunnel that is the end of the Trump nightmare. Painting possible scenarios, predicting plausible outcomes. All the while never breaking free of mere conjecture. 

With regard to the whole impeachment process, the outcome is already known- Trump will be impeached by the House and rescued by the Senate. It seems like a risky exercise in futility, if not for the fact that Trump’s actions warrant the effort. 

Though not rising to the level of impeachable offenses, he should be removed from office simply because of who he is, for the things he’s said and will continue to say, for his emptiness and selfishness and lack of empathy. For the awful example he sets as a human being and a statesman.

Still, so many call him their President. His latest batch of campaign ads- or distractions- are all tinged with passionate anger and… loyalty?

Is he really their President? Do they actually respect him? Or are they just tickled that so many “liberals” have been pissed off since 2016?

The clip on the nightly news showing Harvey Weinstein out and about and getting called out by an over-the-top (maybe alcohol-fueled?) protester and a stand-up comic– well, it just got under my skin, for some reason.

It’s possible he was just out with friends, trying to keep a low profile, not asking for trouble, and then someone with a camera phone records footage that gets aired on national television, and he gets humiliated before the nation one more time. It seems unfair, somehow. Piling on. Like there can be no redemption for him. Like he’s a marked man and damaged goods for the rest of his life. It seems quite merciless. 

Some will argue that, hey, payback is a bitch. And maybe Weinstein is a slimeball. But maybe people who don’t really know him and the state of his psyche should just mind their own business. Because their behavior offers up its own measures of insensitivity and cruelty.

Then again, this is the age of Trump, so maybe two wrongs do make a right.

So the Republican strategy regarding impeachment is to refuse to cooperate. Sounds like Mitch and Steve and company have had their way. What I saw of the 8-page letter was vintage Stephen Miller, though maybe this is the way the whole party sounds now. 

Maybe the plan is to poke holes in the process, to hide behind the excuse of this whole thing just being a case of partisan politics. No smoking guns, no collusion, no election interference, no nothing except one party playing the role of sore loser while the other tries to “work for the American people.”

Fine, as long as they realize that “the American people” they claim to be working for isn’t the robust block of support they’re always claiming it to be. They often seem to be ignoring the more substantial voting base who find it repulsive to be included in their boasting.

There seems to be a lot of press opinion that Trump is in trouble this time, but I don’t think this is the case. He always lands on his feet somehow, and most of the Republicans have sold their soul to the devil. So there’s not much hope of anyone having a spine and mounting a campaign against him.

The whole impeachment thing seems like an exercise in futility anyway- the Republicans control the Senate! The end result will be party line votes and the look of a Democratic vendetta. And who knows what dark magic Mitch McConnell has up his sleeve?

The reaction of the crowd at the Ed Sullivan Theater a couple nights ago was telling, though of little consequence– a loud, boisterous standing O when footage was played of Nancy Pelosi announcing an impeachment inquiry.

Trouble is, we can all predict the outcome– the Democrats will be successfully painted as deranged alarmists barking up the wrong tree, and Trump will get off with a scratch or two. 

Maybe this is progress- a scratch or two. Who knows, maybe a scratch will get infected.

The risk, when one puts oneself out there, is that the hyenas will laugh and say mean things. Stupid things intended to demean and undermine and cast doubt and distract. Their default reaction is the stuff of 5th grade playground antics somehow reconciled as “strategy.” 

Trump and Fox News and the rest had to attack Greta Thunberg. They had no choice. Even if she is a starry-eyed, pie-in-the-sky child for their purposes, they had to attack her, belittle her, make every attempt to dismiss her as “sick,” a teenager with Asperger’s Syndrome who’s just saying words someone else feeds her.

Trouble is, they may have picked on the wrong teenager. She’s bright, quick on her feet, and seems to see right through all the adult smokescreens. It’s like she’s heard it all and can’t be bothered with the lame excuses anymore.

I hope she’s as committed and principled as she seems. She’s a breath of fresh air, and hopefully impervious to the attempts at dismissing her as just another young idealist.

How tempting yet sad it is to have to look to a 16-year old, hoping that in the absence of any show of care and concern on the part of her elders, she can offer the world a glimpse of these things. It feels like false hope to dare think that Ms. Thunberg is different than other wunderkinds, a genuine prophet capable of awakening a sense of urgency and changing peoples’ attitudes.

Greta Thunberg for President.

Besides the facts that she’s only 16 and a citizen of another country, I can’t think of any other reason why she wouldn’t kick the current occupant’s ass.

When one looks at things objectively- which is difficult to do at times- one might realize that the coarse, derogatory, demeaning language emanating from both red and blue amounts to nothing more than an ongoing embarrassment.

No one makes an effort to take the high road. More often, turnabout is fair play. The same tactic that seems to be the go-to on the world stage applies to our discourse: you dig up dirt on me, I dig up dirt on you. You drop a verbal mortar on me, I must do the same to you.  It’s a funky variation on “commensurate response,” though the response is not always commensurate.

No one looks good here. Our responses to digs and attacks are often gut-level, emotional outbursts that serve only to de-humanize, to perpetuate the stand-off and stiffen the resolve to prevail. It seems difficult to imagine a “winner” in this scenario. There are only combatants with grudges.

Are they for real? Can they possibly be this cold, this driven, this single-minded?

So predictably contrary and ugly, as if their only goal is to destroy any vestige, any hint of Democratic/Obama era legislation and programing. It’s difficult to look at what’s happening and think any of it is OK. Closed-minded immigration policy, reckless de-regulation, rollbacks on emissions standards and a seeming disdain for the planet or anyone’s future but their own. And let’s not forget the mindless and naive reliance on what the Bible says.

Make America Great Again. Keep America Great. Are you kidding me? These are empty words, contrived slogans. Insults to anyone with a soul.