It’s not like there’s nothing else to write about. I could go in lots of different directions, but I seem to dwell on the political stuff, because I’m always trying to make sense of it, trying to get my head around the craziness and the craven abdication of moral duty on the part of people like Trump and the rest of his blind mice.

It’s not like they’re trying to hide anything. He and they are blatantly awful, on some mission to subvert, to steal, to destroy. What is their end game? Seems like there would be many more losers than winners.

And it is all about winning and losing, at least for Trump.

Why are we still talking about him? His monumental neediness should be apparent to everyone by now. We’ve given him the inch and he’s taken a million miles.

Maybe the challenge for Democrats is their hesitancy to not play by some set of rules, which is actually honorable. Keep your heads about you!

The Republicans abandoned that nicety a long time ago, mostly because they were and are desperate. They know the score, they know that what they’re trying to sell is archaic in many ways, quite undesirable– ok, grossly racist and paranoid and self-serving– so they abandoned tact and patience and went directly to pulling wool and cheating and heavy-handed dealings.

They mastered the dark art of gerrymandering, they bought into just being assholes about everything. They’ve sold their souls to foreign players, they’ve apparently decided that a two-party system is cumbersome, especially when the other party wants to spend so much time on social justice and lending a hand and separating church and state and actually wrestling with issues.

When Trump came along, all that was blown out of the water. It became less about listening and rational governance and policy development, and more about simply winning and having control.

The developing tragedy is that the likes of Trump and Miller and Bannon are finding a way to prevail. The nation is suffering because genuine needs are playing second fiddle to stale ideology and a lust for power. And what’s really galling is that this minority appears to be steering the ship.

The actual majority is too acquiescent, maybe lazy. In any case, too quiet. Perhaps there’s a balance to be struck– between reason and decorum, and in your face.

Advantage Trump, or so it seems.

The SCOTUS decided to hear the case regarding immunity, but not until April 22. Initial reaction among some of the MSNBC crowd is that bullshit is called on the justices, because they have to know the case will not be decided now until after the election.

So are we looking at a situation where even the long-revered high court is now, legitimately, in Trump’s pocket? Or, as someone suggested, is it more a matter of the court recognizing the significance of the case and their decision, and wanting to make sure they give it adequate consideration before deciding whether or not a President has complete immunity from prosecution?

Maddow, for one, is not buying the latter. And others aren’t so sure, either. It was interesting to hear where Lawrence O’Donnell stood, though. Nonetheless, if the Supreme Court of the United States is somehow beholden to Trump, then let it be a sign that we are, officially, in trouble.

The death toll in Gaza has topped 30,000. But life goes on for the rest of the world, because we all have our own problems. We might hear the number and give momentary pause, but then it becomes a matter of “What can be done? It’s 5000 miles away, and we’ve got our own fish to fry. Let the battle of attrition unfold as they deem necessary. Besides, it doesn’t seem to matter what the rest of the world thinks. Thirty thousand deaths is just the cost of doing business in that neck of the woods.”

War is part of the fabric there, disagreements that come to blows are the cost of religious zeal, of a tortured history, a natural progression from inflammatory rhetoric to killing anything that moves.

Have at it, then, and may someone be left standing. Or not. Does it really matter? Does anyone on either side really care?

Even if it’s been all bluster, even if Trump is indeed the blowhard windbag we’ve suspected all along; even if he is the cold-hearted, incompetent, narcissistic braggard with the twelve-word vocabulary and wise-ass tone of voice—even if he is the world’s biggest fake who’s knowingly misled so many—shouldn’t we resent the fact that he’s taken up so much of our time and energy?

We’ve indulged him for so long that he has become no longer harmless. For the media, Trump has been the lines on the mirror that they just can’t refuse—even as they know what’s liable to dribble from his mouth.

He is a devil on the loose, energized by holding court with his sheep, his mesmerized, entranced zombie apostles and curiosity seekers who populate his rallies. It should be obvious to just about everyone by now that he is a leech, a power-hungry stooge who knows exactly nothing about how to lead this nation.

All he knows is how to capitalize on ignorance and gullibility, fomenting chaos.

The Supreme Court ain’t so supreme, of late.

Maybe it has always benefited from a certain undeserved mystique- its members aren’t gods, after all, just human beings tasked with important work. Justices over the years have produced many landmark decisions seemingly based on a sincere and fair treatment of testimony and applicable law, even charting new ground from time to time, especially when it comes to human rights and bodily autonomy.

Lately, though, there seems to be some backsliding. More suspicion, more doubt, more finger pointing in the direction of a hand-picked conservative majority on a mission to, oh, I don’t know, tighten things up, bring us back to a “better” place that pleases straight, white Christians everywhere.

In the midst of the Trump mess, the court seems to not want to stick its neck out and abide by the 14^th Amendment provision of forbidding insurrectionists from running for office. Though he hasn’t been accused yet, many know what Trump did and who and what he really is, and how dangerous he has become.

So maybe it comes down to how closely the court adheres to the letter of the law, along with its efforts to reel in the temptation to react to certain public sentiment, and to what many are seeing with their own eyes: Trump running roughshod over, and even making a mockery of certain norms that have long served as guardrails.

Sometimes it looks like nothing can be done to make him go away.

To hear the folks at MSNBC tell it, one could get the impression that this upcoming presidential election is the most consequential in the country’s history. Actually, they’ve been saying that for a while now, and I guess there’s truth to it.

I don’t know how it’s being painted on Fox or Newsmax, but it’s probably quite different. Or the same gravity but for different reasons. Another universe, Earth 2.

The diehard Trumpers are locked in, no hope of changing any minds in that camp. But their numbers are relatively small and apparently getting smaller. It’s just that they have an outsized megaphone, and whatever Trump and the little Trumps populating state legislatures and town councils are saying is landing on receptive ears.

It’s easy to be incredulous, to ask oneself how things possibly could have gotten this out of hand in the “land of the free and the home of the brave,” but it probably shouldn’t come as any surprise.

Hmm… free… brave… who are we talking about– the blowhard psychopath with the messiah complex, or the twenty-something soldiers and weekend warriors who keep having to pay for some suit’s power trip?

It’s messy.

Record highs, then snow. It’s where we’re at. Will it follow that, since the winter has been relatively mild, the summer is gonna be a scorcher, bordering on unbearable and life-threatening?

Hey, but there is no climate change, no global warming—if you’re Liz Cheney or just about any Republican. Or a fan of fossil fuels.

We can’t agree on anything anymore, except maybe that we can’t agree on anything anymore. Nor are there any universal truths. Just provincial truths, convenient truths.

I see what you did there, Mr. Gore.

Will we ever hear the end of it? Get ready for the latest assault on decency and decorum: Trump won handily in South Carolina.

It’s important to keep in mind that his victories, his momentum, are in the context of the Republican primary season, and not a general election. The hope is that, faced with the stark reality of actually having to vote for him for real might persuade many to swear off of this bombastic, idiotic empty suit.

Court storming. The college basketball tradition that has always seemed ill-advised and lately has turned dangerous, for some reason (have they started serving alcohol?). It’s a bit of mindless mob behavior leading to tense moments for all involved.

First it was Caitlin Clark, now Kyle Filipowski. The on-court crush of humanity has always appeared to have no upside, except as an excuse for home court fans to be crazy for a few minutes, maybe get on TV. It’s always seemed over-the-top and unnecessary, and it puts fans and personnel on both teams in danger of injury or even being trampled.

It’s a confined-space version of the mass hysteria that ensues on a football field after a big win. If this keeps up, there will be new rules coming. Can’t say it would be a disappointment.

And the old person signs off.