You just wait;
He’s gonna skate.
And there’s the extent of my poetic skills. Twenty four hours ago, at this writing, I hoped that there would be justice, poetic or otherwise, but I knew in my mind, my heart, my soul that this would blow over. Twenty four hours ago the ruckus over Trump’s Helsinki press conference was universal. Even some Republicans were holding Trump up as a cross between Aaron Burr, Benedict Arnold and John Walker. All except in Russia where they were probably having free caviar and vodka day in celebration of an American president giving Vladimir Putin a public blow job.
There were cries of treason, incompetence, impeachment and the 25th Amendment. Trump certainly couldn’t survive that inglorious press conference in which a sitting American President looked for all the world, and to all the world, like a bootlicking little sissy compared to the domineering KGB officer.
It started with John McCain, “Today’s press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory, The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naiveté, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake.”
Ryan Costello, R-Pa. “I haven’t seen anything that was so weak and so pathetic as that press conference.”
Even Paul Ryan, seemed to temporarily locate one of his longtime missing balls, “Vladimir Putin does not share our interests. Vladimir Putin does not share our values.They did interfere in our elections. It’s really clear. There should be no doubt about that.” He made this statement at his weekly presser which could more accurately described as his weakly presser.
Social media was blowing up with outrage. This was surely the end of the Trump presidency. The deafening sound of crickets was coming out of Air Force One and later the White House. Would Trump even dare to show his face ever again? I suggested to my wife that this was so bad that Mike Pompeo should just leave a loaded revolver on Trump’s desk and let him do the honorable thing and go out like those disgraced Russian officers in the movies. How could he possibly survive this? How could he survive Arnold the “governator” calling Trump a “wet noodle.” Oh, how indeed.
First of all the condemnation wasn’t at all universal. Some Republicans seemed to have been watching something completely different from what the rest of the world was watching with mouths agape.
Rep. Ralph Abraham (R-La.), “I thought he did a good job.”
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), “The good news is there was a summit.”
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), called it “perfect.”
Second and most importantly, I’ve seen this movie before. It’s like those Westerns in which the bad guys terrorize (choose one), a sodbuster, a sheep rancher, the weakling who struck a vein of gold, a rich widow or a town full of cowardly men. It’s the same basic plot with slightly different characters and circumstances but these movies all come out the same. So, yeah I’ve seen this plot before, in the form of, “they’re (Mexicans) bringing drugs,” “blood coming out of her (Megyn Kelly) whatever,” “grab em by the pussy,” and Charleston’s “very fine” Nazis. Outrage, demonstrations, he’s plumbed the absolute depths and he can’t last after this. And yet – he does; last that is. Why should this potboiler end any differently?
I went to bed hoping that everyone but the die hard sycophants and snake oil addicts would say we’ve reached bottom and figure there’s only one way to go but up. That’s what Chris Cuomo said. “We’ve reached bottom.” But I knew in a gut that was boiling with anger and outrage that this probably isn’t the bottom and even if it is bedrock bottom, Trump will somehow escape demise to wreak havoc and terror again, just like that guy with the hockey mask in that series of slasher movies.
And so Trump said with a grin;
Wiping Putin’s cum from his chin,
“Let’s do damage control.”
I guess after a few suggestions were floated around someone came up with the “my dog ate my homework,” countermeasure. Hell if it’s good enough for a 10 year old kid it must be good enough for the President of the United States. Right?
And so 28 hours after the train wreck, Trump came out of hiding and explained it all away saying that he misspoke in one of his answers.
The question?
“Just now President Putin denied having anything to do with the election interference in 2016. Every US intelligence agency has concluded that Russia did. My first question for you, sir, is who do you believe? My second question is would you now with the whole world watching tell President Putin — would you denounce what happened in 2016 and would you warn him to never do it again?”
And then came the answer that had Republicans from sea to shining sea putting their heads between their knees to stave off those panic attacks. “I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this. I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
So Trump claimed that he just missed the contraction wouldn’t and said would instead. He didn’t mention all the other instances in which he tossed America under the bus. To add insult to injury he read his statement and looked so strained and unconvincing that a commentator likened it to a hostage’s forced statement. CNN’s Erin Burnett asked what should be a reasonable question, “How stupid does he think we are?” But these aren’t reasonable times.
Erin, he was elected President of the United States so let me turn the question to you, “How fucking stupid do you think we are?” And we’re not getting much smarter. When I heard Trump’s lame excuse I had no doubt that the GOP was reveling in that immense sense of relief that you feel after you’ve dropped off your date and you can finally let out that massive fart that’s been percolating in your belly for 2 hours. Yeah, Trump farted and it’s all good now.
And so the Republicans got a hall pass. They’ve been spared that bothersome scavenger hunt for their backbones.
One of the first up was that annoying little poodle dog Marco Rubio who yipped, “I’m just glad he clarified it. I can’t read his intentions or what he meant to say at the time. suffice it to say that for me as a policy maker, what really matters is what we do moving forward.”
Bob Portman of Ohio, “I take him at his word if he said he misspoke, absolutely.” How stupid are we Erin Burnett? Well this clown takes Donald J. Trump at his word!.
I listened to a Trump sycophant named Michael Caputo on CNN swallow Trump’s would/wouldn’t bait, hook, line and sinker, while swiping at the media for hitting the President with a “gotcha” question. Yeah it was a real brain twister, even for a stable genius.
Today there were calls for Congressional investigations, a bill to force Trump to release his tax returns and a push to question the translator who was in the meeting with Trump and Putin. And I’m sure all of that’s going to happen – on the 35th of Octember. Shit’s not going to happen. The Republicans are going to say that we need to put this misstep behind us and come together as a nation. Hey Erin, “How stupid?”
Over 80% of Republicans think Trump is doing just fine thank you and so the Republicans in the House and Senate continue to shake in their oxfords, keep their morals and their love of country in deep freeze and do the bidding of Donald J. Trump even with the full knowledge that when the history of this era is written they will be among the damned.
Yesterday as the drama was unfolding and America was being sold down the river by a charlatan, I hinted on Facebook that this would blow over. A friend responded, “I do not think it will, my friend. Many Repubs. are calling him out. And who will believe him when he blames Obama for mess he created?”
I would love for this to be the beginning of Trump’s end, but while I wish for a good ending I don’t get my hopes up anymore. I’m like the Cleveland Browns fan who yearns for a Super Bowl and watches with hope all the while knowing that each season is the same recurring tragedy starting with his team drafting a bust in the making at quarterback who will lead his team to another league worst finish so that they can draft another bust in the making at quarterback.
This thing is going to have the shelf life of an avocado. In a couple of weeks most Americans won’t know Helsinki from Moscow. How do I know this? Well, have you heard anything about those immigrant children lately?
