One Month and a Day In: Lies, Fantasy Polls, and the Roswell Incident

 We are one month and one day into the second Donald Trump administration, but for many it already feels like a lifetime. Perhaps it's because of the utter confusion and chaos. After all, name another modern American President who has fired everybody in charge of overseeing the nation's nuclear stockpile by mistake, then in the mad scramble to re-hire them, couldn't find their phone numbers. Or, in the name of cutting government spending, cans a bunch of IRS agents who are out there hunting for tax fraud. You know--the very people who are trying to make sure there is more money coming into the federal treasury rather than less.  

Yes, there are many things unclear and uncertain at the moment. 

Like it is unclear why the President thinks insulting every Mexican and Canadian in the world is a good idea. Has renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America made our southern border any safer, or more secure? Has pissing off the Canadians so much they now boo the U.S. national anthem at sporting events done anything to improve international trade? 

Maybe the President believes convincing our allies to hate us is the same as having them respect us. Maybe he has come to the conclusion inciting fear in others is a sign of strength. In the end, it might be simply his management style. Or, of course, it could be the guy is just fucking cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Let's face it, there is ample evidence to support that last possibility. The other day, Donald Trump spoke to a gathering of republican governors and told them one poll shows his approval rating at over 70% while another has it at 69%. "I've never seen numbers like that," he said. Neither has anyone else, including the people who take those polls. While many recent results have been mixed--some showing Trump above water, some showing him under--none show his approval rating anywhere near those percentages. In other words, the polls Donald Trump cited were ones conducted only in his own head.

Bizarre, right? Yeah, but it might help explain why, after he promised to insert the federal government into a local New York City issue--regulations attempting to limit traffic congestion--he posted a photo of himself on social media wearing a crown with the line, "Long Live the King." This, after he hinted he was above the law by quoting Napoleon Bonaparte on the same site.  

The President has been and still is abetted since his inauguration by the right wing propaganda mills, led by Fox News. When Trump's hatchet man, Elon Musk eviscerated USAID, CNN and MSNBC focused on the agency's humanitarian work, Fox however immediately fixated on a couple of ill-advised culture issues USAID was involved with. 

If one's only source of news is Fox, it would be easy to believe the agency spent its entire budget of taxpayer funds on comic books in South America with gay characters and an African version of Sesame Street promoting transgenderism. The notion of cutting the offending programs and leaving the ones that include eradicating malaria and treating AIDS patients, not to mention feeding a whole lot of really hungry people, escapes them. 

There are small signs though that all this cutting, slashing, and remaking might not be going as swimmingly well as Donld Trump thinks. Republican Congressman, Rich McCormick held a town hall meeting the other night in his Georgia district. The meeting could well be described as the Roswell Incident, because of the town it occurred in. McCormick was there to explain and promote the administration's current rampage when he ran into buzz saw of angry constituents who just figured out all those government cuts are going to affect them, not a bunch of Africans they don't know, or care about. 

Stunned by the crowd's hostility, McCormick asked them, "You don't think I'm going to stand up for you?" The question was answered with a thundering cascade of boos. The vociferous outrage was such, later he was reduced to telling Georgia voters, "No one can hear when you are yelling."  

Oops. But hey, don't fret, MAGAVERSE, McCormick, Fox and Trump will write it off to, "outside agitators."  Listen, if using that excuse was good enough for Lester Maddox it's good enough for Rich McCormick, et al. Besides, give this administration some time and they'll make the ugly little episode disappear, like they did with the January 6th insurrection.  

And just think, I haven't even touched on the whole horror show of bullshit Trump spewed about Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier this week. Not to mention what he said on Fox about circumventing the constitution so he can rule for a third term.

Indeed, the month has seemed endless. 

Tragically it is just the beginning. We have three years and 11 months to go. And, if it is up to him, even more. But, not to worry America. Those voices in Donald Trump's brain only speak to him at night--well, most of the time anyway.  

2-21-25