The Legislative Accomplishments of Donald John Trump and the Cult of Personality

Despite the condemnations of terrible shills like Kellyanne Conway it is easy to understand why the national media continues to be focused on the connections between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the Russians. Let's face it, the number of secret meetings and those involved in them continue to grow at a staggering rate. In fact at this point it is almost quicker to name a list of people in the campaign who didn't confer with Russian agents rather than those who did.

Yes, to listen to MSNBC and some of the others one can easily imagine the public outrage is tantamount to a prairie wild fire roiling out of control some where west of Tulsa and Trump's support is circling the drain.

The only problem is it's not. At least not among the Trump faithful--those hearty souls desperately hanging onto lower middle class status while fantasizing about the return of industries and jobs that have gone the way of the Dodo.

CBS took the time to visit an Indiana county fair the other day and speak with a few Trumpists. One of them was Brenda Wilson. She assured the interviewer she, "wasn't at all," bothered by the Russian disclosures. According to her, "There is nothing to it."

Then there was Fred Wilson who said, the media, "Probably should," report on what the Big Orange guy tweets early in the mornings, "But it shouldn't be the main line." He added, "The troubling thing to me is, you know, we need to get behind the president  and quit majoring in the minor things, in my opinion, and let him do the job he was elected to do."

Finally we have, Gary Rice who complained, "He's getting a lot of things done behind the scenes that the media so overshadows on the negative side that it's just making it twice as hard."

Ah there we have it. "He's getting a lot of things done behind the scenes." Our man Gary Rice echoed in a way what the many times unhinged Mrs. Conway has to say about the media. Mainly why is the press focusing on Russia instead of America?

So what has Donald Trump accomplished legislatively? Well, in his mind anyway, a lot. Late in June, El Donald said, "I will say that never has there been a president--with few exceptions, in the case of FDR he had a major depression to handle--who's passed more legislation, who's done more things than we've done."

For those keeping count some of the other, "few," presidents besides FDR include Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George H.W. Bush.

In the face of such stats the people at a CBS affiliate, KAQY, comprised a list of Mr. Trump's legislative accomplishments a couple of weeks ago.

Over his first 163 days in office, Don Trump signed 41 bills, not counting executive orders. 15 of them rolled back Obama era rules and regulations. (Including one which prevented companies from dumping mine waste into streams. A second restricted the killing of certain wildlife in Alaska if you aren't going to eat it.)  His first action waved the waiting period required by law for a retired member of the military to become Secretary of Defense. Two authorized the naming of V.A clinics and another named a federal courthouse. Three reappointed regents to the Smithsonian Institute.

Another directed NASA to encourage young people to pursue studies in science and math while a second NASA related bill did provide the agency with its first firm budget in six years.

There were a couple which provided funding to keep the government running, probably because even he saw what happened to Ted Cruz when the little cretin inspired a shut down a few years ago. Then there was a law which further weakened background checks on gun buyers.

Another helped states block federal funds to private agencies which provide abortions while one encourages the display of American flags on National Vietnam War Veterans Day.

Of course, there are others, but none of them have to do with building a wall on the southern border, or a new  American health plan, although the republican Senate is close to passing a mutant BDSM version of the latter.

Not that he has a clue about what coverage it contains, or doesn't. It has been painfully obvious since his inauguration, Don Trump doesn't give a rat's ass about the details of the GOP's alternative to the Affordable Care Act. All he cares about is taking credit for replacing Obama Care. And, if the current Senate version utterly fucks over his base, well, he knows they'll buy into the program anyway. Why wouldn't they? They have from day one and as we've seen show no signs of deserting him now.

It's as one Tennessee woman said when asked what it would take for her not to support Donald John Trump, "I don't know what he'd have to do. I guess kill someone. Just in cold blood."

That's right, when it comes to Trump's worshippers, any media revelation, no matter how damning, simply strengthens their faith. Any failure to accomplish meaningful legislation is somehow the fault of evil democrats. This is what we get when millions believe in a messiah who has hypnotized them with Living Colour's siren song that says,

"Look in my eyes, what do you see?
I'm the cult of personality
I know your anger, I know your dreams
I've been everything you want to be."

Tragically, such is the state of the American volk.




sic vita est


7-16-17