Well, I guess the time has come to make a post about the former president of the USA, Donald Trump. Yesterday was the day so many have been waiting years to see… the indictment of DT for his role and the role of those who supported him in the effort to overturn the 2020 Presidential Election and the January 6th riot at the nation’s capital. And yet, I have no joy for it only sadness.

There is no doubt that there has been a concerted effort, from long before he was elected, by the political powers that be and the liberal media to keep him out of politics, then get him out of politics, and to never really give him a fair shake but, sadly, from the beginning he deserved it.

As a New Yorker, I and everyone I knew, had no respect for him. He was always known to be a rich brat who felt entitled to do whatever he wanted. Those beliefs were validated by his own words when he talked about grabbing women by their pussy, or shooting someone on 5th Avenue… that is who he really is. He may be a pathological liar but he’s always told us exactly who he is.

It is with confounding wonder that over the years I have watched those who revere him. How? Why?

There are really three main characters in this horrible saga. 1) Donald Trump, 2) His enablers, and 3) His followers.

I’ve read a book each about the Roosevelts, Lincoln, Kennedy and John Adams. Honestly, I don’t read a lot of biographies. But I have read six books about Donald in an effort to try and understand all three of these characters.

The book by Mary L. Trump, Too Much and Never Enough, helped me understand how DT was broken from the very beginning of his life. He never really had a chance. I almost felt sorry for the kid.

The book that helped me the most in understanding his enablers, other than watching every minute of the January 6 committee hearings, is the book: The Divider: Trump in the White House 2017-2021 by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser. It is almost a day by day accounting of what happened during Trump’s reign. I’ll tell you this, too… reading the section around the time when Covid-19 hit the scene was a little traumatic. We’ve already forgotten how bad that whole time period was but this telling of the event brought it all back and really stressed me out. But I digress, I want to say that the book laid bare what those who surrounded DT did to absolutely enable him whether they want to admit it or not. And, so many of them (I’m looking at you Lindsay Graham, Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell, etc) still are enabling him. The main ones that played the huge part in what happened on Jan 6th are the unnamed co-conspirators in this latest indictment which, I have no doubt, includes Rudy Giuliani. I could do a whole post on that guy. And he may be the #1 influence… I believe that the night of the election DT knew he was beat by Biden but then came along DRUNK Rudy who pushed the topic that DT wanted to hear and desperately wanted to believe, that it wasn’t true Trump had lost, that statistically it couldn’t be true and they could and should fight it. DT latched on to all of that despite the extensive advice and warnings he received from others. But again I digress.

The most recent read is The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War by Jeff Sharlet which is extremely helpful in understanding those who follow Trump. And it may just be the most scary of all the books I’ve read about Trump.

What people in other countries may not understand is that the majority of citizens of the USA are extremely demoralized. We are all sick and tired of the two party system that seems irrevocably broken. Obama won because people really HOPED he’d bring CHANGE. But he didn’t. The only change he brought was skin color. I’m sorry, but that’s true. He won us over with his incredible charisma and eloquent speaking ability but he brought very little change to our political system. A friend once asked me, “Who took Obama out back and beat him into submission?” Maybe he was never who we thought he was…

I think the people who voted for Trump did so because they wanted something drastically different. And he is able to tune into their discontent and amplify it. He tells them he’s their champion. That the deep state boogie men are coming for them and will be successful unless they are loyal to him and him alone. They believed he was a successful business (but isn’t) man who could change the dynamics of how our country works and also because they were highly entertained by his antics on that ridiculous reality show. They wanted drastic change and boy oh boy did they get it.

Full disclosure, I didn’t vote for Hillary or Trump because I couldn’t stand either one of them. I was in NY so I knew my vote for Bernie wouldn’t matter.

I believe a huge portion of this country is spoiling for a civil war. They want their “let them eat cake” moment. We saw the beginnings of this during the OCCUPY movement. The far left and the far right have more in common than they want to see. They both feel the American Dream for most of them is dead and has been dead for decades.

Look at this:

I myself am and always have been a registered Independent. Well, except for that one time I registered as a Democrat to be able to vote for my father-in-law who was running for state senator. Those independents you see in the chart above are indy because they are sick of both parties. And, oh by the way, most indys cannot vote in primaries. Kinda FUBAR, right?

Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and have little or no savings for emergencies now or their retirement. They are dying because they can’t afford health care. I have seen this first hand. Believe it. They’re eating shit food because that’s what our political systems have stamped approvingly. Their trust in federal agencies is at an all time low. They’re working longer, harder, and for lots less money and benefits. Their kids are staying home longer, seniors are becoming more dependent and desperate, and at any time we know one bad accident can ruin our lives and use up everything we’ve spent a lifetime working for…. it’s dire.

So what will the followers do now? I don’t care about the enablers… they’ve done their bit and will probably continue to do what they’re doing until the bitter end. I hope not, but past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior. Although Mike Pence has finally come out with guns blazing,

“Today’s indictment serves as an important reminder: anyone who puts himself over the constitution should never be president of the United States,” he said in a statement. “On January 6, former president Trump demanded that I choose between him and the constitution. I chose the constitution and always will.” – Mike Pence, 8/1/2023

Firstly, this indictment which you can read here (or listen to it here) is the third against DT so far. This one is the one that I have been waiting for because I felt he had to be held accountable for what he caused on January 6th. I told my man at the time, while I was watching the whole thing unfold, “Trump did this, he’s the one who’s caused this”. And I’ve never changed my mind about it. And the indictment is beautiful in that it doesn’t say he can’t tell his lies, it doesn’t call him a traitor or a seditionist.

As per Joyce Vance:

The indictment alleges three separate conspiracies:

• one to defraud the United States by interfering with the lawful processes that are used to collect, count, and certify the presidential election (18 USC § 371)
• one to obstruct the January 6 congressional proceeding in which the results are counted and certified (18 USC § 1512)
• one to defeat citizens’ right to vote and have their votes counted (18 USC § 241)

It alleges that each conspiracy was fostered by the “widespread mistrust the Defendant was creating through pervasive and destabilizing lies about election fraud.” There is also one substantive charge of obstruction related to the second conspiracy.

“pervasive and destabilizing lies”

So, dude, you can lie but eventually lies have consequences. But these three charges aren’t about lies or free speech, seems to me they’re about conspiracy.

The fourth is charge is: corrupt obstruction of an official proceeding.

So now what?

That’s where my head is at this morning. What are his followers going to do now? Is this whole chapter in American politics going to just peter out or are we going to see increased support for this brat? If DT goes to jail is he still going to run for President, get elected, and pardon himself? And if he does all that, how will the rest of us react? I think the right wingers forget that the lefties and indy people also have lots of guns. Is the USA destine for another Civil War? Because jailing the brat is not going to end the discontent.

Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon, survey finds

Findings suggest rising gun violence will spill into the political sphere, driven by conspiracy theories

• 19 Jul 2022, Rodrigo Pérez Ortega (SOURCE)

I personally find it completely unsatisfactory that Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee and I want other choices, viable, real choices.

It’s a sad time in America. I hope things get better rather than worse but I’m all out of thoughts and feelings for HOPE and CHANGE.