If he only had a brain

I’m sitting here wondering if you actually have to have a brain in order to get a headache.  If you don’t, there are more than a few people in D.C. who must be in agony tonight.

While clubbing the moles that kept popping up on my news feed tonight (Cohen pleads guilty to 8 charges!  Manafort found guilty on 8 counts!  Cohen implicates Trump!) I kept thinking, crap…this just keeps getting worse for Trump, doesn’t it?

But not just for Trump.  I also ran across this article, which explains that the Russian-Republican connection possibly extends all the way back to the Nixon era.  I want everyone to read this, especially if you believe the whole Trussia debacle just popped out of thin air in 2016.

This article explains so many things, not the least of which is the sudden fear and awe that Republicans seemed to hold for Trump after many of them vehemently opposed him during the campaign and right up to the convention.  Hell, Lindsay Graham was an outspoken critic until he played golf with Trump one day.  He’s been cowering ever since.  Want to know why?  Read the article.  (This article may also explain Reagan’s much-touted “success” in dissolving the Soviet Union — the truth may be that the oligarchs just had no use for the Soviet Union because they weren’t making money off of it, so they let Reagan have the win so they could have Russia and he could go down in the history books, at least temporarily, as a tough-guy hero.)

Meantime, back to Cohen and Manafort…

I don’t think Manafort will flip.  I think he will conclude that he and his family are better off with him staying in prison and silent; he’s had too many dealings with very dangerous people for him or his family to escape unharmed if he started talking.

I could be surprised; I’d like to be.  Nevertheless, the charges against him in the first trial  had little to do with Trump.  I believe the whole thing was just a warm-up to test the judicial waters and see what might happen.  Could Manafort have information that would be useful to Mueller?  I believe Mueller has said no, they don’t need him.  So maybe it’s all settled and Manafort will go quietly to rot in prison; Manafort, the guy who for years thought he was James Bond, only to find out today that he is mere cannon fodder.

The other theory is that these people believe they are bullet-proof, and Manafort is truly dumbfounded to have been convicted.  If that’s the case, all bets are off; he could do anything.  But I still doubt he’ll flip.

Cohen, on the other hand, is not only talking but is implicating Trump.  Because of Cohen, Trump is now officially an unindicted co-conspirator.  That’s the same place Nixon ended up in just before he resigned.

Will Trump resign?  I doubt it; see the “bullet proof” paragraph above.  Trump doesn’t get it.  It goes back to that brain thing I was talking about earlier.  He may have a headache and he may freak out on Twitter.  But he lacks the organ that would help him make sense of it all.

Seriously, today changed everything.  Whether it will stay changed or if we will revert to wafting aimlessly through a bottomless pit of distractions while the investigation drags on forever…well here’s the thing: we won’t know until tomorrow, or maybe the day after, or maybe the week or month after.  And that’s hell.

Going to the store now for popcorn and aspirin.

Letter to a Cultist

Dear Trump-sucker:

You probably are not reading this because (1) you don’t read, (2) this is a center/left blog, and (3) you don’t identify yourself with the word “cultist.”  But that’s okay.  You are a cultist anyway.

Your cult is that of Trump.  You are the one sitting there yelling at an NBC news broadcast about Trump’s stupid sanctions that Trump is right to start a trade war with China and all these “snowflakes” whining about being hurt financially — well too bad.  “That’s temporary.”  Yep.  That’s what you said.  I heard you.

Never mind that what you said is not backed up by fact; it’s what you want to believe.  And here’s the kicker: you desperately want me to agree with you; otherwise you would not sit there screaming at a public television set and keep looking at me, begging, “Right?  Right?”

Not only that, but I know a lot about you because you voted for Trump.  I know who you are at your very base: you are a frightened bully.  You are also limited intellectually and vacant spiritually, even if you are waving a college degree in my face to prove otherwise and you attend church every Sunday without fail.

You support Trump because you see in him a kindred spirit, and also a sort of Superman who will fix all your problems for you.  You are likely a fan of reality TV shows and professional wrestling.  You consider yourself to be a guardian of patriotism, which to you is some vague combination of flag worship and a blurry photo of the Constitution (which you have never read), coupled with a 4th of July parade and cookout.  You probably also believe in witches, ghosts, conspiracy theories, Evangelical preachers, and whatnot.  You definitely think Russia is our friend.  You have chosen to believe that the world would be safer if we armed toddlers, and school kids would be safer if they were only nicer to other school kids who might shoot them.  (Abortion = BAAAAD; School shootings = the victims’ fault!  Guns are GOOD!)

And I know that if asked, you will tell me to my face that Fox News is the only news outlet that tells the truth.  (Never mind that they admit that they’re not even a news outlet.)  In short, you are a perfect sucker for Russian propaganda, and may have actually been identified as such on Facebook.

You are also a racist POS, pure and simple.

Yes, I know all of this about you.  And I know another thing: when this finally ends, you will be left completely on your own.  No one will want to come near you.  You will be labeled toxic.

How will you respond?  Denial.  Blame.  Anger.  Confusion and butthurt.  This is how bullies behave.

Your media will spend decades spinning conspiracy theories, trying to prove that Trump was innocent…but no matter.  No one will give a flying shit about you, and you will die alone.

Have fun in hell, darling.  Meantime, fuck off; I want to watch the news.

–the worstat