A Pride of Lyin's

One thing I’ve realized over the past several weeks is that I don’t have it in me to be “outraged!” every day.  To be clear, that doesn’t mean I’m not angry, heart-sick, and concerned -- I am, thoroughly.  But being “outraged!” every day is bad for the health.  However, I also mean it literally – I don’t have it in me to be “outraged!” – not just for reason of health and so that my head doesn’t explode – but because…well, it’s sort of expected.  My “outrage!” came during the past six months.  Trump and the MAGOPs have said they were going to do all this, so we all knew it was coming.  Maybe not all the specific nominees, not all the specific proposals, but we absolutely knew they’d be this bad.

My main hope – and almost reaching the level of expectation – is that Trump and his party have such hubris and unwarranted pride thinking they really won in a landslide mandate that they’ll go much too far governing as if that’s truly the case and will destroy themselves.  In reality, he won by only 1.4%.  And Democrats actually gained a seat in the House.  And more MAGOP senators than Democrats are up for re-election in the mid-terms.  Yes, it will be a hellish two years until the mid-terms (and then two more after that), but I think (which is really “hope based on reasons…”) Trump is going to infuriate most Americans who’ll remember, “Oh, yeah, this is why we didn’t re-elect him the first time.” 

Consider:

It’s hard to imagine that most Americans want to cut back Social Security and Medicare.  In fact, polls show that 80% of Americans – across party lines – support the programs.  A great many of whom critically rely on them.

It’s hard to imagine that most Americans want to get rid of approval of the polio vaccine.  (I’m biased here – my mother had polio, as did the father of a friend down the block – but I feel very certain that this is not what most Americans figured they were voting for.  Because as ignorant as so many voters may be, they aren’t insane.)  I mean, man, when you get Mitch McConnell slamming you in blunt, pointed, extensive detail -- you know it's a problem.

(Side Note:  The fact that Robert Kennedy Jr. pulled back from his plan to revoke approval of the polio vaccine, is totally meaningless. After all, that only occurred after he was pushed that way by MAGOP senators, lead by McConnell, who said, "The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives and held out the promise of eradicating a terrible disease. Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed — they're dangerous. Anyone seeking the Senate's consent to serve in the incoming Administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts."  That, and that alone, is what got Robert Kennedy Jr. to pull back his plan.  Because it was his plan. It shows what his thinking is. And shows what his thinking about all vaccines and medicine and health in general will be if confirmed. I hope he's grilled at his hearing on why it was his plan in the first place.)

It's hard to imagine that when most Americans voted, anywhere on their list of issues – even in the category described as “Other things I hate but can’t think of at the moment”) was to get rid of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.  Yes, this is yet another plan floated by the Trump administration.  The FDIC protects the money in banks of all Americans, whatever their party.  Even MAGOPs.

It borders on near-impossible to imagine that when most Americans voted, virtually any of them thought we should make an issue over Canada becoming the 51st state, let alone get into a fight about it.

It's hard to imagine, as well, that most Americans want to get rid of the requirement that electric car companies must report crash data for their self-driving cars.  It should be noted that most

As Reuters wrote:  “Removing the crash-disclosure provision would particularly benefit Tesla [owned, of course, by Elon Musk], which has reported most of the crashes – more than 1,500 – to federal safety regulators under the program.”  Furthermore, there ahave been 45 deaths from self-driving car crashes – of which 40 involved Teslas. Given that Elon Musk was appointed by Trump to look into making government more…er, “efficient,” one can only ponder where, oh where in the world did such a proposal originate.  (Reuters also noted that “Tesla has been targeted in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigations, including three stemming from the data.”

And this, of course, is only a paltry handful of grossly irresponsible, horrific plans that the Trump team has already put forth – with clearly a great many more to come – in all their fascist hubris, thinking they have a landslide mandate.  Issues that, even if they actually did have such a mandate, it wouldn’t be for any -- any -- of this.

It’s easy to imagine the depths that a Trump administration can go.  It is still, though, incredibly hard to imagine that most Americans want to do any of this.

Which is where the “Oh, yeah, this is why we didn’t re-elect him the first time” concept kicks in.

And lest one think this is purely my wishful thinking, such a reaction has already started, over a month before Trump is even inaugurated.

Two weeks ago, when Trump announced that he intended to block the Japanese company Nippon Steel from buying U.S. Steel for $14.9 billion, it brought about shock and outrage from steelworkers.  Including, as the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported, anger from many who supported Trump and (for reasons known only to them) were caught off-guard. 

“I am very frustrated with the news that came out last night,” said United Steelworkers Local 2227 Vice President Jason Zugai, who attended Trump rallies. “I didn’t expect that to come out.  So that was like a gut punch.”  Mr. Zugai spoke with Trump personally and explains that the then-candidate never said he opposed the deal and even promised the union local leader that he would seriously look at the deal after the election.

Or as RawStory explained it --

​“I didn’t expect that.”

“It was like a gut punch.”

O whoever could have possibly imagined this of Trump?!!  The man who hates unions, who hates Asians, who has 30,000+ documented lies. 

Willful ignorance is no virtue.  But then, y’know, Trump has loved to court evangelicals, so here’s one for all his supporters –

“There are none so blind as he who will not see.” 

Matthew 9:26-27

Governing by hubris is a really terrible way to fly.  Especially when you only won by a razor-thin 1.4% and actually lost a seat in the House.  And have more of your party up for re-election in the Senate for the next mid-term elections.  And come up with proposals that border on the lunatic.

And so, we’ll end with another one.  This from Proverbs 16-18.

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

The mid-term elections are in November, 2026.  During the fall.