The race remains close. Harris leads five battleground states by less than 1% and Trump leads the others by the same amount. It’s hard to believe that America is so stupid, but there it is. Trump stands before groups of his followers and lies over and over, with no attempt to even consider the truth let alone the fact that everyone knows he’s lying.
Those of us with no sense of morality, ignore everything they have been taught is right and blunder into positions they would otherwise not accept.
Many believe that FEMA money was going to migrants rather than those affected by the hurricane. This is just more of the same fantasy that Trump spread about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio eating people’ pets.
It’s obvious that the truth is not in Trump’s universe. Never has been, but now the lack of facts in everything he says has become a giant stumbling block to the functional solution to most problems being attacked by both sides.
When Trump lies about FEMA money going to migrants instead of those whose homes have been destroyed by hurricanes, he causes those who believe him to ignore available help and suffer even more than what was caused by the weather. But he doesn’t care. He has no concern for the damage he is doing. All he cares about is his own campaign. He must be stopped.
*****
There was an interesting panel on Face the Nation last week. Margaret Brennan talked to 8 voters from the battleground states who already knew who they were going to vote for and had opinions on why. I found it puzzling that none of the potential Trump voters seemed to care one iota that he was a confirmed liar, sexual predator and business failure as well as a convicted felon. All those who were going to vote for Trump mentioned his non-existent business success, though none seemed to be aware, that inflation was now down to about 2.5% under Biden. Again, all the Trump voters were looking for him to get things done though he accomplished almost nothing during his four years in office.
No one seemed to have any idea of Trump’s inability to function in foreign policy. It was not mentioned at all, nor were his multiple bankruptcies or the fact that he might be the only person in history to fail at running a casino. It was depressing to see how little those who are voting understand about those they are voting for.
The three Harris voters seemed to be as uninformed as the Trump voters, but they had at least managed to retain some sense of need for moral structure in the person they were going to back for the job of running the most important nation on earth, a need that the Trump voters didn’t seem to recognize.
How do you not consider the moral quality of the person you are helping to step into the highest office in the world? How do you elect a President who isn’t morally fit to collect your garbage?
*****
”Donald Trump is fascist to the core.” Those are the words of General Mark Milley, Trump’s first Secretary of State who led our country’s military during a good part of the Trump administration. And he’s not the only member of the Trump administration who has spoken out against him. VP Mike Pense agrees with Mill that Trump is not fit to hold the office of the President. So do Mike Pompeo, Jim Mattes, Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr, John Kelly and Mark Meadows, all members of his original Cabinet. They are joined in serious criticism of Trump by the likes of his first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, Chris Christie, Second National Security Advisor, HR McMaster, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Third National Security Advisor, John Bolton, White House Lawyer, Ty Cobb, Director of Strategic Communications, Alyssa Farah Griffen, Former Deputy Press and Secretary, Sara Mathews, and Final Chief of Staff, Cassidy Hutchinson. These are Republicans who claim he should never be allowed near the White House.
Now, I don’t know if this means anything to you but to me this is a strong indication of the fact that Trump is just not capable of doing the job, attested to by those who have worked with him in official capacities while he was screwing up his first shot at the job. And this is not the whole list, just those that came to mind, but what’s important is that these are the people who worked with him every day, the people who were with him when he was screwing up, who saw his inability to function in any kind of functional way. They were all his appointees. They were all Republicans. Pay attention people. This is how you keep score.
*****
Elon Musk is one of the great minds of our time but even with all his brilliance there is still room for him to be a dufus. This brilliant man has decided that Donald Trump would make a good President, and he is backing him to the hilt with money, creative content and even as a cheerleader. Have you seen him do his jumping jack routine at the latest Trump rallies?
So, if this guy is so brilliant how come he doesn’t see what a disaster Trump is? Easy… greed. It has become obvious to Musk that Trump’s policies will enable him to get even richer than he already is, and just as obviously this is more important to Elon than the fact that Trump will ruin the country. It’s hard to believe that anyone who has the ability to conceive of the products and processes that Musk has, could be so uninformed in the political arena that he would not understand how dangerous and destructive an element like Trump could be to the whole system. All you have to do is see Elon jumping up and down like a misguided child begging for an ice pop and it makes you wonder how such a brilliantly conceived mind could be so lacking in political sophistication.
But Musk is not lacking in political sophistication, nor is he unaware of how dangerous Trump is. It’s just that with the same ego Trump possesses he thinks he can control the monster and bend him to his own business needs. Musk looks out at the world as he would re-create it and sees Trump removing all controls at his command, thereby removing all obstacles from Musk’s path to glory.