What Has Trump Done?

Challenge for Trump supporters: Name four accomplishments during his four years in office. Vaguenesses like “greatness” or “values” don’t count. Neither do things he’s only talked, bragged, or lied about. What did he actually get DONE?

Border wall: not built.

Afghanistan War: still going.

“Easy to win” trade war: still going, sales down, prices up.

Coal-mining and auto-making jobs: still gone.

Unemployment: worst since Great Depression.

Farm bankruptcies: rising daily.

Rural broadband: nope.

America’s infrastructure: still crumbling.

College debt: staggering.

Postal service: under attack.

Social Security: threatened.

Public schools: funding diverted to for-profit and religious ones.

Drug-abuse and homelessness crises: worse than ever.

Climate change: wants to keep burning fossil fuels.

America’s standing as leader of the free world: trashed.

“Art of the deal”: Won’t negotiate with Congress; broke America’s word on Paris Climate Accords and Iran nuclear bargain; did slap new label on NAFTA.

Law and order: more top administration and campaign officials under indictment in four years than previous seven presidents in 43.

Business management: Cabinet a revolving door of firings and resignations; over half of federal agencies headed by unconfirmed acting heads.

Nazis and Klansmen: “fine people”.

Our troops: “losers” and “suckers” (with bonus insults for POWs and Gold Star families).

Health care: best in the world — and free — if you’re him.

Coronavirus: total, colossal, unmitigated, blundering, mismanaged catastrophe.

So go ahead, try to find those four gold nuggets in that gigantic pile of manure. Then face the hard reality: he’s running the country the same way he ran his casinos, university, and airline — into the ground. Using other people’s money. Taking no responsibility. Stiffing the people who actually do the work. Because when it’s always all about him, it’s never going to be about you.

2020 Hindsight

Here we are, only halfway thru 2020, it already feels like we've lived thru 5 normal years, and we've still got another half of it to go. The only regular thing that's happened has been February 29: no March Madness, no Olympics, the census is horribly screwed up, unemployment is at Great Depression levels, hitting the beaches is courting death, summer vacation consists of walking around your back yard, little kids probably won't be able to go trick-or-treating, and the presidential election is shaping up to make 2000 look like a triumph of the democratic process. Oh, and presidential lying, denial, evasion, misdirection, and general ball-dropping — which makes 9/11 seem almost quaint by comparison — has already killed off more Americans in 6 months than World War 1 did in 19.

I can hardly wait for 2020 hindsight, when we can look at these 366 days in the rear-view mirror, where they belong. I hope I live to see it. (That's not a figure of speech.)

Appropriate Reactions

Don’t mourn, VOTE!

Don’t riot, VOTE!

Don’t burn, VOTE!

Don’t loot, VOTE!

Don’t give up, VOTE!

Don’t curl up in a little corner whimpering, VOTE!

Catchphrase ≠ Competence

"Operation Warp Speed", eh? Someone should remind the resident that "9 women gestating for 1 month apiece do not produce a baby."

---

Something must be done. This is something. Therefore we will do it.

Republicans Want To Kill You

Let’s be blunt. Republicans hate it when people vote — especially the "wrong kind" of people.

Their loathing for democracy was most clearly stated by right-wing guru Paul Weyrich, who laid out the case for voter suppression back in 1980: “I don’t want everybody to vote. ... Our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”

Acting on his advice, Wisconsin Republicans, in thrall to their corporate overlords and campaign financiers, have done everything in their power to throw roadblocks in the path of voting: blatant gerrymandering to dilute opposing votes; restricting hours of voter registration; limiting the areas where volunteers can register voters or the times when DMV offices can take your picture; moving primary elections from September to August so college students can’t vote; closing or constantly changing polling locations (especially in minority areas), preferably to places without public transportation; and of course the notorious and completely unnecessary photo-ID requirement.

To Republicans the current COVID global pandemic was like manna from heaven. It could be lethally dangerous for strangers to cluster in groups of 10 or more, so they could let nature do their dirty work for them by scaring citizens away from the polls. But only if the election were held as originally scheduled.

That’s why, given a special session of the Legislature during which they could have postponed the election (as 15 other states have done) or adopted a sensible alternative like all-mail-in voting (as Gov. Evers proposed), they literally didn’t give a minute’s consideration to either. “Vote if you dare” was their attitude.

So if you’re a public-spirited citizen who wants to vote — or an elderly poll worker who’d like to help you do it — remember: Republicans don’t just want to stop you, they want to kill you if you try.