Category Archives: 2016 election

2016 election, Donald Trump, national news

Still can’t connect the words ‘President’ and ‘Trump’

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It is with some measure of regret that I must announce that more than 18 months into Donald Trump’s term as president I remain unable to connect the words “President” and “Trump” consecutively.

I wish it were different. Honest. I do wish it! I am no closer to making that leap than I was when he won the election in November 2016.

It’s not the president’s policies that bother me to this extent. Heck, I disagreed with many of his predecessors repeatedly. I disagreed with President Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq; I have disagreed with President Obama’s seemingly personal ownership of public offices during his time in the White House; there was President Clinton’s perjury about over the Lewinsky relationship.

And on it goes.

All of those men, though, knew how to act. They behaved in a manner that lent dignity to their high and exalted office.

No, the problem I continue to have with Donald Trump remains of a personal nature. Yes, I disagree with his policy. However, were he ever to start acting, sounding and comporting himself like the head of state/head of government/commander in chief/leader of the free world, there would be a significant difference in the way I refer to him in his blog.

He does none of that.

Let’s just flash back a couple of days to that hideous re-election campaign rally in Pennsylvania. He pranced around the stage. He referred to a member of Congress as “a low IQ person”; he keeps referring to the media as the “enemy of the people” and purveyors of “fake, fake, disgusting news.”

He lies incessantly, to the point that I cannot take a single, solitary statement that flies out of his mouth at face value. Nothing! I am suspicious of every word he utters, every proclamation he makes.

How in the world can I refer to this individual by attaching his duly elected title directly in front of his name? I cannot.

I won’t give up every shred of hope that one day he’ll get it. That one day he’ll learn how to conduct himself with dignity and decorum. You see, I am an eternal optimist.

I want this guy to start acting  and sounding like a president. I just don’t expect it of him.

2016 election, national news

If there was nothing wrong …

It’s fair now to ask a key question.

It goes like this: If there was nothing wrong with Donald Trump Jr. meeting with Russians who had “dirt” on Hillary Rodham Clinton, why did Don Jr. and his father, the president of the United States, lie about it?

We now at this moment that Don Jr.’s meeting with the Russians in 2016 was meant to deliver the goods on Hillary Rodham Clinton. Junior said at the time that there was nothing to it. He also said the meeting was called to discuss “Russian adoption.” Daddy Trump said the same thing. Oh, he also reportedly dictated the statement that Don Jr. released to the public declaring the phony Russian adoption dodge.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is looking carefully at all of this. He will tell us eventually where all this will lead.

I just need to say that the view from the cheap seats tells me there’s something quite fishy going on and that Mueller may be getting ready to hook “the big one.”

Conspiracy to collude, anyone?

Anyone?

2016 election, national news, political news

Senate races decided by differing factors

As I watch the Beto O’Rourke-Ted Cruz race for the U.S. Senate from Texas, I am struck by what is missing in the debate over who Texans should elect.

I am not hearing much chatter on which of these men will do more for Texas.

Will it be Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic congressman from El Paso, or Ted Cruz, the Republican incumbent from Houston? Which of them will work tirelessly on behalf of Texans’ specific needs, wants and desires?

Am I missing something here?

There once was a day when U.S. senatorial clout mattered to the home folks. I want to cite an example from my home state of Oregon.

For years, Oregon was represented by two moderate Republicans: Mark Hatfield and Bob Packwood. They were joined at the hip on many issues. They were linked to each other so closely that we in the media used to refer them as “Sen. Hatwood” or Sen. “Packfield.”

They both attained influential committee chairmanships beginning in 1981 when the GOP took control of the upper congressional chamber after Ronald Reagan’s landslide victory in the 1980 presidential election.

Hatfield and Packwood worked diligently to protect Oregon and Pacific Northwest interests.

Along the way, Sen. Packwood ran into ethical trouble relating to the way he treated women who worked on his staff; Packwood ended up resigning his seat. Sen. Hatfield remained the Boy Scout.

As we look at the current day, in Texas, I don’t hear the kind of chatter about Sen. Cruz or, how well he works with Sen. John Cornyn, the state’s senior U.S. senator. My sense is that the two Texans have a bit of a frosty relationship.

Cruz’s tenure in the Senate seems to have centered on his own future. He ran for president in 2016 and was among the final GOP primary candidates to hang in against the party’s nominee before bowing out.

Cruz’s theme so far appears aimed at ginning up GOP interest to counteract rage from the other side. According to the Texas Tribune: “The biggest challenge I have in this race … is complacency,” Cruz said. “People say all the time, ‘Oh, come on, it’s a Texas re-elect. How could you possibly lose?’ Well, in an ordinary cycle, that might be true. But this is not an ordinary cycle. The far left is filled with anger and rage and we underestimate that anger at our peril.”

O’Rourke has closed a once-gaping deficit to make it a race. I’ll stipulate once again that I am pulling for O’Rourke to defeat Cruz.

I’m just waiting to hear from the challenger — or from the incumbent, for that matter — what they’ll do to help Texans.