I cannot resist the temptation to share this message from none other than Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.
She delivered this Christmas message from Windsor Castle.
I won’t give it away, other than to suggest that our own head of state, Donald Trump, is too busy and too fraught with his own imaginary grievances to bother delivering this kind of message to his own constituents.
Not necessarily because Santa Claus was especially generous or because we all are filled with holiday joy and gratitude … although many of us will express our thanks and will honor the religious significance of this time of year.
Oh, no. This will be a Christmas we’ll remember because of a disease that keeps lashing out at Americans.
It has felled neighbors of ours here in Collin County, Texas. Friends of ours all across the nation have taken ill. Then came the chilling news that members of our family have been stricken with the infection. They aren’t hospitalized but their Christmas cheer has been dampened by the fear that comes with knowing they are infected with a virus that has taken far too many lives and sickened far too many others.
I have reported to you already that we in the clear in our house. That doesn’t give us license to, um, party like there’s no tomorrow. My wife and I intend to see many tomorrows as we continue our journey together. To ensure that future we intend to play by the rules set for by the infectious disease gurus who tell us constantly what we need to to do to stay safe and healthy.
We are resigned to the notion that our beloved nation is in the throes of a pandemic that has changed millions of lives — and not for the better.
It’s a bit of a chore today to wish everyone a joyful and Merry Christmas. I’ll add the word “COVID” in front of Christmas with the hope that next year at this time we can cheer the fact that we are celebrating a COVID-free holiday.
While the nation remains ensnared by the machinations of a president who cannot admit to losing an election, I find myself yearning for the moment the current president exits the stage and makes way for the guy who’s going to replace him.
At the crux of my yearning is a belief that the new fellow, Joseph Biden, will restore the term “presidential” to the office he inherits from Donald Trump.
You see, the sight of Trump continuing to insist that the election was an act of thievery performed by Biden and his team is painful to the core. It shows the world that the United States of America, whose people like to think we live in an exceptional nation, is capable of behaving like a Third World banana republic. That is what Trump is providing the world: a glimpse into the dark side of politics and into the man that managed to get elected president of the United States.
He’s about to go away somewhere. Likely to Florida. He’ll play a lot of golf soon. He might form a new team to plot a return to politics down the road. He’ll keep yammering about Biden, about the election, about whatever filters into his vacuous skull.
Through it all, we’ll get to watch a president actually act like the man who has walked into the world’s most visible and powerful office. Yes, a lot of it will be symbolic and not of much substance.
It will be important, though, to know that our president is in control of the situation and most of all in control of his own impulses. Joe Biden is going to become a “presidential” president.
The holiday season usually spurs me to make some sort of pledge to limit my commentary to just good stuff, positivity, to lay off the barbs, slings and arrows.
Not this year.
Yes, I am filled with sufficient Christmas spirit. My sons are nearby, along with my wife, our daughter-in-law, our granddaughter and her two brothers. We plan to have a quiet but still somewhat festive day to celebrate Christmas.
It will be more of a secular celebration of the holy day, although we certainly are cognizant of its spiritual meaning and the impact of Christmas on Christians. We honor the birth of Jesus Christ to be sure.
I cannot make the go-easy pledge for this blog. Not this year. We are in the midst of a horrible political transition, which is made that way by the conduct of the man who lost a presidential election. Donald Trump is erecting roadblocks to Joe Biden’s transition into the presidency. Why do that? Because Trump cannot stand the notion of being labeled a “loser.” Which he is. He lost the election, bigly.
So I intend to keep firing away at Donald Trump. I seek to keep a civil tongue — proverbially speaking, of course — as I criticize this individual’s conduct, but there are times when I am just unable to restrain myself.
I apologize in advance for any offense I might bring. Just understand that we are living in extraordinary times that require equally extraordinary analysis of what is occurring before our eyes.
It ain’t good. I intend to say so with all due vigor.
Joe Biden might be facing the biggest challenge ever to confront a newly sworn in president of the United States.
The wreckage being left by his immediate predecessor is mounting daily. Donald J. Trump is doling out pardons and commutations that have the nation scratching its head and many legal scholars are questioning the correctness of rewarding his friends, political allies and those who might have the goods on him.
This is occurring on top of the mess that Trump has made of the transition process. It was supposed to be a seamless transfer of power from one administration to another. It has been anything but seamless. Indeed, the seams are strained and torn as the president-elect seeks to build his governing team.
Donald Trump, indeed, is inflicting real and sustained damage to the democratic process that is supposed to govern us.
All is not lost, it needs to be stated, for the president-elect. Joe Biden has an important ally on his side as he takes office in less than a month. It’s the U.S. Constitution, which I continue to believe remains virtually indestructible, even in the face of the assault on it being mounted by the outgoing president.
Donald Trump remains committed to making his successor’s presidential life as miserable as he can possibly make it. Whether he succeeds in delivering that misery remains to be seen. My hope is that President-elect Biden’s vast governmental/public service experience will serve him well as he grasps the reins of power.
All that stated, his repair work looms as enormous.
I trust President Biden will be ready go on Day One.
Mr. President, this is likely the final blog entry I will direct to you, but I have something I want to get off my chest.
I get that you and the first lady are in Florida enjoying the Christmas season. Good deal, but here is what I want to ask you: Why don’t you just stay there and not bother returning to the White House?
You have left a mess in Washington. The COVID relief bill contains some help for Americans who need it; it also funds the military; it also keeps the government running. Yet you say you won’t sign it. You screwed this up royally with your surprise reversal after your team negotiated the deal that ended up on your desk.
The chaos we all predicted would be the lowlight of your tenure as president is coming home to roost. Thanks to you!
So, just stay away from Washington. You don’t do any work there anyway, other than concoct traitorous methods to overturn an election that you lost handily. Just don’t bother darkening the door of our house, OK?
Hey, just stay near a phone. Someone can call you in case an emergency arises. You’re still the president until Jan. 20. Just remain available to make a decision that only you can make. Movers can pack up your stuff and send it to you and the first lady. They’ll know where to find you.
Beyond that, we don’t need you any longer. President Biden will be ready to step in when he takes his oath of office. What’s more, he is certain to honor the oath, which you have failed miserably to do.
You can take this little item to the bank and remember that you saw it here for the first time.
President Biden will have a full plate of crises to confront when he settles in behind the Resolute Desk. He also must find time to engage in some of symbolism involved with the high office of president of the United States. Part of that involves conducting ceremonies; you know, the kind that honor Americans for the work they do on our behalf.
The nation’s highest civilian honor is called the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In the waning days of his time as vice president, Biden received the medal in a surprise ceremony at the White House. President Barack Obama stunned him during an event aimed ostensibly to honor the work that Biden had done as VP during the Obama administration.
Can there be a more fitting recipient for the Presidential Medal of Freedom than Barack Hussein Obama? And can there be a more fitting person to drape the medal around the former president’s neck than the current president, who after Jan. 20 will be Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.?
Obama has been vilified and ridiculed unjustly for the past four years by his immediate successor. I am one American patriot who would find it most appropriate for him to receive the nation’s highest civilian award to honor the work he did as a successful two-term president of the United States.
I took the liberty the other day of announcing to the planet that my wife and I had taken a test to see if we had become infected with the COVID-19 virus.
We learned this morning we both tested negative. The young woman who called with the results was practically giddy when she gave us the news. I don’t know if she feared for us or whether she had grown weary of delivering bad news to patients who came to the McKinney clinic for coronavirus testing.
Whatever. We ain’t infected. We certainly ain’t sick.
We also are not out of the proverbial woods, even with the vaccine that is being injected into the arms of thousands of Americans each day.
Mask up, keep your distance, wash your hands … and keep your voice down, America.
The fecal matter is likely to hit the fan. Donald Trump has jetted off to Mar-a-Lago to spend Christmas with his wife and children and, presumably, his grandkids.
You know what? He might not return to the White House after the holiday. That doesn’t bother me in the least. I don’t want him in there in the first place.
He is issuing pardons like there’s no tomorrow. Indeed, as far as the presidency is concerned, there are damn few of them awaiting Trump.
I’m not waiting for him to pardon his sons, his daughter, his son-in-law and maybe even himself. Were he to do that he would engrave his presidential legacy with the words: “Most Corrupt Man Ever Elected to the Nation’s Highest Office.”
Texas state Rep. Dade Phelan of Beaumont appears to be the next speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.
If he wins the vote among his colleagues, he’ll get to cross swords — maybe, possibly — with the guy who runs the other legislative body, the Senate down the hall. That would be Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
Patrick has a habit of picking fights on occasion with legislators. He got mad at my pal, state GOP Sen. Kel Seliger of Amarillo, during the 2019 Legislature and stripped Seliger of his committee leadership posts. Why? Because Seliger spoke unkindly about a key Patrick aide.
During the 2017 session, Patrick wanted the Legislature to enact the infamous Bathroom Bill, the legislation that would have made it a requirement that folks use public restrooms in accordance with their “birth gender”; the bill was a clear act of discrimination against transgender individuals. The House speaker at the time, fellow Republican Joe Straus of San Antonio, would have none of that. He made sure the bill died during a special legislative session. My sense is that Patrick is still steaming over it.
Straus retired from politics. The next speaker, Dennis Bonnen of Angleton, served a single term and then got caught conspiring against fellow Republican lawmakers in a conversation with a far right wing political activist, Michael Quinn Sullivan. Bonnen bailed and is gone.
Now comes Rep. Phelan … apparently. I don’t know the young man, even though I once worked and lived in Beaumont. I wish him well. I also hope he displays the kind of stones that Straus exhibited when Patrick tried to push him around over the Bathroom Bill.
Truth be told, I think Dan Patrick needs to be knocked a peg or three from his faux high horse. He offered to pay a reward to anyone who produced evidence of “massive voter fraud” in Texas during the 2020 presidential election; to date, he hasn’t handed out a nickel. Why? Because there was no fraud … the dipsh**.
Whatever happens during the Legislature that convenes Jan. 12, I look forward to watching it all unfold from my perch in Collin County. I just want the new House speaker — whoever emerges — to stand his ground against the bully who masquerades as the lieutenant governor.
