Already saddened by the major news items of the day — the loss of 67 people in a horrific plane crash over the Potomac River outside of Washington, the continuing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and a sinkhole in Japan that has swallowed a 74-year-old man and his three-ton truck, to name just a few — I managed to continue reading, and found myself here:

Because I had come to the realization, after reading on, that I can no longer adhere to my own self-imposed restriction against commenting on a subject I have always considered too divisive to touch: U.S. politics.

Full disclosure: I am neither Democrat nor Republican. I have always voted for the candidate I think best qualified for the job, be it president, senator, congressperson, dogcatcher, or water commissioner. And I am deathly afraid of extremism in any direction.

I also abhor conflict. Don’t get me wrong — a good, solid, intellectual give-and-take is challenging and stimulating, as long as it’s based on fact rather than bias, and as long as all the participants respect one another’s rights to their opinions. But when anger and undisguised hatred rear their ugly heads, I’m gone.

And unfortunately, any discussion of American politics these days seems to devolve into just that: anger and hatred. It brings out the worst in people. So, to avoid the inevitable snarky (and worse) comments, I have thus far tended to steer clear of the subject in this blog.

But, to quote an unidentified — but clearly wiser — individual from the dim, distant past:

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

I believe that. So I have taken the requisite deep breath, given the matter careful consideration, and decided to take the plunge. Because — while my voice may not reach very far — I can no longer remain completely silent.

Not while my country is being destroyed from the inside.

*. *. *

And what was it that pushed me over the edge today? Actually, it was a series of articles, all concerning edicts — excuse me, executive orders — emanating from the White House Oval Office.

The first was so ludicrous as to defy belief: “Employees at multiple federal agencies were ordered to remove pronouns from their email signatures by Friday afternoon, according to internal memos obtained by ABC News that cited two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on his first day in office seeking to curb diversity and equity programs in the federal government.” [Selia Wang, Dr. Mark Abdelmalek, Anne Flaherty and Will Steakin, ABC News, January 31, 2025.]

Clearly, the leader of the free world has nothing more pressing to occupy his time than worrying about parts of speech and email signatures. And, equally clearly, he doesn’t comprehend that the intent of DEI is not to hire under-qualified people because of their race, religion or gender identity; but rather to hire the most qualified people in spite of those attributes.

*. *. *

Next came the press conference held by brand-new, ultra-right-wing, five-years-out-of-St. Anselm College, and new mom, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, whose job it is to say whatever her boss tells her to say . . . and who seems more than happy with her post as “Head Trumpeter.”

Questioned extensively about Trump’s response to yesterday’s plane crash over the Potomac, she dutifully parroted everything he has already had to say on the subject, and then some. While acknowledging that the investigation is still underway, she completely agreed with his conclusions that the helicopter was flying too high (unproven), that it was the fault of the air traffic controllers who must surely have belonged to some minority group (also unproven), or that extraterrestrials had zapped the plane with their Venusian gamma rays. (All right . . . I made up that last one; but it’s no less plausible than any other unproven, as-yet-uninvestigated theory.)

And finally, when asked about Trump’s use of expletives in laying blame on Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg for issues at the Federal Aviation Administration, she had this to say:

“I think one of the things that the American people love most about this President is that he often says what they lack the courage to say themselves. I think yesterday at this podium you heard President Trump express great frustration, perhaps even anger, with the previous administration’s policies, many of which have led to the crises that our country is currently facing.” [Bernd Debusmann Jr., BBC News, January 31, 2025.]

Okay . . . I can buy the “frustration” and “anger” parts of that assessment. Because that is how he always reacts when things don’t go his way: he lashes out, and blames someone he doesn’t like.

*. *. *

And speaking of striking out in anger, let’s talk about purges.

Not satisfied with having fired dozens of government employees in multiple departments for doing the jobs that were assigned to them; stripping several former officials, living under death threats for having done their jobs in the previous administration, of their Secret Service protection; dishonoring and removing the security detail from a four-star Army General who has served his country in ways that are completely unknown to Donald Trump, but who had the temerity to speak the truth; and having alienated several of America’s staunchest allies with his characterisstic threats and bullying tactics . . . he next turned his attention to the agency that, while not always perfect, has performed tirelessly since 1908 to keep this country as safe as possible from both external and internal enemies: the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Was this because of some breach of security within the FBI? No. A scandal at the highest (or any) level? Nope. Money missing from the budget? Again, no.

It was because agents did the job they were assigned: to investigate the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 — an insurrection that, if not ordered, was at least enabled and even publicly encouraged by this man himself — and to arrest any and all violent perpetrators.

And because he personally has continued for four years to praise those violators of the law and the U.S. Constitution . . . and saw it as his first duty upon taking office on January 20th to pardon the very same criminals who have been duly tried and convicted in U.S. courts of law . . . he now feels it necessary to finish it off by destroying the lives of the people who, in protecting our Senators and Members of Congress from harm and possible death, did their jobs that day.

If that isn’t a Stalin-esque purge, then I don’t know what is. And we don’t do that in America.

Or we didn’t, before January 20th.

*. *. *

Now, do you still want to know why I’m in a very dark place today?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/31/25