“ Caesar Disgustus
drained the 'swamp' right into the White House.”
----from “The
Quotations of Chairman Joe”
He
said, in debate with rival Hillary Clinton, that he had the “best
temperament” to be president. Nobody, he said, has a better
temperament than he. He said that he has the best words, as if by
that one means that a vocabulary of 700 of which the words “great”
and “fabulous” are used half the time constitute uncommon command
of the language. He said that he would only hire and surround
himself with the “best” administrators and agency heads if
elected to the presidency. He said that he would “drain the swamp”
and rid Washington of lobbyists and influence merchants.
Of
course, the truth about himself always lies 180 degrees from the
direction he is pointing, and whatever his announced intentions you
can bet your bottom dollar that they are the exact opposite. But the
country was hoodwinked by the image projected in the 'reality' show
“The Apprentice”, a
bit of contrived fiction that is art and entertainment. “The
Donald”, the sober, omnipotent
judge of talent; the CEO with flawless instinct; the chief executive
who would fearlessly face down incompetence and impose his judgment
swiftly, fairly and surely; the ultimate arbiter of success, for
success is sure to follow—like some sycophant-- his every move.
“At this point,”
observed the Editors of The
New York Times, “you have to ask: Just what do job postings for the
Trump administration look like? Surely they must stipulate that
relevant experience isn't a plus, but that a flexible notion of
ethics is. They must demand references who can recount specific
instances of demonstrated incompetence. How else to explain the sheer
number of poorly prepared or careless or sticky-fingered officials
crammed into this careening clown-car of an administration?” (1)
This from his hometown newspaper, from one of the sources that have
been reporting upon him for years, from one of the sources that know
him best.
What
inspired this commentary was the latest fiasco involving the
nomination of Dr. Ronny Jackson, the White House Physician to head
the Department of Veteran Affairs. The V.A. is the second largest
organization in the federal government, following only the Pentagon
itself. Nothing in Dr. Jackson's 'resume' even remotely suggest his
qualifications for the job; nothing, perhaps, except the exceedingly
glowing report issued by the Doctor following his annual examination
of the 'president'. Using language that reeked with superlatives
Jackson sounded very much like tRUMP had written the report himself
as he had done precisely that, it transpires, with his personal
physician's report during the campaign.
But,
as The Times duly
notes, there is more. Montana senator Testor revealed that those
working closely with Dr. Jackson told him that he has been drunk on
the job, dispensed “sleeping pills,, and even opioids,
like Skittles, or screamed at his staff”,(2) the
latter behavior no doubt suggesting Jackson for the post since it so
much resembles the behavior of our narcissist-in-chief.
Perhaps
all of this could be overlooked if Jackson had any other redeeming
qualifications beyond pure sycophancy”--like management
experience. But the best anyone can tell, Mr. Trump picked Dr.
Jackson because he is in the military, looks like a grown-up Doogie
Howser and gave the president a glowing bill of health, including
saying that the president has great genes, and could have lived to
200 if he had a better diet.” (3)
There
are other reasons beyond confirming, in tRUMPian language, the tRUMP
belief that he is genetically superior to the rest of us. There is
another reason Disgustus would consider someone with no experience,
beyond running an outfit the size of a local McDonald's, to head an
organization that provides health care to over nine million veterans,
and that is to intentionally wreak havoc upon the organization
so as to make the case for eventual privatization.
Disgustus
was forced to withdraw the nomination since imposing upon the
military the customary Rescumlican mendacity is, for the moment and
for some Rescumlicans, a bridge too far. But it hasn't prevented
Disgustus from seeking and finding the least prepared, the most
incompetent, and the most venal band of clowns and pirates ever to
descend upon the nation's capitol.
Consider,
of course, daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Playing
Ken to Ivanka's Barbie, the Kushners nevertheless brings to
Washington a brand of public innocence exceeded only by their private
venality. Given “a portfolio that includes negotiating peace in
the Middle East, reforming the criminal justice system and making
government more tech-savvy”, (4) Kushner and his wife have
parlayed their positions to get trademark deals with China (Ivanka),
and financial backing to shore up the god-awful real estate deal
involving 666 Fifth Avenue (Jared), among other violations of the
public trust.
Then,
as The Times points out, there is the “lobbyist-loving
wing of the Trump administration, one of its leading members—Mick
Mulvaney, who heads the Office of Management and Budget and the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—was extolling the practice of
pay-to-play public service the other day. At a speech before the
American Bankers Association on Tuesday, Mr. Mulvaney said that as a
congressman he would only meet with lobbyists who gave money to his
campaign...
“Mr. Mulvaney was
just making old friends happy. He did that for years as a
congressman, defending bankers and fending off consumer protection.
Since he took over the consumer agency that Congress created after
the financial crisis, he has been working overtime to gut it for his
pals.” (4)
All of
this is being conducted under the radar as Disgustus' daily 'tweets'
and Scott Pruitt, head of the E.P.A., get all the headlines and
attention. “He got a sweetheart deal for a $50-a-night room
from the wife of a lobbyist whose company was seeking goodies from
the E.P.A. He has liberally spent government funds on first-class
flights and a security detail large enough for a minor potentate. He
also spent $43,000. on a soundproof phone booth for his office that
might remind some of the 'cone of silence' from 'Get Smart.” When
he was an Oklahoma state senator, the Times reported, Mr. Pruitt came
to own a stately house overlooking the State Capitol, a million
dollar lakeside manse in Tulsa and a stake in a minor-league baseball
team. He accomplished all that with the help of a couple of old
associates, one a banker and the other a lawyer...both of whom are
now on the public payroll, working with Mr. Pruitt at the E.P.A. (5)
These
are some of the most egregious examples of tRUMP and his band of
pirates plundering the public domain. One need only look to tRUMP
himself doing 'government' business with his hotels, doubling the
fees to join Mar-o-Largo, or otherwise treating his office as a “cash
cow”. Following this lead, those about him from the Kushner's to
Cohen shake down foreign governments and those who have business in
Washington for personal favors. His cabinet is likewise filled with
a grafters. From Attorney General Jeff Sessions new war on Marijuana
and crackdown on illegal immigrants—sure to fill those newly re
privatized prisons in which Sessions has personal investment, to
Betsy Devos' war on public schools, sure to help her investments in
private and charter schools, the graft and corruption now evident in
Washington exceeds anything in the history of this republic making
Grant and Harding Administrations—heretofore the benchmarks of
public graft and corruption—pale by comparison.
As
with nearly everything else, whatever Caesar Disgustus promises, he
delivers quite the opposite. He promised us the best and we got the
worst. He did, however, deliver on his promise to “drain the
swamp”. He drained it alright—right into the White House.
“'An Br'er Putin, he
jus' laugh and laugh”
Impeach
and Imprison.
______________- The Editors. “Trump's 'Best People” Are the Worst.” The New York Times. Friday, April 27, 2018. Page A26
- Ibid
- Ibid
- Ibid
- Ibid
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