The Beast out of the fever swamps, Part One.

And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. ~Revelation 13:3-8

On Monday afternoon, Trump had a very strange meltdown during the daily COVID-19 press conference, and it has continued over the last couple of days.

If Trump is the Antichrist he's either not a very good one, or the entire concept is somehow even more pathetic than all those Christian end times novels I read made it out to be.

Trump started off by attacking reporters, and showed a video, apparently produced "in the office" on government time and thus the taxpayer's dime, that was basically some kind of a cheap campaign ad.

He spent most of the rest of the time, continuously attacking reporters and making excuses for the shit job he's doing in handling the virus. If you ask him, everything is somebody else's fault. China, the World Health Organization, etc. etc. but he's the one who decided to go golfing and keep having rallies instead of doing his damn job and taking care of the virus preparations.

We can't really blame others and make excuses and expect it will accomplish anything.

It's now clear that we had warning of this mess as early as the end of last December, and our own intelligence agencies have been clear that the Chinese government was not honest about the scope of the outbreak nor the numbers of those infected. Does that make it China's fault? Yes and no. They should have been honest, of course, but everybody else's actions are on everybody else, not China. Far too many people in far too many places were busy trying to preserve their high stock exchange numbers, rather than to protect the public.

And Trump's response is a perfect example of what I was taught about how sinful unregenerate Man loves to point out the faults of others to try and cover up his own wrongs.

He's just mad because the cable news networks are finally calling him out on this stupid bullshit.

Just seems to me like if you don't want to be called out for lying and propagandizing, maybe the proper thing to do is "Don't do it?"

Trump and his supporters epitomize the people who get lied to over and over again...and who knowingly lie based on not only those lies but ones that they make up on their own, who are surprised when the result isn't what they thought, and then they get mad at the people who point out that there's all this lying going on? Listen, if you like to be lied to because what the liars say tickles your ears and makes you feel good about yourself, that's your problem, but I'd suggest that what it gets you in the afterlife probably isn't what you think you're going to get.

You might want to give that some thought, before this mess goes too much further. People who lie to you absolutely do not give a shit about you. They want what they want, and if you go to hell over it, well that's not their problem, especially if they get what they want out of you first.

See also, the Democratic primary and statewide election in Wisconsin last week...that Republicans lost, because people took a look at the odds and showed up anyway.

That situation is going to be the thing that I point out, forever, to anybody who thinks Republicans care about your life, at all, ever, for any reason. The truth is they don't...or they would have been fine with moving the election date forward to June or whenever necessary like Democrats and medical professionals were advising in the hope that the pandemic situation had improved by then.

But of course, if you're a Republican, expertise regarding pretty much anything is the devil, because so long as Republicans don't know anything, they can believe whatever shitty things they want to.
This philosophy seems to have its limitations, as we're seeing these days.

Wisconsin, however, proves Jim Wright's maxim that "If you want a better country, you have to be better citizens."

And while I'm at it, yesterday Barack Obama endorsed Joe Biden.

Good.

I watched Obama's speech, and I thought he was pretty spot-on about a lot of things, noting that he even had a lot of nice things to say about Bernie Sanders and even Bernie's supporters. That's good, because we need a unity ticket with as many people behind it as possible to vote Trump out. If you cannot see the necessity of that after the endless meltdowns of the last few days, and after the endless soup sandwich of Trump's virus response, then you haven't been paying attention. These people don't care about you, they care about their money and power. Just a thought, but in real terms, what could possibly be more Antichrist than not caring if your own people live or die?

And think about this, when this whole mess started, all the internet Trumpers seemed to want was to bask in the spotlight and be happy about having gotten a meme elected and "owning the Libs" whatever that means. All Trump himself seems to really want is to bask in the adoration of his rally crowds.

No, the vast majority of the shitty evil that's going on? That's not Trump, per se. He's just the fall guy, the patsy for when it all goes sideways. The Mammon-worshiping Antichrist bullshit? That needs to be pinned squarely on the Republicans who all lined up behind this crap just to get whatever they could get...

...Even if it is at the cost of your life, or mine.

The difference between us and whatever people are in the End Times narrative of Revelation is we can stop this mess.

The only way to get rid of the Republicans is to vote for the other major party, and that means voting for Joe Biden.

Even Bernie seems to be getting it, because he endorsed Biden a little bit later, even publicly rebuking some of his more extreme supporters in doing so.

There won't ever be a Progressive agenda, or much of an agenda besides giving more to those who already have too much and picking on whatever "out group" is available, if we don't first get Republicans out of power. Even then we'll probably have to get the judiciary straightened out, because that's not meant to be a partisan right-wing shadow-government when Republicans get kicked out of power, either.

This mess we're in is serious business, and to get out of it, we're all going to have to come together. We're all going to have to stand up. If you want a better country, you have to be a better citizen.

Now is the time.

Part Two.