The Orange Also Rises (Make Trump Lose Again.)

And so tomorrow, as we take the campaign south and west as we learn that the struggles of the textile workers in Spartanburg are not so different than the plight of the dishwasher in Las Vegas, that the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of L.A. we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people, we are one nation. And, together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story, with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea, Yes, we can. ~Barack Obama

...

Blood that has soaked into the sands of a beach is all of one color. America stands unique in the world: the only country not founded on race but on a way, an ideal. Not in spite of but because of our polyglot background, we have had all the strength in the world. That is the American way. ~Ronald Reagan

So, today, this happened...

(And it's funny how so much seems to be happening at the same time as Elon Musk is disrupting both the economy and social media, but I digress.)

Two Russian cruise missiles, fired from occupied Ukrainian territory, struck a farm in eastern Poland today and killed two people. It's possible the missiles may have overshot their target, but it's also very possible this may have been a deliberate act. It doesn't much matter, there's going to have to be a response. The Poles have already convened their national security council and talked to NATO leadership. From what I hear, there's a meeting tomorrow to decide what to do about it, with the possibility that Article Five may be invoked if the strike is determined to have been intentional. 

(Given the state of the Russian Armed Forces, it could very well have been an equipment failure of some kind, or generalized incompetence, but I'm saying when it comes to cruise missiles that might not matter very much.)

The Polish Army has some units on alert, the Polish Air Force has sortied Combat Air Patrols. There's a lot of NATO and US assets forward-deployed in Poland right now, too. 

Not to sound that way, but I'm a veteran, I *Know* this could get very ugly, very fast.

That was this afternoon.

So what's everyone talking about...

Oh.

Right.

Of course...

Fucking seriously??

Trump announced...in a surprisingly low-energy fashion (Sad!) that he's running for President in 2024.

As if we haven't all been seeing "Trump 2024" flags, hats and signs for a year and a half already? And he did it in a hall that looked like the place an all-male revue or a bad drag show might perform, where everything is sticky and the air reeks of cheap Cheyenne cigars that are $2.12 a pack.

I mean...really?

Maybe he should add that exclamation point like Jeb Bush did. (Trump!)

It'd be less tiresome than recycling "MAGA" again.

So, seriously, let's get real.

FOX News fell down Trump's sweaty orange butt-crack too damned fast for it to have been spontaneous. They knew what was going to go down.

Oh, wait,  Everybody did.

If there is, or ever was, a "Former Guy" it's probably Ron DeSantis. He was former before it was cool.

To state anything else is pure unadulterated fabulism.

It's just as well, the patently false "Free State Of Florida" rhetoric and Ron's "Campaign" such as it was were already getting old. A series of GOP polls had shown DeSantis ahead of Trump. Yeah, how'd the polling for last week turn out? 

We shouldn't trust any major pollster and about 3/4 of the media ever again.

Republicans got their clocks cleaned. 

If they even win the House (and that's still an "If" at this point) it will be barely. Even if they don't the "Freedom" Caucus is already threatening to make the Republican side of the aisle an uncontrollable shit-show. Whoever ends up Republican leader won't last very long.

As for DeSantis? If I had to guess, I'd say that four-flushing imbecile has probably been playing for second this whole time. 

Dude, it won't happen. MTG has bigger tits than you do, and fewer morals. If she doesn't end up Republican Leader (and possibly Speaker Of The House...Ew) and likely even if she does, Trump is going to want her for V.P. not you.

How far Mike Pence has fallen should be a lesson in the failure of both American Evangelicalism and traditional conservatism. By any measure, MAGA's openly don't give a fuck about any of that stuff.

On the other hand, though, the anti-Trump attack ads and more importantly, the Ten Thousand Media Nut-Slaps started before the announcement was even over.

Playing for second might be a prudent strategy for DeSantis after all. 

It seems like Trump isn't going to get the same media boost this time and his cult is smaller now, too. More to the point, the critical reception by the media and most non-Republicans might end this thing before it gets out of control this time if everybody keeps on it.

But for the moment, keep in mind that we have a potential global crisis, up to and including global war, that could flare up tomorrow. 

And everybody's talking about...Trump?

(Even if it's in a negative way, he's a narcissist, that doesn't really matter.)

<-----Case In Point. 

Do you really think any of the MAGA's...you know, that 50% of the Republican Party that he locked down instantly just by showing up...read the National Review?

Do you think the boys at NRO will keep their spines for more than 10 minutes??

(All the major 2016-2020 NRO Never-Trumpers have their own companies now, for a reason, yo.)

The Department of Justice, Media mockery or Official Conservatism won't do it. They can't, not really.

Any of those things take down Trump, as long as he's still capable of speaking he'll call for a civil war and set his mob against whoever removed him from his beloved spotlight, even for a moment. And that, an internal conflict here, would be something the Russians would take advantage of.

We voted a lot of the fuckers out last week. We're going to have to do that again, and again, and again. And I'll note few if any Republicans have made any effort to or noise about contesting that issue.

We are the first, and the last line of defense. We have the numbers, they don't. They know it now. 

They want what they want? Their best option is probably secession and how'd that work out the last time?

We're the only line that's always held whenever we come together as a people.

And that's what these sons of bitches will be trying to stop.

If you want a better country, you have to be a better citizen. 

And this ain't it.

There's a real chance that if things continue as they are, there will be blood. 

Indeed, there already has been much blood shed.

But if enough of us do the right thing, maybe we can stop things from getting worse.

The buck has to stop with us, it sure as hell won't ever stop with Trump.

You get what you tolerate, America.

Think about that for a second, will ya?

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Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.  We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream.  The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it, and then hand it to them with the well fought lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same.  And if you and I don't do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free. ~Ronald Reagan