Crooked As A Dog's Hind Leg*

They got Al Capone on income taxes.

He murdered people. He strong armed people. He bribed. He lied. He cheated. He stole.

But they got him on not paying his taxes.

Al Capone surrounded himself with criminals.

He was a crook, through and through. A very successful crook for many years.

But he wasn't, as far as I can tell, a traitor.

Donald J. Trump has also surrounded himself with crooks.

Unfortunately for Donald J., his crooks aren't nearly as competent as Capone's.

And apparently some of them aren't willing to take the fall for Donald's various crimes.

This must come as a shock to Trump, who has spent his entire adult life committing crimes of one kind or another.

And getting away with it. Either through bribery or intimidation or just shear dumb luck.

That's over.

He will be impeached. He may or may not be convicted by the Senate. Depends on whether or not a few Republicans grow a conscience and a spine.

Regarding the election of 2020, who knows? With the entire GOP determined to look away from Russian interference, we can only keep our fingers crossed about the outcome.

But that doesn't matter, really. The Trump brand, which is one of the only things Donald J. cares about, is over. There will only be a pile of ashes for his awful progeny to inherit--if they all aren't in jail, that is.

*"Crooked as a dog's hind leg" is how my late father-in-law described a certain East Valley politician with whom he was acquainted. It seems appropriate when discussing Donald J. Trump to use it.

Freak Show

Remember when the Emperor Numbnuts told us that he only knew the "best people"?

Seems like a century ago...but it's really only been a couple of years, more than enough time to render judgment.

Well, if these are "the best", I'd hate to see the worst.

Starting in no particular order, let's take a quick look at "the best".

There's Kellyanne Conway, that walking scarecrow, who lies as easily as most people breath. Numbnuts should study her closely, despite the fact that she's definitely not a 10, because she's much better at lying than he is.

What about Billy Barr, whose Daddy gave Jeffrey Epstein a job at the elite Dalton school in NYC, showing a very perceptive understanding of human character, which he has passed down to his boy Billy. Barr has shown himself to be what we expected him to be, a Republican hack, who disregards the Constitution whenever it suits him.

Then there's Wilbur Ross, who came to the administration from one of the most corrupt banks on the planet, and apparently sleeps through most, if not all, of his department's meetings.

Rick Perry and Ben Carson are sharing one second rate brain, and poorly at that. 

Mike Pompeo has ground the State Department down to a fine dust, which I'm sure makes his "real" boss, Mr. Putin, very happy indeed.

Brett Kavanaugh shouldn't be allowed near any court, let alone our Supreme one. He's a liar, a sexual predator, and probably an alcoholic as well. But he went to Yale (pinch me!) so, it's all good.

Mike Pence is one of those holier-than-thou Christian pieces of shit which our country is uniquely infected with.

Betsy DeVos is a billionaire cretin, who is doing her best to destroy our public education system. Because "they" go to public schools and we certainly don't want to help "them" in any way. 

Let's skip over all of the "best people" who are now serving time and get to Numbnuts' family:

The boys, Junior and Eric, are exactly what you'd expect Donald J. Trump's sons to be. That's not a compliment. Spoiled, stupid, corrupt, entitled....I could go on, but what's the use? A lot of that comes from their "superior" genes. And the rest from the way they were raised.

Then there's Princess, who is just as spoiled, entitled and corrupt as her brothers, but maybe not quite as stupid. Maybe. What Princess brings to table, in addition to her slumlord husband, is a Daddy who desperately wants to, uh, "couple" with her.  Which sounds like something out of a lesser Greek tragedy. Of course, in Greek tragedy they usually all end up dead at the end. Something to hope for, I guess.

We will skip the other two Trump spawn. Because, honestly, why should we give them more attention than he does?

That leaves Melania, wife number 3. At this point,  I would not be surprised to find out that she was a Russian plant. A sparrow sent to entrap an idiot. Be Best!

My God! I almost overlooked Roger Stone! The man with a tattoo of Nixon on his back. A little too high to be a proper tramp stamp, but still...it's the spirit of the thing. Ponder that for a second. A grown man with a tattoo of Richard M. Nixon, noted crook and up until now our most disgraced President, on his back. That should go over well in prison.

It's The Hypocrisy, Stupid (part whatever)

Remember when "The Deficit" was a big deal? Those awful Democrats, led by that awful Obama, were ruining our children's futures by saddling them with "The Deficit"! Yikes!

Now that President Numbnuts and his Congressional enablers have inflated "The Deficit" to a record amount, with no end in sight, and hints of more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, "The Deficit" is suddenly no big deal.

And it will remain no big deal until there is a Democrat in the White House, and then, as if by magic, the Republicans will start screaming their empty heads off about "The Deficit".

Or what about that tan suit that Obama wore one time. What a catastrophe that was! A blight on all things Americans hold dear! Almost treasonous!

Now we have a Halfwit in Chief who wears an ill fitting blue suit that more often than not looks like he slept in it, accessorized with a clownishly long red tie.

But that's ok. Because he's white, and full of hate. You know, a "real" American. The kind that Fundamentalist Christian Americans can wholeheartedly support.

Remember when the Republicans were the party of "law and order"? And not a collection of crooks? But that was a long time ago. Nowadays, from the First Family on down, they'd steal the pennies off a dead man's eyes.

We used to have allies that we relied on, and who relied on us. Now the only countries that can rely on us are Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Syria.

Donald J. Trump is incapable of obeying the laws of this nation. He has lived a life of illegality since he was very young. He was raised by a criminal. He has modeled himself after criminals. He acts like a criminal.

He is a criminal.

Only a criminal would spend so much time and effort hiding things. Honest people do not behave this way.

And still, after all of this, a large majority of Republicans still think Trump is a "good role model" for children.

This makes perfect sense if you're a Republican.

Not so much if you're a human being.

Just How Stupid Are They?

This is the question we must ask of Trump supporters.

Based on my observations, I'd say that they are very, very, very stupid.

For instance, the Arizona Republic publishes letters on an almost daily basis that praise Traitor Don for something or other. On closer examination, these letters are usually just regurgitated Fox News talking points.

And anyone who quotes Fox News with a straight face is a fucking idiot.

Not everyone who writes a pro-Trump letter to the editor is a Fox spouting moron.

Some go way beyond that. There was a letter just the other day from some old guy in Sun City, which is a reliably ignorant retirement community west of Phoenix. Consistently Red as a baboon's ass.

This gentleman, who is obviously in desperate need of help, claimed that Trump performed "miracles" every day.

You know, like Jesus. Uh huh.

Of course, stupid people do not like to be told that they are stupid.

I suppose because it makes them feel even stupider.

But the facts remain.

However, since facts mean nothing to MAGAts, who are bigly proud of being "low information" voters, there is no point at all in trying to reason with these people.

Indeed, attempting to engage them in any kind of meaningful conversation is a complete waste of your time.

Signor Baseball's World Series Preview

That anguished moan you are hearing is coming from baseball fans in Los Angeles and New York.

And also from television executives everywhere.

They were this close to having the two largest media markets battling it out in the World Series. Imagine the ad dollars!

But, after running away with their division, and looking like a lock to win the pennant, the Dodgers' manager seemingly forgot about Clayton Kershaw's history of failing in the playoffs. Maybe a wizened old bench coach is needed to keep Dave Roberts from some of his, oh, let's call them unusual, pitching decision. "Uh, Dave? NO."

And the Yankees? Well, their starting pitching was suspect all year long...and Aroldis Chapman is definitely not Mariano Rivera. Why they added another bat, Encarnacion, when they needed another arm is a mystery. Then their much vaunted bullpen got the shakes. Plus, Houston has a really good team, with vastly superior starting pitching, so...

The better team won in this case.

Nationals versus Astros it is.

And what will that mean? Houston has much better starters than any team in the AL. But Washington's top 3, Scherzer, Strasburg, and Corbin, match up very well against Cole, Verlander and Greinke. Throw in Sanchez and you might even give an edge to the Nationals. The bullpens look pretty equal, though after what the Astros' pen did to New York, it would be hard to bet against them.

Starting lineups would seem to favor Houston--but starting lineups also clearly favored Los Angeles, and they're at home now, trying to figure out what happened. Very strange things can happen in a short series.

All in all, it looks like it could be a great World Series, decided by which team makes the exceptional play and which team doesn't, assuming they both make all of the routine ones.

The safe bet is Houston in 6 games.

One Last Gift For His Boss

As Donald J. Trump heads for the exit, quickly one hopes, he gives his Russian master one last gift:

Several hundred thousand dead Kurds.

Add that to the weakening of our alliances with our oldest European allies.

And the chaos he's sewn with NATO.

And the open invitation for even more interference with our elections.

And the weakening of sanctions on Russian oligarchs.

And the undermining of American values by the loving embrace of neo-Nazis and various other hate groups, including white supremacists, and fundamentalist Christians.

Whatever the cost to America's prestige, Donald aims to please his boss, Vladimir.

Because Vladimir helped elect him and Donald is nothing if not grateful...and scared shitless about what Vladimir could do to him if he disappoints.

Is There Anything Donald J. Trump Won't Lie About?

No.

No there isn't.

Everything and anything. Small things. Big things. Unimportant things and very important things.

Sometimes, in fact, in the middle of a lie, he will stop and lie about something completely unrelated to the lie he was telling. You know, just for practice.

Given that, the stunning thing is that he isn't better at it.

I mean, sweet Baby Jesus, he's had a lifetime to perfect his lying--and he's still bad at it.

At this point, only a moron would fall for his lies.

In fact, the only people who still believe him are the MAGAts themselves.

And the truth is that they are a minority. That's right, loud, stupid, angry, gun crazy, racist, phony "Christians" are a minority in this country. They take up way more space in the national psyche and dialogue than they warrant.

And the only way that a political party that caters to them can win a national election is by cheating.