America ~ When the Faintest Glimmer of Hope Became The Nightmare ~ Part II

Journal

America ~ When the Faintest Glimmer of Hope
Became The Nightmare ~ Part II

I

There are courageous people in America.

Ken, why do you keep referring to us as America? We’re the United States of America, the USA, the leader of the free world.

Even though you’re definitely older than me, and I’m seventy, there was a time when you would not have needed to ask that question or give me your country’s curriculum vitae. Remember that series The West Wing?

It ran for seven seasons straddling departure from the 20th Century and entry into this Century.

The scripts were good, sometimes condescending. But it gave me a rough idea of how the United States functions. It also gave me an idea about the importance of the office of the President.

And that view generally held me through the Bush administration and the Obama administration.

What it did not prepare me for was the crass stupidity of the American general public.

I mock when I say, oh wow, he’s gotta be SO good. He walks out of the clouds onto the stage in that big black suit, he’s like a god, and he fires those stupid apprentices every week! And you know what? That’s who we need as our komandur-in-chuf.

As I say, I mock.

So in answer to your question, let me run these by you.

They are written by the former chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Mr Miles Taylor during the 45th Presidency. My source is his hardback book Blowback A Warning to Save Democracy From the Next Trump published in July 2023 and preordered by me back in the early summer. Take a seat, listen, don’t interrupt. Or as we Brits put it when we what we say, Stay Silent!

What? You ask why I should even dare to quote a former chief of staff of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security? Mr Taylor is a highly respected international commentator known to the British People. We like to watch BBC World News. We have many Americans on there, and we like to hear their views and opinions. If you can’t cope with that, then let’s apply a little bit of Trumpism i.e. short sentences, big words, that sort of thing. You get the gist. Britain is the Old World. You are the New World. We’ve been around for thousands of years on these islands and we have an unwritten constitution that lives and breathes. You’ve been around for 247 years. You have a written constitution for which we have the greatest respect. But as a mom and dad might say to Blossom Bonce when he’s in the middle of trying independent life for himself…

Oh, Elmer! Did you really mean to do that?

II

“On June 23, Kirstjen and I went with General Kelly to the White House for a series of meetings. Kelly, Mattis, and Tillerson planned to confront Trump about the creeping state of chaos inside The West Wing, and the scene that morning appeared to prove the point. Unable to get the conversation on track as aides darted in and out of the Oval Office, Secretary Kelly raised his voice, demanding that anyone who wasn’t confirmed by the U.S. Senate needed to leave the room. Staffers shuttled out into the hallway where I was waiting, until the only people left in the Oval were the cabinet members.

The president bristled at criticisms of how The West Wing was run, Kate Kelly later recounted

“If it’s so screwed up”, Trump shot back at the general, “come fix it yourself.”

It was at least the second time Trump had suggested that John Kelly become his chief of staff at the White House. The secretary declined, in addition to turning down Trump’s request that Kelly take Comey’s place as FBI director. Kelly reassured us he was closer to resigning than accepting a role at Trump’s side, but someone needed to take command soon, or the ship would sink.”

— Source Blowback by Miles Taylor (pages 61-62)

Trump as president had an attention span problem.

“Word came down from the White House in mid-2017 to stop providing the president with lengthy documents. If there was a staple in it, the briefing paper was probably too long and needed to be cut. 15-page updates on complex issues were chopped down to one. Simple words. Bold fonts. BIG pictures. Know your audience, they say, and the “audience of one” (as we called the president) had the temperament of a child, albeit a child with a finger lingering over the nuclear button.

We were forced to dumb down life-and-death decisions. Nowhere was this more relevant than on Afghanistan and Syria, two places Trump knew nothing about. The president was dismissive of his national security team’s advice. He wanted out of foreign countries altogether, was eager to please the people who had applauded him on the campaign trail for saying so, and baulked at the idea that he needed to give the concept of a massive U.S. military withdrawal any thoughtful deliberation.”

— Source Taylor pp 63-64 ibid

Okey dokey. That’s enough for now.

Odd isn’t it? A man is indicted for the fourth time. Polls are by no means as accurate as they are made out to be although they do detect trends. This leaves me asking this question and being very thankful I am not an American.

How on earth can the GOP’s poll support rating for Trump last month at 63 per cent, suddenly shoot up to 69 per cent on the day of his court appearance?

When Trump was president-elect, he showed his inability to hold any public office when he finally deigned to call upon the White House to discuss matters of state with President Obama. Trump - also known as “The Coat I can’t do up as my little fingers are too fat to get da buttons into da little tiny holes” - entered the White House.

The footage is interesting. The Quiffe is nervous. He scowls. Looks for cameras, points and smiles at people who’ve got hats on. But his body language is that of Satan entering into the Most Holy of Holies, not a place Satan wants to be in a billion years.

Later, sitting with the President and looking like a shrivelled-up prune, he turns back and looks over his shoulder at the lens.

That was the moment I placed my coffee gently on the table.

My God!

There is nothing of substance.

Those eyes are bottomless,

vacuous,

and America has just taken its first step

to dismemberment and destruction.

One noun came out of that face.

National Implosion.

III

Well, America, you have until next year 2024 to prevent implosion. Amongst you are millions of very courageous people.

To you MAGA latter-day Nazi disciples I say this. Don’t you dare lay a finger on one of them.

6 November 2023

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© 2023 Kenneth Thomas Webb

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