THE IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY

         George Washington said no. We have kept that tradition going all these years. We planned to continue to do so. But suddenly we seem to have had new plans foisted upon us and many of us are fighting mad about it and wondering where the hell are the rest of you? Or have you already given in, finding it easier to accept the rule of one person as absolute monarch?
     Donald Trump, the Demented One we now have as our illegitimate president of the country, seems to have plans to become the absolute monarch of this country. He has declared himself above the law, touting executive privilege as an excuse to say no to all requests for documents and records. He refused to heed subpoenas. He states that he will "go to the courts" for aid in this behavior, forgetting that no, he does not control the courts - at least not yet, though it appears to be part and parcel of his plans. But never mind the truth, for this man believes himself to be a direct descendant of the naked emperor who felt he could wear invisible clothing even as he walked naked amongst his nation.
     Well, we see the nakedness of this Demented One. We see through the opaque mirrors he uses, the excuses he comes up with, the lies he is constantly spouting, and the vile language and personal attacks he makes on all who displease him, particularly political opponents. He engages in the most assinine and infantile behavior of giving nasty rhyming monikers to all those who displease him. Anyone feel as if they are back in the schoolyard at recess time?
     A bit of stock taking now. His own aides and appointees have countermanded some of his commands, with some losing positions for that, but not enough have the courage to do so or are too selfish, greedy, or dumb to do so! Mattis probably warded off war with North Korea, Iran and Syria and openly admits that he ignored or played deaf to many Trumpian requests. But he is no longer there and now we have Russia and China meeting for fleet war games, challenging us, daring us, but our Imperial President refuses to recognize the mess we are in all due to him - or perhaps this is exactly what he wants. After all, between the threats of these two nations plus all the others he has antagonized, along with the threat to shoot at the border with Mexico, and an "emergency" at the border, perhaps military rule needs to be imposed upon the country and who better to do that than the Imperial Monarch!!!
     The Imperial President, still using his title, refuses to obey Congress, has instituted suits, family suits, to stop Deutsche Bank from answering Congressional subpoenas. Such a lovely picture they made, the royal family - Himself, the two Princes - Junior and Eric - and the Princess, Ivanka. Where was Jared? Guess he is not truly a member in good standing right now. Tsk, tsk. Poor boy. Trump refuses to allow his tax returns to be viewed, a challenge to a long time tradition for all candidates and office holders at this level to do so. So what is he hiding? Wouldn't we all like to know!
     In July 1974, when the House Judiciary Committee passed three articles of impeachment against President Richard M. Nixon, one of the charges leveled against him was “contempt of Congress,” while the third article said Nixon had “failed without lawful cause or excuse to produce papers and things as directed by duly authorized subpoenas” and “willfully disobeyed such subpoenas.”
     Well, does that not sound like deja vu, going past or forward in time. Why does this man think he is immune, above the law, outside history? Because such is the thinking of an absolute monarch. Such is the thinking of one who feels that he can challenge a vote and remain in office. It is the thinking of one who has allowed the Russians into the election process, encouraged nasty thinking, extremist thinking, violent hatred and the acts that followed, defended rightwing extremists, and stumbled over his own lies. It has encouraged the behavior of supporters - and perhaps closer than that - to smear opponents, going to the extreme point of ginning up fake sex smears - and this coming from the man who picture needs to be next to the dictionary definiton of sexual pervert and harasser! So sure, go and smear Buttigieg with a false acusation and watch the truth come out, quickly in this case! But the fact that it was tried- what the hell are we allowing here? Why? Why?
     If we are to survive as a democratic nation we must work on two planes. We must push a good agenda - infrastructure, taxes, regulation replacement, healthcare, environment, peace talks, open government - and we must work to open the windows and let the light shine in on Trump and henchmenn and pressure him to resign, take a long hike or whatever he chooses - but get him gone or render him powerless or certainly less so. If we cannot do this then quite frankly, we are doomed to remain as we are and even deteriorate further. We will have allowed the Imperial Presidency to come into being. The end of us.