September 18, 2020,
It continues to amaze me that Donald J. Trump is still our President after almost four years of lies, misogyny, hatred of ‘others’, mismanagement of the pandemic, our economy and our government, and being “Free Chicken”, as Alexander Vindman so aptly described what Trump gives to his friend, the Russian Dictator, Vladimir Putin. As you may remember, Mr. Vindman, now a private citizen, was the decorated officer/Director of European Affairs for our United States National Security Council who overheard President Trump’s telephone ‘request’ (order?) to the President of the Ukraine that he investigate Hunter Biden and his father, Joe Biden, for corruption to help him in his re-election campaign—which led to Trump’s impeachment. That’s the same Alexander Vindman who Trump fired in retribution for his telling a congressional inquiry committee the truth and is now telling more about Trump’s relationship with Mr. Putin. I guess ‘Free Chicken’ is a Ukrainian term for what ‘a sucker gives an enemy (i.e., something of value) in hopes of being paid for it someday in the future’? Wherever it came from, I love it! Thank you, Mr. Vindman, for your service to our country—and your memory, or metaphorical, skills!
‘Free Chicken’ is what President Donald J. Trump is giving to his contender, Joseph R. Biden for use in his campaign for the Presidency. All Joe Biden needs to do, in the next two months of this presidential campaign, is to remember exactly what Trump has and has not done (or said) in his term in office and Trump will defeat himself. Joe Biden didn’t ask Trump to lie constantly to the American people. Joe Biden didn’t ask Trump to put potential immigrant children into cages and separate them from their families at the border. Joe Biden didn’t tell Trump to insult our neighbors (Mexico and Canada) and allies (France, Germany, and England) to make ‘Himself’ look like a totally unmannerly idiot’! Joe Biden didn’t ask Trump to stupidly tell the American people the pandemic would just “go away in a few days”. Joe Biden didn’t tell Trump to avoid wearing a mask at his rallies because he (Trump) would look like a ‘weenie’ if he put one on—after telling the public they were not important in reducing the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Joe Biden didn’t ask Trump to ignore the advice of his health, economic, and climatology, advisors or to pretend that Climate Change doesn’t exist. Joe Biden didn’t tell Trump to stay away from the funeral service for John Lewis—just because he doesn’t like people of color, especially those who didn’t vote for him. Joe Biden didn’t tell Trump to try to emulate Vladimir Putin because he isn’t that smart or that tough. Joe Biden didn’t tell Trump to actually believe that Xi and Un were his friends—when he was trying to get them to do what he wanted them to do. Joe Biden didn’t tell Trump to call our fallen/buried-in-France soldiers of WWII “losers and suckers” just because the great ‘Himself’ is a low-class, cowardly, useless, f—–g, idiot-draft dodger. And the list goes on, and on, and on. Donald J. Trump is a four year basket-full of ‘Free Chicken’ for Joe Biden! All Joe has to do is to eat (i.e., remember) all of it. For a guy who often has his memory slip a notch or two, that’s, maybe, asking for too much?
Actually, Donald J. Trump is his own ‘worst enemy’ in the ‘can’t come soon enough’ coming election. If ‘the Donald’ runs true to form, his side of the debates will be a continuing rendition of lies, false bravado, distortions of reality, and displays of hatred he has demonstrated for the last, almost four, dreadful, years. Why our electorate, not to mention our government, has allowed him to get away with such a low-class, incredibly stupid, performance for that long is a mystery to me and an indictment of our electorate as well as our government. Clowns playing fools are fun to watch when seen in circuses. Fools acting like clowns should be ‘out of place’ in our government. Comic relief, when our people are dealing with a pandemic and economic chaos, can’t come from a President who doesn’t know how to manage or lead, much less how to think or inspire. Friends, take a minute to consider what kind of a person we needed as our President on January 1st of this year. Then, compare that ‘image’ with the reality of the person who was our President then and who is still our President now. Let’s hope and pray we have better leadership by January 21, 2021. No matter, when getting ‘the best’ seems unlikely, I’ll be glad to settle for ‘better’.
It should be no mystery that I truly believe Biden and Harris, along with a Democrat controlled Senate, will be better for America than Trump and Pence and their enabling Republican controlled Senate. Unfortunately, for America, when the two-party system determines the nomination and election process, we only get to choose between the alternatives the two parties give us. And then, there will be the Electoral College which will determine the real winner, regardless of the electoral vote. I just hope I live long enough to see how historians deal with Donald J. Trump’s ‘takeover’ of the Republican Party. I suspect that Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham will be the poster boys for the bunch of wimp-republican senators who allowed that to happen.
And, to wrap-up this week’s blog, I must admit to missing just one (so far) of the key reasons ‘why’ some people voted for Donald J. Trump in the 2016 election, as listed in my last blog. It took a good friend, who just happens to be a Canadian (male) citizen, to point out my serious omission. Since he is the only person who responded to my request to let me know if I missed any reason thus far, I get to conclude that my original list was ‘prettttty close’ to complete—although I have a hard time trying to figure out how I missed this one. Please add the following as reason #9 to my list: Some people are ‘single issue’ voters and issues like ‘abortion’ or ‘gun ownership rights’ are so important to them that they will overlook any or all character flaws in a candidate just to vote in support of that position.
Hubris asked me why I was trying to give advice to Joe Biden when the first debate was almost two weeks away. I told him that I believed that Joe needed all the help he could get in dealing with such a ‘loose cannon’ as Donald J. Trump, and that Mr. Vindman’s recent disclosures about ‘The Donald’ provided just the window of opportunity that I needed to get my message to him well before the debate on the 29th of this month. Joe has a ‘Town hall’ scheduled for tonight (Thursday, Sept.17th) and I intend to be watching it and hoping he turns up the heat on Mr. Trump. Hubris reminded me that I should be very careful about what I wish for. I replied that I had more hope than expectations regarding good ole Joe Biden. Let’s see if Joe talks about ‘Free Chicken’—tonight?
It’s now Friday and I am ashamed to admit that I missed Biden’s Town hall last night. I carelessly assumed it would broadcast at 7:00 PM on the PBS channel but that was a bad assumption. Friends tell me that Joe did a good job in his usual folksy way but started to slip a bit as the night wore on. As best I’ve heard, he didn’t mention ‘Free Chicken’. Alas, and a lack!
When all else fails, I take a big sip of Uncle Jack’s finest, put the William Tell Overture on the disc player, turn up the speaker in the barn, saddle up and it’s Hi Ho Hubris, Aawaay!. So—until next week, Adios Amigos —and stay safe!
Lou
Copyright, September 18, 2020, Louis J. Christen