What a Gal!
November 25, 2016
When Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Party’s nomination for president I was disappointed, although I knew she would get it. There was no stronger "establishment" Democrat willing to run, no one with
Bits & Pieces
The following are micro-rants, opinions, etc., written over time and posted when I get around to it.
easy name recognition, a broad boring agenda, and enough knowledge and experience to go forward against the array of squawking, back-biting Republicans.
To me, she’s always been too right of center. I had told my friends many times that Trump would win, and the best thing I could say about Hillary was that, unlike Trump, she would do no harm. I saw her prospective presidency as eight years of buying time, time for the younger generations to build a sustaining movement, to coalesce and enhance on the progressive agenda, to find and support a fresh leader.
As I expected, she lost the election, and with her loss, I gained enormous admiration for her. She did not go down easily. She worked hard, she held it together, was gracious and professional. And it took the combined effort of a screeching bully, his Propaganda Minister, Congress (Benghazi hearings), the FBI’s innuendos, Russia’s hacking, Julian Assange’s Wikileaks, and an army of fake-news writers to bring that woman down.
I'm proud of her. She terrified the hell out of them!
Stop Trying to Get Trump to Behave
December 6, 2016
Since the election people keep trying to understand Trump. They chatter about getting him to understand the seriousness of say climate change or another issue. Some people hope to have a conversation, a meeting of the minds, or find the way to provoke his interest. Some think they can present him with logical, rational arguments or responses to his policies. All of these sentiments are understandable. All are wrong.
Before we can construct and implement effective strategies to contain him and his minions, we need to understand what we are dealing with here. Most of us live in a world of logic and reason. Trump does not.
In my opinion, he is a narcissist. He does not have empathy, he does not care about hurting people, the environment or anything--except himself. He wants and needs to be liked/loved/adored. He wants unlimited power and wealth. He thinks of himself as an emperor, perhaps king of the world. As such, he would respond well to sycophants, flatters, and soothers. He may give the impression he is open to listening to others—but don’t be fooled. He will only listen if others provide insight or expand what HE ALREADY BELIEVES to be true. He will be flexible on the HOW, not the WHAT.
Our emperor-elect stands on the impenetrable foundation of his beliefs—his unsubstantiated, emotional convictions. He makes unfounded statements that have no basis in quantifiable fact and, therefore, his statements cannot be verified or contradicted. If pushed for evidence, he will have someone produce faulty statistics or photos or whatever to satisfy the people of his base—those who also believe what he does.
He says what he believes at the time, whether he decides to believe something else at another time. We know that he does not read, he does not know history, nor does he care. He says, “I’m a smart man,” repeating it often to convince others, but really to convince himself.
His belief-based reality may demonstrate a sloppy and slippery mental practice, one developed over years to defend an insecure ego. After all, it’s hard to be pinned down, embarrassed or ridiculed on the accuracy of one’s beliefs.
Beliefs are clouds having no substance until our emperor-elect graces those wispy convictions with words. He can say the sky is red, the grass blue, and because he will soon be the leader of the free world, he gives those beliefs validity—and you can bet his minions will confirm his “reality.” I expect that, like any good tyrant, he will demand we all pledge allegiance, not only to him but to his perception of reality.
We need to understand this man’s emotional needs in order to confront the draconian policies he will institutionalize.
My guess is that he does not do well in isolation. He needs his groupies like he needs a security blanket. His minions will surround and insulate him, and prevent any other “reality” from seeping in. Without them, the emperor would stand naked and exposed.
Knowing this about him makes him predictable; and, thus, opposition strategies can attack where he is most vulnerable. We know he reacts to criticism and rejection. So, we can expect he will trash the press, squash any dissent, and slash people like comedians who ridicule him. But we should also know that he will be explosive and violent.
Los Estados Unidos y La Casa Blanca
January 23, 2017
The White House website no longer hosts pages in Spanish. Trump's blunt assertion is that if you come to this country you should speak English. There are many good, sound arguments for and against an English-Only policy. I'm not going to add to this discussion other than to encourage folks who disagrees with English-Only policies to brush up their Spanish so we can pursue our agenda in plain sight, in Spanish, right under Trump's monolingual nose!
Angela's Rants
Everyone is entitled to my opinion.