Not watching the impeachment trial ...

I haven’t watched a minute of the live coverage. 

I know there was more on Saturday.  Didn’t watch that.  I know there’s more this week. 

Guess what.  I’m not watching that either. 

I might watch the actual final vote in the Senate.  Perhaps not. 

Apparently, I’m not alone.  I saw a piece comparing network ratings during the Democrats’ presentation over three agonizing days.  The first day drew less than half the normal daytime ratings for the usual soaps it preempted. Ratings plummeted more on the second and third days.

About 3 million viewers tuned in to the presentations on average across all three broadcast networks – CBS, ABC and NBC.  Understand that some of the individual soaps typically get almost 2 million viewers daily each. So despite all the drama promised by the Democrats, most folks still would have preferred to watch Days of our Lives or Bold and the Beautiful.

Part of this is likely because people have made up their minds already.

People who hate Trump would still hate him no matter what.  He could personally rescue dozens of disabled transgender black and Hispanic veterans from a burning building while toting a basket each of puppies and kittens to safety and they’d still hate him. 

They were probably the only people glued to their screens for the three days so they didn’t miss a moment of the presentations. Granted, they didn’t hear anything new – because there wasn’t anything revealed that hadn’t been beat to death for months already. But it made them feel good that finally – finally! – the American public would learn how awful Trump is, 

Except practically nobody else was watching but them. 

Part of the reason nobody was watching is also because everybody knows how this ends.  

(Spoiler Alert: Trump doesn’t get convicted in the Senate and removed from office.)  

It’s the same reason most people don’t record football games to watch later. Once you know how the game ends, the suspense is long gone.  Unless there’s a surprise ending, a shocking ending no one could have expected, there's little point to rehashing a game. 

The probability of Democrats getting the necessary 67 votes in the Senate to convict Trump is, well, for all intents and purposes, zero.  The odds of the Senate then voting to remove Trump from office are even lower, if that’s possible. In short, there’s no way Trump is forced from office. The only way he leaves the Oval Office against his will is by losing the 2020 election.   

The Democrats know this. Their pals in the media know this. That’s the whole reason for all the impeachment nonsense.  What’s going on now is a show trial designed to dirty up Trump and all Republicans as a desperate ploy to regain power by the Democrats.   

Sorry, but I won’t take part. 

I don’t care what Schiff, Schumer, Nadler or Pelosi have to say, because I know what they’re really trying to do, and it’s not saving democracy or protecting the Constitution.  I also don’t care what establishment weasels like Romney and Lamar Alexander have to say, either.  I’ve heard it all before.  I don’t trust any of these people, and never have; why would I start now? 

Oh, and what about John Bolton?  I never trusted that jackass warmonger.  Almost every time he’s been in an administration he’s argued for wars and usually got his way, costing us trillions of dollars and thousands of lives for essentially nothing. He’s still pissed he couldn’t convince Trump to go to war with Iran, or to send even more troops to Iraq and Afghanistan to keep expanding those wars. That’s why he resigned/got fired from the Trump administration.

And now he has a book about to be released that claims Trump told him he was withholding aid to Ukraine until he got results of their investigations into the Bidens.  How convenient.  Just in time for Trump’s impeachment trial.   

Trump says he never said that to Bolton.  Even if he did it actually doesn’t matter – Trump has the legal authority as President to withhold aid to any country for whatever reason he wants.  The withholding of aid was never discussed with Ukrainian officials anyway, even in Bolton’s meeting with them after the infamous phone call.  Or any other meeting with Ukrainians after the call.

This whole impeachment event is a badly written, poorly acted, amateurish attempt to sell a story that has no hooks or dramatic twists to keep its intended audience engaged.  It’s an overlong show about a subject few care about, featuring a cast of washed up players and wannabe thespians who repeat the same lines over and over.  And then wonder why no one is applauding. 

They don’t seem to realize almost nobody is watching. 

There's no point. Everybody knows how the story ends.  

But wait, there's more ...

The Democrats never tire of this. 

They like whipping out “new evidence” at the last minute.

It’s their Perry Mason moment.  Or what they wish was a Perry Mason moment. 

I think of it always as a Ron Popeil tactic. The only thing missing is “Operators are standing by.” 

Just when you think you’ve heard the last from them, voila – there’s always a surprise.  A new witness.  A letter they’ve had for months.  A new set of documents, e-mails, or something else. It’s always designed to change everybody’s opinion. 

It never does. Mainly because their “aha” new stuff is almost always irrelevant, meaningless, and often outright lies. Plus, by now most people with the good sense of a sweet potato know what the Democrats are doing, probably because Democrats do it over and over again. 

Almost always with the same results: the media initially go crazy that “this changes everything.” There’s nonstop talk of “the smoking gun.” 

And of course, the “just when you thought it was over” nonsense. 

Then it turns out the “new” evidence either isn’t new, doesn’t actually bring anything useful to the table, or is completely bogus and unverifiable. In most cases the “new” materials come from sketchy sources with an axe to grind, greedy hustlers, those willing to lie for partisan reasons, total nutjobs, or those hoping to avoid or lessen prosecution of themselves.   

Remember Michael Cohen.  Christine Blasey Ford.  Julie Swetnick.   Deborah Ramirez.  The Ukraine-call alleged whistleblower. The alleged second whistleblower who never appeared.  

And now, Lev Parnas. 

Is anyone surprised Democrats pulled these weasels, these “witnesses,” out of thin air at the last minute? Democrats do it every time they’re losing in the court of public opinion.  It’s their grandstanding go-to tactic of choice. 

It’s also a major reason why I have grown to despise them as a political party as well as their shills in the media.  They’ve all embraced lying, misrepresenting and falsifying information to such a level I don’t know how anyone can ever take them seriously again.  I certainly can’t.

They did it throughout the Mueller investigation.  They did it in the Kavanaugh hearings. They did it in the most recent House impeachment investigations. Now they are doing it again, after discovering – much to their surprise – more than half of Americans clearly don’t give a rat’s patoot about impeaching and removing Trump from office.

Not when there’s an election a few months away, anyway. 

I just imagine Democrat leaders all huddled in some conference room somewhere trying to dream up something else to keep their narrative going. 

Someone says: “Hey, I know a guy.  I think he's a Ukrainian.  Maybe a Russian? Yeah, the Feds indicted him for fraud, money laundering for the Russians, lying and a bunch of other stuff, but I think I can get him. He knows Giuliani.  And he’s got a picture of himself with Trump.  Sure, it’s the usual grip and grin politicians take all the time with people they don’t know – but it’s still Trump and him together.  I bet he’d be thrilled to do interviews with our media friends – he’s got an ego as big as all outdoors.”

And whoomp.  There’s Lev Parnas.  On Maddow.  With Anderson Cooper.  Everywhere. Bullshitting his way to fame.  Getting the media all hot and bothered. “New evidence!” “Plots!” “Collusion with Russians!” “Giuliani, Pence, and Pompeo involved!” “Trump knew!” And now: “Voinovich surveilled and stalked!”

However, it’s all bullshit.  Parnas’ interviews had so many outrageous and unsupported claims – many of which he himself contradicted and refuted during the same interview – it’s clear he’s a con man.  And not a very good one at that. He can’t keep his own stories straight.

But he’s just another in a long line of last-minute liars Democrats love so much. 

Just like the others, Democrats will dump him when he’s no longer useful. Or when they find some other hack to lie for them. Which they will – count on it. 

Then they’ll push him or her forward promising “bombshell” revelations. 

Those revelations, as usual, will ultimately fall apart.  Because like Ronco’s Hair in a Can, these are only somewhat effective in the short-term, as long as no one looks too closely. 

The media won’t.  But eventually somebody will.  The lies will be exposed.  Always are.

Then the Democrats will simply move on to their next “bombshell” witness, as if the previous failed bombshells never even happened.  

It’s as predictable as a Ron Popeil TV ad closing with: “But wait, there’s more …”   

Because with the Democrats, there’s always more.

How to leave Iraq and Afghanistan ...

Just take our ball and go home. That’s the answer. 

There’s nothing for us there. Nothing worth fighting for. And certainly nothing worth dying for.  It’s just a bottomless hole to pour money and American lives down. 

The cold hard reality of 2020 is that we don’t need anything from anyone there.  We don’t even need their oil anymore. We have plenty of our own, thank you. 

So I say, let’s just leave.  Pack up our stuff and go. 

They claim they don't want us there, anyway.  Okay.  

Fly our combat aircraft to other bases in Europe, then run a bunch of military cargo planes and container ships out there and load up everything we can and bring it all home. Everything: tanks, Humvees, jeeps, artillery, heavy weapons, missiles, antiaircraft systems, small arms, all the ammunition, and whatever else we’ve given them.   

Don’t leave anything behind.  Seriously, leave nothing useful.  

What we can’t ship back, we should destroy.  Not just pull distributor caps, let the air out of tires, or paint a giant pink X on it.  I’m talking molten heaps of stuff.  No way to recover. 

Of course, that’s wasteful.  But it was a waste to ship in all that stuff in the first place. If we leave anything useful behind for our “allies” the bad guys will soon have everything we left.  Corrupt weasels in Iraq or Afghanistan will just give it or sell it to the same people we’ve been fighting against on their behalf for all these years.  They’ve done it repeatedly before.        

What about our loyal allies there?  Are we just going to turn our back on all of them now?

Yessiree-bob.  The same way they turn their backs on us all the time. 

Everybody needs to come to grips with the fact that we don’t have any loyal allies there.  Nobody in that region is the loyal ally of anyone, much less us.  Every “alliance” is temporary and merely one of convenience. They all hate each other, and us.  They hated each other before we got there, and, trust me, they’ll continue to hate each other long after we’re gone.

We’ve deluded ourselves for years that by supporting some despot or warlord with money and weapons they become our ally.  Our friend.  They’d support us when it mattered. 

That’s completely delusional. None of them would lift a finger to help us. Most of them think we’re hopelessly naïve, that we’ll never understand that region, and they are right. They’re happy to take our money and weapons and wait for us to leave. Then they can go back to killing each other – which is really their favorite pastime.   

We have no business there.  We’re just interfering with the natural order. We're holding up play.  

Think-tank wonks hate to admit it but the Middle East is nothing but a toxic mix of warring tribes and ethnic and religious hostilities.  Persians, Arabs, Kurds, Pashtun, and God knows what other ethnic groups are there and usually at each other’s throats. 

Some religious groups – like the Sunni and Shia – have hated and killed each other for over a thousand years.  Some Sunni hate other Sunni who aren’t fundamentalist enough for their tastes.

It’s a mistake to think they all want lasting peace.  They don’t. 

Their leaders love never ending wars; wars distract their people from realizing how corrupt their governments are. Wars keep them in power, keep foreign aid money flowing, and hide a lot of economic shortcomings.  Wars are also much needed jobs programs. Because, frankly, there’s not a lot else worthwhile to do for a living in most of these places. 

The warmongers in our Congress and their lobbyist pals know this. They know supporting foreign wars is a complete waste of our money and military lives.  But that’s how they keep power and make money – spending taxpayer money to stay in office and enrich themselves.     

DOD spending drives the economies of many regions stateside and keeps high-paying manufacturing and research jobs in key states and Congressional districts. Lobbyists for these defense contractors and foreign governments are a rich source of campaign contributions for Congress, and lucrative post-government positions with lobbying firms or defense contractors. 

Foreign wars consume what our defense industry makes. More wars mean we need to make more to keep up with demand. More wars, more local jobs, more profits, more campaign money, more votes. 

That’s the real reason hawks in Congress support meaningless foreign wars.  Forget the BS about protecting allies abroad from bad guys.  Forget the line that “if we don’t fight them there, we’ll have to fight them here.” Forget “domino theory” analogies.  Forget all the crap about our obligation to uphold human rights and foster democracy around the world. 

If we walk away from the Middle East, it won’t change anything.  If we stay there it won’t change anything either, except cost us more money and American lives. 

It’s long past time to cut our losses.  What’s the worst that could happen? 

We’d lose face. Our “allies” would be concerned that they could no longer trust us to protect them.  Good. Maybe they’d get off their ass and protect themselves. 

Russia would move into the fill the void.  Good luck there, Ivan.  Remember Afghanistan? It’s just a matter of time before the locals turn on you, too. Religious extremists on all sides will take time out from killing each other to kill your people.  Just for sport.   

Iran will take over Iraq.  Well, they’ll have to fight the Kurds, the Sunni militias, Shia militias that turn on them, and who knows else to pull that off. It will be Iran’s Vietnam and Afghanistan rolled into one. That is, if the mullahs aren’t overthrown by the Iranians first. 

Meanwhile, US public opinion will largely welcome and support the withdrawal. Much to the chagrin of talking heads and pundits on cable news and elsewhere.   

Oh, I am forgetting some other consequences.  Our media and Democrats will go berserk; the same media and Democrats usually in favor of cutting our defense budget and getting out of meaningless wars.  Lobbyists will flood the hallways of Congress.  In a rare display of bipartisanship, the House and Senate will pass a resolution condemning our withdrawal.  

Our State Department will warn of dire consequences to our international reputation. Former State Department officials, and past military officials like Mattis, will testify before Congress that we’re putting the security of the world at risk.  And creating an existential threat to our nation.   

Lindsey Graham will go on TV to dramatically announce he’s sending a “very strong letter” to the President opposing withdrawal from the Middle East.

One last repercussion: the Europeans will follow us out of the Middle East – our withdrawal will give them the cover they’ve been waiting for to get out, too. 

Let’s do it.   

The existential threat to America ...

Most of the time I write about politics.  Today is different. 

There’s a lot of talk these days about “existential threats.”

Trump, climate change, radical Islam, income inequality, Iran, and all matter of things are touted as existential threats to America. Politicians and talking heads rail about how close we are to losing everything we hold dear solely because of one or more of these.

Their breathless hyperbole overshadows what I see as the real existential threats to us as a country, as a nation, and as a society. I worry about these much more than any of the above, mainly because they threaten the very foundation of America’s uniqueness in the world. 

I think of America less as a physical entity than an incredible idea; a concept so revolutionary in world history that it’s hard to imagine how it was ever created, much less how well it’s endured and evolved over the years. It’s accomplished an amazing amount of good in the world.  Not many other nations can make the same claim or even come close.   

At its core, America was founded on faith. Not a religious faith, mind you – although it largely reflects the best of Judeo-Christian values – but faith in the American people to govern themselves responsibly and to competently manage their own lives without unnecessary government interference. The founders had faith that the American people and the leaders they chose would be basically good, honest, fair, hardworking, and interested in maintaining a nation that reflected and respected those same basic virtues. 

Which, for much or America’s history, proved to be true.  The faith in the general goodness of the American people and their government was validated, time and again.  Through world wars.  Through social upheavals. Through natural disasters here and abroad.

That faith is now under attack every day.  That’s an existential threat. 

I still have faith in the basic goodness of the American people and their belief in the concept of America.  But I fear many in our political institutions, and the media, don’t share that faith. If anything, I now believe that many of those simply do not trust the American people or the concept of America anymore.  And the more this becomes apparent, the more many Americans start to doubt whether anything or anyone should be trusted anymore.  

The information we get bombarded with every day is a veritable Tower of Babel – thousands of voices expressing a thousand different interpretations about the same subject or event.  Some are put forth out of ignorance; some are obvious lies; some are carefully crafted messages to hide the truth; others are designed solely to push a narrative. 

The most dangerous to our society are the ones that intentionally seek to sow distrust – and often hatred – among Americans based on race, ethnicity, age, religion, economic status, gender, sexual orientation, education, or political party.  And there are far too many of those divisive messages every day to be accidental. 

Lost in all this is that America isn’t really that divided – certainly not nearly as much as the media and the left would have us believe.  The vast majority of Americans aren’t racists. They don’t care what anyone’s religion may be, or their age.  Far from hating the rich, most aspire to be rich or at least well off.  Most don’t care about a person’s gender or sexual orientation – you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t have a good friend or family member who isn’t gay. Most if not all want their kids to grow up with a good education and get a decent job.

And most Americans love this country. 

This is despite the constant barrage about how awful America was and is.        

For reasons I’ve never been able to understand, there’s been a concerted effort for the past 50+ years by the media and the left to cast America as a purely evil entity. It’s been perpetrated in the textbooks used to educate our young. In popular culture.  By professors at our public and private universities. It’s been going on for decades. 

Over the decades the emphasis has shifted from what America has done right and at times wrong, to focusing almost exclusively on what America has done wrong. 

It’s now gospel among many in academia that America’s history is largely one of oppressing and victimizing the poor, people of color, and non-Christians around the world.  It’s been a participant in genocide, a promoter of slavery, and a destroyer of native cultures. It’s invaded other countries to seize their resources and otherthrow the democratically elected leaders of those countries. It’s fought wars and slaughtered hundreds of thousands in its quest for world domination.

According to them, America is and always has been run by rich white men for their own benefit. They only got rich on the backs of the poor, women, immigrants, and minorities, and by plundering America’s natural resources.  And by destroying anyone, and anything – including the environment – in the process to get what they wanted.      

In short, America should not be proud of its history, but ashamed.

This is what they’re teaching.  That’s an existential threat. It’s like Orwell’s 1984 where history is constantly rewritten and edited so “truth” becomes malleable. That scares me. 

Not because America hasn’t made mistakes – it certainly has, and these should not be ignored. But the sum total of the effect America has had on its people and the world at large is overwhelmingly positive. Ignoring the good America has accomplished is as wrong as focusing entirely on its mistakes.

The rest of the world recognizes the good America has accomplished and what a stabilizing force it is.  However, you rarely hear that; instead we’re always told the rest of the world hates us because of our power and how we wield it on the world stage.   

Other world leaders, including our allies, might not always like America because of that. Yet while they might not say it outright, most of them – and their people – prefer that America be the world’s superpower. The alternatives are not nearly as attractive.    

Doubt that?  Try this:  ask friends in other countries who criticize America as an arrogant bully what other country than America would they prefer to be the world’s top superpower. China? Russia? Another country? You’ll hear crickets …  

So when you constantly hear how terrible and unworthy America is to be a model because of its flawed history and the way it treats minorities, women, and illegal immigrants, realize that’s simply the opinion of a minority with an outsized megaphone. 

Most of your fellow citizens don’t agree with that minority. Nor do the citizens of most other countries around the world; that’s why so many of them long to come here. You never hear about anyone struggling to emigrate to China or Russia, do you? Or about Americans desperate to leave this country for another in search of a better life for them and their families … 

Even the Hollywood types and celebrities who constantly promise to leave America because of its rampant racism, misogyny, injustice, or whatever, never actually leave, do they?

America is not perfect. Far from, it. That’s true. Nonetheless, few other nations in the world have done so much to lift people from poverty and sickness, and liberated so many from tyranny, as America has in its brief history. 

Something to remember.