"Yeah, I look forward to the wonders of my next term as president!"
Joseph Epstein is an author, one of many, whose mental faculties appear to have been deranged and eviscerated by Trump. Perhaps, like his fellow brain- eviscerated compadre (Lance Morrow) he lost his reason and logical capacity by being inundated by Trump's tweets and verbal garbage. Or perhaps he became infected by the same false equivalence virus that has felled so many in or around the 4th estate.
We know this much, on reading his latest WSJ op-ed ('The American People Have Been Spoken To', June 10, p. A15) it appears he's not only compromised by the false equivalence bug but fails to grasp how essential it is to see the back of Trump by January, 2021. In regard to the former, Epstein continues to make the specious case that "the American people" (voters namely) are being led around by the nose by both parties. Essentially being lectured to, i.e. "Politicians (no distinction) lecture us on what we want, need, deserve and are really interested in."
Not stopping there but further amplifying this egregious claim, by writing:
"What each of our two parties is chiefly concerned about, and has been over the past two years, is putting down, degrading and humiliating the other party."
Hmmm....funny, but the ONLY party I've detected doing that, as well as degrading and humiliating the whole nation, is the GOP - as they bend over backward to kiss the ass of the criminal narcissist in the White House. Jeezus peace, you'd think they were defending the Prince of Peace himself, and not a 2-bit grifter, con man, traitor and felon who ought to have been hung long ago. The Democrats, by contrast, have bent over backwards to try to bring a semblance of sanity and rectitude back to this country, daily being pounded into a cesspool by Trump and his cabal.
As the WaPo's Eugene Robinson argued Monday a.m. on 'Morning Joe', and kudos to him for having no blinkers on like Epstein, and the other members of the 'Trump can do no wrong' stable:
"I think you have to go back to the Harding administration at least to find this level of corruption. I mean let's call it what it is. Just work your way through that swamp creature cabinet of Donald Trump's and then down in the agencies and you just see the most amazing sort of self-dealing, and self-enrichment. That's what he's brought to Washington. That's what he's after. He follows perhaps the cleanest administration we've seen in a long time. In the Obama years nobody got indicted, nobody got arrested and nobody got convicted.
And here we are in what is really a cesspool. It is breathtaking. But again that's what Donald Trump is."
None of what Robinson noted was false or "fake news" especially about the Obama administration being among the cleanest in American history. So why isn't Epstein able to see that, or admit it, instead tossing out the tired old worn out trope that "all politicians are liars and slime balls". Or better, "both parties treat Americans like they just fell off a turnip truck." Well, because it serves his cynical purpose, i.e. that he isn't really about damning the politicos of both parties at all, but finding a clever, indirect way to provide more cover for Trump by seeming to damn both parties.. As he goes on, fully exposing his motivation:
"Since Hillary Clinton's loss in the 2016 presidential election, the Democrats have been seeking a way to nullify Mr. Trump's victory. Republicans, meanwhile, have done all they can to ensure Democrats are never viewed as anything other than obstructionist, malignant creeps."
But the two charges are nowhere near equal in gravitas. The first, for anyone perceptive enough to see it, is far more insidious because it tries to call into question the Dems as they've rightfully questioned Trump's legitimacy. As time has gone on that withholding of legitimacy has been more than substantiated. Indeed, it's clearly evident Trump is not qualified to lead this nation, and moreover - had the electoral college done its due diligence - never would have been elected on the basis of Electoral college votes.
Epstein's one -sided hammering of the Dems, in a piece one would have thought should be balance, then goes on:
"The forthcoming election figures to be not in the least about what is 'best' for the American people. But whether power can be wrested from Donald Trump....To be sure many would say that defeating Mr. Trump is in itself what is best for the "American people"."
Well, I am in that camp and make no apologies for it. Especially as we've learned (NY Times yesterday) Trump is only interested in peripheral aspects of his campaign and has no firm plans for a 2nd term, other than doubling down on his daily tweets from the toilet, attacking all perceived political enemies, telling 100,000 more lies and sowing more chaos and division. In meetings with aides he wants to focus on campaign songs, selection of campaign merchandise and other twaddle. It's also been reported he has never even asked to see a budget for 2019. Most alarming, Trump has no clue what he'd even attempt to accomplish in a second term - assuming voters were dumb enough to grant him one. According to the Times' piece:
"Mr Trump rarely if ever speaks to aides about what he hopes to accomplish in a hard won second term....He's shown no interest in formulating a new message for his campaign, instead continuing with the slogan 'make America great again' and adding that he 'also wants to keep America great.""
But it can't be so long as Trump is fouling the nation with his lies, despicable behavior and crimes against the Constitution. It can only go further into Trump's cesspool and will be totally unrecognizable if he's given a 2nd term.
After co-host Willie Geist presented the gist of the NY Times account on the same 'Morning Joe' episode, Mike Barnacle - also on the panel - responded while saying there is way too much overthnking:
"This is a man who only cares about himself. Every day is just an extension of his show with set up villains - it's either Joe Biden, the Mexican government, whatever . This guy is just obsessed with himself, not the country, not any formulation of plans to improve the country, Not any goals for his administration's first term and certainly not for what would be a second term set of goals. It's only himself."
This is a guy, in other words, who's played out, who has no new ideas if he even had any in the first place. He needs to resign, to get the hell out of office, willingly, even if not officially sent packing by the voters (who may be too enamored of their 401k balances to protect the nation's welfare.). He simply isn't qualified to manage this country. As Eugene Robinson added, appropriately:
"This is what Donald Trump has been from day one.. He runs the country the way he ran the Trump organization. He sort of ad libs his way through an episode of the Trump show. That's what he's doing with the country. That's why nobody in his administration has any idea what's coming out in the next tweet, or what the next policy change will be. It's always been all about Donald Trump. My question is whether people in the country begin to understand he's really about himself, and not about them."
All of which skewers Epstein's brain dead claim at the end of his piece, in regard to the next election:
"Whoever wins, the loser figures to be - the American people."
Nope, sonny. The winner will be the American people, if we can evict Trump the toad from office! This is a no -brainer!
In line with this, former Sen. Claire McKaskill put in her important 0.02 on that same 'Morning Joe':
"Over forty percent of the country thinks this guy is okay. I mean if you're us and you're watching this president, and watching his lying and undermining the country on the world stage you're saying 'How in the world can forty percent of America think this guy is okay. So as long as his number stays above thirty percent I think the Democrats are going to continue to panic but I think that panic is perfect and appropriate."
Well, rather than panic, I would say the Dems (especially Pelosi) need to be seen acting and bringing impeachment proceedings to break the Dotard stonewall. Look, despite the Mueller Report describing how this nation was attacked by a hostile foreign adversary in that 2016 election, Epstein accuses the Dems of wanting to "nullify" (with damned good reason) Trump's election. Failing to process it should be nullified! Trump, his campaign team and family KNEW about the Russian skullduggery and welcomed it using a form of "coded" conspiracy exchanges with GRU assets. Then to top it all off, Trump tried to obstruct the ensuing investigation into it.
Worse, the Russians are still at it as I write, seeking to undermine the 2020 election and Trump hasn't said a damned word about it, Hell, as Janice puts it, he "bloody wants their help again". So long as he keeps getting it no wonder he yaps about being "a president for life".
McKaskill and the rest of us with more than air between the ears have to nonetheless recognize that there are millions of blinkered, brainwashed zombies among our fellow citizens. People who likely don't read (i.e. the full Mueller report) and are incapable of thought outside FOX news. Those like letter writer Elaine Little (in Monday's Denver Post) who scribbled, in reference to the House Democrats:
"No legislation passed, nothing! It appears the only thing they're bent on doing is rehashing the Mueller report and trying to discredit the president and prepare for the next election. Their self-importance is disgraceful and their service to the country is minimal."
Well, I could likewise say this woman's brainpower is minimal especially if she sincerely believes the Mueller report is being "rehashed". Her moral compass is also affected, either by the sort of propaganda meted out by the likes of Epstein, or FOX News, as when she claims the Dems are "trying to discredit the president". Nope, that reprobate has discredited himself, now by over 10, 700 lies at last count, and committing obstruction right in front of our very eyes by his stonewalling on lawful subpoenas.
That this ninny doesn't even grasp the Article I powers granted congress under the Constitution tells me she ought to have her citizenship revoked. And the fact she isn't aware of how Bitch McConnell is burying every bill that makes it to the Senate - over 140 so far - suggests to me she needs to ease up on the Xanax. If the majority of citizens are more like this zombie than wide awake and alert to Trump's perfidy, then yeah, it is time to push the panic button!
On an end note, the other thing Epstein gets wrong is how Aristotle perceived politics. Epstein claims he defined it "as the practical science for making citizens happy". But in his great work, 'Politics' Aristotle is clear (cf. Book I, cc.I, a:)
"The ultimate object of the state is the good life.. The naturalness of the state is proved by the faculty of speech in man....It is founded on a natural impulse that tends toward political association."
The emphasis by Aristotle on the 'good life' transcends "happiness" which is predicated on mercurial emotions. One can "feel" happy after his team wins the Superbowl, but crushed and depressed if it doesn't, after all. It is the stuff of mainly trivial concerns and fleeting subjective emotions. By the "good life", Aristotle instead meant one based on the judicious exercise of will which consistently chooses the maximization of faculties, such as reason, to attain maximal good in society. Thus, a moral compass is also essential . In his Book V of The Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle writes:
"We see then that all men mean by the term Justice a moral state such that in consequence of it men have the capacity what is just and actually do it, and wish it. Similarly also with rspect to Injustice, a moral state such that in consequence of it men do unjustly and wish what is unjust.."
Aristotle didn't rest there, but actually demanded a proportionality to Justice in its particular expressions. If he was faced with the political world of Trumpism today, Aristotle would be appalled at the lack of justice and the reign of injustice. As Epstein ought to as well, if he were not so blinded by Trumpism.
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