Trump devotion brings the very law into focus

Sen. Hatch: a case of dementia?

It is hard to even engage Trump supporters in conversation. He represents something to them that has little to do with how he's affecting their lives. It is time to begin discussing this as a psychological phenomenon. Orrin Hatch skipped reality last week by saying it isn't really important to follow the law. He was talking about the ramifications of the Mueller investigation. He must have gotten significant pushback in the hours following. He was forced to backtrack, maybe because the legal community got agitated.
Can I challenge a traffic ticket if a U.S. senator has made a public pronouncement about how it isn't necessary to follow the law? We are supposed to follow the lead of our national leaders. If not, where is our society at?
If the Mueller investigation has Republicans on their heels so badly, that they are having to grope and say the kind of things Hatch did, where are we at? The Republicans are the majority now, never mind the Democrats made inroads in the midterms. The Republicans have the Senate, the presidency and the Supreme Court. We might even add the Federal Reserve to this list, if the Fed chairman gets bullied and pressured into doing what Trump wants. One of the rules in D.C. is to keep your distance from the Fed. But, Trump's supporters elected him to toss out the rules. "He's not a politician."
Even the Trump supporters who are negatively affected by the tariffs are holding their tongues. I guess we need bad things of even greater proportions to happen. We may get it. A Federal judge has declared Obamacare unconstitutional. Trump has cheered this. Privately, Republicans may be shaking in their boots. They don't really want to take responsibility for a national health care system. They say they have a better idea but they don't. It is absolutely not in the DNA of Republicans to create or to make more generous any entitlement program.
I am now glad I didn't give in to the temptation to sign up for Obamacare. Instead, I have gone the last 12 years with no health insurance at all. So each fall I write a check for about $40 for my flu shot. I will be getting my Medicare card in about 14 months. That will be a relief. I lost my health insurance at the time of my forced departure from the Morris newspaper. Getting Medicare will secure my assets, assets that I have set up to be bequeathed to the University of Minnesota Foundation.
I could have lost a considerable portion of my assets if Mom had been forced into the nursing home for a considerable period. She stayed home which was in her own best interests. Most importantly she was happy.
 
Presidency out of proportion?
People support Donald Trump because he entertained them in the campaign. The most effective politicians have a boring element. We ought to wish for government to be boring. The presidency itself is becoming questionable because it is such a daily obsession in the news. Why do we place so much importance on this one individual? Did the framers of the Constitution really envision this?
The public is in the process of learning hard lessons about what really makes Republicans tick. Their "tax cut" was so ballyhooed. The ballyhoo itself should have made us suspicious. The Republicans always find ways of screwing the average or common person, below the bluster of their rhetoric.
Got my annual package from the tax preparer last week. There's a cover letter that actually makes reference to the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" (TJCA)." "Many of our clients," the letter says, will in fact have a lower tax liability, but "the amount of time and expertise required to arrive at the correct taxable income will most likely significantly increase." And, "this means that your preparation fee will likely increase as well."
Sounds like taxes are getting more complicated, don't you surmise this? In spite of public pleas for a long time about how simplification is desired. Once we jump through all the hoops, I wonder if the average person will really be better off, having less liability or enough to offset the hassle and anxiety of the greater complexity. Once we finish dotting all the i's and crossing the t's, we'll probably get some discouraging surprises - the average folks I mean. The very rich will be the ones winking back at Trump, Hatch and their ilk. A commentator seriously suggests that Hatch, from Utah, might be showing signs of dementia.
I have had the same thought about Chuck Grassley, whose devotion to Trump is so strong, he sniped recently at Supreme Court Justice John Roberts. John Roberts? Wasn't he touted as a devoted conservative when he was confirmed to the Supreme Court? What has become of us?
I continue to arrive at DeToy's Restaurant in Morris in the morning, and I see bumper stickers reflecting the whole Trump cult. One identifies the driver as "another of the deplorables for Trump." I have seen more than one saying "Hillary for prison." Heaven help us all. Seriously, heaven help us all.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com