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Stardate April 15, 2024. Halfway through April. On a course toward warmer weather regardless of any bumps in the road. And remember, there is no such word as "irregardless."
Attended church at Faith Lutheran yesterday. Nice place with nice turnout of people. Meanwhile the other ELCA church in town does not show a whole lot of stability. How did we get here? How did we get to where the once-proud and prosperous First Lutheran Church, home of the Eidsvolds, became so, well, floundering? What's up?
The town does not even need two ELCA churches. But if we have two, it is human nature that we will compare how they are doing versus each other.
Spring has sprung so we must surely have outdoor spring high school sports. Seems like this all started on the very first day when it was practicable in terms of weather. "Practicable." A word favored by Robert E. Lee of the Civil War. And did y'all catch the news reports about Donald Trump's speech near Gettysburg? Why do we continue subjecting ourselves to this? All we'd have to do is to reject considering Trump as a top national leader. In line to possibly become president again. Maybe even likely to be president again.
He is mentally floundering at this time. There are so many dangers to be associated with another Trump term. I could go down the list but there's really only one that I choose to emphasize. The biggest peril in my view would be Trump's attempts to take control of the Federal Reserve. We never think enough about the Fed's influence on our lives. The effect is profound and maybe even existential.
He'll do it
I remember the CNN anchor one day who said "it is unclear if the president can remove the chair of the Federal Reserve." If factual which I sense it is, this means that Trump would definitely want to do it. Toward what end? I mean, to make America a better place for everyone? Surely you know that has never been his agenda. Trump thinks of himself and secondarily about the billionaires and super-rich. And actually these two aims are connected.
J.D. Vance is a "Wall Street investor." He and others like him want interest rates pushed way down as fast as possible. Make a killing. But with "collateral damage" that could be existential for the U.S. Maybe you do not care about the collective welfare of Americans. If that's the case, you will feel comfortable voting for Trump.
The nice thing about the ELCA is that we are quite divorced from MAGA. Maybe this is in fact hurting us. The "evangelicals" got Trump elected in 2016. That and James Comey. Ironically Comey will always be remembered as the FBI chief who got fired by Trump. Conservative commentators might describe him as "disgraced." But of course he greased the skids for Trump becoming president, was quite essential.
And so that set the stage for what we have now: The Trump "hush money" trial although the description may be misleading. The problem wasn't the hush money per se, it was preventing the U.S. public from having the info it might have wanted to weigh.
So the "Access Hollywood" tape was not enough? Would it have really mattered if all the sordid stuff about Trump and his curvy female companions had come out? Would it have really mattered to the Bible-thumpers like what we have in Stevens County churches? With the exception of Federated Church in addition to the ELCA ones?
I want my thoughts on record for how I have reacted to the whole Trump phenomenon. I am embarrassed that in a couple of my early posts, I took him seriously as a president, as a person motivated by policy. My early writing will stay "out there" just like what I'm writing now, as I try to wrap my head around what Trump was saying near Gettysburg.
Meanwhile a guy like Dean Phillips never even gave any speeches. Well, none that were readily available to be seen in the usual media places. If we want the forces for good to win out in the end, we need an orator or two. Until then we just have the unbalanced demagogue in Trump. He gets attention because the media realizes he attracts eyeballs. Like a train wreck would.
Old song, new verse
Eight years on, and so little has changed. Nothing, really. So the stage is now set for the "hush money" trial. Trump used his wealth to set up sexual trysts. A porn star and a Playboy model, so maybe men would be envious. That's not the way to look at it IMHO. Surely I have learned that I cannot argue with certain people. All through the coming weeks with the sordid details to be revealed, that will not change.
"Make America great again." Yes, let's have Trump as president, watch him seize control of the Federal Reserve because he wants control of everything. Watch him put his army of attorneys wearing suits and ties to work. It will take time because Trump always seeks time. Maybe he'll just wear everyone down. I would not bet against him in the end, getting the central bank of the Fed under his control and then pushing interest rates down to zero (again) for an indefinite time.
Really, can the U.S. even sustain another blast of inflation? Another broadside? The country may just collapse. There are early signs of this potentially happening now, for example with law enforcement in many places giving up on shoplifting. Just let people stake stuff.
"People have to eat." It is something we simply need. We need to feed our kids.
Trump is trying to de-legitimize our whole legal system. And you don't care? You don't care that Marco Rubio, a lawyer, says he has "lost faith in America's jury system?" You don't care? So you don't care if this whole country just flounders and ceases to exist as we've known it?
I am trying to be prescient. I really do care about all Americans' welfare. We have a MAGA Republican representing us in this Seventh Congressional District of Minnesota. Does she care? I mean, about all of us? We can vote her out.
A comment that I posted to a Yahoo! News article this morning:
It's Monday morning, start of another week, but "Groundhog Day" relative to all the Trump-centered articles coming at us here. Along with, pictures of Trump with his varying expressions. An article about his Gettysburg speech which was so rambling and absurd. Do we need these continual reminders of this strange existence we have fallen into? So now Sununu is in a trance too. Imagine being in a normal world again with Haley as the conservative GOP nominee and Biden as the progressive. Just imagine. Real debates etc.
"Douglas C." responded:
On a positive note, Brian: I'm almost 81 years old now and have seen a lot of things come and go in my life. I will say this: Everything cycles. After this Trump MAGA thing, things will cycle back to normal common-sense government again. I don't know how "normal" or how hearty the "common sense" will be, nor do I know how long it will last before it cycles back to the dumb side again, but it WILL cycle - you can be sure of that.
Haley would probably smoke Biden, so I'm happy the Republicans are nominating someone who's really secretly a member of the Egomaniac Party.
"John S." responded:
Sununu has gotten a severe case of MAGAitis, loss of a functioning mental capability and severe memory loss. He seems to be at a loss of integrity, honesty and mental acuity.
"Larry" responded:
His rambling is called "flight of ideas" and is an indicator of dementia.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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