I laughed to myself several times last week when I observed Mitch McConnell vote no on two of Donald Trump’s over the top Cabinet nominees.
None of this bullshit we’re currently witnessing in America would be taking place if Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham, and several other GOP leaders had simply had one/tenth of the set of balls the late John McCain possessed. ONE-TENTH.
None of this would still be dividing our country because Donald Trump would have been impeached and exiled on some island with his MAGA buddies and robber barons.
American historians will not be kind to Mitch McConnell. When the moment required courage, strength, integrity, and some valor. He whiffed all four times like some sheltered bitch looming in the shadows of Koch Industries and the Federalist Society.
But to Donald Trump’s credit…from the juncture he walked down the escalator in 2016 with his young payrolled wife…Trump was right. MJ was wrong.
Trump was correct in saying about 90% of the then orthodox Republicans were in effect even less honest and human than he was. Trump was spot on. And to his credit…I can’t totally assail him any longer because… he was correct.
So, yeah, as we witness the destruction of the Rule of Law, our three independent branches of government being torched, our judicial system blown up, and the shutting down of Associated Press access to the presidency…enjoy the journey as other nuances of American democracy head for the rocks as well.
And in the end, one thing Mike J has always been true to in his life here on earth–is a guy who’s big enough to admit when was wrong.
I WAS WRONG.
But my legacy will be fine. Mitch McConnell’s though will be in a very dark place. Very dark.
- My big sister on the West Coast, the highly liberal Del Mar Okie, has let me know from time to time she’d like to be Maureen Dowd on here and keep me somewhat within the guard-rails. So this will be that first time.
So Jan…let’s go.
Love, Mike
Here goes. I am wondering where the Conservatives who used to believe in the Rule of Law and a balanced budget are hiding. I hear there are some hunkered down in Utah but they are noticeably absent in most other states.
If you are thinking the terminations and chaos will not impact you then you are likely wrong.
Let’s start with an example from USAID. Its entire budget was $40B in 2024 with much of that going to fund groups like the World Food Programme. USAID buys $2B of food from US farmers to supply that food to countries through groups like WFP. They are operating some programs under a waiver but with so much of the staff laid off they will have trouble completing new procurements and US farmers will suffer and people in places like Sudan will starve.
Another USAID program is the President’s Malaria Initiative (started by GW Bush) which delivers life-saving malaria treatments in more than 20 countries primarily to children under 5 years old.
I have many friends and colleagues who work for PMI but they were laid off and again PMI has a waiver to do some work but without staff much of the work on the ground is not happening.
This will lead to children dying from a treatable disease.
I have no problem with thoughtful reviews of the programs to increase efficiency and ensure that US taxpayer money is well spent however that is not what we are seeing, we are seeing a crazy person axing programs that he does not understand or care to understand. It will take years to rebuild trust on the ground.
Love,
Jan
Jan, thank you. And just to let people know who might read this….you earned your PhD in bio-genetic research at Harvard. You then worked for a pharmaceutical company in research and development. You spent the remainder of your professional life working for Bill and Melinda Gates at the Gates Foundation, where your devoted your life to controlling preventable diseases in the African continent.
I’d like to ask you to expound on a few things at your convenience in relation to Bush 43 and some of the things he did while in office in Africa which I’m sure the average Maga Trump person would never consider beyond inciting riots to overhrow their own government, hanging a sitting vice-president, and bribing porn stars with hush money from a non-profit 501-3 account. Yawn.
And at some point beyond that…just going into the basic vaccines which in no way should be compromised by RKJ given Oklahoma currently ranks No. 1 in the USA in current flu cases.
Love, Mike