INAUGURATION DAY

When the joyous MVP of the winning Super Bowl team is finally corralled surrounded by ecstatic fans and asked for his reaction on national television about his championship, he replies with a panting smile, his eyes out of orbit and his head swinging side to side, "I don't know what to say. There are no words that can capture my feelings at this present moment. It's like a dream. Everything is surreal. I'm speechless."

I don't have the luxury of a victorious athlete. As I watch the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, I can't say that there are no words that can express my exhilaration or that I'm speechless. Why can't I humbly admit that I'm tongue-tied! Why can't I slip out the backdoor by declaring that the moment transcends words?

Because I'm a writer. If I were to resort to these excuses, I would sound more ridiculous than an umpire who defends his inability to call balls and strikes because the pitcher is firing fastballs of such velocity that he can't see the ball. His profession requires him to  rise to the occasion. I have to articulately put the scene unfolding before me into perspective. "I'm expressionless" just ain't gonna cut it.

On the contrary, historical events like this inauguration that has come at such a high cost for our nation are supposed to inspire prose that borders on poetry. In staying with the baseball analogy (I learned writing as a sports scribe and we can never escape our roots. Nor do we desire any other fate.), I am stepping to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth of the seventh game of the World Series with the home team trailing, 3-0. Like Casey at the Bat, I'm expected to swat a grand slam. The pitcher winds and fires:

Am I living a fairy tale watching a triumphant Hansel and Gretel being crowned for slaying the witch who wanted to gnaw on their bones? As I'm witnessing Jack cutting down the beanstalk and the vile giant crashing to his death? Have the Pied Piper and his rats been thwarted even though they have left a terrible plague in their wake? Is this the happy ending?

First and foremost, there are no happy endings. We first learned that reality when we discovered that Santa Claus no longer existed. Then God fell next. And last, but hardly least, loved ones have dropped by the wayside never to be seen or touched again. 

In politics, the struggle never ends. You win a battle or two, but your hold on power is brief. When you have the hammer, you have to pound the opposition. For four years this country absorbed a beating from a democratically elected dictator who did everything in the last days of his presidency to eliminate democracy in order to become a dictator.

He was defeated in spite of an insurrection he directed against the U.S. Capitol where Congress was counting the votes that would literally install Biden as the next president and deprive Trump of his power. The vice president, senators and and representatives had to flee the chambers for their lives were at stake. Five deaths later Trump was still in front of his television applauding the spectacle that might keep him in the White House.

He is no longer in Washington D.C. He has sought exile in the Confederacy where he will indubitably plot his return, but it is safe to say that he will be less successful than Napoleon in the latter's encore performance. Stripped of his armor, he is going to experience firsthand the slings and arrows of a vanquished foe.

Biden inherits a sick country. More than 400,000 COVID deaths, the economy in shambles and Trump's strategy of dividing and conquering along the lines of hate that has filled all of us with a debilitating rancor, America is hardly great. 

Only an egomaniac would seek a greatness that never existed and will never exist since humanity by its very nature is incapable of greatness. How can mankind ever put itself on a pedestal when there are no creatures that stalk this planet with so much killing and murdering on their minds interspersed by brief interludes of body-numbing sex before the bloodshed recommences?

Nobody epitomized these animalistic instincts more graphically than Trump who bragged that he could shoot and rape anyone he wanted with no fear of repercussions. And as bad as he is and will continue to be unless the judicial system cages him, what does it say about our country when 75 million citizens voted for him!?!?

We celebrate because Trump brought us to the edge of the abyss. We looked down and saw that there would be no future for our descendants if Trump survived the election. Biden will draw us back from the cliff and prevents us from dashing ourselves against the rocks below. 

But our celebration is short;  we must brace ourselves for the counterattack. The dark forces of bad and wrong are blinded by a fury that the legions of good and right have prevailed, but they know that both Hitler and Stalin were imprisoned after initial failures before they successfully gained absolute control of their governments and countries.

Our system took a hit that it hadn't experienced since the Civil War, but our institutions stood strong against Trump's treachery and traitorousness, but the racists, the rednecks, the reactionaries, the religious right and the rabid rich recognize that in two years they can begin their comeback and in four years reign with total control.

I watch Biden place his hand on the same Bible that southern preachers once claimed justified slavery. I listen to Biden swear to uphold the Constitution, the same Constitution that the cowardly Republicans are misinterpreting to avoid impeaching a tyrant whose wild rants and shameless lies led to the death of five persons in the halls of one of our most sacred buildings.

I am savoring this positive change in our fortunes. I'm a soldier on leave who is making the most of his R&R knowing full-well that he will be returning to the trenches along the front lines. With the knowledge that the tide has turned in our favor, we must impose our agenda on the opposition, compromising if it's one step forward, never compromising if we must abandon our core values even if our principles cost us power in the future. We are not afraid to lose battles, but we will not lose the war against Trump and his barbaric tribes. 

Let's make America...America again. Trump brought us to a new low. There are no words that can express the hope that Biden will bring us to a new high. 

TRUMP PARDONS GOD

God has been the victim of fake news. The Bible is nothing but a hoax. There is nothing holy about this book. For those who read The New York Times and The Washington Post, I'm sure they will claim that God was a mass murder, a rapist and incited violence.

If God is guilty of anything, I absolve him. Like the Democrats assailing me for every act that I have done to make America great again, God has been the victim of evil men who have used him to promote their demonic agenda.

They waste no time in undermining God's reputation by arguing that he inspired Abel's murder by Cain because he rejected the latter's sacrifice. They say that I'm a sore loser. I can assure you that there was never a bigger sore loser than Cain.

I don't understand the reason that Genesis is the first book. It is nothing but death, which should be the ending of a story. Whoever concocted this cornucopia of crap assert that God killed 20,000,000 in the Great Flood for doubting him and 2000 in Sodom and Gomorrah for performing sex acts that I am sure would excite a pervert like Rudy Giuliani.

By killing their husbands in Sodom and Gomorrah, God is not responsible for Lot's daughters wanting to have sex with Lot, their father. They were endowed with a free will and they were the ones who decided to intoxicate the old man and sleep with him. Old and drunk, I'm surprised he could summon a boner two nights in a row.

In Exodus they say that the Jews observe Passover every year because it was God who brought his fury upon the Egyptians and led them to the Promised Land. Between plagues, the death of the first born in every Egyptian family commemorated by Passover and the slaughter of the Egyptian army, the alleged experts point the finger at God and hold him responsible for a million deaths.

From Leviticus through Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel I & II, Kings I & II and Chronicles I & II (And they say I don't know this book of a thousand lies), these fictional writers aver that God was the culprit for millions of deaths, precipitated millions more and turned his head to thousands of rapes.

You would think these imposters would have exhausted their mendacious talents in the Old Testament, but these losers couldn't refrain from adding an exclamation point in the New Testament. I can only imagine the wickedness of these cowards who hide behind their words because their descendants have hounded me all of my days.

In the writings of the apostles, these backstabbers insinuate that God snuck into the room of a 14-year-old virgin, raped her, impregnated her and then refused to marry her. Nobody loves his children more than I do and I'm sure that God did not commit this egregious offense.

(I am only into consenting adults. If they don't want to reciprocate when I grab their pussies, I am a gentleman and I recognize my limits.)

I blame Joseph who always played the victim. Since Jesus was not God's son, then our Savior wasn't a bastard. Jesus, a blessed visionary, was one of the many brothers and sisters born to Joseph and Mary.

Never content, these propagandists, whom Adolf Hitler should have hired if he had really wanted to conquer the world, propagated the prevarication that King Herod, under God's spell and fearful that there might be a future king in his midst who would threaten his crown in the future, commanded his soldiers to kill every male child two years and less in Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside in hopes that he might eliminate Christ.

I can only imagine the torture that God has endured for centuries with his glorious name dragged through the dust. I have endured the same harsh treatment for four years and it has been a trying experience. I, therefore, pardon God of all reported crimes. I have no confidence that Joe Biden shares the same Christian values that I cherish, but I have no doubts that God will embrace me when I step through the pearly gates into heaven.

DODGE

The countdown is no longer days; it's hours. Early Wednesday morning the worst president in the history of the United States will depart Washington D.C. humiliated. The vice president and the most prominent Republican dignitaries will skip his farewell. They will be attending Joe Biden's inauguration. They want to be part of the action for the next four years. Trump is no longer a player.

He is like a pitcher who has been yanked from the game and sent to the showers. In his locker he discovers a bus ticket that has exiled him to the minors in a bush-league Florida town. He will find himself sitting in a dugout pondering all those curves he left hanging that culminated in his degrading departure from the big leagues. He is living a former star's greatest nightmare: He is a has-been.

Was there ever a more ignominious closing performance!?!? COVID defeated him. With more than 400,000 deaths in one year, Trump never took the pandemic seriously. First he said that it would disappear miraculously. Instead, he has disappeared thankfully. He refused to lead, rejecting masks, social distancing and avoiding large crowds as misplaced political priorities.

COVID was just part of his losing streak as he finished his final season in last place. He lost the presidency and the Senate and he couldn't win back the House. He should have been impeached a second time for abuse of power when he attempted to intimidate the Georgia Secretary of State into finding him approximately 12,000 votes to overcome Biden's lead and slip the electoral votes into his column.

Nevertheless, he was impeached a second time when he summoned his hordes of haters to Washington D.C. January 6th, filled them with lies, ordered them to march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol Building and demand that Congress stop counting the votes and award him four more years. Five dead were the final nails in Trump's coffin and he was immediately impeached.

His troubles are only beginning. The Senate must decide to convict him or not. There are plenty of Republicans with aspirations of their own who would love nothing more than removing him permanently from the political scene. They have witnessed firsthand Trump's destruction of the party. As a private individual, he will soon find himself in court defending himself against charges that stretch the entire spectrum from fraud to rape.

As to Trump's Good German Soldiers, diversity has prevailed over ethnic purity. Herr Donald has failed to established a Neo-Nazi nation. There will be no Fourth Reich. The January 6th putsch ended in a bloody disaster. Much like the Mark of Cain, we will be able to recognize these traitors because they will have swastikas branded across their foreheads.

We need a general in this battle to the death against COVID. President Biden will provide us with this leadership. He knows that once COVID is controlled, the economy will flourish. Trump never understood this basic concept. He campaigned for reelection on past glories without comprehending that present miseries would undermine his strategy.

I don't know the extent of the joy Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation brought to the slaves, but I'm feeling liberated after four dark years of seeing our country reduced to one huge plantation ruled by a delusional master. Winter is over. Spring is here. Open the windows and let the curtains billow with a fresh breeze.

And that tweeting will be a cardinal perched on a branch in your backyard singing that a new day has arrived. If Trump has taught us to appreciate anything, he has taught us that silence has never sounded so good.

HANGOVERS

You: You look like shit, bro. Have you been celebrating the fall of Trump? I know you hate the piece of shit.

Me: I've been drinking too much, but Trump hasn't been the inspiration for my excesses. Knowing he has bitten dust is a sobering thought. Between the college and NFL playoffs, I've been accompanying my son Michael to various watering holes to watch the games. Combined with his hunger for a good meal, he makes exceptions for me from his busy schedule to attend these events. As a result, I've been drinking too much.

You: I read in one of your articles that you were lamenting about turning 70. You keep abusing yourself with alcohol and you're going to look 70. And for someone who is always complaining about his expanding gut, you're not doing much to avoid making that reality becoming more real.

Me: I know. You don't have to tell me. I've made a half-hearted attempt to walk more, to play more tennis and to be more consistent with my Yankee Yoga, but it seems like I'm getting drunk every other day. I'm growing frustrating with myself because I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet. Maybe I'm on a bender to convince myself that I'm no different than when I was in my early twenties and I could drink all night and still work the next day.

You: I believe in the spirituality of alcohol, but like Sunday mass I limit my stumbling and falling to my knees once a week. I can't handle the hangovers. With time more precious that ever, I feel I'm wasting the little time I have spending a day, sometimes two days, clearing my head. When I avoid the bars for two or three days in a row, I feel vibrant, healthy. Besides, COVID is still claiming the careless.

Me: Don't think for a second that your words are going in one ear and out the other. I am terribly frustrated with myself at present. You find yourself in a self-destructive cycle and you don't have the will or the discipline to escape your own torment. I keep saying to myself I'm going to pull in the reins, but a morning or two later I am stretched out in bed nursing another hangover.

You: Are you unhappy about something. Are you punishing yourself? Do you have too much time and you're trying to fill the boredom? You're by nature an active person. Do you feel guilty about your lack of activity? There comes a time when you have to get your shit together or you will turn into a piece of shit. 

Me: I'm well aware of the repercussions of my excesses and I shake my head in disgust when hangovers render me useless, but believe it or not, there is a positive side to a hangover.

You: That's a first. Enlighten me.

Me: I don't suffer from headaches or upset stomachs. Two Excedrin eliminate headaches and Xanax calms my nerves. As you have mentioned, we live in world in which we always have to be accomplishing something. We're on this quest for self-improvement. You finish exercising and you have to write. You finish playing the guitar and you have to learn a language. You finish surfing the net to catch up on the latest news and you have to read. And then there's the family, the bills, the daily chores and a number of other errands that have to be resolved. It's non-stop.

You: That's reality. If you want to achieve any goals, you have to move. You can't be a couch potato contemplating your navel. We are all committed to being somebody. We have pride. We want to be distinct and respected. In order to achieve that image, you have to have grind day-after-day. 

Me: I'm not disagreeing with you, but in this process we oftentimes lose the ability to relax. Hangovers are an exercise in relaxation. After a night of overindulging, I have zero energy. I don't want to get out of bed. When I do, I fix myself something to eat, check the internet, select some music and hit the sack again for a three or four hour nap. I might wake for a few minutes. I'll grab a book on my night stand and read before falling back to sleep again. I will remain in this state until I finally rise, prepare dinner and maybe go for a late evening walk.

You: I know the feeling. I haven't abandoned my love for alcohol and I don't think I ever will. There are occasions that demand drinking. I'm not going to sit around with buddies and drink milk. Plus, it's difficult to trust a man who doesn't drink. I'm willing to pay the price the next day, but I'm not willing to go bankrupt paying the price two and three times a week. It isn't worth the investment.

Me: You're absolutely right, but since I'm retired with no responsibilities except to dish out money to loved ones here and there, I don't rise from my bed until I'm steady on my feet and not cloudy in my head. I rest my head on my pillow and I don't worry about anything. Guilt eventually stirs me to action, but when I'm in the throes of an empty mind, I don't think about anything. I'm arguably in my most peaceful state.

You: Are you going to tell me that not even Trump disturbs your dreams?

Me: Hangovers liberate me from that living nightmare.

I LOVE & RESPECT

I was washing my clothes at the apartment's laundromat when I struck up a conversation with an elderly woman (I better be careful with the word "elderly" because she may have been younger than me, but she gave me the impression that she had surrendered to old age) during which we agreed that the winters are wonderful in the Rio Grande Valley. I asked her if she had had her COVID vaccination and she answered that she wasn't scheduled until March.

"I'm hunkering down although I went with a friend yesterday to eat at a nice restaurant in Port Isabel," she said.

"I haven't had mine either, but I'm confident that with Biden leading the charge that the availability of the shots will be more accessible soon," I replied.

She didn't say anything. Instead, she bowed her head and became very solemn.

"He scares me," she finally uttered in a low voice.

"Who scares you?"

"Biden."

I didn't say anything except to wish her a good day. The fissure in our country is deep if this person perceives the future with trepidation. Joe Biden is scary? I can't fathom that seemingly normal people feel safer siding with the scariest person in the world. How did this happen? The Right, with its indoctrination machine Fox pumping out the propaganda, believes that Antifa and Black Lives Matter are more dangerous than Coronavirus. The Republicans were running on this platform to gain support for its candidates until the militias shot that message into a thousand tattered pieces.

In simplistic and symbolic terms, we have people who believe that white cops don't have the right to shoot unarmed blacks and we also have people who believe the exact opposite. After the killings of George Floyd and other African-Americans, protests in major cities dominated the news for weeks. I must confess that I don't understand the reasons for the non-stop violent demonstrations in Portland.

But these confrontations pale compared to the insurrection inspired by Donald Trump that led to the attack on the U.S. Capitol Building and five deaths. But, again, I don't understand these Trumpsters' anti-government attitude. Our government has provided well for me, my family and my friends. For anyone who wants to work and study, the opportunities are boundless. I embrace and respect our government.

What are Trump's traitors' gripes? My religious freedoms as a Catholic haven't been taken from me. Last time I looked Jehovah Witnesses were still knocking at doors and Mormons were still riding their bikes. My First Amendment Rights haven't been restricted except when my rhetoric exceeds the rules imposed by the various platforms I access no different from my days as a reporter when the editor would draw a line though my best sentence in a story or would throw an entire story into the trash because he didn't want to risk advertising revenue. There is nothing that prevents me from accumulating a small arsenal in my apartment to protect myself in case Trump's troops break down my door in the middle of the night.

I believe that our government is our friend, not our enemy. We are a successful nation because our governments at the local, state and federal levels have sustained us. I don't necessary agree that we are the greatest country in the history of mankind, but I might argue that we have created the greatest government in the history of mankind when it comes to meeting the needs of our citizens. 

In my opinion to despise our government is to despise our nation. Governing is always a work in progress. It will inevitably fall short of meeting all our expectations, but we have recourse if we find ourselves behind the eight-ball and in danger of disappearing into the corner pocket.

There will always be differences about legalizing drugs, abortion, the death penalty and scores of other issues, but these issues can only be resolved through our government. But when King Rat Trump and his mendacious mice convince millions of their fellow rodents that government is bad when they aren't in the majority, no good will come from this undemocratic mentality.  

TRUMP & KARMA

I often say that I believe in karma. This belief can serve you well when you are going through tough times You search for reasons to explain your unfortunate circumstances and karma always provides the answer. I am reaping what I have sown. I'm spending time in purgatory, but if I remain stoic about my well-deserved punishment, I will survive this particular predicament and I will be able to go about my normal life committing sins until karma once again comes knocking.

There is nobody on the face of the earth who has worse karma than Donald Trump. In fact, his karma may be more than purgatorial. His karma may condemn him to an eternity in hell. I don't feel sorry for him and nobody in my inner circle feels sorry for him. We always use the word "evil" to denounce him. As he might describe himself when faced with that cowardly countenance in the mirror: "Donald Trump is bad, very, very bad."

Yesterday the House impeached him, 232-197. Even Republicans couldn't hold their noses anymore and rejected him. Will the Senate convict him? Who knows. There are too many questions regarding the insurrection he inspired that once answered may leave the Senate with no other option but to convict him.

This wasn't a breakdown in security at the U.S. Capitol Building. No city knows more about protests and demonstrations than Washington D.C. The Capital Police knew a frenzied mob of thousands was coming. Trump had promised them a "wild" day and at the really in front of The White House he threw gas on the fire, pointed them down Pennsylvania Avenue and urged them to fight to save our nation.

At best, there was willful negligence on the Capital Police's part. At worst, there was cooperation between law enforcement and the seditionists. Why weren't there more police manning their posts? Why did officers pull back barriers to allow the rabble to stream up the stairs of the U.S. Capitol Building? Why were there no officers on horses? Why were there no helicopters or drones buzzing overhead. Why weren't reinforcements immediately requested? Where was the national guard? Did somebody mastermind this dereliction of duty?

Meanwhile, back at the White House, Trump sat in front of a television and did nothing. According to witnesses he relished the chaos. He applauded his vigilantes as they wrecked havoc on one of the country's most sacred buildings. When he saw that they had consummated their patriotic mission with five dead and scores injured, he told them that it was time to go home and he blew them a kiss by telling them that he loved them.

After he lost the election, after he ranted and raved that the result was stolen and he had actually triumphed in a landslide, after he tried to intimidate the Georgia Secretary of State to "recalculate" the outcome, find approximately 12.000 votes and award him the electoral votes, after he cost the Republicans two senators and loss of the Senate, he summoned his executive authority and sent his Neo-Nazi army to lop off the legislative branch and keep him in office for another four years.

How many times have we watched the pundits throw their arms up in frustration and scream, "He has crossed the line this time!" Never held accountable for his dastardly deeds and thousands of lies, he had become so unhinged that he thought he could shoot a person on Fifth Avenue and face no prosecution as he has bragged. Five dead undermined his calculations.

Will this Anti-Christ rise from the dead? Will his fanatical followers still believe that he can part the Potomac? Will he form the South African Apartheid Republican Party and lead his racists to the Promised Land when America was great and lynching was just good ol' boys having fun? Will he attain his goal of 400,000 COVID deaths in less than one year before he leaves office in six days?

Trump has abandoned his Union home in the North and moved his residence to the Confederate South. But he can't run. He can't hide. The ghosts of the dead will pursue him. The courts will pursue him. He is now not only the first president to be impeached twice, he is not only the worst president to occupy the office, he is the most hated person in the history of the United States. He has replaced Benedict Arnold as the synonym for traitor. He thought he could escape justice, but you can never escape your own karma. He could hit a hole-in-one, but he will never know felicity for even a brief moment for the rest of his days..

There are those lobotomized lemmings who are saddened by his suffering. We, lovers of democracy and loyal to our institutions, couldn't be happier.

IMPEACH

Sometimes others say it better than writers because they are the story, because they wrote the story, because they lived the story. These are their words as the House of Representatives debates the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday, January 13th, my father's birthday who has been deceased eight years. He was a Democrat. He would have voted for impeachment. Yesterday, 4400 victims of COVID joined him on the other side.

Months prior to the November election Trump said: "We have to win the election. We can’t play games. Go out and vote. Do those beautiful absentee ballots or just make sure your vote gets counted. Make sure because the only way we're going to lose this election is if the election is rigged. Remember that. It’s the only way we’re going to lose this election, so we have to be very careful. The only way they’re going to win is that way. And we can’t let that happen.”

And thus the poisonous lie's black roots grew deeper and deeper.

Nobody expected that Trump's thousands of racists and renegades would attack the U.S. Capitol Building on Wednesday, January 6th, as they gathered in front of The White House for the Save America March to protest the counting of the votes by the Senate and House that would officially certify Joe Biden's presidential victory over Trump. Nobody expected that the speakers at this event would inspire an insurrection against the nation with their diatribes calling for vigilante justice.

“To those Republicans, many of which may be voting on things in the coming hours: You have an opportunity today,” began Donald Trump Jr. blathering hysterically into the microphone. "You can be a hero or you can be a zero. And the choice is yours. But we are all watching. The whole world is watching, folks. Choose wisely. These guys better fight for Trump. Because if they’re not, guess what? I’m going to be in your backyard in a couple of month.

"The rally itself should be a message to all the Republicans who have not been willing to actually fight, the people who did nothing to stop the steal,” he continued with his hands pounding the air as he paraded across the stage agitating for action. “This gathering should send a message to them: This isn’t their Republican Party anymore! This is Donald Trump's Republican Party!”

Eric Trump had echoed his brother's few days earlier as the Trump dynasty rose to impose its will: "I will personally work to defeat every single Republican Senator /Congressman who doesn’t stand up against this fraud — they will be primaried in their next election and they will lose.”

Of course, no Trump court gathering is complete without their favorite jester--Rudy Guiliani. The attorney sqawked right on cue: "Over the next 10 days, we get to see the machines that are crooked and the ballots that are fraudulent. And if we're wrong, we will be made fools of. But if we're right, a lot of them will go to jail. So let's have trial by combat."

Would anyone want any of these fools covering his or her back as he or she ventured down a dark alley? The Trumps and their treasonous culprits would join the other side in an instant.

Trump then entered the spotlight. He defied the cold weather. He made a cold day hot. He was the coach of the most terrible team in the country losing by almost a 100 points at halftime bawling that they could still win the game if they employed some illegal tactics since they all knew that the other side was cheating. But the historians concur that he ain't no Knute Rochne and for the modern fans he ain't no Bill Belichick. Here were his parting words as his sullen squad took the field for the final two quarters that produced a disastrous result despite Trump's provoking language:

"Together we are determined to defend and preserve government of the people, by the people and for the people. Until I came along, nobody had any idea how corrupt our elections were. Something's wrong here. Something’s really wrong. Can’t have happened.

"And we fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country any more. So we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue and we’re going to the Capitol and we’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones don’t need any of our help, the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue."

"Let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue" didn't necessary apply to the president, his sons and his hapless lawyer. As has been repeated since the dawn of history, the rich start the wars and the poor fight the wars. For the next six hours these Confederates waged war against the Union and they successfully wreaked death and destruction.

Where was the president? He was back at The White House urging his followers to fight for ol' Trump U. His aides finally convinced him that it might be in his own best interests if he addressed the nation. Otherwise, they suggested, those dirty Democrats might blame him for this bloodshed.

"You have to go home now," he recited as if he were trying to remember the words to the Pledge of Allegiance. "We have to have peace. These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly and unfairly treated for so long. We love you. You're very special."

Outrage greeted Trump's statement.

"After close review of recent Tweets from Donald Trump's account and the context around them, we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence," announced Twitter as it caged it most infamous Tweety Bird with only The Brownsville Herald to shit on. Deprived of communicating with his approximately 90 million followers, Trump is doing his best to elicit sympathy for defending First Amendment rights. Nobody's listening.

Sadly, the person that's running the Executive Branch is a deranged, unhinged dangerous president of the United States," asserted Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. "And we're only a number of days until we can be protected from him.

"But he has done something so serious that there should be prosecution against him. We, in protecting our Constitution and our Democracy, will act with urgency because the president represents an imminent threat to both. The horror of the ongoing assault on our democracy perpetrated by this president is intensified and so is the immediate need for action."

All Democrats agree that Trump must be impeached, convicted and barred from holding any public office in the future. There is no argument that will convince a Democrat that Trump didn't send a mob to the U.S. Capitol Building to overthrow the certification of Joe Biden as president and present him with the presidency for another four years. Even the Republicans are tired of being sodomized by this fiend and they have decided to fuck him instead. Nobody has articulated this backlash more succinctly than Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and House Republican Conference Chair

"On January 6, 2021 a violent mob attacked the United States Capitol to obstruct the process of our democracy and stop the counting of presidential electoral votes," she stated categorically. "This insurrection caused injury, death and destruction in the most sacred space in our Republic.

"Much more will become clear in coming days and weeks, but what we know now is enough. The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.

"I will vote to impeach the President."

How many Republicans will join the Democrats when the impeachment vote is taken? Behind closed doors scores of Senators and Representatives want Trump to fall and be exiled from politics permanently, but they still live in fear of his follower's retribution. In a few hours Trump will be impeached. No half-time speech by Trump is going to change that result. The only question is the final score.

ALAMO

It is possible that people who have lived in Brownsville have never visited Alamo, Texas their entire lives. We have no doubt that there may be a greasy spoon or two that serves excellent Tex-Mex food, but there are hundreds of excellent greasy spoons in the Rio Grande Valley.

Alamo is 53 miles west of Brownsville. The faceless community isn't even called Alamo. It is called PSJA, three cities combined into one acronym--Pharr, San Juan and Alamo. San Juan has a modicum of fame for being home of the most famous Catholic institution in the Valley--the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle. 

Most everyone knows Pharr, not because there is anything distinctive about this barrio town, but because it's a joke that has been told a million times by those of us who reside on the border, "How far is Pharr?" Little kids find the question humorous and will repeat it scores of times during their lives to their kids.

When a countdown reaches single digits, then the climatic moment is nearly upon us. Eight days from now Donald "Dick" Trump will no longer be president of the United States. There is the distinct possibility that the House of Representatives will impeach him tomorrow for inciting the riot against the U.S. Capitol Building. For an imbecile who loves numbers and always wants to be first, he will be the first president in our country's history to be impeached twice.

Desperate to escape Washington D.C. where even the cowardly Republicans have abandoned him, he is flying to Alamo today to inspect the wall for which we have paid but back in the early days of his first lies he insisted that Mexico was going to cover the bill. When the Mexicans responded, "Chinga tu madre!" Trump turned to one of his bootlickers and asked him for a translation. "It means may your mother have a long and healthy life."

The symbolism of Alamo is lost on nobody. Trump constructed the barrier to keep the Mexicans out of the United States. At the Alamo in San Antonio the Texans intended to keep the Mexicans out of their own country. Both failed, but there was a difference in leadership. William B. Travis, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett stood and fought. Last Wednesday at the Battle of Washington D.C. Trump slipped away from the confrontation he started and hid in The White House.

When Travis knew that the clash was imminent and no reinforcements would be arriving, he drew a line in the sand. He told his men that they were under no obligation to stay and confront the daunting odds. All but two volunteered their services. The two who slinked away were Trump and Rudy Giuliani's ancestors according to Wikipedia. 

There will be no violent mobs to greet the traitor Trump. Valley people are apathetic. Even the politicos go with the flow, which means they prefer to keep the money flowing into their pockets rather than stirring up trouble. We live languid lives in South Texas. Nothing brings us greater joy than sinning in the sun. We'll leave the militias to having all the fun.

And if there is any credibility to the chatter, Trump's trailer trash plans to unleash a new wave of violence on January 17th through the inauguration on January 20th. The authorities are expressing in no uncertain words that these renegades and vigilantes will no longer be treated like white people. They will be shot down no differently than the police have been shooting down African-Americans for decades if not centuries.

The Republicans, who have been apologizing and enabling Trump for the last four years as he has gone from one excess to the next outrage, are coming to his aide again with the lame excuse that Trump's impeachment will further divide the country. Do they live in such paranoia of this toothless tiger that they would say nothing if he shot one of their sons or raped one of their daughters as he brags he could do with impunity?

Maybe Trump's ancestor didn't cross the line at the Alamo, but the pernicious president certainly did when he led a coup against our country in order to steal the presidency. Five people lost their lives at the U.S. Capitol Building as Congress counted the electoral college votes that would certify Joe Biden as the next president and usher the delusional and demented Trump into obscurity. 

To allow Trump to avoid justice would further increase the divide as his fanatical followers would be further emboldened to defy our government as Trump's fellow Republicans have emboldened him by refusing to keep him accountable and allowing him to run amok. 

Impeaching and convicting and exiling and imprisoning him would set an example that nobody is above the law and would bring the country together. By crushing the head we will kill the snake. Without his power, he will slither into a hole and hope his lawyers can keep him from being condemned to a cell.

Trump is ruthless. We must be merciless.

ANTI-CHRIST

Trump's traitors cannot distract from their own bad behavior by citing others' bad behavior--Portland riots, for example--as a defense.

"I cheated on you, honey, because my comadre Sara was cheating on her husband." I don't think that excuse would save a marriage.

Trump summoned these fanatics whipped into a frenzy by lies, promised them a "wild" time and then directed them down Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol Building to demand justice.

Trump said he would lead them, but his foot spurs were too painful so he chose to talk the talk rather than walk the walk. He retreated to his White House bunker. Was anyone surprise that this great general fled from the battle scene he instigated?

Trump, the coward, wanted his mindless army to overthrow the election for him and assure him another four years of his tyranny.

Comparing the ransacking of the U.S. Capitol to Leftist marches is a desperate rationale if Trump sympathizers want to reject responsibility for Wednesday's outrage that left several dead, but at least the tragedy has exposed Trump as little more than rotten fruit.

Politically, he is a corpse riddled with worms. I would be more than happy to shovel dirt on his rotting cadaver. The Religious Right is going to have to find a new Anti-Christ because this "Savior" will not be rising from the dead.

MILITIAS

Former County Judge Carlos Cascos told the media that he supported Donald Trump for reelection. He didn't like the way Trump talked the talked, but he liked the way he walked the walked. Almost 400,000 are dead from Trump's incompetency and indifference. Millions of jobs have been lost. Innumerable Americans are living in poverty.

Cascos liked the way he walked the walked. Then Cascos must have been intoxicated too because Trump was weaving and stumbling down the street. As a consequence we have paid the price for a man drunk with power sitting behind the wheel. We have suffered a head-on collision.

What has happened to all the other Trumpsters who used to appear here on social media to praise the King who wore no clothes? Are you using this blue norther to excuse yourselves from making public appearances, let alone public statements?

In our present state it's safe to pronounce that even the Trump sympathizers don't dare say he has made American great again. And according to Trump and his haters, when exactly was America great? During the Roaring Twenties between two world wars and just prior to the Depression? After WWII when Jim Crow ruled the South? Before Vietnam? America was never great? Trump would have had a more authentic message if he had said let's make the Dallas Cowboys great again.

You don't hear anything from the Trumpsters these days. Thankfully, we don't hear Trump exploiting social media anymore with one lie after another, his mendacious mentality culminating in him inspiring an armed insurrection to deny Joe Biden the presidency and reward himself with a second term for his seditious plot.

God, I love karma even though it has exacted a high price from me for my many sins, but at least there is a universal justice that holds humanity accountable. We reap what we sow. Or in Trump's case he has reaped what he has raped. 

Where are you, Trumpsters? What new lies is Fox News feeding you that you accept as the truth? What fresh conspiracy theories are rotting your ignorant minds? Is there any credible scenario in which we can blame Antifa for the destruction and the deaths? Isn't there anyone brave enough to say that the elections were rigged in Georgia in order to give the Democrats control of the Senate? Isn't it possible that Melania has remained faithful to her Eastern European roots and is taking orders from the Kremlin and poor Donald is a puppet manipulated by her pussy?

The Trumpsters took to the streets to exact justice and left puddles of blood in their wake. There was never any evidence of widespread fraud to flip the final results, but from Trump threatening the Georgia Secretary of States to produce almost 12,000 illegal votes to deliver him the state recorded on tape to Trump railing in front of The White House captured on video to his crazed rednecks that they must march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol Building to reclaim the nation, there is black-and-white evidence to convict a dictatorial and delusional madman to prison that only those who have gouged out their eyes in order not to face reality refuse to see.

It is not over. There has been a call to arms by Trump's militias. They plan attacks on Washington D.C. and state capitols. Nobody has forgotten Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma bombing or the many murders executed by White Nationalists. They walk the walk. They let their weapons talk the talk. Their threats are not empty words. Nothing would give them more fulfillment than bringing down our government. As ludicrous as it may sound, they are crazier than Trump. 

DISGRACED DONALD TRUMP

Disgraced Donald Trump--we no longer call him president of the United States anymore because we have no doubts that surrogates trusted by Congress are guarding the nuclear codes and making the day-to-day decisions for the next nine days until Joe Biden is inaugurated--has lived by the lie and his words will sentence him to die. There are so many nails that we aren't sure which one will be the final one in his coffin, but let's spend a few minutes speculating about two of his most infamous statements.

"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any votes," he bawled in his best Billy the Kid imitation.

Maybe Washington D.C. has different rules than New York. He stood in front of The White House and spurred his vigilantes to take back the country by assailing the U.S. Capitol Building. These trailer trash traitors looking for a "wild" time as Trump had promised them apparently thought they could kill with the same impunity as Trump and now six Americans are dead. Will this murderous rampage cost Trump any votes in spite of his prediction that they wouldn't. More importantly, will this bloodshed cost Trump his freedom?

There isn't a chick that Trump wouldn't screw--with the exception of the ugly gringas of Brownsville--and he hasn't had any qualms paying thousands to women of questionable repute for the pleasure. They say that Russia's Putin controls the latter because he has Trump on film in Moscow frolicking with Communists females performing their patriotic duty.

"You know I'm automatically attracted to beauty," he said on tape during his 2016 campaign. "I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do anything. You can grab them by the pussy. You can do anything."

In a book authored by Barry Levine and Monique El Faizy entitled All the President's Women--Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator, they cite 26 cases of unwanted sexual contact and 43 instances of inappropriate behavior. They feature each woman, name included, who described their frightening encounters with the maniac.

Two of these women are presently pursuing suits against the alleged rapist Trump. Apparently, as an ex-president he is going to learn the hard way--no pun intended--that not all female appreciate his romantic advances.

Before his miserable life enters its next phase as an American exiled in his own country, he faces impeachment in the House of Representatives. He may go down as the only president impeached twice in the nation's history. His defenders--after enabling Trump to divide the country for four years--are howling hollowly that the Democrats' decision to move forward with impeachment will further divide the country.

The country is deeply divided by those who wanted to overthrow the government and those who rose to defend the government. It is time to bring the former to justice with their anti-American behavior beginning with the biggest Benedict Arnold of all--Donald Trump.

Two policeman died defending one of our most sacred institutions. Their blood is on Trump's hands. As usual, the Republicans can look the other way as they have for four years, but the Democrats are not going to allow this tyrant to escape justice. We must cut off the head of the snake in order to inform his militias in no uncertain terms that without their Hitler it's time to hit the highway or suffer the same fate as the Confederacy.

Impeach Trump! We must take this first step in order to reclaim our democracy and demonstrate to his rats that it's time to jump ship or they will be in for some deep shit. 

TWITTER

Twitter has permanently suspended Dr. G.F. McHale-Scully for leading his readers against Erasmo Castro, Carlos Elizondo and Viro Cardenas with his inflammatory speech during the Brownsville Independent School District board races in which his reckless rhetoric led to the death of their political careers.

Forgive the hyperbole. I don't have a Twitter account, but I do have Google and Facebook accounts. I know something about censorship as I have experienced it on several occasions and suffered stiff penalties as part of their editorial decisions.

The conservative media, going to extraordinary lengths to distract the public from focusing on Donald Trump's diatribe delivered in front of The White House to the delight of thousands of redneck followers and religious bigots that resulted in the death of five Americans when Trump urged them to take their grievances down Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol Building and demand a reckoning, have succumbed to hysteria because Twitter pulled Trump's account.

"After a careful study of recent tweets from Donald Trump's account and their context--including how they are understood and interpreted on and off Twitter--we have permanently suspended the account due to risk of further incitement to violence," stated the company. 

Trump has been out-of-control since he first assumed the presidency. The Washington Post estimates that he has used Twitter to tell more than 20,000 lies. With the unprecedented incident four days ago in which he urged his fanatics to fight for him while he took refuge in The White House, Twitter decided it had had enough of his incendiary language and decided to silence him

This is not the end of free speech as the Right weeps its crocodile tears. Twitter, Facebook and all the social media outlets are private companies. The president isn't the victim of Giant Tech who have become the next scapegoat for Trump's ignorant adherents. They only have purpose when Trump presents them with a convenient enemy because only hate courses through their veins.

Let me tell you my story with Giant Tech. Google warned me about my content when I moved El Rocinante from a newspaper form to the internet. When I didn't heed the admonition, Google permanently closed down El Rocinante. The company accompanied this decision with an explanation that I didn't have a right to use Google nor did Google owe me any reason for its decision.

This last year Facebook suspended me five different times for allegedly engaging in bullying, harassment and hate speech. There was no record to the previous years and the previous suspensions. I was not in agreement and voiced my displeasure, but Facebook countered that I was not in compliance with its community standards.

With Trump's defenders making a public show about the death of the First Amendment to divert our attention from the despicable show Trump led last Wednesday, they have no standing as the courts like to say. Twitter, Facebook and the rest are private companies who enforce rules. If I appear before the school district board to articulate my criticisms in a free speech exercise, the BISD clearly stipulates which subjects are debatable and which subjects aren't debatable. 

I have worked for several newspapers in which my commentary has led to the firing on various individuals. I started my own newspaper publishing my own opinions which led the school board to vote 4-3 not to fire me because I had accused the superintendent and athletic director of being racists. They sought justice with TEA in Austin and twice I journeyed to the capital with my teaching certificate on the table. I prevailed.

Invoking free speech, I have had my life threatened. I can't count the number of times from football coaches and beaten politicians I was going to get my ass kicked. My enemies have stopped at nothing as they have invaded my personal life and family relations to sow discord for my commentaries.

I am a nobody and scrutinize the price I had paid for free speech. I would still be teaching today, but in my 39th year in the BISD then superintendent Dr. Esperanza Zendejas commanded me to stop writing fiction--fiction!!!--because in my novels, short stories and poems administrators and parents found my literature disturbing. I retired with my good name. Zendejas, another victim of karma, was eventually fired for all intents and purposes. And to think that she is a writer who would not back a fellow author!!!

I have said this many times. Freedom is not given; it is taken. And free speech? It comes at a high price for which you pay an extraordinary steep fe. Twitter banning Trump has nothing to do with free speech. Just like I have abused Google and Facebook despite their reprimands and served my time in quietude, Trump has never stopped yelling "Fire! Fire! Fire!" in a crowded theatre. Now that the stampede of those running for their lives has led to death of five Americans, the coward Trump wants to play the victim because Twitter will no longer print any more of his lies that lead to death.

WE HAVE NOT WON THE WAR

It's an argument I have often made: The blogs exist to report on Brownsville. Nobody is interested in our opinions concerning the national scene. The conservative and liberal thinkers with the ability to decipher English reach for the Wall Street Journal or The New York Times when they want the latest from Washington D.C.

I'll just say this once and with my apologies to the families who have lost 370,000 members: "God bless COVID-19. It killed Donald Trump." We have had to pay a terrible price for this victory, but Trump would still be president if it weren't for the pandemic.

I have been infected by Trump Derangement Syndrome just like I'm sure Jews during WWII were diagnosed with Hitler Derangement Syndrome. "We won!" gleefully shouted my buddies over buckets of beers at The Palm Lounge. Unlike me, they thought the war was over in early November. I knew better.

One faceless individual among millions of anonymous Americans, I have stayed in the most forward trenches on this front as the Blue Army has awaited Trump's Red Army's counterattack. Even though we outnumber them 81 million to 74 million, we know from history that the outnumbered Confederates would not go down without a fight even though the Union forces had more soldiers and fire power. 

I could imagine a General Trump outside a besieged Atlanta as Sherman's troops slowly strangled the Southern stronghold imploring his legions, "Do you want goddamn niggers raping your virgin daughters? Then follow my lead and fight." 

But like he told the thousands of rednecks and racists at his White House rally to march behind him to lay siege to the U.S. Capitol and then slinked back to the Oval Office to watch the Battle of Washington D.C. from his multiple televisions, a General Trump, complaining that his bone spurs precluded him from actual combat, would have retired to a Peachstreet bar with a couple of prostitutes at his side and a bottle of whiskey in front of him.

"I knew Bobby Lee and you ain't no Bobby Lee, Donald!"

Nevertheless, I recognized that the huge Red Army had drunk the kool-aid and they weren't going to surrender without one last hurrah. "It's not over," I've told my comrades time and time again. "I feel like Paul Revere and I tell you the Trump zombies inspired by hate are coming. I'm not leaving my post."

The Battle of Washington D.C. has ended more disastrously for Trump and his traitors than the Battle of Midway did for the Japanese. Trump is a pariah as are members of his family and the pusillanimous politicians who metamorphosed from leaders into followers because they lived in such fear of his shadow. I can shout fearlessly at the top of my lungs in defense of my country and the Constitution, "You are a piece of worthless shit, Donald, and may you wallow in a sewer for eternity."

Nevertheless, I have not left my post. I'm armed and alert. Trump's once powerful army has dwindled significantly, but they have formed bands of marauding and murdering desperados with the bloodthirsty and anti-government instincts of a William Quantrill or a Nathan Bedford Forrest. Nothing gave these rebels greater pleasure than killing white folk who were sympathetic to black folk.

We have vanquished the enemy in several major battles in recent weeks beginning with the defeat of Trump at the polls, the fall of two Georgia senators and Congress certifying Biden's victory. In eleven days, Trump will begin his exile. He has chosen Florida where he will plot his comeback like Napoleon Bonaparte at Elba, but he is a doomed figure who will fall again and find himself condemned to live his last days in Mississippi.

But I am keeping my powder dry. We have not won the war. There are millions of racists in this country who are more committed to making the United States an Aryan nation than Adolf Hitler imposing his white is right ethnic cleansing on Germany. I christen them members of the South African Apartheid Republican Party and they intend to prevail. 

There are 81 million of us. We must convinced these renegades that they have met their match. I believe in the Second Amendment and I'm keeping my finger on the trigger. They are already bragging that they captured the U.S. Capitol Building and killed a cop. We are dealing with dangerous killers and they have not surrendered. Like Trump, they have become so delusional and unhinged that they have committed themselves to a kamikaze mission.

I remain, faithfully yours, on the front lines. I'm just a private fulfilling my duty to my country.

FOUR DEAD IN OHIO

"Four dead in Ohio," sang Neil Young during the Vietnam war when protesters were gunned down at Kent State. Is it time for a Young sequel entitled "Four dead in Washington D.C" or are these Trump Confederates undeserving of the same homage for ransacking the U.S. Capitol Building?

As a coach stalking the sidelines as well as being a sports aficionado, I look at the numbers. Ancient philosophers were looking for certainty as they pondered the incomprehensible and turned to math to create a foundation from which one could derive truths.

What are today's numbers? Deaths from COVID-19, the challenge that led to Trump's defeat because he failed to rise to the occasion, now surpass 365,000. Congress certified Joe Biden and Pamela Harris as the next president and vice president of the United States as the electoral college votes remained unchanged, 306-232. As a result of that approval, there remain only 13 days to Trump's presidency.

Perhaps I should eliminate "only" from the previous sentence. We may be looking at the longest and unluckiest 13 days of our lives. It could also be shorter. Under the 25th Amendment, Trump's cabinet could remove him. This may be Trump's best option. A President Mike Pence could issue him a federal pardon for his many crimes against humanity although we don't believe the families of the 365,000 dead, that may exceed 400,000 by the time he is ushered out of The White House with his hands tied behind his back and under armed guard, will never forgive him.

Will the majority of America ever forgive him, his family and his sycophants? We are fortunate that we are witnessing the true Trump in the wake of his defeat. It's easy to smile when you are a winner, but do you exhibit that same positive countenance when you lose? In Trump's case, the facade has fallen away and revealed a monster who gorges on Democrats and Republicans alike if they don't adhere to his dictates.

He must have been proud of his mob on Wednesday. He urged them to follow him down Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol Building and intimidate those cautious Republicans, including the vice president, into defying the Constitution and declaring him the winner. 

Of course, Trump didn't lead them anywhere. He wasn't going to walk to the walk. He retired to The White House and turned on the television. He has talked the talked for more than four years now and his followers have listened to his every word as if it were scripture. They marched to their destination and when they had wreaked their destruction on one of the country's most sacred buildings at the same time the transition of power from Trump to Biden was in the procedural stage before a full Congress, blood was running down its hallowed halls. 

Where are the Trumpsters these days? I never receive a comment on Facebook from them when they used to flood the site with their hysteria in the past. Is Trump going to summon his militias to lay siege to state capitols? These poor fools put their faith in Jesus only to discover their Pied Piper was the devil. What is the difference between a Trumpster and a hamster? You'll never find a hamster in a dumpster. (I'm sorry, but it was either this or Trumpsters like it in the rumpsters. The rhyming possibilities are limited)

We can sleep easier, not easily. We are dealing with an insane man who has no limits. Only a few days ago he was on the phone threatening the Georgia Secretary of State to slip him 11,780 votes and declaring him the victor after an alleged eleventh-hour recalculation. Instead of finding himself in the victory column, his outrageous shenanigans cost Georgia two Republican senators and control of the Senate.

I religiously read Fox; we must know the enemies better than our friends. Their candidates have lost control of the Presidency, the Senate and the House. The Democrats have the power for the next two years. (Holding onto power is like clinging to air.) They will go for it and erase Trump's legacy. And that's a good thing. I have had my fill of hate. 

But to listen to the Fox airheads is to laugh at their futility. They try their best to shift the focus on every issue that doesn't fit their narrative. One example: They are outraged that the Democrats aren't showing the same disgust for the Portland riots as they are showing for Trump's troops arguably attempting a coup.

I will meet Trump supporters--I guess they still support him after his string of losses and excesses following the November elections to the present--in bars and listen to their defense of their Anti-Christ. It will be the blame game, but their bloviating will fall on deaf ears. They lost the game. 

Trump is officially a loser. Trump is done. Trump will go down as the worst president in the history of the United States. Trump's con is over. And Trump the con will forever remain on the run.

TRUMP TOWER

The House of Trump is falling, but the cornered rats have no place to go so they haven't jumped ship.

Donald Trump has lost his mind. Has he lost touch with reality? He calls the Georgia Secretary of State and tells him to "recalculate" the election results by finding thousands of votes for him to flip the state against Joe Biden, The Secretary of State, burned by Trump previously, records the conversation. The Doubting Thomases finally discover that Trump isn't their savior after all. Strike one!

He flies to Georgia Monday night to campaign for the two Senate candidates with the Republicans holding a precarious 50-48 advantage against the Democrats. Instead of endorsing his fellow Republicans, he whines as he has been whining non-stop for eight weeks that the election was stolen from him even though he won in a landslide. Trump has never been good with numbers. The next day his two stooges are defeated and the Democrats now control the Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris holding the tie-breaking vote. Strike two!

Wednesday morning he appeals before thousands of his supporters to protest the certification of Biden and Harris for president and vice president. Once again, it's another encore performance with Trump weeping about his stolen presidency. He then directs his hooligans to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to voice their concerns. Typical rednecks and racists in their attire and attitudes, they charge the U.S. Capitol building. It is a scene out of a South American movie featuring a coup. Strike three!

And he still hasn't struck our nor will he concede that he has struck out. As aficionados who are disconcerted  that Trump doesn't play by the rules, we have no other choice but to expand the rules. We can only add more strikes to his count.

He has been protesting to Vice President Mike Pence that the VP has the legal authority to dismiss electoral votes. Trump argues that this authority is hidden in the small print somewhere in the Constitution. Pence, always pensive, takes out his glasses and reads the Constitution which he keeps folded inside his bible. After a thorough perusal, Pence concludes that he doesn't have the legal right to execute Trump's orders and rejects his boss's bullying. Strike Four!

At the end of the day or tomorrow, depending on the actions of Trump's mob who have reduced their hero's glory to infamy, both the Senate and the  House by significant margins will certify that Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States on January 20th. Strike Five!

And like their father, the Trump siblings have made complete asses out of themselves. Eric Trump told the family's confessor, Fox's Sean Hannity, that every Republican who didn't bend to the will of the president would be "primaried" when they sought reelection. Is there anyone in American who couldn't kick this spoiled brat's butt on the playground? Strike Six!

He's not called Junior for nothing because he's as big a blowhard as his father. Don Jr. taunted the recalcitrant politicians who weren't going to buckle to the old man's demands as being zeroes rather than heroes. The coddled punk has less worth than a hill of beans who farts out of his mouth. Strike Seven!

Ivanka, whose father claims that her tits are better than Melania's, called the trailer trash climbing the Capitol walls in an reenactment of the storming of the Bastille "patriots" as they ransacked Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's office while breaking windows and turning over furniture in a riot that has reportedly left one dead and several injured. Strike Eight!

A cat has nine lives. How many strikes does Trump get? His critics argue that he has nine strikes because losing the presidency was his first swing and miss. Two weeks from today he won't be making any more appearances at the plate although nobody doubts he will be making several appearances in court. The electorate has ejected him. Like a man with a limp dick, Trump will be slumped over dragging his bat behind him as he exits the playing field and disappears into the night, never revered, always reviled.

BASTARD TRUMP

Me: Do you finally understand the reasons that I have never quit attacking Trump? He hopes that tomorrow with the certification of the president and the vice president, which is his last stand, that his vice-president, sympathetic senators and right-wing representatives will create a scenario eliminating Biden's 306-232 electoral college lead and flip the advantage to Trump, thus rewarding him with a second term. It's all about power and I feel more comfortable with the Democrats in total control. Tonight, with the Republicans holding a  50-48 margin in the Senate, we have the two Georgia elections. If the Democrats win, Vice President Kamala Harris is the tie-breaking vote and for at least the next two years and Biden's agenda prevails. If the Republicans maintain their majority by winning one if not both of these seats, then Biden will have a much more difficult uphill battle. We lost seats in the House, but we still have the hammer with a 222-211 advantage and two vacancies.

You: I watched Trump in Georgia and he was in fine form. His critics keep saying he crossed the line when he called the Georgia Secretary of State to recalculate the votes and provide him with 11,780 ballots, one more than Biden, providing him with a one-vote victory. There are no lines for this man. But I can't comprehend his stupidity. Why didn't he ask for 15,000 votes to make his case at least on the surface seem more plausible if he really thought he could escape detection with this illegal stunt? Nobody would believe for a second that Trump had suddenly emerged victorious with a one-vote margin. The man is an animal. If the hen house is our democracy, we need to run this fox into the high grass as quickly as possible. Who do you think are going to win the Senate races?

Me: I cannot believe that Georgia is a blue state yet. It still has the Confederacy written all over its face. My heart, of course, is with the Democrats, but if I had to bet my life, I believe the Republicans will win by two or three percentage points. We go in as an underdog, but I am still hopeful we can eke out a victory. If the Republicans lose, I won't say this is the final nail in Trump's coffin, but he will have lost significant credibility. If he wins, however, he will retain his crown as the One-Eye King in the land of the blind. 

You: I fear that a sweep by Trump will add to his momentum Wednesday when the certification goes before Congress. It is incredible to me that so many Senators and more than a hundred Representatives want to nullify the Biden victories in several states and via some technicality, which no one has explained yet, assure Trump's reelection, which will be nothing more than a democratic coup.

Me: I feel you, bro, and that's the fire behind my relentless fury day after day writing about this worthless son of a bitch because Trump and these Republicans are fanatical. Their political religion is infused with paranoia and they see the devil everywhere. I'm a liberal with a pragmatic perspective. When these Republicans start railing about the radical left and their adherence to Marxism and Socialism and rooting out religion and taking away our guns, I don't know anyone in Brownsville who thinks that way. But on the other hand, these Chicken Little Republicans are crying that the end of the world is at hand. They are hysterical hypocrites who are motivated by Trump's racist rhetoric. I have three sons who are half Mexican-American and two step-children who are Mexican-American. Once the ghost of Santa Anna rises and defeats White-America as he and his troops did at the Alamo and Goliad, we will be a better country. I was raised in White America and a significant minority are trailer trash. They are like pigs rooting around in their sties blissfully mired in their ignorance. Since they can't think for themselves, they are always looking for a second Moses to lead them to the Promised Land. Stalin taught his people to read so he could better control them with his propaganda. Trump has fashioned a message that resonates with these failed individuals' anger and by dividing he has conquered.

You: In our calmer moments our leaders, both Democrats and Republicans, counsel us that we must put our differences aside and cooperate in order to build a better America. I listen, but I can't find common ground with people who worship Trump because if he were a Greek god, he would be the god of hate. And only his indifference overshadows his incompetence. He has destroyed our economy. He keeps talking about his triumphs over China. What triumphs? China is laughing at us. They look at time in terms of centuries. Today we have eclipsed 360,000 deaths as the pandemic rages stronger than at any time in the past. Instead of fighting this enemy, Trump refuses to concede because it would be a surrender to his perceived enemy--more than half of the American people. What do you think will happen when Congress certifies the election?

Me: You have to look at the stats. In order for Trump's gambit to have any success, it has to pass both chambers of Congress. In the House there is a 222 majority. If this game adheres to the rules, Trump has already lost. In the end there are enough middle-of-the-road Republicans and the House will certify Biden and Harris, 295 to 140. In the Senate there are 48 Democrats. Among the 50 Republicans--I don't think the winners of the Georgia elections will be seated yet--there is a solid majority behind Biden and Harris and I predict a 85-15 outcome. The pundits argue that Trump will have no more options, but they forget that he will have two more weeks in office and he is capable of making a deluded Don Quijote seem like a visionary. I will continue to fulminate for the next two weeks. If you see me at a bar and I'm frothing at the mouth, you will know the reason. I will not rest until he is sex-feet-under and a 200-storey building is constructed atop his grave.