IGNORANCE ABOUNDS

I’m sure there are some very qualified individuals in President Trump’s administration, but they must be hidden in a closet somewhere and not allowed to speak in public. Most public comments from his advisers and from Trump himself indicate that our executive branch is being led by people who 1) have never read the Constitution or 2) don’t understand the Constitution or 3) don’t care about the Constitution. His administration has an agenda, and no old piece of paper will get in their way.

I’d bet $1,000 that neither President Trump or any of his public-facing advisers could pass a U.S. Citizenship test. Further, in addition to ignorance regarding The Constitution, many of President Trump’s appointees have absolutely no clue about the substantive areas for which they are responsible.

Our countries’ founders were well read and were profoundly influenced by writers from the Enlightenment period such as Locke, Kant, Hobbes, and Montesquieu, and they were very familiar with other classical writers such as Cicero, Aristotle, and Livy. Of course many were also influenced by The Bible because they or their ancestors immigrated here from Christian-dominated countries. Had they immigrated from the Middle East they would have been influenced by Islam, by Hinduism had they come from India, by Confucianism had they been from China, etc.

So The Constitution our Founders wrote was based on ideas, not ideologies. The Founders brought together the very best ideas from past writers and thinkers and wrote what is the oldest and most enduring written constitution on the planet.

My, how times have changed. I’m sure you know I have plenty of examples. Also remember that I’m barely scratching the surface.

Kristi Noem

President Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security (who wrote about shooting her dog in a gravel pit) was recently asked by the House’s Homeland Security Committee to explain Habeas Corpus, a right clearly enunciated in Article I of the Constitution stating that “The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require”. A Writ of Habeas Corpus guarantees the right to petition a court alleging unlawful detention or imprisonment, thus forcing law enforcement officials or others to bring an individual before the court so that a judge may determine the legitimacy of her or his detention.

When asked to define habeas corpus, Noem replied: "Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country." Her response was not even in the “ballpark”. In fact it was not even in the solar system, but she repeatedly defended her answer. Every first year college student who passed my American Government class knows the meaning of habeas corpus, and it is quite alarming that the individual responsible for our security has no clue what it means.

RFK, Jr

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is President Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, a position obviously responsible for helping Americans remain healthy based on scientific evidence and data supporting that evidence, but Jr. has offered enough dumb quotes and ideas to fill volumes. I’ll hit the “lowlights”.

• Referring to Fluoride, Jr. said that the ''more you get, the stupider you are, and we need smart kids in this country, and we need healthy kids”. Since 1962 the U.S. Public Health Service has recommended adding small amounts of fluoride to water supplies to promote oral health, especially in children. Even the American Dental Association, comprised of doctors who benefit from poor oral health, promotes fluoride. Under RFK, Jr. the CDC’s Division of Oral Health was eliminated.

• Speaking of cuts, under Jr’s leadership HHS eliminated programs that “helped states address infectious disease, mental health, and childhood vaccination”. In a recent interview Kennedy was asked whether he approved, to which he responded: “I’m not familiar with those cuts”. When further pressed about his department’s elimination of a $750,000 grant to the University of Michigan researching adolescent diabetes he replied: “I didn’t know that”.

• In the past Kennedy also raised doubts about vaccinations even though the research overwhelmingly concludes that they save lives, especially those of children. Kennedy argued that vaccines lead to autism although ALL real evidence is to the contrary. He used ONE study, a study that does not meet standards for scientific reliability, to support his conclusions. A Danish study of 657,000 children, on the other hand, found absolutely no connection between vaccines and autism. Because of such crackpot ideas measles cases have skyrocketed in recent years, and half of those cases resulted in hospitalization. Most cases involved children.

Pam Bondi

In an April 30th Cabinet meeting President Trump’s Attorney General, Pam Bondi, claimed that by seizing 22 million fentanyl tablets in 100 days Trump’s Department of Justice had saved 258 million American lives. First, the number of fentanyl pills seized could be questioned, but even if that number is accurate Bondi is claiming that Trump has saved approximately 75% of Americans’ lives. And her conclusion was actually a “correction” from her earlier assertion that only 22 million lives had been saved during Trump’s first 100 days. Last year 55,000 Americans died of fentanyl overdose (not 258 million), but I’m sure you are delighted that Trump saved 75% of your family from fentanyl overdose. Math was obviously not Bondi’s strong suit at Stetson University.

Pete Hegseth

As everyone now knows, Trump’s Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has repeatedly used an insecure communication app called “Signal” to discuss sensitive military plans, conversations that likely put American troops in danger by disclosing battle plans prior to their implementation. By the way, the conservative New York Post finds that Hegseth, a Fox News personality, was appointed to his Cabinet-level position by writing a book accusing the military of being “woke” because during and after Barack Obama’s presidency the military “poured the social justice foundation — the Pentagon, across all branches, has embraced the social justice message of gender equality, racial diversity, climate stupidity, and the LGBTQA+ alphabet soup in their recruiting pushes…”. Right, Pete. Only straight, white, men who care nothing for the environment should be allowed to defend our country. Unless, of course, they have bone spurs.

President Trump

In a recent interview with The Atlantic President Trump stated: “…I run the country and the world”. He’s obviously not familiar with the first three Articles of the U.S. Constitution, and I’m pretty sure 194 other countries disagree with that assertion. Every American and citizen on the planet should be alarmed by that one narcissistic statement alone. But there’s plenty more. In addition to his claims to take Greenland and make Canada our 51st state:

• He has created a new crypto meme coin called $Trump and another for his wife. When asked about the coin he replied: “I don't know much about it other than I launched it, other than it was very successful.” I’ll not engage in conspiracy theories, but his crypto coin could easily be used for nefarious purposes.

• When former President Biden’s aggressive prostate cancer was announced, Trump posted on social media that Biden has “Stage 9” cancer (there is no such stage) although Biden did score 9 on the Gleason scale. After expressing sympathy for Biden, he couldn’t avoid conspiracy theories and stated: “What I want to know is how did Dr. Jill Biden miss stage five metastatic cancer or is this yet another coverup???” (remember that her doctorate is in Education…not medicine, but I guess President Trump doesn’t know the difference). Let me help. I’m 71 years old. Doctors do not perform routine PSA tests or perform DRE’s (thank goodness!!) for us old guys because the older we are the more likely false positives will result. From personal experience I recently learned that the only time these tests are performed is if symptoms occur. Further, there ARE forms of prostate cancer that are so aggressive that they are not caught until they are advanced. Just take the time to read this.

• On Wednesday of this week President Trump was hosting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is black. Well…Trump actually ambushed Ramaphosa, accusing his country of engaging in “white genocide”, confronting his guest with a fake video produced by a fringe South African politician. When Ramaphosa, his Minister of Defense (who is white), and South Africa’s richest man (who is white) tried to correct Trump, he talked over them. Do you wonder why other countries no longer respect The United States? Ramaphosa could have asked Trump why a fringe member of his own party, Marjorie Taylor Greene, was asking Trump to pardon Derek Chauvin, the white cop who was recorded murdering a black man.

• President Trump accused Ukraine of starting the war with Russia, saying Ukraine “should have never started “ the war. Trump claimed that any “half-baked negotiator” could have ended the war with no loss of life or territory.

• Past presidents have received elephants, pandas, lions, zebras, gold snuff boxes, desks, jelly beans, puppies, and other such gifts. Any gifts are accepted on behalf of the United States, and some years 15,000 such gifts are accepted. The Constitution (that pesky document) prohibits federal officials from personally accepting gifts from foreign states without the consent of Congress, and The Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act requires executive officials to disclose any gift valued at $480 or more. President Trump has now accepted a $400 million plane from Qatar which he says will be in his presidential library (right…a $400 million plane sitting in his museum). And it is likely a boondoggle because retrofitting it as Air Force One will probably not be completed during Trump’s presidency (although it will be completed in time to “add to his library”), and experts assert that taxpayers will likely pay $1 billion for the retrofit. Numerous Republicans (and probably ALL Democrats) consider this an illegal donation and a threat to national security. Others argue that Qatar is unloading a plane they find troublesome and overly expensive. And one must wonder what Qatar expects in return.

• And Trump has attacked George Clooney as a “fake movie actor”, said Bruce Springsteen was as “dumb as a rock” and “highly overrated” and “not a talented guy” and then produced a fake video of him hitting Springsteen with a golf ball (I guess he DOES have time to play golf), and claimed Taylor Swift “was no longer hot” after he publicly stated “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT”. He is obviously quite sensitive to criticism, a rather petty trait for a president or ANY leader. By the way, Swift is a self-made billionaire who did not receive $400 million in seed money from her father.

If any Republicans have made it this far I’m sure they have concluded that I’m a hack for the Democratic Party. Let me anger some of my Democrat readers by disclosing something I’ve never disclosed; a partial list of Republicans I’ve previously supported.

• Richard Nixon (I was barely 18, dumb, living in Mississippi. I regret that vote)

• Bob Dole

• George H.W. Bush

• John Kasich

• John McCain (until he chose Sarah Palin as a running mate)

There are others on the national, state, and local levels. I’ve also voted for moderate independent candidates such as John Anderson and would have voted for intelligent Republicans such as Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell had they chosen to run. But to be clear, I will vote for NO Republicans unless that party returns to its true conservative roots and breaks away from the current personality cult.

I realize that my blog posts are becoming more, as my son says, “scorched Earth”, but my fear for Madison’s Republic increases daily. Our country survived The War of 1812, the Civil War, The Great Depression, The Cuban Missile Crisis, Pearl Harbor, Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson, the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the 1929 Stock Market crash, the attacks on September 11, 2001, the COVID pandemic, the attack on our nation’s Capital on January 6, 2021, and other tragic events. I hope we survive the current idiocy. I feel like we are caught up in a bad TV reality show like The Apprentice.

Thanks for following along.

David

PS: Please forgive any editorial errors found in any of my posts. I’m a one-man show, and if you’ve ever written you know that editing one’s own work is very challenging.

'