Sometimes the good news is that not everyone died

Two negative thoughts I woke up with, based on recent (and ongoing) events.

1. A disastrous flash flood caused by a combination of unimaginable amounts of rain in a short period over the Hill Country in Texas plus the inertia facilitated by climate change deniers (i.e. the Republican Party) combined to kill over 100, including dozens of little girls. There's not much to be done about "one off" events like the torrential rain, but there will be many weeks and months of investigations about whether cutting lots of weather service jobs disrupted the normal communications channels that helped get the word out to authorities that flooding was likely. 

But the true negative thought is that because most of the dead were suburban white kids from families with money... and that the camps have been so important to so many well-educated rich women (their testimonies are everywhere right now)... well, I am thinking that if they were kids from the inner city bused to a camp for a week the disaster might quickly be put in the past. 

It's the same thought I have about a year or so from now, when Medicare cuts really kick in, and rural white people suddenly see their local hospital have to close. Oh, NOW they see the problem with a government that doesn't research or plan or even take the time to read a bill. 

2. We might think that our Fearless Leader might knock off for a month of well-deserved vacation, perhaps visiting his many golf courses, rather than leap in with more tariff threats. And not threats against Russia (perhaps he will be starting a golf club near St. Petersburg), but against Japan and South Korea, among our closest allies. 

So the stock market trembles, and that is what tRump loves... to be the cause of any effect. Just watch: in a week or two he will hint that those restored tariff threats are put off again, and the Pavlovian market will soar. 

More to the point: this is what we have to look forward to for the next three years plus. An endless torrent of tRump creating the coverage that reassures him that he is alive and powerful.  

And America just continues to scroll and click and wallow in ignorance.

We fought a war to rid ourselves of tyranny

Independence Day doesn't have quite the effect this year that I would hope for. There will still be grilling and corn and fireworks and hokey patriotic songs (many of which are actually quite sad, like "Born in the USA" or silly, like "Firework," by Katy Perry). 

Our unrestricted ruler will sign a giant bill that may negatively affect the nation beyond his death ("from your lips to God's ears), while boasting and offering special deals on Trump perfumes. 

I read a commentator's answer to why Republican legislators would vote for so many ill-thought policies that not only will make their own voters poorer and more left behind but also blow up the national debt by over ten percent in one bill. So many bemoaned various parts of the bill that Trump, for one, has certainly not read, yet knelt before their Golden Calf and voted "aye."

The theory was that most Republicans so want to "own the libs" that their judgment is clouded and their lust for blood and some imaginary vengeance won the day. Interestingly, a large percentage of Democratic voters are college educated, with professional jobs, investments in the market, stable families, and solid insurance. 

Most Americans covered by Medicaid, likely to take the biggest hit in the next couple years, are people living in Red states or in rural areas of Blue states. Good luck to them as they find their already disappointing lives just little bit worse over the next three or more years. 

But over a third of Americans responded to a poll by saying they knew nothing about the Big Ugly Bill, roughly the percentage of eligible voters who could not be bothered to cast a ballot in the last presidential election. 

Americans love the myth of independence, of the self-made man, of Shane standing up to the bad guys and walking away in solitude. Americans also love the idea that someone will always ride to the rescue, will always provide medical care, and will always offer them a "new deal."

To keep my spirits up, I have been imagining a Democratic takeover of Congress in 2026, followed by Trump getting frustrated and angry at all the new roadblocks to his random pronouncements... and then his resigning as president in 2027, elevating Vance to the gig and (maybe) giving him a boost. I know. That scenario doesn't seem like a great thing overall, but it would at least take Trump out of the equation.

Now THAT would make me happy to be an American. 

Screw the powerless and poor - they will still vote for us

The new reality of American life is that our population, as a whole, cannot comprehend any of the machinations of politics or even governmental policy unless people are directly affected. 

The Trump bill to funnel money to the already wealthy and make life just a little more difficult for the middle class and poor is a good example of this. The fact that the changes will make life a bit harder for many Trump voters apparently is not enough to change their basic opinions.

They hate trans people, or at least would rather not be reminded of them. They are OK with a certain number of hungry, uninsured children, or, again, would rather not be reminded of them. They are OK with peaceful residents of their towns to be arrested on the street by government storm troopers in masks and spirited away to, well, anywhere ICE wants to send them. 

They are hopelessly confused (tough to blame them here) about the effects that will ripple through the country when birthright citizenship becomes a state-by-state decision in 30 days. 

Donald Trump has perfume to sell us while he bullies and threatens any person or nation that defies his bizarre pronouncements. 

The Supreme Court has opted out of any attempts to provide balance in our "three equal branches" of government, allowing the executive branch nearly unlimited power.

Rational Americans are now left to see what very bad results come from the budget bill, should it ever pass, wondering if the appalling Republican Party will be soundly defeated in the midterms, which are forever away. 

Here's a guess: they won't. Americans are overwhelmed and uninformed and uneducated. 

I see that Republicans in a recent poll come in at 92 percent saying they are proud to be Americans and of America. Democrats and Independents are barely above 50 percent in the same survey. Among young people it's down to 44 percent saying they are proud of America.

I honestly could not say I am proud of the country right now, though I certainly wish I could vouch for our status and policies and general principles. 

The America is grew up with might have always had a bit of mythology about it, but we are not the same country. We are changed and I know change is inevitable. 

But this is what lots of people voted for. 

I predict Americans will throw the current bums out in 2026, but it won't be enough to right the ship, so to speak. 

Our best hope is to ride things out and see if we can piece things back together in 2029.