Author: BC

Democratic governance is fully reliant on process. Without established workflows for both reaching and implementing decisions the alternative is simply edicts by whim of individuals, and that’s neither effective or democratic. Modern American executive branch decision making processes have been consistent, time tested and passed down through the decades enough that full college curriculums are designed to explore their component parts and educate new generations of public servants on how best to serve them. Indeed, it is not hyperbole to contend global economic and geopolitical stability rests on the assurance US policy originates and is impelled by process. Three years into the Trump Presidency the cogs of America’s best decision making practices are under relentless attack, dismissed by nihilists as, worse than unnecessary, actually part of the problem, part of the ‘swamp”. The President avers he trusts his gut, as he employs his remote to access Fox’s prime time line up for insights he can use.

The only best practices this Administration appears interested in are what it claims Trump’s properties offer guests who stay for official government functions the President insists on hosting, for a modest fee…. say $546 per night at Mar A Lago. Our tax dollars at work. As for national security matters, well that seems to be a bit more of a sliding scale, and a function of the always vague “executive time.”

From the start of Trump’s term the question was always how much of him would we get. Would he bow to the awesome responsibilities of the office and humble himself enough to recognize the compelling utility of accepting guidance from those with credentials he and everyone of his inner circle did not possess? Surely he will comprehend his standing will depend on at least a modicum of competency and some respect for established processes and traditions. This desperate hope was all that permitted many sleep between election night and Inauguration.

My own feeling was the President’s inauguration speech would tell the tale. If it rose in any way to the occasion, even if stilted and insincere, it would signal Trump was prepared to at least try and reach higher than his station. It wasn’t and he didn’t… not even a bit. The visit to the CIA later in the week, with its then shocking ad-libbed riffing about looting Iraqi oil and Mike Pompeo’s servility, reinforced beyond any doubt campaign-stump Trump would bedevil us throughout his term in office and we were in for a slog. There would be no pleasant surprises, Michelle Obama’s words all the more prescient… the Presidency “reveals who you are.” Not 72 hours in it was already doing just that. Going on three years later nothing is being left to the imagination, and policy formulation has suffered most.

Of course one could argue that any decision making construct is doomed to failure if it views facts as malleable, or worse, the enemy. From the Bay of Pigs to Iraq, the principle lessons of every US folly have reinforced this point. It is now a fully established truth that from the beginning this destructive bent has been, forget a tendency, the guiding practice in this White House. The President is no fan of presentations period, let alone those that offer scenarios not consistent with the images he wants to entertain. Coddling delusions as standard operating procedure to garner Trump’s approval appears how West Wingers approach pursuing policy, when they aren’t at war with each other. Trump likes his staff in a state of nature, at each other’s throats and ready to apply knife to back in the boardroom.

In Team of Vipers, Clifford Sims, who spent about 500 days in the Trump West Wing, describes camps at war with each other, with influencing Trump’s varying whims the object of conquest. On trade, Chief Economic advisor Gary Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin repeatedly talked Trump off the tariff war ledge, even as protectionists Peter Navarro and Wilbur Ross sought to anger him into going to the mats against, not just China, but Western allies as well. Cohn and Navarro detested one another, exactly the way Trump prefers his staff’s relationships, with constructive debate and consensus nonexistent. Cohn lost that war, and now he is gone as “tariff man” boasts daily of winning against all those who played us for suckers – read everybody.

Original Chief-of-Staff Reince Priebus was almost immediately neutered and lost all ability to referee the chaos, so John Kelly was brought in to instill some military discipline…. another abject failure. Now? Who knows? What is certain is there is no team in this Presidency, merely supplicants fighting each other to gain the jefe’s ear until he grows bored and distracted. That’s not a process, that’s Lord Of The Flies meets The Apprentice.

Back in the Cold War late 80s, Kuwait suckered the Reagan Administration into protecting its tankers against attack by flirting with the Soviets. When Iran went after a US frigate escorting a Kuwaiti tanker and killed 10 crewmen, Reagan had to respond, and he did. Two staging areas used by Revolutionary guards were wiped out, and several other violent encounters left more Iranians dead. It seemed to do the job, as Iran became less aggressive. Reagan enjoyed praise for the measured action, which did not escalate as critics warned.

Now the Lindsey Grahams and Tom Cottons are looking for any mic available to hold out the Gipper as a model for action. The situations couldn’t be more different. Back then Iran was slogging through a disastrous war with Iraq, and reeling from inner turmoil. The last thing it needed was a battle of attrition with a wholly unencumbered US. Now, it is us who is leashed by constant war, which has benefitted Iran’s position in the region immeasurably. Sanctions have hurt their economy and they still suffer internal strife, but Trump has so damaged the US brand, standing up to us can only gain the Mullahs fans at home and abroad.

Speculation runs the gamut as to why Trump pulled back at the last minute from bombing Iran. Everything from credible reports the leadership never sanctioned Iran’s attack on the drone, to Tucker Carlson convincing the President the risks were too high has received attention. With Trump anything is possible. It’s clear those responsible for carrying out an attack were against it, as Pentagon leaders opposed rabid John Bolton’s frothing for conflict.

In the end, perhaps the most sobering observation was made by a former defense official, who called the final product “a good decision from a bad process.” This official, who requested anonymity, stated Pentagon officials involved in the meetings left alarmed by a chaotic setting “ where it’s not really clear how decisions are made.” He went on to observe that “I don’t know if anyone could go from the Pentagon to Congress to brief them on what the White House’s strategy is.” That should alarm most. Of course, Trump apologists will shrug and contend that’s just how he rolls. Rolls where?….. off a cliff? BC

Whatever images and wonderings of becoming a member of the highest court in the land Chief Justice John Roberts may have had on the way to meeting his destiny, it’s doubtful becoming flyover America’s most despised person occupied too much space. After all, we most always protect our personal dreams from the unpleasantries that are possible, even probable, if they are realized. Mickey Mantle surely never fantasized becoming a Yankee legend would include constant physical pain and functional alcoholism. Did Joltin Joe DiMaggio believe it possible to both become one of America’s greatest icons AND die lonely and unconnected with his adoring public? Probably not. Careful what you wish for, you might get it is very wise counsel indeed, but usually only gets considered in the rear view mirror, not before one gets to where they’re going.

When John Roberts was tapped by W Bush to sit on the high court, it was as uncontroversial a selection as has been made in the post-Earl Warren era. His confirmation hearings, from the start strictly a pro forma affair, were a love fest on both sides of the aisle. Initially he was meant to become a mere Associate Justice, replacing retiring Sandra Day O’Connor. But that changed with the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, opening up the top slot, which W didn’t hesitate to insert Roberts into. The Senate Judiciary Committee had no problem with that. Roberts’ intellect and talent were unquestioned, his demeanor impeccable, and there wasn’t a hint of scandal anywhere to be found. Conservative, yes, but not so rigid it eclipsed his thoughtfulness and adroit evasion of drama. If there were a prototype for an acceptable nominee from an unacceptably obtuse President, Roberts was surely it. The outcome was never in doubt, the future so bright it required shades.

Now Roberts straddles his court as not only its procedural leader, but also determining vote on a slew of issues coming its way that could decide America’s future as a going democratic concern. The Roberts court is poised to consider cases so explosive, its rulings will determine the fundamental direction of America… moving ahead or retreating to the past. Have we evolved, or simply taken two steps forward that now will be met with five steps back. There is no middle ground, America now rests on unstable lily pads in a pond of disdain; leaping forward or backward is all that is possible. Of course, nothing defines that reality more succinctly than the status of Roe v Wade.

There is little to the imagination about the objective behind recent ugly, regressive anti-abortion laws passed by Alabama, Georgia and Missouri. They want to force the Roberts Court to take up Roe v Wade by so brazenly breaking the law it becomes an urgent priority that can’t wait. Is there really a difference between the Hand Maiden’s Tale nonsense they enacted and, say, legislation to once again segregate lunch counters and water fountains? None at all. They are outright breaking the law of the land, which has been reaffirmed repeatedly since 1973. The only difference between what Alabama zealots pushed through and writing a law to reintroduce Jim Crow measures is the level of confidence the proponents have in the political viability of one versus the other…. but give that time. Were Trump to start babbling about how unfair it is whites have to wait for dinner seating uppity blacks are now allowed to occupy, that slop could start sticking to the GOP wall of shame as well. Never say never these days.

The current make up of the court gives Roberts the deciding vote on any close call. Roe v Wade is established law, reaffirmed time and again over a period of 45 years, through more than four terms of Republican Presidents. If stare decisis means anything at all as a regulating legal principle, it applies to Roe v Wade. Although Alito, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh all gave lip service to precedent’s role in deciding cases, none inspire confidence when it comes to sailing against even modest headwinds to their pre-court political identities, let alone the violent blowback upholding Roe v Wade would produce. Clarence Thomas, of course, is utterly incapable of pleasant surprises.

That leaves Roberts between safe, legal abortion and rapist coparenting. The Chief Justice, in both word and action, appears cognizant of history’s judgements. Unlike either Gorsuch or Kavanaugh, he always presented as a heavyweight jurist, obligated to significantly more than stuffing square politics and conservative ideology into round holes of Supreme Court decision making. And make no mistake, overturning Roe v Wade, particularly against the backdrop of legislative idiocy by white, male, potbellied extremists, intent on codifying the Fox/AM misogyny their political fortunes depend on, will rank right up there with Dred Scott and the Korematsu decision that enabled Japanese internment. It will be rightly condemned as a preposterous usurpation of established legal precedent by political, or worse, religious expediency. No Chief Justice can want that stench on his legacy.

Yet and still, John Roberts is human, with a personal life and family. What awaits if he permits conscience and integrity to guide him is very harsh indeed. He will instantly become Judas to scores of zealots, who assumed he could be counted on to provide baby killing doctors and the harlots who seek their services the wrath they deserve. Should Roberts uphold Roe v Wade, Trump will have a new John McCain to bash. He will surely want to make clear to the wretched core his boys toed the line; it was W’s pick who committed the apostasy. One can practically envision the tweets now. Fox/AM will talk of nothing much else for weeks… months…. hell, forever. A bloc of millions of radicalized walking dead will pray for the utter damnation and physical destruction of John Roberts. A very nasty future to ponder.

Whether this Chief Justice is made of the stuff necessary to join Supreme Court greats before him by accepting the life changing consequences of doing the right thing, only he knows. But it’s entirely appropriate to appreciate what he faces, and certainly only proper to afford him the praise he will deserve if he steps up to the plate. Of course, if he sides with overturning Roe, few will be shocked and the Trump dark age will continue unabated. Either way, his predicament is clarification of Fox/AM’s odious impact on the viewer base it has radicalized for nothing more than advertising revenue. Whatever chance there was for political accommodation on abortion sailed out to sea years ago. All that’s left is established, repeatedly reaffirmed law and a frenzied bloc of radicals who will never take no for an answer. Sweet dreams John Roberts. BC

According to our President, Arkansas stands on the doorstep of a new political dynasty. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is leaving her post as Trump’s Press Secretary, a tenure which saw the DC institution of daily White House press briefings wither on the vine, replaced by Presidential tweet storms and Fox “Breaking News” flashes that Sanders would often embellish from a remote feed on the White House grounds, a far friendlier venue than the contentious briefings she gradually phased out of existence.

Apparently, though, the nation’s loss is Arkansas’s gain, as Trump’s tribute tweet announcing Sanders’ departure included his wish to see her ascend to the state’s governor’s mansion. Lucky for current Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson, he was re-elected last year, lest Trump thoughtlessly provide a staunch supporter with a primary opponent. Whatever. Like her father before her, it now appears Sanders has political ambitions of her own, and no doubt will pursue them as part of that new breed of Trumpie politicos… fully liberated from the tether of truth. Yet and still, for now she merely represents the most common theme that runs through this Presidency…. the mass exodus of its staff, often with no replacements forthcoming.

The talent pool this Administration has had at its disposal from which to hire White House and federal agency staff, to be kind, has never been target rich. Although Trump frequently boasted on the campaign trail he would lean on the best and the brightest – usually as a rejoinder to some ridiculous blunder he had recently made about a basic issue he refused to bone up on – upon election it became almost immediately clear he had no plan for creating a team.

Back just after Trump’s victory the thinking was GOP “moderates” in the Senate could be counted on to curtail any outrageous nominees, and, both Trump’s desire for help now that he was in the deep end, and the pull of duty to country, would ensure that some qualified and experienced Republican heavyweights would fill at least several critical slots. Indeed, after Michael Flynn self-destructed almost immediately, there appeared promise DC’s institutional preeminence would work to check the Donald’s worst instincts. But then, as the Pruitts and DeVos were confirmed, it became clear Collins, Murkowski and Portman et al had no appetite for principled leadership on the matter. Moreover, the revolving door for old GOP White House hands never became operational, and Trump short lists were revealed to be unprecedentedly sparse, with House backbenchers like Tom Price, Mick Mulvaney, and Mike Pompeo leading the way.

Going on three years and more than 400 defections later, this Administration isn’t scraping the bottom of the barrel…. it seems to possess no systematic process for hiring! Broken would be the word that comes to mind. Forget incompetence and graft from Cabinet Secretaries, it is becoming increasingly clear this White House is giving up on even staffing the government. From top to bottom our Executive Branch is in chaotic free fall. At this time last year more than one-third of senior cabinet positions were not yet filled. At that point Trump apologists noted many were intentionally left empty, and after that was taken into account, hiring really wasn’t too far behind where Obama was at the same stage of his Presidency. That argument was specious then, and certainly nobody is making it now.

More than 40 percent of high-level deputy secretary, assistant secretary and financial administration posts are vacant. Indeed, Brookings Institute data points to the Trump turnover rate now being three times as high as Obama’s and twice as high as the previous record holder, Ronald Reagan. Explanations or solutions are as scarce as incoming applicants, limited mostly to Trump blaming Democrats in the Senate for not approving his nominees, merely another of his 10K plus lies, but his go-to nonetheless.

To be fair, on a broader level, the government faced serious challenges before Trump came to the office he never wanted. Only 6 % of the federal work force is under 30 years old. Moreover, with the national debt approaching $20 trillion, and government spending a soft target for both sides of the aisle, federal pay is doing nothing but losing ground to the private sector. Add to that a burgeoning workforce sensibility that is anything but 9-5 and the pool of available young talent shrinks even further. However, leave it to Trump to douse a smoldering concern with plenty of gasoline, as record numbers of careerists, from the EPA to the State Department, have dramatically accelerated retirement timetables rather than experience the awful demoralization their life’s work is now at the mercy of those filled with ignorant disdain toward the mission statement of their agencies.

But if an office remains empty does anyone hear it fall…. er, or something like that. Lacking adequate staff is one of those problems it’s hard to clarify into a tangible concern, particularly when the President provides unceasing outrageousness to consider instead. However, common sense dictates a copious lack of qualified personnel can’t be a good thing, particularly if there seems no plan or even interest to remedy the situation, only diatribes from the President about who’s to blame. In fact, it’s now a reasonable question to ask at what point does an inability to find, retain and replace competent staff become a crisis. After all, regardless of how much Trump has abased and recklessly trivialized his office, it is a critical foundation of US governance; if it’s broken, so is the nation.

Of course, if your campaign platform was nothing more than nihilistic pledges to dismantle programs and hinder agencies, how many people do you really need? If the “promises” you are keeping consist of mostly getting rid of enforcement mechanisms created to protect everything from the air and water to worker safety, consumer protections to financial reform, less might very well be more, regardless if it’s intentional or simply another manifestation of breathtaking incompetence. Say what you want about the GOP, its do-nothing pols have convinced their base the best government is the worst government because, really, if it’s functioning properly then all those things we’ve convinced you to hate about it are still in tact….. no small feat!

An overflow field of Democrats are scrambling for relevant campaign themes capable of lighting a spark and galvanizing voters with something more than mere anti-Trump outrage. Perhaps a message that both re-educates Americans on government’s vital role in areas directly impacting everyday routines, not to mention the safeguarding of critical infrastructure, while also highlighting the inability of the incumbent to even hire necessary staff, will resonate with more than a few. After all, accepting the GOP premise that no government is the best government only further facilitates this White House’s zealous pursuit of the lowest common denominator…. the one area it seems to exhibit unquestioned proficiency. BC

There is a great scene in the AMC classic series Mad Men when Pete Campbell, a heretofore character one only loved to hate, begins his arc toward anti-hero redemption by refusing to go celebrate the wedding of his boss’s daughter in the immediate aftermath of JFK’s assassination. “Things seemed like they were changing,” rues Campbell to his wife Trudy, declaring his refusal to allow normalcy to beguile him from his grief for Kennedy. Campbell can’t believe anyone could carry on as if time has not stopped in the wake of the unthinkable. “They won’t cancel because they’re happy about it,” he charges, recounting inappropriate responses expressed at the office the day before as events unfolded. The scene clarifies the earliest signs of political chasm in 60s America, foretelling one of the most divisive decades in our history.

The roiling 60s reflected a generational split anchored in two presumptions that parents and grandparents expected their children to abide as they had before them. One, that blacks were inferior to whites, or at least undeserving of empathy equal to that shown other countrymen. Two, that war requires unflinching duty and unthinking obedience, regardless of who the enemy is and the level of direct threat they pose. It was the results of events, nationally televised in real time, that taught us the lessons of this era. Dogs ripping pants, hoses knocking people flat, dead kids coming out of jungles. The images reinforced how unreasonable the original premises were, and eventually drove home they shouldn’t be leaned on ever again.

For near half a century those epiphanies stood us in relatively good stead. At the very least, Jim Crow was condemned and foreign military adventures as necessary to obscure geopolitical strategies were no longer unquestioned. Moreover, Roe v Wade, the EEOC and a vibrant EPA signaled the federal government’s acceptance of its rightful role in ensuring states obey the emerging national consensus on basic issues like equal rights and environmental protection.

The promise of democracy is not that demagogues won’t emerge; it’s that an enlightened population will be informed enough to resist their message and send them packing. It got so bad for old George Wallace that, after being shot and paralyzed, and deserted politically, he actually repented for his bigotry, dying with a restored conscience. There is little doubt, given similar circumstances, our current President’s campaign never would have gained any traction, relegating him to single digits before his cheapness dictated an end to the exercise. Of course, one added variable made all the difference… a two-decade multi-billion dollar, 24/7 multimedia propaganda effort that created optimal conditions within the GOP for exactly his regressive message, delivered exactly with his unhinged cadence.

After eight years of apocalyptic fiction about America’s first black President, the GOP base was primed to embrace another time and place, where the requirements of social, environmental, economic and societal progress no longer existed. A time where white entitlement was considered nothing more than the status quo, and American exceptionalism was a given. That these expectations translated into mostly shrill identity screeds, and a contest to select who was most unbound by decency and decorum, meant Trump found himself in his wheelhouse, while pols like Bush and even Rubio, a Tea Party darling, were too encumbered by a sense of shame to compete effectively. It was no contest. Trump knew less than nothing, but spoke louder, nastier and more fact-free than anyone else. That was enough.

The Donald never imagined himself President, and the record is already clear his shocking election was something nobody on team Trump, least of all the candidate, was prepared for. Instead of growing pains, this Administration has undergone seismic convulsions, in line with Trump’s historic inadequacies. Yet and still, to the degree there exists a governing blueprint, it reflects the regressive messaging of the general campaign, a cavalry charge back in time. Trumpism stands for retrograde nihilism, an unabashed attack on previously settled axioms for government conduct and policy objectives. It fully pursues nothing less than the redefinition of America’s evolution since the 50s as harmful recklessness by dangerous progressives bent on seizing and holding power. In other words, the narrative Fox/AM has spewed forth since it’s founding. After all, our President is, from the tip of his weave to his bone spurs, a shit river consumer with no other significant knowledge base. His political identity was fully created by Roger Ailes. And so it’s cleeeaan coal and tariffs, immigrant bashing and voter fraud conspiracies.

Now we are left, like Pete Campbell, to sit and wonder aloud what the hell is happening. Weren’t we just celebrating a watershed of our country’s growth? Didn’t hundreds of thousands in foreign lands just clog the streets to see our dashing young leader, who sought only to unite? Didn’t we just have the smartest guy in the room as President, comfortable and secure in his own black skin? Deliberate and almost annoyingly thoughtful, who couldn’t be provoked into losing his cool even after the most disgusting attacks on him and his family? Weren’t we moving past worrying about settled issues like voting rights and LGBT equality, environmental protections and climate change science? These arguments were over, discussions now only centered on details for achieving ends mainstream sensibilities had agreed on. Things didn’t seem like they were changing, They had changed for the better! Done. Settled.

Edmond Burke said famously all that is necessary for evil to thrive is good men do nothing. In America, since January, 2017, there are plenty of those, even as the President and the party he now lords over confirm our worst fears about their disregard for the national interest. But beyond that, a minority wants to erase our nation’s maturation to impair our future. At every turn, there is a bulldozer moving to bury what we’ve learned, erase what we’ve bettered, destroy what has been fixed, often after decades of blood shed by many, hardships suffered as necessary to reform we now have to fret is being undone. Worse, we’re supposed to pretend it’s normal, the back and forth of political fortune…. get over it and attend the wedding. Way too many have simply shrugged and complied. I’m staying home! BC

America loves Winston Churchill. As one educated at a public high school named for Britain’s wartime Prime Minister, I can attest to this. And why wouldn’t we? After all, it was Churchill who, after resisting round-the-clock German air raids in London, and executing one of history’s most magnificent evacuations at Dunkirk, accepted the role of FDR sidekick with full knowledge that WWII victory meant the end of Pax Britannia. If defeat to the Nazis was a ruinous calamity, by the end of the Casablanca Conference of 1943, Churchill could be certain victory came with its own tremendous cost.

One can only imagine how much more difficult and precarious things would have been had Churchill refused to cede Roosevelt and America its leadership role, if he had disputed basic propositions put forward by FDR concerning war planning and post-war cooperation. What if he had instructed Montgomery to give no quarter to US Generals? To abide no plans he felt compromised English superiority? What if he fully refused to be a team player, figuring the Nazi rout at Stalingrad, and Hitler’s frailties had already cast the die? Why invite the Americans to England? Britain first… and always! Events may have unfolded quite a bit differently.

Normandy has long been a proving ground for US Presidents. Reagan, perhaps a B-Lister in Hollywood, but plenty good enough for the bully pulpit, was never better than when he paid tribute to “the boys of Pointe du Hoc” on D-Day’s 40th Anniversary. Ten years later, Bill Clinton raised his game while praising American veterans of the invasion, humbling himself in thanks from a grateful world. Indeed, humility and sincerity are the guiding lights for all world leaders when they speak from the Post-War order’s most hallowed ground.

American exceptionalism at its nucleus is an unapologetic declaration of our intention to rest on the laurels of American sacrifice reflected by places such as Normandy, and men so old and so few they almost surely will all be gone by the next commemoration. It is a constant shrill reminder that, “hey, we could have just sat it out, but we arrived to save the day! You’re welcome!” Whatever spoils America garnered from the blood spilled on French beaches is beside the point; when needed the most, we gave our all. Make no mistake, MAGA is the political embodiment of American exceptionalism’s relentless morphing at the lips of Fox/AM blowhards into a grotesque militancy that labels any humility by US leaders as “surrender” and falling into the role of a “sucker.” Whatever Churchill ceded us for our selflessness wasn’t enough, and the bill remains past due. Several generations of prosperity be damned… what have you done for us lately?!

Churchill’s successors stand at a precipice of the nation’s own misguided creation. Brexit was no more than an English equivalent to American exceptionalism. “We won’t be saddled with the obligations of others! Leave us to our own devices. Britain first, last… always!” Take away Nigel Farage’s accent and complete sentences, and he could be just another Trumpie railing against immigrants and anything resembling constructive cooperation. A nihilist is a nihilist, whichever side of the pond he’s on. Forget leading the world, Britain now can’t even figure out how to abdicate its role as a credible continental partner.

Into this mess came our personification of American exceptionalism’s lazy entitlement, more ignorant and unhelpful than usual. Where Trump goes lying fantasies follow. On the 75th Anniversary of American global leadership the leader of the free world felt it appropriate to delay proceedings while he played his flute for his wretched core back home. Laura Ingraham, who never met a PC-persecuted neo-Nazi she didn’t want to defend, was on cloud nine to oblige. While old and frail heroes cooled their heels, the man who treats NATO members as deadbeats, fabricated a quote by the organization’s Secretary-General, declaring him a savior of the post-war world’s signature alliance. The best anybody could say about his stilted formal D-Day remarks was he pushed back his constant desire to ad-lib, which would have surely produced an international incident.

In Ireland, he couldn’t be bothered to even research what his host’s sensibilities on Brexit and borders were, causing awkward embarrassment as he assumed they were as nasty and xenophobic as he is. Of course, the issue of accommodations became tricky when the President insisted on providing one of his struggling golf clubs US taxpayer dollars to put up his entire retinue. Trump’s policy whims may be utterly unpredictable, but his greed and overt corruption are as faithful as a clock.

Most of England’s electorate appears to now understand what a mistake the Brexit referendum was. If it is permitted to be reintroduced and voted on again, there is little doubt of the result. Yet and still, just like us, they are suffering the consequences of fidelity to democratic principles that yield decisively awful results. Like Churchill, who oversaw the end to a way of life he couldn’t imagine disappearing, Brits now struggle to pull back from populism’s ugliest leanings. In his own perverse way, Trump did England a big solid by vividly reminding them how bad such a Frankenstein can become, further steeling their spines to continue to reassert duty over nihilist self-absorption. It was farcical to see Fox and Friends struggle from their on-location feed to disguise London’s collective disgust for Trump. That they have a far easier time of it here in America should gravely concern us all.

Truth seems at an ever greater premium in America right about now. What’s worse, way too many don’t seem bothered much by the development. It’s certainly a cliche, but that doesn’t make it any less a fact, democracy’s lifeblood is truth. There simply isn’t a way forward for free and open elections if voters lose confidence in what they require to inform them. When most simply shrug and discount truth’s preeminence, accepting the inevitability of malleable facts, the entire exercise loses its basis for being. I mean, what’s the point?

HBO’s important mini-series, Chernobyl, offers a long overdue look at the world’s worst ecological disaster. And while the production provides a riveting narrative as to how exactly it occurred, and the many unsung heroes responsible for mitigating what could have been a far worse catastrophe, the moral of the story centers on the ceaseless and interdependent lies on which Soviet science was based. The fact that, were it not for a few brave Russian physicists, a critical design flaw in most of the country’s nuclear reactors would have continued to exponentially enhance the possibility of another Chernobyl-like accident unabated, speaks to the existential threat government without any duty to truth reflects.

The dark specter Trumpism represents isn’t just embodied in the constant stream of lies its namesake produces, but in the pathological way his wretched core struggles to consume them and render them somehow palatable to the broader body politic. It’s no longer disputed that the President lies continuously; his massive output is impossible to adequately gaslight and sanitize. Even false equivalence – the proposition all politicians are dishonest and Trump is no more or less guilty of what we have always accepted as a norm – is tacitly deemed inadequate to digest the profligacy of his falsehoods. No, now the narrative has become far more odious, Soviet in nature…. that lies are an appropriate part of the arsenal required to stem liberal assaults on our “freedom.” It’s just “Trump being Trump” and looking past his lies is a patriot’s duty, a failing that can be made a strength so long as one isn’t saddled with the weakness of sentimentality toward absolutes. After all, the ends justify the means.

That Trump seems to be genuinely losing his ability to tell fact from fiction hardly matters anymore. Whatever he says is immediately cleaned up for wretched core consumption by Fox/AM… separating the pit from the fruit and reinterpreting as needed. On the internet false memes, most devoted to either sanitizing Trump or demonizing his critics are shared without thought, original written material being a kryptonite to most Trump supporters. That most of the memes being redistributed are fabrications doesn’t phase the base at all; if it supports the narrative, use it.

Recently an old friend of mine from a youth gone by, and a virulent Trumpie, shared a meme that came by my feed. It was an outrageous lie that quoted Hillary Clinton in 2013 declaring business titans like Trump should run for office while praising his honesty. The message covered all bases, Clinton hypocrisy, Trump greatness, Liberal selectivity of storylines, the full trifecta. I commented to my friend how outrageous the whole thing was, that by 2013 Trump was a leading birther and Obama’s Secretary of State would surely have nothing good to publicly say about him. I asked why he would spread such a clearly fictional message. His response was inane but, taken as typical of a millions-strong sensibility, fully chilling. He lol’d and told me to relax, proclaiming how funny it was. I countered by asking whether he felt any responsibility to be truthful, his response was a full set of lols. Since I was trolling his page, Trump backers came to the rescue, all putting their own stamp on a unified theme…. so what if it’s not true, it could and should be!

Of course, this isn’t to say ignoring fact doesn’t occur on both sides of the aisle, and it certainly isn’t to contend that US political history isn’t rife with distortions and outright lies being introduced for electoral benefits. What’s different now is a dismissal of truth as the final arbiter and judgement mechanism of bad behavior. Trump doesn’t care, or, evidence now seems to indicate, even realize he is lying. And he enjoys a 24/7 multi-media operation intent on regurgitating his thousands of falsehoods into buoyant ballast of the shit river narrative that both created and sustains his viability. No different at all from a state-run information service. TASS in red, white and blue.

For the President’s wretched core, and the new GOP leadership, which now fully reflects and supports Trumpism’s nihilist propositions, “honesty” is now defined as Trump’s constant attacks on the parameters of responsible government. “Truth” is now but a tool to be employed to justify and normalize what just three years ago was unacceptable and politically suicidal. Not much daylight is left between Trump’s complete dismissal of truth as a constraint on behavior and the Republican Party’s allegiance to the concept as a guidepost for government. Right now Mark Meadows and Jim Jordon traffic in Trumpism deceit just as recklessly as the President, no surprise there. But GOP leaders in the Senate are beginning to follow suit, instead of no commenting about one White House lie after another, the Thunes and Grassleys appear ever more willing to act in line with fictional presumptions.

When Trump was elected economic indicators and Department of Labor statistics were corrupt and unreliable. Three months later they were biblically accurate proof of an economic miracle. Before Trump, “tariff” was a dirty word in GOP halls, now the party is engaged in full-time spinning of its ruinous effects on wide swaths of its constituency. Negotiating with North Korea was traitorous in 2015, now Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have trouble speaking English after Trump, with zero evidence or ambition to do any more than simply state a falsehood, disputes US Intelligence on renewed missile testing by Pyongyang. Across the board, from fully inane (“I never said she was nasty”) to the critical (“I never had any business in Russia. Nothing!), we now suffer a compulsive liar as President. What uncharted waters this will lead the country toward, and how we will endure that voyage, most likely will decide whether American democracy goes past tense.

Most critical will be what has always represented the tipping point of authoritarian and totalitarian consumption of societies: will truth lose its status as the absolute standard for both the creation and reflection of reality. Will we accept the premise reality is but a product of what the state deems it to be, or will we demand government tailor its actions to the truths it is forced to face. Near every hour Trump lets us know where he stands on that question. Moreover, certainly his wretched core, and ever-increasingly the GOP, appear consumed by the notion a maniac’s whims should be permitted to supplant inconvenient facts when political ends require it. The degree of comfort the rest of us are capable of finding in such an Orwellian landscape, and whether it will temper the lengths we are prepared to go to in opposing its consummation of our national life, may very well spell our future. The highest of stakes. BC

In the 60s Paul Newman classic, Cool Hand Luke, “the Captain” savagely beats the story’s hero, Luke Jackson, after he is caught trying to escape the southern work camp where he is serving time. “What we have here is a failure to communicate,” announces the Captain to Luke’s fellow detainees after his violent anger cools. None of the inmates mistake his meaning.

Robert Mueller could have prefaced his 10-minute statement yesterday with the same memorable Hollywood line. Yet and still, despite its omission we should be just as clear as George Kennedy and company to his meaning. There never was a “Mueller Time,” merely a Mueller Report. Exhaustively researched, carefully worded… a 448-page collection of facts, which provide a solid basis for Congressional action – not Special Counsel action, or DOJ action, but Congressional Action.

On a personal level Mueller’s words were a blunt announcement that he is no super hero, and after two years of very thankless work, is instead a tired 72-year old who wants his life back. But on a broader, more theoretical level, the now former Special Counsel, made clear the helpless inanity of the idea a moron like Donald Trump should have more than 200 years of American democracy depending on superpower intervention. Everything we need to deal with the current pestilence is available. Just do your jobs… I’ve done mine.

Meanwhile, it should not be lost Mueller cleared up a couple of critical points for the record. First, if there remains any doubt, the President is either lying or inexcusably misinformed when he blathers there was no Russian collusion. Not only was their collusion, but it was surely directed by the Kremlin. Next, despite the assumption by near everybody else in the US, Mueller from the beginning never accepted it as his responsibility to even consider indicting Trump. That he would allow such a fundamental miscommunication to percolate all this time without making public remarks to address it is inexplicable and perhaps unforgivable, but he clearly corrected it yesterday.

By making it clear he never felt it his purview to charge Trump, Mueller laid Attorney General Bill Barr bare as a perjurer. Barr asserted under oath Mueller told him his motivation not to charge the President was influenced by more than merely Mueller’s understanding of his office’s limitations, clearly implying the Special Counsel would have permitted more damning evidence to override his fidelity to how he believed the law and constitution limited his role. Yesterday, Mueller was crystal clear on this point… he would not have allowed that. Barr was lying to Congress.

Finally, Mueller, ever the literary tactician used one word to convey his feelings about whether Trump’s malfeasance requires intervention. In addition to forcefully stating “if we had had confidence the President clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” he employed the word “when” instead of “if” in describing a pressing need to bring the hammer down when “… a subject of an investigation obstructs that investigation or lies to investigators…” There can be no doubt who he was referring to, or whether he believes it a major matter requiring additional institutional oversight. And if anybody wasn’t clear enough on the level of gravity Mueller accorded the entire assault on US democracy he spent two years investigating, he finished his statement with an exclamation point that “all Americans” should heed.

So moving forward Congress can either accept Mueller’s baton or flinch and let it fall away. Two and a half years in there really isn’t a plan B to impeachment. Trump is holding this country hostage, mollifying him until next November to presumably rout him at the polls and wait to see what crisis he will create on his way out doesn’t sound attractive. New initiatives like slapping Mexico with tariffs because they aren’t meeting the President’s criteria for blocking immigration to the north, and mindless saber rattling at Iran, which could start a stream of events the Administration loses control of, reminds us Trump is an aggressive and unpredictable cancer. Waiting him out is flat out dangerous to both us and the planet.

Republican adults are beginning to emerge from their untimely slumber. Just today former Maine Senator and Defense Secretary William Cohen offered an op-ed piece calling for impeachment. Cohen, who as one of a handful of GOP members of Congress who joined Democrats in calling for Nixon’s head, knows a bit about going against the grain. He pointed out that most of the country initially opposed impeaching Nixon, but came around as facts came to light. Mueller has produced 448 pages of them; his statement yesterday clearly urged the Democrats to take them out for a test drive and see what they can do. Trump in the Senate dock creates a platform he can’t interrupt, and events he and his poodle Barr can’t preempt and redefine.

In the fall of 2016 many of us, too overconfident in Clinton’s chances, scoffed that if the US electorate was idiotic enough to elect a reality show nihilist, the nation deserved the cataclysm it would surely receive. Now we know just how ugly and existentially perilous a Trump regime is. We also know his wretched core of die hard support tops out at just under 40 percent. Allowing the fear of alienating those with their hands covering their ears to forestall holding US history’s most corrupt and seditiously incompetent President to account amounts to throwing in the towel and accepting the dive to the bottom he represents. We must be better than that. Yesterday, Robert Mueller challenged us to stop cutting bait and get some lines in the water. Heed his call. BC

For those of us who raised active children Memorial Day weekend brings to mind the traveling youth sports team. Whether it be baseball, softball, basketball, lacrosse, volleyball – whatever type of activity – the memories of quality one-on-one time spent with your child en route to god-knows-where are precious…..but not without pain, particularly for parents of second-teamers, who drove miles of traffic-clogged byways only too often to share their child’s disappointment after riding pine.

It’s a fully preventable situation, most always caused by coaches doing far more harm than good inserting themselves into what should always be the exclusive domain of the kids their efforts are supposedly all about. For my money, and, believe me, travel volleyball took a hell of a lot of it, any but the most select of 13-year old athletes should be coached with their enjoyment and increased enthusiasm as primary objectives. Losing isn’t as fun as winning, but being denied a chance to participate makes any victory hollow. Coaches who don’t get that at this level, I have no use for. Period. Sadly, in my experience, such cluelessness is far from the exception.

It’s important here to distinguish programs. I refer to the modern suburban mutation of teams created for young teens seeking a higher level and more frequent competition than local house leagues can provide. It’s a niche that’s produced a cottage industry of for-profit outfits often competing against each other to lure athletes with promises of more elite coaching and skills development.

The price tags to join such teams are stunning, and require aggressive marketing that the results will be worth the investment. But for every parent convinced they have a prodigy with a future college scholarship on their hands, there are those like me, simply indulging their child’s desire to connect with peers and get some kills. In Northern Virginia, teenage girls volleyball has morphed into a remarkable hierarchy of programs that flourish through word of mouth, each branded by itself as an elite operation devoted to preparing its players for the next level. My daughter seemed to already know which teams she could tryout for with a reasonable hope of being selected and those above her pay grade of talent.

In the parenting division of labor discussions my wife and I frequently engaged in, there was never any question sports participation was my exclusive responsibility. I even volunteered to coach basketball a couple of years earlier, which I enjoyed far more than I expected. Yet and still, when it came to travel-team girls volleyball, I simply followed where my daughter said to go. It was her show; she understood where her skill level belonged, so that was the program she tried out for.

Of course the team’s director was not one to modulate his expectations. Speaking to parents after the selection process, one could be forgiven for believing their kid had just made an Olympic squad. Words like “determination” and “effort,” “sacrifice” and “teamwork” were bandied about. One word used more sparsely was “fun”. The schedule was an eye opener. Tournaments seemed to be held everywhere but within the local radius. Pittsburgh, Ocean City, Lancaster, PA and the bowels of Delaware were preferred destinations.

The Pittsburgh tournament took place during Memorial Day weekend. I had never been to Pittsburgh before, and I will surely never mention it as a holiday mecca. I gulped hard, now fully comprehending the time commitment I was signing on for. Meanwhile, the check I was asked to present before leaving further extinguished any inclination travel volleyball wasn’t serious business. In fact, it was the largest single outlay I made that fiscal year. The fact a sizable line was formed at the “financial questions” – read payment plan – table as we left, said it all…. 21st century youth sports is a pay-to-play proposition.

The caste system of travel team sports becomes apparent almost immediately as the first game begins. There are the team’s undisputed starters and the rest. Parents of players unconcerned with playing time, in my observations, can be some of the least empathetic and self-aware people one will find. There perspective more than too often centers on winning and losing, with precious little attention devoted to much else. Whether kids other than their own are enjoying the event is too often not any concern. Since they take their own child’s playing time fully for granted, the amount others are accorded doesn’t register for many.

The idea that all the kids should enjoy the experience is not a priority for many a 1st team parent. Why has always escaped me, but perhaps that’s because I have often been a 2nd-team parent. I do know for certain this blind spot is pervasive and usually reflects the attitudes of the coach. And make no mistake, the size of the gap between how a team’s parents perceive tournament competition provides a solid indicator of that coach’s priorities. The two go hand in hand. When I coached my daughter’s basketball team, my guiding focus was full participation. Now, it was a house league with clear minimum play requirements, but they were unnecessary with me. Nearly a full half of our final game was devoted to getting the only scoreless girl on our team a basket, I couldn’t imagine her not sharing in that feeling. Several years later I would learn many coaches’ priorities were not near as inclusive.

Six years ago to the day I was in Pittsburgh cheering on the girls of “Poison Ivy.” We had arrived into town toward the end of Friday rush hour, greatly aggravated by a home Penguins playoff game. Nuff said. My daughter was a solid enough contributor to her squad, tall and adept at producing a kill given the right set. However, she was not a starter, her playing time was not assured. Like several other girls, she far from hampered Ivy’s chances when on the floor, but was a notch below her 1st team counterparts. And while I had discussed with her the possibility she wouldn’t get as much playing time as she wanted on a team this talented, I was confident a little would go along way. A kill here, kill there, a couple of rotations each game would satisfy her need for relevance.

Poison Ivy’s coach didn’t see it that way. A Pat Summit caricature, she was in Pittsburgh for the hardware, that was her first, middle and last priority. Whatever experience she saw the girls having began and ended in the win-loss column. Substitutions were sparse, and when made usually meant to punish a starter not playing up to snuff. As one match ran into another the girls on the floor tired, while the girls on the bench slumped and became discouraged. The thing about volleyball tournaments is, unless your team isn’t losing or winning at all, nobody ever seems to know how well it’s going. However, after Ivy lost their second match on the second day of competition, it was clear the big bling was not in the cards. Nonetheless, the coach felt consolation matches would reflect on her performance, so second teamers remained seated. I will never forget the incredulous pain parents showed sitting for yet another match only to see the bored shame in their child’s face. First-teamer parents, as clueless as ever, continued to cheer on their athletes, who were surely tired and sore and would have gladly sat for a change. It was disgraceful.

Our drive home from Pittsburgh was quiet, my daughter processing her feelings, really kind of confused how she wanted to present herself to me. I let her know she had done the work, and it was completely the coach’s failing for the indignity she had suffered. I reminded her how happy she was to make this team, and any step up in life is going to require sacrifice. Moreover, just because somebody is your coach or boss doesn’t mean they can’t make mistakes; it was a part of life.

Still, I was livid and regretful I had paid a few thousand bucks to entrust my daughter’s well being to such a self-important imbecile. At least Issie had actually seen action. One of her teammates, a wonderful, fully competent setter, saw three serves of playing time. Her father, who had brought his parents along to watch her play was speechless and crestfallen, trying to figure out how a trip they had all looked so forward to could produce nothing but sadness and hard feelings.

It would be wonderful to be able to say Pittsburgh was an aberration, it wasn’t. In fact, the next year’s coach was even worse, a young, former college baller, determined to make his mark on the NVA coaching scene, with zero consideration for anything past a W. Even his starters reviled his indifference to their teammates. It was like the twilight zone… deja vu all over again.

I’ve come to appreciate how the differing views of parents on this issue clarify broader dispositions. Some I’ve talked to express support for such nonsense, equating the issue with the “participation trophy” debate. It’s hardly a coincidence that many of this school of thought seem to suffer a general lack of empathy, a recurring penchant to dismiss concerns for those excluded for whatever reason. News flash to knuckle heads: coaching 13-14 year old kids carries one primary responsibility… make sure they have fun and emerge from the exercise at least as enthusiastic as they started, particularly if their parents are paying four figures and devoting all of long weekends to support the endeavor! Be like doctors… at the very least do no harm! As I said before, a little goes a long way; coaches who can’t be bothered to oblige that common sense proposition should find something else to do. Our children deserve better. As always, remembering the fallen on Memorial Day weekend. BC

When the most important legacy one can imagine for his time in office as POTUS is a wall to keep the tired and hungry out, nothing should come as a shock or seem too ridiculous. That Trump’s minions appear comfortable expanding on the boss’ preoccupation with what color his monumental achievement should be painted, and whether spikes should adorn the top of of the structure, speaks with volume about our Chief Executive’s priorities. After all, as Sarah Sanders noted… “the President is one of the country’s most successful builders….. and wants to make sure we get the job done under budget and ahead of schedule.” Of course, ask any great builder, sweating the details is what counts…. get the small stuff right and the big strokes, like actual funding for the project, or tangible returns on monies already allotted, will surely fall in line. Thus far, $1.57 billion has produced almost four miles of wall, but let’s not digress.

If there is a non-profit, 501-C3 equivalent to the dark web it would surely be We Build The Wall, whose advisory board includes such odious right-wing extremists as Steve Bannon, former Colorado congressman and OG immigration bundist Tom Tancredo, Blackwater USA founder Erik Prince, and voter suppression fraudster Kris Kobach. The organization’s website is a self-parody, awash in racist memes and white national nastiness. The latest excitement centers around a raffle drawing that will soon be held. The grand prize? …. Two lucky patriots will get to attend the ceremony for the first completed stretch of Trump’s everlasting glory, and, hold on to your MAGA hats, actually get their names engraved into the structure!! Who could make that up?

Any good sales professional remembers those first few weeks at the entry level, when their employer provided the training necessary for a career as an account executive. The word no is simply a request for more information, a failure of the prospect to understand the benefits he’s yet to embrace. It’s not an obstacle but an invitation to highlight the pluses your product or service brings to the table. If hearing “no” discourages you, better look for other work.

Tommy Fisher, CEO of North Dakota-based Fisher Industries, has taken that mantra to a whole new level in his efforts to gain the $billion plus contract to construct Trump’s signature obsession. Eliminated from consideration by the Army Corp of Engineers, who rejected Fisher Industries’ bid, citing a failure to meet established requirements and garner necessary approvals, Fisher filed suit last month against the US Government. A conservative gadfly and major GOP donor, Fisher has appeared often on Fox News to rail against immigrants and tout his company’s patent-pending construction system that gets the job done “faster than any contractor using common construction methods.”

Like most everyone else lobbying this Administration on most any issue, Fisher figures only one person needs to be convinced, the entire established vendor selection process and Homeland Security procedures be damned. Not only is Fisher refusing to take no for an answer, like our President’s approach to governance, he’s simply going to fake it til he makes it…. act like it’s a done deal. Whether it’s his repeated appearances on Trump’s favorite Fox shows, a more than cozy relationship with We Build The Wall, or the efforts of ND-Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer, who Fisher has fully bought and paid for, the President has become a fan, and is now pushing for Fisher Industries to get the wall contract in his typically shameless and inappropriate way.

Despite being told in no uncertain terms by both Corp of Engineers and DHS officials the Fisher Industries process “does not meet the operational requirements of US Custom and Border Protection,” Trump is making known he wants Fisher to get the nod. That’s more than enough for Fisher, who has actually moved forward to construct a section of wall in El Paso on private land owned by….. you guessed it, We Build The Wall! It’s anybody’s guess how deep that slimy group’s financial ties and potential rewards go with Fisher Industries – another investigation for a future date – but they are all in pushing for Fisher to get the contract. Fisher has invited Trumpie lawmakers to El Paso to join Fox/AM A-Listers and the We Build The Wall crew for the “unveiling” of the section his builders have completed…. Fisher has trumpeted the event as a game changer. Meanwhile, his law suit alleging improprieties with the border wall procurement process awaits a hearing on its dubious merits.

So, let’s add all of this up. A company’s bid for a monster government contract is rejected out of hand by those authorized to oversee the procurement competition. What to do? Get a team of lawyers to sue, while ignoring the decision and making an end run around the process with full assistance from shady right wing non-governmental influence peddlers, all the while taking to Fox/AM air waves to denounce the swamp of corrupt bureaucrats responsible for denying patriots the blessings of your wonderful building techniques. Sound familiar?!

Two and half years in and the signature accomplishment Trump seeks for his Presidency fully illustrates how incompetently autocratic our first Fox/AM Administration has become. As Democratic contenders for the White House sort out their differences and present their varied styles to primary audiences, they would do well to take a collective inventory of what is at stake. It’s impossible to imagine how the US government will withstand Trump unleashed with the “mandate” he will surely howl to the heavens a second term bequeaths to him. Right now the President faces impeachment and as equally an unfathomable route to 270 electoral votes as 2016, against an opponent who will surely generate more excitement and participation than HRC…. and this is how business is conducted. Imagine another four years begun with him already ensconced and flush with re-election bravado! All or nothing. Survival or ruin. A going democratic concern or Fisher Industries. BC

Randy Santel approaches what he does with an evangelical determination. More than 700 times over the last several years he has overcome challenges precious few would even consider. Over and over he has fought the clock to achieve preeminence in his specialized pursuit. Sometimes he has failed, which is most often punctuated by the harsh indignity of public puking, but not often, usually willing himself on to victory. And in his own way, with the enthusiasm borne from youthful naïveté, his enterprise is a metaphor for today’s America. Santel is a competitive eater, literally traveling the globe to document his relentless encounters with food challenges, chasing glory one pig out at a time.

Our President always wants his base to know he is every bit as committed to getting the W as Santel. When he announced his latest “comprehensive” immigration plan, he praised it as the first concerted effort in 50 years to tackle the intractable issue head on. That most lawmakers on both sides of the aisle disagreed had little effect on the Administration’s messaging. Asked how any plan that fails to mention the future of DACA can be taken seriously, White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders went full Orwell, deadpanning that omitting DACA precisely illustrates the proposal’s solemn intentions. In other words, if part of the discussion is intractable and unpleasant, pretend that issue no longer exists and get the win; that’s what really counts anyway… right? Huh?!

Nine pound pizzas, multi-gallon milk shakes, 96 Oz. steaks and thigh-high cheeseburger towers, Santel tackles them all. From Iowa to Scotland, Florida to Spain, his “Atlas and Zeus” You Tube domain chronicles each foray into gastronomic oblivion. He’s definitely not doing it for the riches. Typically, a successful effort results in very modest reward from whichever establishment he visits and promotes for a particular challenge. A free meal, perhaps a T-shirt, maybe some chump change if he breaks a previous record.. When Paul Newman and George Kennedy created one of movie history’s great scenes in Cool Hand Luke, it’s doubtful they figured, 50 years later, eating 50 hard-boiled eggs in an hour would barely raise the eyebrows among a sub culture that sprouted seamlessly from America’s devotion to excess. Try 20-dozen or so raw oysters in an hour! Now there’s some real chowing!

Successful previous administrations shared an effective decision making process, which included robust input from Capital Hill. Why toil to roll out a policy or proposal that dies in committee, or finally gets back to the President’s desk so laden with amendments it’s no longer recognizable. It’s the difference between serious governance and show-pony politics. Better to solicit input from the get-go, respect the process. Had LBJ simply plopped a civil rights package on the docket and screeched for a vote, defeat would have been a certainty. Pretending formidable opposition to the legislation was inconsequential, or could simply be steamrolled by Presidential force of will was nonsensical, and would have meant he wasn’t serious about getting something historic to the finish line.

Today we have a President who defines bipartisanship as Democrats bending the knee to his desires – and if they do, it means he didn’t ask for enough and its goalpost moving time – anything else is a bad deal his base will shrilly denounce. Policy substance is a detriment to the only thing of real importance….. getting a win. To be fair, immigration has been kicked down the road for decades, Trump isn’t the first to dodge the political pain it’s solution would require. But he is the first to mold the issue into a central campaign pledge, with nothing but hatred and draconian measures constantly sold to his wretched core as prime indicators of his political courage. Of course we’re finding out it takes no bravery at all to cast immigrants as scum, and welcome them to our shores by stealing their children and denying any and all claims for asylum. When Stephen Miller can rise to the top, you’ve created a snake pit, not a policy shop.

It appears the key to Randy Santel’s success is deconstruction. He never attempts to actually eat some monstrous sandwich as it was intended to be consumed, instead always devouring its contents first and then finishing the bread as a fully separate item. One could rightly ask if that is really true to the nature of the endeavor. After all, the contest is to eat a sandwich, not a bunch of meat and cheese and bread. Yet and still, most of the creations he tackles are so massive conventional consumption is impossible anyway so it seems purists don’t have much of a case. In any event, reducing a pizza meant to feed an entire sky suite to its body and crusts means, as the clock ticks down, Santel will be struggling to ingest a mound of very unappetizing dough. By the time he finishes and declares victory in between contorted belches, witnesses have sworn off pizza for the foreseeable future. But Santel only cares about the win, ugly or not.

It seems intuitive that, were one really serious about solving the immigration quagmire, better to break it down to its component parts and hammer out consensus one at a time. Pre-Trump approaches recognized the logic behind such a strategy and, while still failing miserably, at least showed a sliver of good faith by sticking to what was practical. As a rule, Trump and good faith are oxymoronic, never more so than with respect to immigration. Doing anything right by desperate refugees, on any issue, large or small, is sacrilegious to the template for nastiness he promotes as his brand of leadership. Extending or cementing DACA would be the very essence of decency, and offering it would place real pressure on Democrats to come up with concessions to make it happen, wall funding included. It may even beguile more than a few from their current impeachment preoccupation. But such win-win possibilities are no longer even considered by this Miller-led West Wing. Trump would rather just ignore the issue altogether, fixating instead on allowing “those we can use” to the front of the line, and what color paint is best for his wall. Like Middle East peace, “comprehensive” is a synonym for “non-starter,” a waste of everybody’s time…. no more than a new talking point for rallies. Turns out Mr. Negotiator can’t even get to first base because the nihilism he represents abhors solutions. Far better to simply blather “agree or else” and, once again, claim the win.

When Randy Santel began his eating obsession a few years back, he was a splendid physical specimen, ripped to the core with full six-pack abs. Now, more than 700 “wins” later, he is overweight and soft, a sad testament to the insults gluttony bestows on even youthful frames. You wouldn’t call him obese, but you surely wouldn’t say he is healthy, the once lean athlete replaced by a lumbering gourmand. Indeed, God knows what such constant satiation is doing to his heart and other vital organs, but Santel seems unconcerned. Each day is a new opportunity to turn too much sustenance into waste. And make no mistake, each video he produces mirrors America in the Age of Trump….a nation bent on the rightness of stuffing itself with the rewards its past selflessness earned, scarfing down its due, no longer restrained by moderation. Enjoy it now, while it lasts, and never apologize. Making improvements to what we’ve been blessed with is lib foolishness. The clock is ticking and that slice of pie is zero-sum, yours or somebody else’s. Forget about the opus of reaching consensus and actually governing, it’s all about getting the W…… even if it kills you. BC