The Tabloid Presidency: America in Decline
by John Lawrence
All the President's men like Rob Portman seem to have skeletons in their closets. In Rob's case two ex-wives testified to his abuse. Currently, Rob is darting Hope Hicks. Maybe this latest scandal will take over the news cycle from Stormy Daniels, the adult film star that Trump is alleged to have had a relationship with while married to Melania. The transformation is complete. Dirty laundry is out of the closet. The Presidency is now on the level of the National Enquirer.
While this show and diversion is going on, nobody seems to have noticed that Trump just signed a bill giving another $165 billion to the military. Of course, not a penny went to the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps. Not a penny went to debt relief for student loan debtors. And what about the what I thought was the hot issue of the day - the Dreamers, DACA. Oh, that is so three weeks ago. It seems everybody has forgotten about the Dreamers. Where is Chuck Schumer when you need him? At least Nancy Pelosi gave an eight hour speech on the floor. What was in that speech? Nobody seems to know or care. Why should we when we have Rob Portman and Hope Hicks to titillate over.
But of course it was reported that Nancy wore 4 inch heels during her speech. What a woman! What a true American. She sipped only water! While the US media is fixated on Nancy's 4 inch heels and Rob Portman's and Hope Hicks' dalliance, no one is commenting on the $165 billion that Congress just gave to the already bloated military budget. Now there really will not be any money for social security, medicaid and medicare. The military just vacuumed up all that extra cash that was lying around.
The United States spends more on national defense than China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, United Kingdom, India, France, and Japan combined. I thought Trump was going to get some of these other countries to pay more for their own defense so the US could pay less. Fat chance. That was just bullshit. Now that he's President, he wants to be Commander-in-Chief of the largest, most powerful military in the world. He wants to be the biggest and the best, and that doesn't call for a diminution of the military budget. Let some wimpy Democrat do that. Problem is even the Democrats have to prove their military toughness cred. That's what Hillary thought she was doing.
So when is some honest, truthful person going to come along and say, "The military budget is too big." He or she would have to be some kind of wimp. The US has to be numero uno when it comes to a big and powerful military. It's all about ego - individual and collective. The military mindset has effectively taken over the whole country. No one even mentions anything about devoting money or effort towards creating peace in the world. Who would we negotiate with? Who in fact is our enemy? Let's have a peace treaty so we can reduce the military budget. No one even thinks in those terms any more.
