Speaker of the House Paul Ryan – hugmamma's MIND, BODY and SOUL

…further left of center.

Thanks to the Republicans currently in control of the Federal government, my days as an Independent are waning. My morals are definitely more in alignment with Democrats, despite my heretofore preference for voting the person, not the Party. As the investigation continues into Trump’s involvement with Putin, before and after the election, it’s become increasingly obvious that Republican senators and House representatives have sacrificed American democratic principles for party politics. They are so fixated with their party’s triumvirate power that they seem willing to sacrifice everything in order to hang onto it.

Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, both Republican party leaders, willingly “hold their noses” as they cozy up to Russia’s White House operative, Donald Trump. He who is beholding to Vladimir Putin for whatever wealth the Trump Organization has amassed since New York banks refused Trump loans because he fleeced them of what he owed. Even though he did likewise to a Russian bank, suing it for $3 billion when it pressed for Trump to repay it the $300 + million he’d borrowed. He lost the suit, in which he blamed the bank for his inability to rent apartments in the building he’d constructed with its money. Nonetheless, he was still allowed to borrow from Russian banks. Go figure???

Why is it that Trump can, as he declared, “shoot somebody on 5th Avenue” and still retain the loyalty of his supporters? Trump is constantly blasting his way through our democracy as though he’s using a revolving semi-automatic weapon, and he’s right. His hard core supporters, including McConnell, Ryan and other Republican politicians laugh off Trump’s antics as…Trump being a jokester…or a novice to politics. Even I, who loved to dance in my younger days, couldn’t possibly have shimmied my way beneath the low bar Trump fans have set for him, politically and ethically.

It’s sickening to witness how easily the Washington Republicans fritter away our country’s democratic principles. They’re used like bargaining chips in a game of Russian Roulette. The real losers don’t even have a “seat at the table”…the poor, the old, the uninsurable, the mentally retarded, the handicapped, the seriously ill, Muslims, people of color, women…and the children of today, and tomorrow.

These are not necessarily the constituents who thrive under Republican Party rule. And contrary to what he proclaimed while campaigning, Trump is the millionaires’/ billionaires’ president. It is they who, out of the kindness of their capitalistic heart, will ascertain what the rest of us need and deserve. You know. The “trickle down effect” from the wealthy 1% to the rest of us 99%ers. Oh, lucky days!!!

Who’s kidding who? Didn’t we already try that magic trick? Wasn’t that the mess President Obama began digging us out of beginning in 2009?

Trump has surrounded himself with gophers and yes-people, gold-diggers and power grabbers, ignoramuses and traitors. The last four categories, by the way, applicable to Trump himself.

The thought of Trump already seeking re-election in 2020, while only halfway through his first year with only 30+ percent of support nationwide, is ludicrous. The man is the epitome of narcissism. Physically and intellectually, Trump is so out of his league in the Oval Office. The fact that he is the laughing stock of his own Party, behind his back and behind closed doors, would itself be hilarious. If it weren’t for the fact that real people are getting hurt in Trump’s reality TV farce as president.

And Republican politicians who dogmatically put Party before country are in my opinion…

…completely un-American!

…and I want no part of them!

………hugmamma.

…is a moral one.

Absorbing the headlines and then digesting all the spinning by both media pundits and politicians is a full time job. What rises above the din, for me, is how conservatives are willing to sacrifice their principles in support of Trump and what he professes to uphold. Recently, a supporter of his said it best…Trump is voicing what many have been afraid to say publicly. That’s why the KKK supports him.

While Trump supporters, including Governor Christie, proclaim that their presidential candidate is not racist, he refuses to step away from making comments which indicate otherwise. Calling attention to the ethnicity of Judge Gonzalo Curiel and Senator Elizabeth Warren, and doubling down on it when interviewed or when rallying supporters speaks to Trump’s preoccupation with people’s backgrounds. It may not rise to the level of David Duke but race definitely matters to the Republicans’ presumptive nominee. He readily extracts it whenever he reaches into his ever-present bag of tricks to incite the crowds. While supporters defend him as not being racist, Trump uses the “race card” as readily as he accuses Hillary Clinton of using the “woman card.” The difference is Clinton embraces the accusation by exclaiming…”Deal me in!” Trump, on the other hand, whines that the media “misconstrues” his words.

Trump’s attitude toward women is a double-edged sword. He appreciates beautiful women to the point of surrounding himself with them. Melania, his wife, and Ivanka, his daughter, are prized trophies. Not only are they gorgeous, but they are smart. Trump prizes such women. As a smart businessman, however, he understands the value of smart women working in his organization, even if they lack physical beauty. What’s nauseating is Trump’s obvious patriarchal attitude toward women. Very telling is when he remarked that his mom was the ideal woman because she was completely devoted to his father. The implication being…his mom never questioned her husband’s actions.

“The Art of the Deal” is Trump’s modus operandi in all areas of his life. It’s not likely to be any different were he elected president. Knowing that he acts and reacts “on the fly,” means Trump’s operating principles flex accordingly. It may be that in his heart, Trump is not the persona he puts out for public consumption. At least that’s what he claims. The problem is we, the people, have to take him at his word. Attempting to do just that is difficult, when Trump’s words keep changing according to the landscape in which he finds himself on any given day.

Trump reliant solely upon Trump is another scary prospect. It reeks of authoritarianism. According to Donald Trump…he will return America to greatness….he will build a wall between Mexico and the U.S…he will bring jobs back…he will force companies to fall in line with his demands. As though monuments to honor a great man, Trump may be fashioning himself after North Korea’s Kim Jong-un or Russia’s Putin…strong men using strong-arm tactics.

I’m an Independent who usually votes Democratic. I don’t usually align with Republican principles. In the current presidential election it’s obvious that those principles are founded upon shaky ground. For the highest political prize, the presidency, even Paul Ryan whom I considered highly principled is willing to “hold his nose” and vote for stinking Donald Trump. On the other hand, I applaud the Bushes, Mitt Romney and George Kasich, among others, who will NOT compromise their moral compasses for the sake of a political party.

To stand with a man who publicly recognizes the KKK, known racists, is to deny all that America has strived to achieve since our forefathers fought to win their independence from England’s tyrannical rule.

Actions do speak louder than words. In Trump’s case, he is both telling us AND showing us his true colors. And in my judgment, they are not truly RED, WHITE, and BLUE. They are only…

…a facsimile thereof.

………hugmamma.