What's it gonna take, folks?

[Atticus]

You can tell this is not a rant because I'm not using all caps, right? No, this is just another postcard from the edge of the precipice.

How many times have you, personally, thought "Bingo! They've got Trump now! No way does he survive this!"? After you'd excitedly chortled about Trump's imminent demise half a dozen times or so only to find that the monster had survived yet another direct hit, did you go quiet? Did you begin to doubt your own sense of right and wrong, decent and indecent, intelligent and----"Trumpiant"?

I don't have any special wisdom about this because, as the talking heads remind us at least once a day: "This is unprecedented!" But, for what it's worth, what mental stability I have is due to---don't laugh---my abiding faith in the goodness of mankind. I believe that, in the long run, the good guys win. I agree with what Dr. King said about the "moral arc of the universe" bending toward justice.

Sometimes, if we're not vigilant, we fall into the trap of thinking we are uniquely flawed; that "everyone else" is stronger, smarter, better than we are. There's a scientific term for this: "bullshit". Everyone gets discouraged, disgusted, depressed, pissed off! Everyone occasionally says or does something that soon embarrasses the living hell out of them!

Get over it. Forgive yourself. Forgive "them". Move on. "Endeavor to persevere!"

As for that "Trump situation"---the fat lady hasn't even begun to sing. We will prevail.

[Comatose Sphagetti]

1. "... my abiding faith in the goodness of mankind."

Well said.

This nightmare WILL end.

[Awsi Dooger]

2. I've never had that thought and I've been amazed it exists at all

Yes, he's a liar and cheat. Eventually he'll go down as one of the worst Americans of all time. But he's been a liar and cheat for more than a half century, so it was always foolhardy to believe he didn't know who to surround himself with and how to deflect from the lying and cheating. Mueller will get closer than anyone else but it won't result in anything meaningful related to Trump himself. That's been my instinct throughout so I'll stick with that. Rachel Maddow has some very nice detailed programs but she butchers the aspect of how those details are applied by the system in place. Minus damning audio and video, nothing will be accepted as meaningful, let alone as proof.

Only in the past month or so have I begun to recognize how the right wing shields Trump and prevents his approval rating from plummeting further. Right wingers rant against CNN as "opinion." I see that on every site where the topic shows up. I never understood it, because I think of Fox News as opinion, even though I never watch it.

But the last three times I visited my elderly Republican aunt I started to pay attention to how the local Fox affiliate deals with Donald Trump. I don't doubt that the same tactic is used by Sinclair stations and other right wing sources. The local station goes out of its way to carefully select clips that make Trump come across as strong and presidential. They often aren't the most relevant clips of anything that happened that day. But they are the centerpiece. The controversial stuff doesn't show up at all, or is severely demoted. The background intro will be the White House, and everything that looks very patriotic and official. Trump's image will be large and flattering on screen. Then the broadcaster says, "President Trump today..."

Followed by a clip that is public relations oriented, to say the least. They'll pick a strong declaratory statement from Trump, often something that most Americans would agree with. It might have been 5th string that day but it gets top billing. If there is opportunity to have a world leader seated alongside Trump while saying something supportive, that clip is guaranteed.

And that's it. Every newscast every day. I started to understand why right wingers rant against CNN as opinion. At home they are treated to Trump's words in packaged carefully-selected fashion. It is exactly how they envision him and how they want a leader to come across. Then if they occasionally click to CNN they are seeing interpretation of Trump's remarks. Meanwhile they have already seen Trump speak that day and were impressed. The Fox/Sinclair broadcaster didn't add anything. Now CNN is adding, instead of merely beholding.