Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,
Whilst bloody treason flourish’d over us
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar Act II Scene III
William Shakespeare
By Blue Bronc, a Trail Mix Contributor
Although the beginning works to attack and destroy drumpf have been designed, it will not be by those who wish him ill that he falls. He will by his own actions and words be taken down. A man so mentally frail as to lash out in the manner of a petulant three year old will always be looked down on in an adult world.
I am afraid that our country will be rent apart prior to his removal from office. When republicans (they do not deserve the respect of a capitol letter) scrap their own love of country and respect for the law to stand behind and uplift the man we can be afraid of them too. They will follow him to the edge of a deep crevasse from which they either see the truth, or they blind themselves in idolatry and plunge America to it’s death.
Can the Democrats rally enough support to end this folly of idiocy any time before it reaches a terrible destructive climax? I keep my faith in a handful of Republicans willing to risk ire of the child to save America from his tantrums. These men and women are true to their beliefs and to a strong country of these United States. Their actions are imperative to stopping a blunder, to stopping a wrong, to stopping a child who needs to be bundled in a blanket and a pacifier shoved in his mouth.
Will the Republicans and Democrats succeed? They must, otherwise serious harm will be done to a once great country.
More Posts by Blue Bronc
And this instinct to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life, ’cause it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing.
Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.
from wapo transcript of streep speech
Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,
Whilst bloody treason flourish’d over us
metaphor of the day
from huffpo: Pioneer Cabin Tree, Iconic Giant Sequoia With ‘Tunnel,’ Falls In Storm
Pioneer Cabin Tree, an iconic giant sequoia in California’s Calaveras Big Trees State Park, was toppled during a massive storm that swept through the state on Sunday.
“The storm was just too much for it,” the Calaveras Big Trees Association wrote on Facebook along with images of the fallen giant taken by park volunteer Jim Allday: [….]
It’s not clear how old the tree was, but other great sequoias in the park are more than 1,200 years old.
and from wapo: Winter storm fells one of California’s iconic drive-through tunnel trees, carved in the 1880s
As written in a guide to the Calaveras Big Trees State Park, “Sierra redwoods evolved in the presence of fire, and not only have adapted to it, but depend on it in several ways. Heat from fire causes the cones to open and release the seeds. Fire clears the ground of duff, litter, and brush so the tiny seeds can reach the mineral soil and receive plenty of sunshine . . . The opening [in the Pioneer Cabin tree] has reduced the ability of the tree to resist fire. A few branches bearing green foliage tell us that this tree is still managing to survive.”
….. oh how the mighty have fallen
Flatus & whskyjack are gentlemen. Of course we knew this already ✔
Blue Bronc,
Great Post. Ultimately everything begins & ends with us. Now is the time to publicly support anyone who speaks out when the next President does/says anything that runs counter to our ideals & values. This support applies to good souls from both Parties.
This whole Russian episode makes me wonder what will China do, or more importantly, what have they done or are currently doing behind the scenes. Can’t help but think of what Senator Webb has written about China. Should our focus be there too? If I wanted to do evil (!) I would wait until my enemy was distracted then make hay while that sun shines. Just sayin’ ….
*****
Dear blueINdallas,
We will trade off being the Fifth Rutle on the Trail 😉
P.S. Love the pic of the rat. We should adopt & name him. I feel his pain. And anxiety. Daily.
sjwny, in re rat: he/she is us, we are he/she collectively here on the trail. so the name needs to connote the communal angst….. the zeitgeist so to speak.
Too many people are still taking a wait and see attitude when Trump and his ilk have proven what they are.
I think some people haul out their manners selectively and that does not make anyone a gentle person it makes them more of a pompous ass
the storm here took out lots of trees -drought had made them unstable and a big wind storm finished them off
Redwoods and Sequoias have shallow root systems
Thank you, BB, for your thoughtful post. The Senate will have its chance to show if they, as individuals and an institution, are willing to stand up to power by insisting that nominees for cabinet level posts obtain their security clearances prior to being given the keys to their offices.
With some exceptions, the slate of nominees that Mr Trump has offered wouldn’t fit Teddy Roosevelt’s definition of swamp drainers. Let’s see if they meet the standards of past conduct that would allow them access to our Nation’s most precious assets.
“and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land” [Song of Solomon 2:12 kjv]
sounds of hypocrisy
politico:
“It will be up to the Republican majority to decide if they want to reverse what Leader McConnell insisted on for President Obama’s nominees and rush President-elect Trump’s nominees through without an ethics letter,” said Eli Zupnick, a spokesman for Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the HELP Committee.
He was referring to a letter McConnell sent to then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in February 2009, asking for both the FBI and the OGE process to be finished before committee chairmen scheduled a hearing.
and from cnn in re shumer cautions fast tracking supreme court nominee:
….McConnell said that the American people would not allow the seat to remain open Jason Steed, an appellate lawyer, posted on twitter a fake picture of a head exploding referencing the fact that it was the Republicans just a few months ago who held the seat open.
One of Mrs. Jacks favorite sayings taken from her marketing job. Never confuse winning the work with doing the work. This never more true than in politics. The things it takes to get elected have little to do with governing and in fact can be detrimental to your success once in office. We are seeing this with DT right now.
I think that some time we can get a little melodramatic when talking about DT and his behavior, he is a bit of a drama queen and as a result invites the same from his opponents. It is a trap folks.
I have faith in the institutions that govern this country to provide the checks on power that has run amuck. We are already seeing some of them with the recent hearings on the Russian hacking. The Senate is a body with 100 little emperors all with feelings of great importance. Any one of them can shut down the world. Mitch McConnell isn’t a leader so much as he is a cat herder and persuader.
Also don’t forget we have a Speaker of the House who is ambitious and rightly believes he is more qualified to be president then the current occupant. With the right person in the Speakership it can be an office stronger than the presidency with strong influence over the direction of this country.
When all else fails trust in bureaucrats to slow walk any radical change.
Jack
BlueB…. bravo!
I LOVED Ms Streep’s little speech last night… didn’t even mention the frump’s name. Now he’s tweeting nasty stuff about her. But that’s ok… ~~~~ we need to embrace him in order to move forward~~~ and mrs frump… she may be an enabler… but ~~~ that’s ok too~~~
geez…. black is white… and gosh darnit!… they’re good enough and smart enough too….
“When all else fails trust in bureaucrats to slow walk any radical change.”
jack, amen to that and the “100 little emperors” observance
well on Jan 21 trump and the goopers aren’t going to be slow walking anything
nbcnews:
For the last four decades, Senate votes on a new president’s Cabinet picks have largely been a civil affair. Since the Carter era, about three-quarters of each incoming president’s first set of Cabinet picks have been approved unanimously by members of the United States Senate, and all but about a dozen have suffered only one or two dissenting votes. (Newcomers to American politics would be surprised to hear that all but two Republican senators gave a greenlight to incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton one day after President Barack Obama was inaugurated.)
Still, each of the last six presidents have faced at least one problematic nominee, although those with significant baggage — like Clinton Attorney General nominee Zoe Baird, Bush 43 Labor nominee Linda Chavez and Obama Cabinet picks Bill Richardson and Tom Daschle — have tended to withdraw their names from consideration before the vote or even before confirmation hearings begin.
Wonderful to the point post Bronc. Streep simply told the truth and that was enough to send the almost president into a full blown tantrum. As soon as she started, I knew why her conservative nephew once laughed and told me, “The family doesn’t talk about Auntie Meryl.”
Resistance will be necessary as the GOP aren’t about to take the corrective actions necessary to take the pathetic Mr. Trump out of our lives.
My only complaint about the Streep speech is that the necessary conversation about his has over shadowed the well deserved seven golden globes for La La Land. At least there is one film out there to make you feel hopeful for the pursuit of happiness if not obtaining absolutely perfect endings. The musical is back.
First off there is no Trump and the goopers. There is Donald Trump and who ever is standing next to him at the moment. Then there is a loosely organized house that that can fly apart at anytime. Then there is the Senate. Slow walking is built into the system and it takes better cohesion than the Republicans have right now to move anything through the system. Then there are the 60 votes you have to have in the Senate just to bring anything to the floor.
Ya know…. virtually patting a grown woman on the head and practically saying “there, there… it’s not your fault, dear… it’s all the fault of that ogre husband of yours”… sure the hell ain’t chivalry, IMO.
I dislike the term resistance, It implies you are powerless.
The Democrats are far from powerless. What they need to do is regroup use their power to influence legislation and slow down the change that more radical member of the Republican party want. The system is built for them to do this.
What they really need to do is get off their asses and start organizing, build their party back up. In a good chunk of this country they have become irrelevant and aren’t even taken seriously by major players.
Jack
first,
There is Donald and the goopers and there more to the transition team then appointments
they are making plans and will be marching forward and if you think otherwise you have not been paying attention
jack, I worry about that dangling “first,” in your 10:50 comment. hope it wasn’t to be followed by
“let’s kill all the lawyers”.
Listen to Mike Pence and you will see what is about to happen the goopers have an entire agenda already -Paul Ryan wants change and now he has his entire agenda ready to go and if you think some gov’t bureaucrat is going to slow it down – people are living in a dream world if they think this isn’t going to be horrible for people who need a public safety net to survive
Kentucky is all Republican now and if you want to see what is going to happen on the federal level- take a look at what the KY legislature is doing now.
KGC
Which “they”
It seems to me you are giving them more credit for cohesion then has been demonstrated so far.
What I’m seeing is a tremendous amount of backstabbing going on, with some major appointees already being cut out of the inner circle.
So far it appears that Trump is going to be a very weak president and who emerges from the Whitehouse as the center of power is yet to be determined.
I am hoping that his daughter and son in law will be able to give DT some structure so at least there will be an official version of “the opinion of Donald Trump”. What we really don’t need is a weak wandering president. The world is a dangerous place.
Jack
Pat
Not my lawyer, he is good people, it is those other folks’ lawyer who is the blood sucking money grubbing bastard. Killing is too good for him.
Jack
Kushner and his wife Donetta jr are not what you want as the closest advisors to the president
He and his family aren’t really nice people and the reason you don’t see Chris Christie is because
he prosecuted and sent to jail Kushner’s father who is really not a nice person. That is a family with a lot of feuds
Trump just wants to attend rallies and be adored – the goopers are going to take advantage of that.
some people think if they didn’t see it — it must not exist and they preen around smug in their ignorance and then are always so surprised when it doesn’t work out the way it does it their little world
1. Where is Casca when we need him ?
2. Let us now begin to use the phrase, the failed trump presidency.
3. “The fault is not in the stars, Dear Brutus, but in ourselves that we are underlings.” – Cassius
4. My GAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWD ! he doth bestride the world like a colossus, and we squeaky mice do scurry and peer around his 4F feet.
Rat naming contest anyone? Ours does have a Roddy St. James quality
kgc and jack, you both are right.
yes, kgc, the gopers are going for broke both in the states and in critterville passing as much right wing legislation they can get thru as quickly as they can during the honeymoon. said illiberal laws will have a negative effect on many and some people will not survive. no health care and an un-healthy environment even if they do manage to hang on.
and yes, jack, rules and regs take a long long time either to be dumped or developed, unless der drumpf proclaims martial law, the wheels of justice as well as those of the bureaucracy will grind slow especially if not well-oiled.
An absolutely magnificent multi part Twitter rant by Charles Clymer even if you rarely go on Twitter. This is one for all those “trailer” folks in the middle of the country Trump is using for his own power and privilege.
Jamie, someone the other day mentioned ratatouille… however that might be too effete and elitist.
It will not go slowly. Much as he did with all the ambassadors – he said get out regardless of what is going on and that is what is going to happen. They aren’t going to defund Planned Parenthood sometime in the future they are going to defund it now.
You don’t need time if you are ending regulations.
wapo: The full transcript from the Trump transition team’s Monday call to reporters
I, like most sophisticated USAF NCOs, would choose Beef Wellington as our main dish for Saturday night get togethers. What makes it so much fun is drawing straws to see who shall wield the sword.
sjwny, you asked about whether it’s fitting to go or not to go to the coronation. here’s from alternet:
Michael Moore Calls for ‘100 Days of Resistance’ Starting With Donald Trump’s Inauguration
The Michigan activist says “it’s important that everybody go there” to protest Trump’s inauguration and beyond.
“Trump gets upset if there’s 10 people outside Trump Tower,” Moore said on MSNBC’s “Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” on Sunday night. “What’s he going to think if there’s 100,000 or 500,000 (at his inauguration)?”
Moore added, “It’s important that everybody go there. This will have an effect. We have to throw everything at this. This man is slightly unhinged, if I can say that, and he’s a malignant narcissist. He’s going to be very upset if there’s a lot of people there.”
See the difference…
Seems like it might be interesting demonstrating at each of Trump’s homes while they are not there. If feds show up to chase people away, seems to me that would be an abuse of the public purse as well as the Ist. Demonstrators would of course stay off private property.
Renee, the only ways that could be worse was if the lady was either his wife or Elizabeth R
So don’t expect the news media to do any actual reporting –they will continue being nothing but shills
Rachel Maddow thinks she will be hashing things out with the Condom- who is an unrepentant and serial liar. This is about faux access which since NBC is now faux news seems appropriate
Patd
Well “zeitgeist” mentioned earlier does seem to fit the ambience and then there is always “Ben”
oops, meant to link this at the earlier voice of the turtle comment
BB: Great post! Love the quotes. Here’s another one…This may indeed be trump’s motto: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”. He obviously thinks that any stray thought that choo-choos through his brain is gospel…and tweetable! 😀
Jack: And I thought I was the one who looked at life with rose colored glasses LOL! Doing a wait & see and blindly believing that since we have such a good system everything will be OK is not what’s needed right now. That good system got us trump! Yes, I & many others believe we need resistance; and re dems, “What they really need to do is get off their asses and start organizing, build their party back up.” That is part of resisting! And, seriously???? “I am hoping that his daughter and son in law will be able to give DT some structure so at least there will be an official version of “the opinion of Donald Trump. What we really don’t need is a weak wandering president. The world is a dangerous place.” You don’t think we should resist having a President who is so incompetent that we should rely on his equally inexperienced daughter & son in law to take charge of him and make him look good!!!! Plus they also have a business agenda that will always be more important to them the this country or citizens like me. (just like daddy)
Jamie: Wow that may be the longest rant I’ve read. Here’s a link to the whole thing if anyone wants to read further…have to hit “show more” a few time as you scroll through:
Pat: I have to disagree with Mr Moore. I don’t think protesters will get anywhere close enough to be seen by trump and if people get through without protest signs he’ll just see them as adoring fans. I say go to protests wherever they are allowed and don’t go the the actual inauguration. He’s all about adoration, and the impression of being worshiped so the fewer people at his coronation the more unhinged he’ll be.
Renee; That is a perfect image of their differences!
Times article about interviewing trump on his Meryl tantrum. As always lately, article lets him off the hook regarding his behavior. the last paragraph made me want to hurl! “We are going to have an unbelievable, perhaps record-setting turnout for the inauguration, and there will be plenty of movie and entertainment stars,” Mr. Trump said. “All the dress shops are sold out in Washington. It’s hard to find a great dress for this inauguration.” This man is completely out of touch with reality and so in love with himself he’ll never have the capacity to love his country! http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/09/movies/trump-meryl-streep-golden-globes-speech.html
pogo, for your entertainment during halftime, your fav
Alexandra petri:
As a president-elect, Donald Trump is not so hot, but as a device for making it so that you never have to talk about anything even remotely boring or difficult ever again, he is a wild and unprecedented success. There are only two types of issues: the type where other people’s opinions might possibly be more valid than yours, and the type where yours is by definition just as good as everyone else’s. That kind of issue is Trump’s specialty. Given his apparent allergy to fact, it is the only thing he can talk about. I think once in the ’80s sometime he got hold of a fact by mistake, thinking it was an anecdote, but once he realized his error he immediately released it back into the wild. Ever since then, like most Americans, he has lived a blissfully fact-free existence, speaking out loudly on every issue, confident that if there were ever a real crisis, he could Google it just as fast as anybody. And now he’s going to be president! We always vaguely implied that we wanted more specifics from our candidates than just that someone would “make America great again,” with nouns, all the best nouns, but — he called our bluff. He is the clickbait that you profess to despise.
I don’t think you can ever go broke with the assumption that people hate being told that other people know more than they do. I secretly nurse the delusion that if I got a really good night’s sleep and sat down to take the bar exam, I might pass. And now that Donald Trump is president, I know I would.
Hillary Clinton’s whole campaign was premised on the idea that, actually, she knew more about things than we did and that we could just sit back and let her take care of things. We did not like that one bit! Trump’s whole campaign, by contrast, was premised on the fact that he didn’t.
(Let the record show that I am not one of those rare optimists who thinks that Trump is a Stealth Genius who is throwing sand in our faces all the time to keep us very busy while he enacts a sinister and complex plan. My analysis of the situation is much simpler. We are all idiots who are easily distracted by the unimportant. I dare not presume that Trump is any different.)
patd,
I respectfully disagree with Michael Moore (whose show I adored years ago – remember it?)
The President-Elect is all about ratings – yuuuge numbers. The Inaugural will be the yuuugest ratings catch of all & if, let’s say, Barack Obama pulled in bigger numbers circa January 2009 than this new guy circa 2017, it will not be pleasant to be around said new guy. Big names not attending will place President-Elect in that awful awkward position like the kid we all know who had no one show up at his birthday party. Ouch. Cringe worthy. But the difference is the President-Elect earned his shunning. Ignoring him will make his skin crawl in so many different directions.
******
Little side note: Today marks Richard M. Nixon’s 104th birthday. Ah, memories.
Sock it to … meee?
Sending good thoughts to Katherine Graham Cracker concerning the weather in her area.
How about the name Typhus N Plague ?
All – thank you, I wrote this a couple days ago. Nothing speaks to treason like a good old Shakespeare tragedy.
Ratatoullie is a wonderful movie. I did watch it again, I have the DVD, and came away with that wonderful feeling which I felt on the first time I watched it. Remy is the main character. The recipe is here.
Although brought up as a “throw something at him and maybe something will stick” attack last year, it is time to also look at Alzheimer Disease along with other mental frailties. The man is old and having mental issues goes with old age. Complex mental failings do happen. But we should not be arm-chair shrinks, let real psychiatrists do the job. Of course we do have to wonder what his taking office physical by the doctors at Bethesda will look like?
I disagree with my distinguished colleague from brownbackistan. The opposite of the word resistance is collaboration.
“How about the name Typhus N Plague?”
xrepublican,
I was imbibing in liquid refreshment as I read that.
Damn you.
The deadbeat won’t go to Bethesda. He’ll want the good russian doctors of St Putinsberg.
According to the WashingtonPost
trump nominee Monica Crowley is a big time plagiarist but Trump inc doesn’t care and views any discussion of this intellectual dishonesty as an unwarranted attack on Crowley
Here is an undercurrent that I think should be watched. The far right are fascinated by “history”, especially history which supports white supremacy. This year is 2017. Watch for more Hitler and Nazi crap showing up as 1918 is the end of WWI. The next few years have the jailing of Hitler and then his release and his building up of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; NSDAP.
With the floater in position starting next week a dicotomy exists. The Soviets and the Nazis were arch-enemies, after they were friends. Currently the floater is a BFF with a Soviet and the Nazis are in his support groupes. What will the two side do with each other?
lol
Granny, just American Government 101. Don’t confuse winning the election with governing.
As to all that resistance /protest talk I hear on this site well go for it. It has worked so well the last 2 years.
xrep, politics is collaboration and it is not a bad word. It is how things get done.
Jack
BB, I don’t need to tell you that in the situation you pose, a failed dicotomy will result in an endless chain of colostomies
when they come for you…..
SJW
thanks for the good wishes A lot of rain and wind but we are not in a flood or slide zone.
We have a rather steep and long driveway and it always takes the biggest hit –giant pot holes and ruts
more on the way apparently. Fortunately we are old and retired and don’t have to go out.
Godwin strikes twice, stick a fork in this one , it’s done.
Next!
not every reference to Nazi etc is inappropriate
If people like Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, john mccain, and lindsey graham are willing to co-operate with each other, I don’t see a problem with getting a few important (ie necessary) things done. I am much more concerned about Dems collaborating with rippers to get things undone.
We know there is going to be some kind of infrastructure spending and Dems need to make sure that the over 50 long term unemployed and smaller businesses get a piece of the contracts. I think there should be room for collaboration on that, ….and creating a program of mandatory national service
The problem is so many bad things are happening all at once it is hard to know where to start
I don’t see a lot of horrible things going on in the US other than The Eternal Campaign, russkie aggression, and Balkanization : the mainstreaming of hate groups in the US – from shepherd’s chapel, nazis, & the kkk to daesh & some of the blm locals.
On Main Street, however, things are chugging right along. Violent crime is way down from 25 years ago. We see rising employment and wages, a strong dollar, and a shrinking trade deficit. Thank you, President Obama.
We’re going to give a neighbor our condolences.
Over and out.
New website to prowl around. Crooked Media They promise to talk to people the way people talk about politics. It’s written by a couple of speech writers. They should definitely be encouraged to visit here for great ideas.
Craig, do you know Founders are Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Tommy Vietor. Bios are here
Holy Stem Cells…after eight years of reversing Bush’s restrictions, stem cell researchers worry about a trumpence administration. From dental cavities, to heart and skin burn repair…stem cells have opened a new era in medical science.
I see Andrew Cuomo has thrown his hat in the ring for 2020. I hope Cory Booker is not far behind.
With Trump as a common enemy/obstacle, maybe he will be a uniter and some good will be accomplished.
I think ratings will be really low for Trump’s big day. Not many rubber-neckers; the highlight reel on the evening news will be more than some want. If any of you get the Decades channel, they will be airing past inaugurations, starting with Kennedy’s, on the 20th.
sj – We must do tea sometime.
So, what about Rizzo the rat?
I liked cuomo’s father. There was a real man.
When homelessness was rising faster than a moonshot, HUD Sec’y li’l cuomo was a good looking but useless paperweight, his middle finger lifted by the wind of Wall Street. If he runs, I hope he bets the farm and loses it all in the debacle.
A rose by any other name is still fascism.
bbronc, another to remember about 1917 but seems not as momentous to people today is women’s right to vote. too bad the 100th anniversary will not be celebrated by a woman president. I foresee the twit reneging on letting Eleanor or harriet grace any currency