By Joe Darby
Okay, folks, I think it’s time for me to go political again.
The thoughts in this column are inspired by growing talk about Oprah possibly running for president in two years.
If you thought the 2016 election between Trump and Hilary was the race from hell, can you imagine what the contest between The Donald and Oprah would be like?
I mean, even Trump supporters pretty much admit that the big guy in the White House is a loose cannon. To that I would add, he is the most disorganized and chaotic president ever. And, rather than having adopted the dignity that the White House would seemingly call for — as many people had hoped he would — he is still the playground bully, who attacks like a mad dog everyone who criticizes him in the slightest way.
I am truly scared of the guy. He talks about nuclear war as cavalierly and casually as most presidents would about, say, about implementing a new policy in the Department of Education.
I could go on, but you know about the man, how he acts and, apparently, how he thinks. Which is the scary part, right?
Now, to Oprah. Wouldn’t it be something to have a president known chiefly by her first name. Her supporters would no doubt reject the title of President Winfrey to insist that she be called President Oprah.
Aside from her very, very leftist politics, which have never worked in any country, she, like Trump before his election, is qualified only as a celebrity. And that’s what I’m really afraid of. That our days of electing true statesmen or stateswomen to the highest office could be long gone.
Perhaps for the 2032 election, those of us still alive would have a choice between a professional wrestler and a dirty-mouthed stand up comic. The wrestler, of course, would be the Republican and the comedian the Democrat.
And of course, instead of going to the polling places, we’d all gather around our electronic devices and text in our choice for a winner, like some of those TV talent shows today. During the show, the wrestler could try to toss the comedian out of a ring while the stand-up could spout dirty jokes about the wrestler.
I jest, but I truly fear. Surely, surely, the GOP should have done much better than nominating Trump. And the Dems lost the race by nominating the extremely flawed Hilary Clinton. Will they repeat their suicidal politics by choosing Oprah, giving us four more years of Trumpism? Where’s it all going to end?
I also think back to the beginnings of our country, when we had a population of 3 million or so.
From that relatively small group (compared to today’s 330 million) we produced George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin and countless other brilliant statesmen who founded our country.
No one approaching the caliber of those men is even on the horizon today, And if there is, he or she has not yet revealed his or her qualities to us. So, if you’re out there, future great leader, please let us know. We need you so much.
Trump is a master poker player and an artist when it comes to psyops which is why he spanks and humiliates his enemies both foreign and domestic on a daily basis. The leftwing moles in the CIA and FBI just think they know how to conduct a psyop. They conspired and brought the resources of the government against Trump for months in advance to destroy him politically and he beat them at the ballot box handily. In addition using his mastery of poker on a daily basis he out bluffs them and pulls them into making moves that discredit and humiliate themselves and send them into a bumbling attempt to cover up their misdeeds as well as their incompetance at conducting a psyop. For too many years the State Department has been the domain of knee pad diplomats who relished in appeasing opponents who see diplomatic victory in humiliating their opponents and who sought more victories in humiliating their opponents. For that reason we have never been diplomatically successful with the Palestinians, the North Koreans, or the Iranians. Kim’s nuclear program is a psyop. They know that they will never succeed in a conventional nuclear war. The missile program is proof that the program is a psyop. If the North Koreans wanted to strike us they would provide a backpack nuke to an Islamic group giving Kim plausible deniability. The lesson learned by the North Vietnamese is that Americans can’t be defeated on the battlefield but if you can scare the hell out of the gutless the nutless and weak of heart in our civilian population our knee pad diplomats will crawl under the table and appease them every time. Kim is presently bumbling through a series of demonstrations of strength that make professional soldiers laugh but professional soldiers aren’t who he is trying to scare. Trump knows about strenthness and weakness. He has an understanding of the cultures of violence. He knows that if you don’t punch them in the mouth they’ll extort your milk money on a daily basis. For too long we’ve had leaders that were willing to accept humiliation as the price for diplomatic success thinking it was a one time thing and not realizing that a tyrants ability to stay in power depends on the continuation of such victories. I spotted from the beginning that Trump was a master of deception. I actually thought that he was still a democrat padding the ballot for the party. I voted for Trump because even though he is deceptive he would be more honest than Hillary. I’ve always considered myself to be pretty good at psyops. I’ve had guns drawn on me and left them wondering what to do next when I walked toward them and not run away. Against Trump I’m a real amateur. For the next few years you Trump haters will just have to bear one humiliation after another. As for me i will just have to observe and learn from a pro.
If you Voted for Obama or the Clintons then what you have to say about Trump is irrelevant.
I truly thank you all for your interesting comments. To the Trump supporters I want to say I too am a conservative and a patriotic American. I just loved Ronald Reagan. But I have to call it like I see it. Trump is truly a scary man and the most unpresidential person to ever occupy the White House. Look at what he said today about the S…hole countries. To Ms. Geoghagan who said if I can’t speak with respect I should remain quiet, that’s not what a free press is all about. If by some unfortunate chance Hilary had been elected, I’d be all over her faults too. You may remember I was pretty hard on Obama. But again, thanks much for sharing your opinions. Many regards, Joe.
FAKE NEWS!
Joe,
I typically like reading what you have to say but seriously lean a bit more left man. Give our elected President some credit he has done quite well for his first year.
“Give our elected President some credit he has done quite well for his first year.”
1) Correction: Putin elected. Shows how effective videos of peeing businessmen can be to manipulate head of state. Not to mention hacking websites and voting machines to erase votes for carrot-head’s opponent.
2) Correction: Terrible job; destroying country while enriching himself and filthy rich, also non-tax paying lazy entitled friends. But you won’t read about it or see it if your general ignorance about the world continues to be nourished at the teat of Fox, Comcast, and other deliberately selective “conservative” “news” sites. Oh, I forgot, everything that contradicts right-wing conservative BS is fake news.
3) Ironically, the most vocal supporters of the conservative Trump agenda are those most screwed by it (hello, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, and the other rabidly pro-Trump states, economically, culturally, educationally at the bottom of the fifty states–have you ever wondered why?). Once Medicare and Social Security are eliminated (are you enjoying the air getting dirtier and water more polluted?), apparently also on the Koch brothers agenda, I wonder how long the blame Obama or blame Clinton refrain will successfully convince his true believers. Probably forever; after all, we’re not talking about the sharpest tacks in the box.
4) Has he succeeded enough in bringing us together as a country? Must being done in secret. Oh, right, as he stated, “Throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart, . . .qualify as not smart, but genius….and a very stable genius at that!”
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Sexual assault, bankruptcy and tax fraud, constant lies and self-contradictions, overt racism, overt bigotry, abysmal understanding of world affairs and total ignorance about pretty much everything (just like his many supporters), offending U.S. allies, sucking up to our enemies (treason?), stupid tweets, stupid comments, stupid statements, far too numerous to mention.
Welcome to the world of the Entitlement of the Stupid. Years ago (in my youth, so many many years ago) generally stupid and ill-informed people had the decency to shut up and let those with more experience, education, judgment, information, and common sense have the floor (remember: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak aloud and remove all doubt”–not in these times!) Don’t believe scientists, because they challenge your prejudices; and everyone is entitled to their opinions, no matter how misinformed, ignorant, biased, etc. they may be. Although, if you really really do believe you know more than “experts,” tell your surgeon that the brain or heart operation for your relative should be turned over to you because your opinions are as valid as the expert doctor’s.
And remember, too, the real enemy is the “left” and “liberals” and Obama and Clinton and everyone you have been conditioned to be angry at, regardless of how moronic and self-contradictory such attitudes are.
But, instead, let’s elect child molesters to the Senate (and burn down the houses of their accusers), fire FBI investigators if they get too close to the truth, question reality when it conflicts with personal beliefs. Let’s start burning witches at the stake again, ignore corruption even when it slaps us in the face, goose-step to authoritarian conformity, and sing the National Anthem (uh, even if fearless leader can’t remember the words, too difficult for our genius-in-chief). Let’s return to the dark ages, and empower the very worst, most cynical, greedy and corrupt elements in American life.
But, please, don’t drag the rest of us and the country down with you. Why is it always the same dumb 35 percent that sabotages progress in this country?
And, for all those tempted to reply to my very very sane rant:
Be silent; you’ve done too much damage already.
And a Happy New Year to everyone!!
Great article. I agree Trump is menace and really not fit to run an outhouse let alone The Whitehouse. But I don’t blame Trump anymore than I blame a 5 year old throwing a temper tantrum at a restaurant. In that situation I blame the parents as they should know better than to allow thier child to behave in that way. In trump’s case I blame those who should be monitoring him, namely our senators and representatives. I swear trump could strangle a puppy on the Whitehouse lawn and Mike Johnson would go on the radio to talk about the great leadership Trump showed by doing such. By electing water carriers like mike we get what we deserve. To get better presidents let’s start by getting better representatives.
Sometimes we have to take the bad to get to the good, I know President Trump isn’t an angel, but he does stand up for the hard working American. I honesty believe if Mr. Obama was still in office Isis would have taken over and our racial problems would be much worst.
We all have our opinions and even though I don’t agree with you this time, I still enjoy reading your columns.
I appreciate OUR President Trump !! If nothing else if you can’t speak of him with respect than best to be quiet !! Don’t worry the idiots that voted for Hillary will indeed vote for Oprah , what’s sad is they will vote for her just because of her name ! You want to see this world tipped upside down, wanna talk about being prejudice , take a look at her !!! Yes I am. Proud conservative and I love God , our country , and I love AMERICA !! If by chance the two debate each other for presidency the ” Donald Release the cannon and give her Hell !!”
glad d lord saw it fit for Trump to win–If u think he is mad at least its up front–all the scum that is coming to the surface showing how corrupt govt. is and from washington all the way down to Natch would not have surfaced and country would have been doomed–
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
What an idiot.
Great perspective Joe, thank you.
I agree that the people placed in front of us for these positions are less than desirable and I am concerned at the trend we see when it comes to celebrities in politics. Over and over again, from both sides of the aisle we here, “we need people in office that can relate to us.” My question is, how does a celebrity relate to anyone? They are as out of touch with the reality of the lives we Americans lead as anyone.
The two-party system is broke and the reality is we have the ability to control that. The majority of Americans are not straight-line left or straight-line right, we all fall in the middle on an array of viewpoints, many of which are not in line with the party to whom we find ourselves registered with. The two-party system seeks to remove ones liberty for the sake of perceived ‘freedom’. Both these attributes, dare I say RIGHTS, are what makes our country so unique. We have the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint AND line in a the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views.
The age of servitude in office appears to have waned. The age of electing ‘thinkers’ of diverse background and skillset has also waned. There is hope though. There are a large group of people amidst the middle-aged population that see what is occurring and have a strong desire to attempt to bring service to the nation and the people back to the offices of our State and Federal Governments. Unfortunately, not having egregious amounts of money on-hand means that these people must work diligently to build their base as they continue on in their professional lives.
I made a promise to my men when I was a platoon sergeant that I would one day make a political run. Conditions are not right for me to make that run at this time however, that does not mean that I have lost sight of my intended goal, it means that I am working with what I have to build relationships with folks to set conditions for a run.
Perhaps a good slogan for one that is already postured to make a run is “I’m not a celebrity, I am a professional citizen”. Who really knows your struggles more of the two?
All the best, and thanks again Joe.
Thanks, Sarge.
Please don’t run. We already have enough self-impressed narcissists in politics.
I enjoy your column but I find today I am in disagreement in part. Yes, Trump is unconventional, I believe that in 2016 had he not run you would madam president to one of the most corrupt women alive. Can you disagree that Trump a business person has jumpstarted the economy? Contrary to some the 8 year closet muslim had nothing to do with it. He only served to increase our debt and divide this nation along racial lines. As far as Oprah, the left liberal faction, especially the Hollywood contaminated would vote for her. That is scary.
The answer to your question opening question is,”The kind of candidates we deserve.”
Unfortunately, well said.