WISHES DO COME TRUE—and the Trump White House
Remember “Be careful what you wish for?”
Well, I wished for Donald Trump to win the Republican Presidential nomination in 2016. Am I a Republican? Not even close. I felt the Bern.
I knew that Trump, carrying all his casino-libido-lazy-self-centered-rumor-laden baggage would guarantee Hillary Clinton the presidential prize. No question. I even sent money to the Hillary campaign to make extra sure of the win. I never send money to political candidates.
I reveled in how Trump personally belittled his Republican opponents in the primary, fracturing the party beyond any possibility of coming together for the November election. I mean who, on a national stage, insults his opponents with references to the wife’s appearance; a political opponent’s father’s alleged involvement in the JFK assassination; an opponent’s physical appearance, and energy level? And they are all in the same party? And, Trump used to be a Democrat, eons ago?
I also thought, “Hell, if he gets in, he’s just a Democratic Trojan Horse. So, it’s Clinton vs. Clinton in Trump-drag.
I even thought to myself, from September, 2016 on, why are the newscasters even pretending there’s a contest? It’s over already! I shouted in my mind.
I read Trump’s book, The Art of the Deal, thirty-seven years ago and concluded back then he was a real jerk. Thirty-seven years ago!
Now, here we are, and I am really, really worried for our Republic. I came to the following conclusions personally before the author Seth Hettena did. His new book, TRUMP/RUSSIA, is scary because he has the facts. I only had rumor and data fragments. Hettena chronicles the greatest threat to our national security since the Cuban Missile Crisis, fifty-six years ago.
Jane Mayer, the expert author of Dark Money, whom I respect a great deal, says, “Hettena is a first-rate reporter and wonderful storyteller, and the tale he tells here is mind-boggling.”
Let me use excerpts from Hettena’s book. He explains it better than I want to. From the inner book jacket:
“ …there is growing evidence that Trump has spent decades cultivating ties to corrupt Russians and the post-Soviet state. …From the collapse of his casino empire—which left Trump desperate for cash—and his first contacts with Russian deal-makers and financiers, on up to the White House, Hettena reveals the myriad of shady people, convoluted dealings, and strange events that suggest how indebted to Russia our forty-fifth president might be.”
In the book, Hettena also notes:
“Vladimir Lenin is often credited with coining the phrase “useful idiot” to describe shallow thinkers in the West who did the Communist Party’s bidding without realizing it. …With each passing day, it becomes more and more difficult to avoid the conclusion that the current president of the United State, Donald J. Trump, is either hiding something when it comes to the Kremlin, or simply one of its useful idiots. Neither conclusion is comforting.
….While Trump sold apartments in Trump Tower to criminals in the 1980s and welcomed them into his casino in the 1990s, Russia was disintegrating into what Boris Yeltsin described as a “superpower of crime.” …. Putin’s rise from the KGB to the presidency of Russia revealed his deep connections, dating back years, to some of the same organized crime figures who were in the shadows of Trump’s business empire.”
But, here’s the worst part. The Republican Party, my father’s party, both of whom I politically disagreed with on so many things—are nowhere to be found—and the country is at stake. Where in the hell is the party of Lincoln? The Republicans are supposed to be the responsible ones and look out for our national security while we Democrats bleat and bleed about the needs of our neighbor.
The best analogy: It’s as if Charles Lindberg was elected President in 1940, instead of Roosevelt. If you don’t understand what that means, re-read your history books.
History does matter.
Then, the recent insider tell-all book by Michael Wolff, FIRE AND FURY, confirms the need to rally ‘round our upside down flag, the sign of distress.
Wolff closes his book with this:
Trump, in Bannon’s view, was a chapter, or even a detour, in the Trump revolution, which had always been about weaknesses in the two major parties. The Trump presidency—however long it lasted—had created the opening that would provide the true outsiders their opportunity. Trump was just beginning.
Standing on the Breitbart steps that October morning, Bannon smiled and said: “It’s going to be wild as shit.”
I have stopped wishing. Too many wishes come true.
Ben Leiter 