The term ‘road map’ has been repeated frequently in the past week or two. People are predicting Robert Mueller’s final report will be a road map for articles of impeachment against Trump. It has also been stated that Michael Cohen has provided a road map for future congressional hearings.
I came across this blog titled “Trump Just Might Have Won the 2020 Election Today” written by Nick Gillespie and published by Reason, a reputable libertarian news source, on March 2, 2019. The topic was the super-sized rant Trump delivered to CPAC. The article opens with “It's way too early to be thinking this, much less saying it, but what the hell: If Donald Trump is able to deliver the sort of performance he gave today at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the annual meeting of right-wingers held near Washington, D.C., his reelection is a foregone conclusion.”
As I was reading the article, a pop-up ad for a book called “Dumb Energy” distracted me momentarily, which was entirely apropos since it turned out to be a book deriding smart energy and Trump has had plenty to say to CPAC members about the Green New Deal. Incidentally, a 2015 document titled “Vision For Smart Energy In Denmark” defines a smart energy system as follows: “A smart energy system is a cost-effective, sustainable and secure energy system in which renewable energy production, infrastructures and consumption are integrated and coordinated through energy services, active users and enabling technologies.”
The recurring thought I have had over the last two years as I have pondered why on earth republicans and voters have not yet abandoned their liar-in-chief has lead me to conclude that ‘bullshit baffles brains’. How else, other than perhaps mass hypnosis could so many be duped by someone so dishonest, deluded and inept. Trump uses language during speeches and rallies that has often been unintelligible and is almost always loaded with lies and rhetoric that appeals equally to the republican smart-set and his socially primitive base. I remind myself that he is after all a reality TV host. Even avid fans must admit that reality TV has very little to do with actual ‘reality’. I agree with famous historian, Timothy Snyder who refers to Trump as a “fictional political figure”. Whether speaking to the boy scouts, presenting the State-Of-The-Union address, or at the CPAC convention, Trump is in rally mode. No matter who his audience is, there are almost always outbursts of laughter, as though he were a stand-up-comic and the crowd frequently breaks out into chants. Good times! Yes, bullshit does baffle brains.
Sally Yates tweeted “Have we lost our ability to be shocked?” I hope not. I know I haven’t. It doesn’t appear to me that Democrats in congress have either. I hope they will read the Reason blog and carefully analyse Trump’s CPAC performance, which appears to be Trump’s playbook for 2020. I think it could provide Democrats with a road map of sorts in the battle for 2020. I hold out hope that the Mueller report and Michael Cohen’s testimony will provide Congress with the road maps to bring the truth to the American people and hold Trump and the Republican Party accountable for their dirty deeds and criminal attacks on American values.