Trump's Legacy

The Schloss-Blog is looking at what Trump left behind, and what lies ahead, in the eyes and voice of a 23-year old.

Donald Trump left behind NO PLAN for vaccine distribution and administration. Nor resources therefor.

Instead of being COVID problem-solver, he was a COVID-enabler ("It'll go away magically," remember, he told us?).

Amanda Gorman, by contrast, says: "Somehow we've weathered and witnessed a nation that isn't broken."

Donald Trump left behind an angry mob, which he inspired, and which ransacked the Capitol, trying to overthrow the Constitution and the election results that were to be sanctioned.

Amanda Gorman, by contrast, says: "We lay down our arms, so we can reach out our arms to one another. We seek harm to none and harmony for all."

Donald Trump left behind 400,000 dead, and climbing, with no hope.

Amanda Gorman, by contrast, says: "That even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped. That even as we tired, we tried."

Donald Trump left behind what he called "enemies of the people" among the reporters who populated the White House Press Corps.

Amanda Gorman, by contrast, says: "Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid."

Donald Trump left behind a broken federal budget, mired in debt that he promised he'd erase. A nation poor and growing poorer all the time.

Amanda Gorman, by contrast, says: "If we're to live up to our own time, then victory won't lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we've made."

And finally, Donald Trump left behind Qanon racists, violent Proud Boys and politicians who pledge to try to keep those beliefs at the forefront of their lawmaking.

I'll let Amanda Gorman, by contrast, take it from here:

"We've seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it

Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy

And this effort very nearly succeeded

But while democracy can be periodically delayed

It can never be permanently defeated.

In this truth, in this faith, we trust."

The words of a 23-years-old youth American Poet Laureate.

With that, "Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson."

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.

Or as Joe Biden would say, "God bless the Unites States of America and may God Protect our troops."

 

Free Speech

The Schloss-Blog, emptying out the notebook a little bit today, saw a great social-media post the other day:

When Black people exercise free speech by carrying out a protest, it's called a violent insurrection. When conservative white people carry out a violent insurrection, it's called free speech.

Or at least that's what conservative Republicans would have you believe.

Six Republican Senators voted to overturn all or parts of the electoral college that favored Biden. So did about 140 Republican Congressmen.

They want to keep Trump's loyal base loyal to them, those people who stormed the Capitol. I'd rather have MS-13 loyal to me. They're better organized.

All this time, President Trump would have you believe that the notorious street gang is outside your door, down your street, on your block.

Turns out it was your white, middle-class suburban neighbors, who marched on and then overran the Capitol. MS-13 didn't want any part of that.

These people live in Phoenix. In Seattle. In Miami. In Delaware and Maryland.

They shop alongside you (remember those days?) at Macy's, JC Penney, Costco and WalMart.

They're COVID-deniers but they're trying to jump the line for a COVID-19 vaccination.

Or they're Republican members of Congress who refuse to don facemasks while sequestered from the violent protesters in the Capitol. I guess that's how they knew the protesters wouldn't harm them if they encountered them - if they ain't wearing a mask, they're good guys.

I am registered to receive a vaccination in both Arizona and Illinois, where I have residences. No one has called yet to tell me to come in for an injection.

Maybe it's because Donald F--ing Trump screwed up the vaccine distribution, leaving the American population wondering what happened to his promise of 20 million vaccinations by last Dec. 31. He was about 17 million short. We don't have near enough vaccine to go around. It will be a miracle if America is vaccinated by the end of this year.

Speaking, though, of Republican members of Congress, several are accused of allegedly leading protesters around the Capitol in the days before the riot, showing them the lay of the land in the labyrinth that is the congressional campus.

Republican members of Congress working in concert with the rioters! Seriously. They are captured on videos, identifying them in the words of protest leaders.

What's next - MS-13 outside your door?

No, wait. More likely the National Guard.

Why do I have the feeling Trump has one more card up his sleeve to play before the inauguration he refuses to attend? Either that, or he has a tee time that day. At a club, with his finances drying up, he might not own much longer. 

Trump evicted. Wouldn't that be something. Although he's already been evicted from the White House.

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.

Burnt Orange

 And so the racists and White

Nationalists gathered

They lost the election

Their hopes were shattered

 

And so their leader

Looked down on them and smiled

He knew with little prompting

For him, they’d go that extra mile

 

And so with their bats and bombs

And ill intent

Down to the Capitol

They took their discontent

 

The police they overpowered

The building they did smash

And they wandered through the halls

The Capitol now in need of a real-life MASH

 

The National Guard

They’ll surely come to their aid

But nobody called

So at their base they stayed

 

Senators, congressmen fleeing in fear

Surely their cries the president will hear

But as a Capitol police officer lie dead

From the White House, nothing was said

 

The president watched

Smiling in glee

Those evil legislators

He’ll rattle their tree

 

But they won’t overturn

The electoral college

So he’ll have to go home

To his remodeled Florida cottage

 

And so he put out

A call for calm

Go home, my fair warriors, he said

Until, that is, I need you again

 

And now as the insurrectionists

Boast online of their sedition

Slowly, surely

The FBI finds them with facial recognition

 

As their orange-haired leader

Counts the money he stole from them

He won’t spend a dime of it

In mounting a legal defense for them

 

Will he be impeached

Will he resign

Maybe Congress will act

But it will it be in time

 

Ivanka and Jared

Seen packing up to move

No one will talk to them

They seem such big fools

 

The president’s inner circle

Getting smaller and tighter

They’re abandoning a little man

Who is a coward, not a fighter

 

But stand down, stand by

He’s telling his troop

There’s still one more shot

For a January 17 coup

 

Maybe it’ll happen

Maybe it won’t

But if you voted for Trump

You are a f--kin’ dope

 

And as he rides off into the sunset

He looks back at Fun City

Where Cy Vance and Letitia James

Will show him no pity

 

And as we sit here

Examining what has just passed

Somewhere in Hollywood

The movie version is being cast

 

Not sure what they’ll call it

Maybe “The Passage of Trump,”

He came in with a roar

And went out on his rump.

 

Good night Mrs. Calabash. Here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix show.

What Is And What Will Never Be

The Schloss-Blog is looking ahead to its crystal ball and seeing a year of resiliency approaching and a year of disbelief fading.

We're in a year of hope - we will conquer the coronavirus before it conquers us, at a rate of 4,000 per day.

We're in a year of honesty in government - Biden will tell us the truth, no matter how painful. And it will be painful.

We're in a year where Donald Trump fades away, his credibility destroyed. His neighbors in Florida don't even want him living in the community.

Even though they voted for him for president.

We're living in a year of women. Biden has stocked his Cabinet and his administration with more women than ever. It's about time. We need that women's touch now more than ever before.

Yet, we're living in a year where Republicans in Congress not only fruitlessly keep trying to overturn the presidential election results, but as the "Unmasked Singers." Research shows they are 3 times more likely than Democrats to NOT wear a mask in Congress. How wonderful.

But speaking of the year of women, we are in a year where a woman, for the first time, scored points in an NCAA Division-I football game (Sarah Fuller, placekicker for Vanderbilt). And a woman, her head coach tossed out of the game, took over as head coach in an NBA game (Becky Hamann, San Antonio Spurs).

Beyond overdue.

Yet, we're in a year where almost 350,000 of our fellow Americans died from the coronavirus, or almost 4,000 a day now. The score of that game is still COVID-19, America-0.

We're practically at a point where some of us, maybe most of us, know someone who had COVID, or maybe even passed from it.

Sad.

Yet, we're in a year where our kids and grandkids continue to show the resiliency which will become the signature of their generation.

They've shown it in school. And out. In doing schoolwork in a living room, a kitchen, a den, a basement. Could not be prouder.

We're in a year where my family, God bless them, has shown the kind of stick-to-it-iveness that has kept us together, coast to coast, communicating as best we can, sharing memories, old pictures and videos and using new software to share these old memories.

I imagine your family has too.

And we're in a year where my fraternity brothers refuse to let go of our college daze - uh, college days. Our monthly Zoom calls are a reminder of the camaraderie we shared. And maintain.

We're in a year where college athletes continue, without compensation, to risk their lives and those of their friends and families by continuing to compete, COVID notwithstanding. They should be paid, at the very least, for helping their schools collect TV revenue while they collect concussions and exposure to the coronavirus.

We're in a year where we learned to work from our new offices. In our basements. Our kitchens. Our dens. Sacrificing our in-person companionship.

So we could watch over our kids as they did their schoolwork while we did our work.

We will likely never get back to whatever is considered normal.

But I can't wait to try.

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you Mrs. Robinson.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.

Happy New Year, everybody. (Please note, the name of the President of the United States is not mentioned here, but his initials are S.O.B.)

 

And Now, Presenting 2021...

The Schloss-Blog is distressed over some things that mark the legacy of 2020, but elated over some others.

Distressing: At a football game I covered, fans showed up, sans masks, neglecting social distancing in the stands, shaking hands, hugging and talking face to face about the team's championship chances this year. Their kids' team had to cancel to several games thereafter. COVID apparently found its way into so many of the players' households, it seems.

Proud: The relentless pursuit of caretaking on the part of frontliners, doctors, nurses and EMTs, police and firefighters, grocery store employees and everyone else working essential jobs, masked-up, but still at grave risk to their health and that of their families.

Distressing: Trump keeps trying to overturn the election results. He has allegedly threatened state electors. He has encouraged the Proud Boys to stand down but stand by. He has all but encouraged violence in the streets of Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, when his Vice President, Mike Pence, announces to the world that Joe Biden is the next president.

Proud: Kamala Harris becomes the first woman - Black/Asian descent - to take up office at the White House, second-in-command to Joe Biden, ready to take the top spot if need be. Her arrival is a proud occasion in American history. 

Distressing: Trump rallies, pre- and post-election, attended by predominantly white crowds without facemasks and total disregard for social distancing. It was estimated that his pre-election mass rallies of such nature caused 30,000 cases of COVID-19 and the deaths of at least 700 from the coronavirus. It's bad enough 300,000-plus are dead from the virus. So he had to contribute? He had to prove he doesn't care if you die.

Proud: Volunteers tirelessly working the long lines of cars of people waiting to pick up holiday meals as their money and hope expire while Congress debates a relief package - which Trump threatens to veto. Bad enough he vetoed the military-funding bill because it didn't contain a rider blocking social-media platforms from flagging and even banning his ridiculous, false posts. None of Trump's vulgar behavior and threats daunted these volunteers from completing their tasks, however.

Distressing: Racism in America. As Trump tries to negate or simply declare invalid the votes from districts which contain ballots of so many Black and minority Americans, his base followers believe his cries of a rigged election. He will have a mock inauguration, supposedly, and a laughable pseudo-government, powerless but he hopes influential.

Proud: My family and my friends have stuck together, mocked Trump's rigged allegations and declared their disgust with Trump, throwing their hope at the future we can now have. I can never do enough Zoom calls with my family and my bros.

Distressing: The number of people who voted for Trump and believe the election was rigged. How? Now we have reports of continuing death threats against elected officials who certified their votes in their states, even Republicans. Trump doesn't care if they die.

Proud: Of the young people who have come out and voted this time around, helping spell defeat for Trump. And proud of the Black Lives Matters protesters who never relented.

Distressing: Alabama's new Republican Senator, former football coach Tommy Tuberville, believes the three branches of government are the House, the Senate and the White House. Yeah, he'll be a powerful voice in the Senate. Can we throw Alabama out of the Union, please?

Proud: My grandson doesn't see race, color or bias. He sees people.

So do I. 

Happy New Year, America.

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson. Indeed.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix show

What Now?

The Schloss-Blog really didn't know what to write about today.

Donald Trump's total insensitivity toward the millions of Americans who have contracted the coronavirus or the hundreds of thousands who have died from it?

As usual.

Or the fact that Notre Dame proved it doesn't belong in the College Football Playoff Final Four.

As usual.

The fact that millions are hurting financially because of the coronavirus, having lost jobs, income, benefits, even houses.

This is not supposed to happen in America.

Or the fact Congress can't reach an agreement on how to underwrite a solution or even a piece of a solution for all that.

These are our elected representatives. And they don't care about us.

They only care about being able to point a finger at the other side and being able to blame them.

Maybe, write about that Donald Trump would veto a bill to finance the military unless it included a totally unrelated rider that eliminated what is in essence social media platforms' privilege to tag or even take down posts like Trump's that so often (all the time) contain false or misleading information.

Or maybe, just write about how Donald Trump is posting on social media that the election was stolen from him.

Or that millions believe that (36 percent of Americans, a vast majority of Republican voters).

HTF do you steal an election by, as he claims, having machines that mysteriously change "Trump" votes to "Biden" votes?

Besides, as my cousin says, "How can anyone in their right minds vote for this man?"

Maybe write about the attorneys licking their chops for a go at Trump after he's out office, everything from tax fraud to sexual abuse to defamation, primarily lawsuits from which he cannot receive a federal pardon.

Or how about that football season? Owners, athletic directors uncaringly putting athletes in harm's way in the name of TV-contract money. Who cares if they get the virus and who cares if they or someone they come in contact with dies? As long as we get our TV money.

2020 was a tainted year in sports, with athletes at risk; in politics, with Americans everywhere at risk; and in economics, with businesses everywhere in risk of failing.

And our elected representatives arguing over how to help us instead of, y'know, just helping us.

Or maybe write about the advertising that promotes togetherness, partying, big crowds all together and general fun atmospheres all around, with no facemasks or social distancing in sight.

Which is exactly what we're supposed to be doing in America.

Right now. 

I'll close with words from Soft Cell, which kind of sum up Donald Trump's relationship with America, and especially with shortsighted Republicans in the Senate:

Once I ran to you
Now I'll run from you

This tainted love you've given -
I give you all a boy could give you.
Take my tears and that's not living - oh

Remember, Trump only want to stay in office to avoid prosecution. He doesn't care if you die.

If we die. Ane we are. In record numbers.

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you Mrs. Robinson.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix show.

Happy holidays!

And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter

Now What?

The Schloss-Blog is wondering, what happens now? What happens after that?

Monday, the electoral college votes. The Republicans are going to try something on Monday when the Electoral College casts its votes. By law, the electors are supposed to vote for the candidate whose vote totals won their respective states. But unless their states have passed such legislation, they are not officially bound, although each state's elector representatives to the college are chosen by the party whose candidate won the state. Many states, in line with a Supreme Court decision, have passed legislation binding the selected electors and their votes.

Not only that, but ninety-nine percent of electors have always voted as designated in U.S. history. NINETY-NINE PERCENT!

Yet, you know Trump and the 126 traitors who signed on to the Texas Attorney General's lawsuit to overturn the election by eliminating the votes in battleground states are going to try something to get the Electoral College representatives to change their legally bound votes.

Will it work? Can they really pull it off?

They're asshole enough to try, obviously. And something like 36 percent of American voters think the election was "rigged."

Every time we hear (except on Fox, Newsmax or OAN) that the Supreme Court has finally settled the matter, another lawsuit, another challenge, another unworthy, baseless, evidence-free accusation of fraud pops up somewhere, begging resolution at the state level and presenting ditzy, uninformed blondes to say so.

For instance, a lawsuit in Wisconsin was just dismissed Saturday, by the state's supreme court. Trump lawyers argued that they wanted the court to follow the rule of law and overturn the results. The court responded that in not doing so, it did just what the Trump lawyers requested - it followed the rule of law.

Make no mistake: the 18 state attorneys general and the 126 Republican congressmen who signed on to the Texas A.G.'s lawsuit are TRAITORS. The Supreme Court's ruling on that case and one preceding it  during the week clearly declared the unconstitutional grounds on which they were filed.

It makes me sick that these Republicans would pull out the stops they have to overturn this legitimate election.

And speaking of sick, while Americans die in records numbers from COVID, Trump makes no comment about such, offers no consolation nor condolence and doesn't reassure Americans that help is on the way. Instead, he accuses the incoming administration (is he conceding?) of likely screwing up the handling of the vaccine distribution.

I remain disgusted at the behavior of Republicans who have not only supported this coup attempt (that's what it is so call it such), but helped administer it. History will record them as abolitionists of freedom and the rule of law.

Yet, you've nary heard a bad word out of Biden or his camp regarding all this. They are forging ahead with filling important positions with competent people, unlike the "best and brightest" with whom Trump always told us he surrounded himself.

Funny, I didn't know he had Kelly Services (nee Kelly Girls) on speed dial.

With any luck, the Electoral College will complete its task on Monday and then Congress will certify such on Jan. 5, 2021.

Either that or, as the Beatles said:

You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're doing what we can

But if you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.

More on Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix show.