When did we start living in the Borscht Belt?
It boggles my mind that we are in a place as a nation where a significant portion of our nation are just shrugging off the idea that the Russians have been interfering with our election and are trying to do so again. How is this acceptable from any nation, much less Russia?
Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying that just as a child of the 1980s. Yes, I grew up with movie and cartoon villains with thick Russian accents. I grew up with "Red Dawn Rising" and the Cold War, and I did it on Navy bases across the world where dozens of soldiers did their best to listen in on Soviet plans and secrets. I never did buy into that "better red than dead" nonsense, and I doubt I ever will. I have nothing against the Russian people. I had a Russian roommate back when I was in college, and she was a nice girl.
However... I still remember talking about President Bush in less than complimentary terms, and seeing her almost panic. She was acting like I was juggling grenades when all I was doing was complaining about some policy or another he was creating. She acted someone was going to bust through the door of our dorm room any seconds, her eyes darting around looking for... what? Bugs? Cameras? Someone listening at our door? Who knows?
That kind of fear came about because of men like Vladimir Putin. He was part of the KGB, he undoubtedly crushed more than a few dissidents during his time in that service. I don't like Putin's ethics, or lack thereof, but I have to admit, he's canny and survival-oriented. He's experienced in deception, manipulation, and twisting peoples' perceptions of situations.
That's who we're up against. That's who is trying to take over our nation from the shadows.
And who have we got in charge on our side? A pompous, prejudiced, perjuring, perfidious prater. A man who thinks he's more intelligent than he is because he's spent his life surrounded by sycophants praising him while eyeing his wallet. A man so focused on image, and so obsessed with public acclaim and so little interested in his own personal integrity that he would sell his own mother to slavery if he could earn a buck doing it. A man who looks at the blatant cruelty, corruption and profiteering of regimes like Russia's and North Korea's and is inspired to try to bring that filth to our own country. Worse even than that, a man who is actively working against the people who are trying to protect our nation from these covert attacks. To hell with his oath to protect our nation and its citizens and uphold the Constitution - there's money in the treasury, let's see how much of it he can get to line his own pockets!
If you want to see the measure of a man, see how he acts when he's given free rein. Donald Trump has certainly shown his true colors - the yellow of a coward and the puke-green of a man whose moral compass has been broken for a very long time and is now busy spreading its cancerous rot through the body politic as fast as it can go.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying that just as a child of the 1980s. Yes, I grew up with movie and cartoon villains with thick Russian accents. I grew up with "Red Dawn Rising" and the Cold War, and I did it on Navy bases across the world where dozens of soldiers did their best to listen in on Soviet plans and secrets. I never did buy into that "better red than dead" nonsense, and I doubt I ever will. I have nothing against the Russian people. I had a Russian roommate back when I was in college, and she was a nice girl.
However... I still remember talking about President Bush in less than complimentary terms, and seeing her almost panic. She was acting like I was juggling grenades when all I was doing was complaining about some policy or another he was creating. She acted someone was going to bust through the door of our dorm room any seconds, her eyes darting around looking for... what? Bugs? Cameras? Someone listening at our door? Who knows?
That kind of fear came about because of men like Vladimir Putin. He was part of the KGB, he undoubtedly crushed more than a few dissidents during his time in that service. I don't like Putin's ethics, or lack thereof, but I have to admit, he's canny and survival-oriented. He's experienced in deception, manipulation, and twisting peoples' perceptions of situations.
That's who we're up against. That's who is trying to take over our nation from the shadows.
And who have we got in charge on our side? A pompous, prejudiced, perjuring, perfidious prater. A man who thinks he's more intelligent than he is because he's spent his life surrounded by sycophants praising him while eyeing his wallet. A man so focused on image, and so obsessed with public acclaim and so little interested in his own personal integrity that he would sell his own mother to slavery if he could earn a buck doing it. A man who looks at the blatant cruelty, corruption and profiteering of regimes like Russia's and North Korea's and is inspired to try to bring that filth to our own country. Worse even than that, a man who is actively working against the people who are trying to protect our nation from these covert attacks. To hell with his oath to protect our nation and its citizens and uphold the Constitution - there's money in the treasury, let's see how much of it he can get to line his own pockets!
If you want to see the measure of a man, see how he acts when he's given free rein. Donald Trump has certainly shown his true colors - the yellow of a coward and the puke-green of a man whose moral compass has been broken for a very long time and is now busy spreading its cancerous rot through the body politic as fast as it can go.