On the Fly

For a while, the GOP and its minions were hopeful that The Donald, should he become of nominee apparent, would begin the slow process of becoming "presidential." The right wing pundits were sure that the bluster and hyperbole would subside in the remote event he could actually secure the nomination.

Unless you are living under a rock atop Mt. Everest or Kilimanjaro, you already know that's not happening. Quite the opposite. The Donald has made it pretty clear he's gonna keep doing what he's doing because that seems to be what his audience wants. Please to be noting I do not refer to those people as a constituency, because that would imply Mr. Trump has a clue as to what it means to be a public servant because, after all, that's what an elected official is elected to do: to serve. Serve himself at the cutie-buffet line, I suppose, but the idea of serving someone, much less an entire nation, other than himself, is a foreign concept. Oops. I said the word foreign; someone could accuse me of looking for a policy statement.

1952

2016

The Queen of England celebrated her 90th birthday in April, and officially this past week. Here's a woman with no formal education who has been advising and warning Prime Ministers quite wisely for over 60 years. This does not mean she sets policy or declares national emergencies; she serves as an advisory parent to her United Kingdom, but to the Commonwealth as well. There's a reason she's not been deposed or otherwise thrown over; she exercises solid common sense. No, Queen Elizabeth is not exciting. She's neither bold nor daring. She's staid, stolid, and solid. She weathers storms quiet well. And she presents a calm countenance to her people. We could learn from this. Every one of her PMs would tell you her best skill is as a listener, and her second best skill is understanding her constituency. It's taken 60 years of never ending work to get to this point. I suppose not having to stand for election makes it easier to have a slowly developing process, but still, she stands for her people and they respect her for it. Even the anti-monarchists understand why the Queen is beloved. We understand it too: she did it the old fashioned way; she earned it.

We are not so kind to our elected officials. We expect our presidents to learn this skill on the fly, while exuding brilliance at the same time. Being President is not about being bold or daring over the course of a term; it's about being stable. Yes, there are moments for bold vision and daring proposals, but overall, we want a sane and sage person sitting in the White House. We want someone who, in the face of Crazy Kim, speaks in measured and considered tones. We want someone who can talk people off the wall, not bullies who will push them over.

Donald Trump is a whim gone terribly wrong. But I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. I don't think he ever thought this could happen, but it looks like he might be the nominee. And so far he doesn't seem to be moving away from his sucker-born-every-minute-P.T.-Barnum impersonation. It's really sad on a lot of levels, but mostly because it makes America a global laughing stock. If you are not personally embarrassed by his statements on women, religion, and climate change, then you're a few cards shy of a deck. Even if you are a self-processed Trump supporter, tell us you're not at least chagrined by what falls out of his mouth. This I want to hear. 


At my advanced age, I believe perception is everything. Donald Trump could be the male version of Mother Theresa, but that's not what we see. He shows us a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, and naive side that, since we see nothing else, gives us plenty of reason to believe this is the real Donald. Is it? I tend to think so,  based on the recent flood of anecdotal evidence paired with supporting video and audio evidence. Is there something else we should be believing? And in case you thought I was making this up, here's a gem from the other day

People said I want to go and buy debt and default on debt, and I mean, these people are crazy. This is the United States government. First of all, you never have to default because you print the money, I hate to tell you, OK?                 said to Chris Cuomo on CNN's New Day - Monday, May 9th, 2016

And this is the guy you want handling our economy? Ha!

I'm thinking my writing about this must be as boring as this whole campaign. I know I'm bored to beyond caring what they say. I just want it over. It's enough already. 

To end on a more positive note, I have to say something nice about Comcast here. Of Xfinity. Or whatever they call it this week. When my move started getting complicated, I called Comcast...and lucked out getting Joe on the phone. I won't go into the details, but I actually went with a two year deal including security for the house. This guy should be the poster child for service recovery and customer service. And yes, a wrote a letter to his boss at Comcast. I had to; he earned it many times over. 

Wifely Person's Tip o'the Day

Never underestimate the power of writing a customer compliment letter. 

it matters. BIG time.