Heaven's gate

 

Either Trump took time out to help paint some new White House atrocity or he thinks this layer of Preparation H matches his skin tone.  And does his hat say THIS MAN NEEDS HELP?

In spite of insistences that he's healthy as a particularly healthy horse, Trump continues to obsess about his approaching death.  "People of faith, there's a feeling, they wanna be good, y'know?" he confessed to Todd Starnes.  "They get punished if they're not good, right?  If you're not a believer...what's the reason to be good, really?  There has to be some kind of report card up there someplace, like 'let's go to heaven, let's get into heaven.'  It's sort of a beautiful thing."  And if you're a "believer," he implies, you're all set.  You can rape, steal, lie, fornicate, wreck people's lives, and get straight A's.  

It's not rare.  Many, maybe most people confuse religion with morality.  Morality is a code of ethics for dealing fairly and justly with others.  Religion is the way primitive people explain nature.

That's not to say there isn't a possibility of overlap.  Once you frighten people into obedience by threatening to unleash Thunder God on them, you can get them to do as you want.  The problem is that what the High Priests want is seldom "Go see who needs help and give them food, shelter, care and protection" and usually "Thunder God says kill or enslave those people who don't look like us and take their land."  Do I need to offer examples, or have you read a history book?

Swellfoot the Tyrant is burnishing his report card by asserting his belief in the Calvinist God while treating most of the New Testament as a skippable footnote.  On his orders tons of food were destroyed lest it fall into the hands of African children.  Million of Americans, including veterans, are being stripped of access to healthcare and nutritional support.  Millions more will lose their lives if Hegseth's spiritual adviser Joshua Haymes prevails -- he preaches executing LGBTQ people and adulterers not named Trump.  Or Hegseth.  Or Taylor Greene.  Look, that one may need tweaking.

Gavin Newsom was not the first prominent Democrat to notice that Trump is driven mad by laughter directed at him, but he is the first to do something about it.  He and his media team post all-caps, clumsily punctuated rants describing "THE GREATEST LEGISLATURE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD" and the retaliatory redistricting that will squeeze Republicans out of office.  MAGA did not see this coming.  Fox News and other clueless cheerleaders don't know what to do when Newsom holds as 'twere the mirror up to nature, if Trump is indeed part of the natural world.  Now Governor Wes Moore has joined the party.  In response to the now tiresome threat of armed troops in Baltimore, Moore invited Trump to join him on a "public safety walk" through the city, knowing perfectly well that he can't get far without a golf cart.  (It's not just the venous insufficiency -- watch the video of him unable to walk in a straight line on the red carpet in Anchorage.)  The perfectly rational response was a threat to withdraw funds for the Key Bridge repair, because the hit to interstate commerce pales beside his injured feelings.  

The regime couldn't resist letting various people (including the editor of the Atlantic) in on its plans to bomb Iran and secrecy is still a problem.  "I think Chicago will be our next.  And then we'll help with New York," Trump whispered Friday, loud enough for the enemy to hear.  This has to be disappointing for Eric Adams, who must have thought his groveling and appeasing would spare the city.  He and Andrew Cuomo combined are being outraised by Zohran Mamdani, and Adams may think that armed troops in Union Square will show New Yorkers the error of their ways.  I don't agree.  Remember what Rick tells the fat Nazi who asks, "Can you imagine us in New York?"  "There are certain sections of New York I wouldn't suggest you try to invade."  (Casablanca of course.)  It's still like that, with bells on.

Speaking of Nazis and we always seem to be, J.D. Vance went on The Show Formerly Known as Meet the Press and caused thousands of history teachers to question their career choices by informing Kristen Welker, "If you go back to World War II, if you go back to World War I, if you go back to every major conflict in human history, they all end with some kind of negotiation."  Jady needs to call the person who wrote his book and ask him what "unconditional surrender" means.  Most "major conflicts" ended with the utter destruction of one side or the other --  Carthago delenda est was not just a slogan.  You can argue that there should have been negotiations after World War I; Germany was presented with a treaty and a choice:  sign here or the blockade and the starvation will continue.  Ferdinand Foch said something like "We have made peace for twenty years."  He was off by a couple of months.  Hence the decision to settled for nothing less than total victory in 1945.  Negotiation?  What time is good for you to sign the surrender?  Does tomorrow work?  As Mr. Bumble might say, Vance is A Ass.