Observations and random thoughts 23.1
By WILLIAM LEDFORD
Have you noticed lately that unless you watch Fox News exclusively most of the media buzz rotates around Kim Jong Un vs Donald Trump, leaders of North Korea and the USA respectively? These two are so similar in temperament that it’s really kinda creepy. They’ve both been handed everything to them all of their lives and so they continue to act like two fat spoiled children, in the playground, each standing in their own sandbox threatening each other loudly because that’s what they do, it’s what they’ve always done. The obvious difference is that Kim Jong-un kills everyone who disagrees with him and Donald Trump surrounds himself with butt kissers and sheep. Oh, to be sure, he’d also kill everyone that disagreed with him if he wouldn’t go to prison. The whole thing is so stupid because leaders like Bush and Obama basically ignored Kim Jong-un and let him scream and shout, only Trump has been dumb enough to respond and in doing so has elevated Kim Jong Un to an equal. Threatening North Korea with “fire and fury like the world has never seen”. Yeah, that should scare that little crazy Kim, kinda does me because Trump, like Forrest Gump said, “ain’t a smart man.” I wonder, is there anyone in the White House who’s an adult? We kinda need one right now…
There was a protest in Virginia this past weekend and apparently everyone came. The KKK, neo-Nazis, White supremacists, White militia, White nationalists and people identifying as alt-right showed up to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, prominent Civil War traitor and slaveowner. Counter-protesters also showed and challenged the racists. And then it began.
The racists came armed to the teeth with clubs and pepper spray and wearing body armor. When the dust settled there was one person killed by a cowardly White nationalist sympathizer in a car and in addition, two police officers died when their helicopter crashed. The President took two days to denounce the racists.
His incessant attacks on President Obama and his legacy are racially inspired. I used to just dislike this guy, now I can’t stand to look at him or hear his voice or watch his hand gestures. And this really sucks because I like watching the news on TV, now I can’t because he’s always on saying incredibly dumb things. What gets me is that oddly enough some people still think that he’s doing a good job. They seriously need help.
Because of Trump’s indifference to the reality that racists like the KKK and neo-Nazis are simply evil and have no place in civilized society he now holds the public perception that he himself is a sympathizer. Odd because his son-in-law and daughter Ivanka are self-proclaimed Jews and these white supremacists are avowed haters of Jews. Do we now call the White House the White Supremacist House?
OK, now I’m rolling, and while I’m rolling (you don’t know what I’m rolling do you?) there’s another thing in today’s politics that simply baffles me and naturally it’s about Republicans. It’s their concept of loyalty. Loyalty is a word they toss around liberally (see what I did there) but I don’t think they understand the general concept, only the abstract. In the Republican mind, loyalty is not to the country but to the GOP and to Trump, no matter what. And Republicans get very upset if one of their elected officials doesn’t toe the loyalty line, even if by toeing that line they themselves might suffer. They expect, demand, that their people vote for legislation that will possibly harm them if enacted but they insist because they were told to insist. And they also come out in droves to vote for someone like Donald Trump. That’s called blind loyalty or as I like to call it, simple minded stupidity. Only sheep, and maybe cows, are that focused but at least a sheep won’t jump off a cliff if pushed. Hmmm…I forgot lemmings, do lemmings really follow each other off cliffs?
Now, on to something positive. The homeland lies in the direct path of the total eclipse on Monday the 21st, if our clouds get in the way it’ll be like a total blackout so look out for the three-minute vampires, someone should make a film called “3 Minutes of Night”. Me and the family are heading up to Wyoming to see this thing. Gonna be scary though, Wyoming is home to some of these seriously mentally defective White militias types that showed up in Virginia. So to be safe I’ve decided that I’m going to avoid direct eye contact with anyone dressed like a Bryson City denizen. That seems to always get the dim bulbs riled up. Have fun and wear them glasses!
Ledford is an EBCI tribal member currently living in Albuquerque, NM.
