Time to "Put up or Shut Up"

Republicans have been bad mouthing The Affordable Care Act, coined Obamacare, since its inception in 2010.  Instead of even attempting to rework the plan to make it more viable, Republicans insist it must be completely thrown out.  Not able to muster the votes to completely accomplish this, they have implemented various legislative maneuvering to systematically chip away at it and have succeeded in making it non-affordable for many in need of medical insurance.

 

However, kudos is due President Trump for finally calling their bluff and telling them it’s time “to put up, or shut up.”  The Republican bluff being, they don't have, and never had any viable, proven alternative plan for an Obamacare replacement.  It is easy to criticize something you are not responsible for creating, but it’s a completely different scenario when suddenly you must assume responsibility for it.

So far the initial reactions of the Republicans are that none wish to pick up the health care plan gauntlet which Trump has thrown down.  In fact, many want no part of it and wish it “would just go away.”   This is quite evident by the reactions of the four senators that our president has charged with completing his vision, namely, Senators Rick Scott, Mitt Romney, John Barrasso, and Louisiana doctor, Bill Cassidy.

Sen.  Rick Scott claims that any health care plan must originate from the White House and that he had no prior knowledge that he was to be made part of the health policy group.  Mitt Romney won't say more than he and colleagues are “working on health care thoughts.”  John Barrasso, when asked about the Republican plan, in typical politician mode, refused to acknowledge the question, and turned it back on the opposition, saying, “Democrats want to go to the complete government takeover of health care.”  And Sen. Bill Cassidy, the fourth member of Trump’s team, who should have more knowledge about health care than the others, hasn’t committed to anything more than having “conversations with colleagues” about health care affordability.

It's puzzling that after complaining for nine years about Obamacare, and only a week into the Trump-mandated makeover as the “Party of Health Care,” these senators along with most of their fellow Republican lawmakers have no health care plan and want no ownership of it.

So to all those who still believe their  political party’s  P.R. that they have the final solutions for affordable health care in the U.S, the reality is, one party implemented a flawed one, and the other hasn’t one to implement.   So don’t expect any immediate relief from this latest  bunch of experts.  They haven’t a clue, but thanks to President Trump for removing the smoke screen created by his political party.

Total Direspect for U.S.A.

I must admit the childishness of the man seated in the White House never ceases to amaze me.

While I’m no fan of Joe Biden, Trump’s latest video clip mocking him for his inappropriate physical contact with woman makes me wonder if Trump has lost all sense of human decency.  This mocking from a man who bragged about grabbing women’s genitals and has paid hush monies to squash his infidelities.

The really sad part is many think this clip is funny which might be understandable if this was a posting from some drunken bar room buffoon.  However, we are talking about someone holding  the office of the Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful nation in the free world.  Hypocrisy aside, this aberrant behavior is a total world-wide disgrace for the United States.

But then again I must get a gripe and remember that President Trump is a deep-seeded, childish narcissist, who couldn’t care less about worldwide respect for the United States.  So just keep on laughing all you evangelical supporters.

How Low Will We Go?

Well for those that may have missed it, our Commander-in-Chief  once again took to Twitter and called possible presidential candidate, Joe Biden, “Another low IQ individual.”  Bet many think this is cute or funny.  However, this is yet the latest example offered up by our president of the type of cyberbullying that we as parents are trying to extinguish in our kids.

Some may seek to legitimize our President’s Twitter behavior  because they feel that a 73 year old can’t really be considered a cyberbully.  To most, cyber bullying is perceived as only occurring among adolescents.  Consequently they dismiss President Trump’s aberrant behavior and simply laugh at it.

 

However, Parry Aftab, a specialist in cyberbullying, claims that such behavior in adults can exist and categorizes adult cyber bullying as flamers, trolls, or cyber harassers.   He states that, “Flamers use inflammatory language and profanity in hopes of eliciting a reaction. Trolls are a bit more sophisticated, starting full-blown arguments by saying derogatory or offensive things about certain people or groups.  Cyber harassers engage in those same types of behaviors but repeatedly target the same individuals.  Accordingly, Trump has participated, based on my observations, in all three (categories).”

Further evidence that cyberbullying occurs not just among teens, is noted in a recent nationwide poll which found that over 40 percent of adults in the U.S. have been bullied online.  People are maligned in many ways, including name calling, and insults based upon looks, disabilities, race, gender, or sexual orientation.  Unfortunately President Trump loves to focus heavily on three of these types in his tweets.

The societal consequences of President Trump’s cyberbully is clearly evident in the enlightening statements made by Justin Patchin, a criminal justice professor at the University of Wisconsin.  He stated, “If the president believed that his tweets would cause people not to vote for him, he wouldn’t do it.  It’s not just that he’s not worried about political or social backlash, but, more than that, he must think it’ll benefit him in some way.”

And sadly, therein is the problem with our society today, the blanket acceptance of the President’s behavior.  Are we afraid we might offend Trump if we criticize him for cyberbullying?  He is arguably the most important person in the world, more people listen to him, and his words can have far broader consequences than hurt feelings.    I bet if our president often spoke with profanity every evangelical organization in the U.S. would loudly condemn such behavior.

Obviously we don’t accept such behavior in our kids but we give President Trump a free pass.  It’s up to the community to make it clear to Trump, the bully, that bullying is unacceptable.  It’s on all of us.

Even Melania Trump gives her husband’s behavior a free pass.  Our first lady has made it her mission to help eliminate cyberbullying worldwide and yet when she was asked about her husband’s behavior her spokeswoman’s responded, “When her husband gets attacked, he will punch back 10 times harder.”

So I guess the message for all our children should be, “If someone bullies you, bully them worse?”

How hypocritical our latest president has made us all become.  How much lower will we go before we as a society “draw a line in the sand?”  I keep asking this question and still have no answer.