Is Donald Trump Finally Past the Point of No Return?

When Donald Trump was running for President he once made the statement, "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?  It's, like, incredible."

Before his stint as President of the U.S. Trump was accused of sexual assault and still today faces an accusation of rape in newly-filed charges by E. Jean Carroll.  He paid hush money to a porn star, childishly disparaged anyone who disagreed with him, and publicly mocked individuals with disabilities.  Additionally, Trump’s presidential aberrant behavior included humiliation of world leaders, and a coziness and admiration for worldwide dictators and white supremacy groups.

He scammed individuals with his fake Trump University, resulting in an out of court settlement of over $25 million, and the Donald J. Trump Foundation, a non-profit, which he utilized as his personal bank account, and which also involved a $2 million court settlement.

And let’s not forget his two most recent scams.  In 2020, Trump whipped his supporters into frenzy with pledges to overturn the election and promises to support Republican candidates in the midterms. However, he did not spend any of this campaign money on supporting mid-election candidates, nor pay for any election audits.  Actually, he did use the donated funds to pay the salaries for aides and political advisers, as well as events, travel expenses and fundraising outreach to supporters. He also spent more than $8 million of these donated funds in legal fees paid to various firms for frivolous lawsuits, and attorneys to defend himself in a second impeachment trial.

The other recent scam occurred in September 2021, which involved individuals who thought they were making a one-time donation to his 2024 re-election campaign.  These folks discovered later that by default reoccurring WEEKLY donations had been set up until the election date for each contributor using electronic deposit.  Many ended up with over drawn bank accounts.

Then there's the recent fiasco of Trump taking home classified documents belonging to the U.S. government and lying to his own attorneys when ask if he had returned them all.

However, none of this rattled his supporters or the Republican politicians throughout the country.  His Republican and Evangelical support remained solid and silent about all of this ethically and morally questionable behavior.

However, as weird as this may sound, a recent Mar-a-Largo dinner party may in fact have opened a crack in the blind support of Donald Trump.  It is hard to believe that with all Trump’s past behavior, a simple dinner with two anti-Semites, one of whom who is also a white nationalist, would cause such a ruckus.

But I guess now, as usual, we are talking about votes and not moral or ethical values, and sadly that is what our politicians are all about.   Will Donald Trump get dumped over a dinner, with what some consider deviant guests?  And if this is the only reason, based upon his past behavior, how pathetic is that?

Louisiana Rep Steve Scalise has Finally Decided to Work Again

I was glad to see in a recent Advocate interview with Rep Steve Scalise that he has finally decided to 'get off his butt' and once again productively contribute to Congress and Louisiana.  During the last two years his major accomplishments included being a minion for ex-president Trump's sorted delusions, and serving as an obstructionist in the House to veto ANY legislation proposed by the present Biden administration including his infrastructure bill which brought billions of dollars to Louisiana. Ironically, Scalise, and his fellow Louisiana Republican minions used this influx of monies in their re-election ads to tout how THEY brought money to Louisiana to fix its infrastructure, despite all but one voting against the bill.  

It has been a pathetic waste of two years for Rep Steve Scalise, but that's politics, and I'm glad he has decided to start earning his salary once again.

Where does Advocate columnist draw the line?

 In light of all the recent information about Mayor Cantrell's behavior, and the possibility that she is now part of an ongoing federal probe, I can't help but have flashbacks to the editorial Mr. Will Sutton penned on September 9th,  entitled, "Cantrell recall will peter out -- unless we want to see another Black woman mayor fail,"  In that editorial, he basically put forth the notion that N.O. residents needed to cut Mayor Cantrell some 'slack' regarding her behavior because she was one of the few African American females serving as the mayor of a large city.  I would be interested to know just how much additional 'slack' Mr. Sutton feels should be afforded to Mayor Cantrell to allow her to continue to govern? 

New Orleans Temporary Fix

Although the New Orleans mayor’s newly proposed 2023 budget on the surface appears to address some of the major problems presently impacting the city negatively, it has one major flaw.  It is only a temporary fix.  Almost all of these remediation projects are funded with one-time federal monies.  But, like so many of the past projects in New Orleans there are no proposed plans to sustain all this remedial action once these federal funds are spent.   The streetlights will go out again, the blight will continue to occur along with the illegal dumping of trash and tires, graffiti will return, streets will continue to decay, drain basins will clog again, etc.

So, while everyone will feel good about the city finally addressing these problems, the long-range permanent plans to address these evils still eludes the city.  The city and its residents need to break the cycle of reliance on federal funds as the major funding source to fix its problems, for these are not self-sustaining, and are dependent upon which political party occupies the White House.

The permanent solution to the city's problems is really quite simple; all residents of New Orleans need to start paying their fair share to live in the city.   Coupled with this is reigning in the city corruption that presently exists in the collection of  all types of permit fees, sanitation and water usage fees, the collection of city property tax and sales tax, the enforcement and fining of illegal dumping and blight, and the honest letting of infrastructure contracts with penalty fees if completion dates are missed.

Until New Orleans can establish a budget which can fund these projects with its own capital by effectively managing the monies it generates from its citizenry, its problems will continue to exist.  So enjoy the fixes which are proposed, while they last.  Hopefully these remediation projects will break the city’s historical trend of corruption and be effectively accomplished to give the city a temporary break.

Who is really helping Louisiana?

It always amazes me how politicians just blatantly lie when it comes to re-election time, and don't even 'blink an eye' while doing it.  Steve Scalise, John Kennedy, and Garret Graves in their most recent TV ads are bragging about all the money they brought to Louisiana for infrastructure repairs.  In reality, all but one of the Louisiana Republican congressional legislators voted against the Biden administration's Infrastructure and Jobs Act which provided these funds.   

It was in fact Louisiana Rep Bill Cassidy that helped broker the bill, which has provided over $7.2 billion in Louisiana infrastructure funding, but he has been officially censured by the local Louisiana Republican Party for voting to impeach Donald Trump. And Scalise, Kennedy, and Graves went along with that proclamation. 

And as far as their legislative records are concerned, over the last two years Scalise's, Kennedy's and Grave's legislative agenda has been one of obstructionist by vetoing every piece of legislation proposed by the present administration whether beneficial to our country or Louisiana.

So, who is really helping Louisiana?  None of these guys, because all "Voted No and Took the Dough."   Pathetic.

A Will Sutton Apology is Due

Will Sutton's recent editorial in The Advocate was an insult to all female African Americans and he should formally apologize for writing it. In his diatribe he admits that Mayor Cantrell, and the other two examples he cites, aren't doing a particularly good job as mayors. However, he infers that it is important to keep them in their present jobs because they are Black females.  What an insult to the competent, strong female African  Americans who perform competently in their jobs.  In reality, Sutton is reinforcing the racist, stereotypical belief that female African Americans cannot be competent and that people should just tolerate that short coming.  Just how much more demeaning can an African American male be regarding his view of the women in his culture?  Maybe it's time for Sutton to self-evaluate how he inwardly really views female African Americans in our society.  We don't need to cut them any slack, for they can meet any standard set on their own.

Republicans Love to be Bullied

Well I finally got to hear what I’ve wanted to hear from day one regarding Republican politicians’ views concerning some of Donald Trump’s abhorrent behaviors.  I knew it all along, but I wanted someone to finally say it out loud.  And that someone was Ted Cruz, one of the top spineless members of Congress, who after Trump called his wife ugly and accused his father of participating in a plot to kill J.F.K., has still consistently supported him.  Most individuals would have never done that after such insults and insinuations, but then again it’s all about politics; to hell with your loved ones.

In a recent interview, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was asked, “Why are your Republican peers hesitant to criticize former President Donald Trump about anything?” Cruz’s response was, “If they do, Trump turns around and punches them in the face."

He went on again to say, “It's a number of things, (because) unlike many people in politics, if someone criticizes him, he turns around and punches them in the face."

Cruz said he witnessed meetings in which "different Republican senators would criticize Trump, who would then spend the whole meeting just slamming them with a stick.”  However, “I like what we accomplished under Trump. I think there's an incredible record of policy victories.”

And finally Cruz added, “I disagree with a lot of the things Donald Trump says. And I made a decision that I wasn't going to be giving color commentary on MSNBC for every tweet or every statement that was obviously indefensible." In other words, he would remain silent about the indefensible ones.

So there we have it, Cruz’s admission, along with I suspect the mantra of many other Republican politicians, to embrace being bullied, and reinforce it.  

Sadly, one has to wonder if these individuals even know they have accepted Donald Trump as their bully. According to the Merriam-Webster on line dictionary a bully is “a blustering, browbeating person; especially one who is habitually cruel, insulting, or threatening to others who are weaker, smaller, or in some way vulnerable.”

So I guess now we can assume that the key to Donald Trump’s success in avoiding any fellow Republicans’ criticisms is his perception that they are, in fact,  ‘weaker, smaller, or in some way vulnerable.’  Quite pathetic,  but then again it’s mostly likely insignificant in importance to them in the world of politics. I just laugh at it all.

Maybe it’s time for some members of both parties to grow a spine and gain some self-respect, because it is definitely a scarce commodity now among many of them. I don’t have much in life, but it least I have self-respect.