Less applicable, however, is the entertainment factor since the events playing out on planet Earth continues to be the  pathetic and dreary tale of a once  promising new species not being able to live up to its full potential.  In short, as opposed to acting as an evolved species that was able to take full advantage of the unique intelligence and incredible creativity they were born with, they descended into the suffocating void of selfishness, small-mindedness and other self-destructive traits,  preventing them from being  able to see beyond their immediate self-interest and grasp the larger vision of being a successful species at the forefront of an evolving world.

A case in point is the tragedy currently being played out in the United States of America, that once great country and former leader of the free world that is currently at the receiving end  of a dire prediction come true  as it was once made by an American newspaper columnist by the name of H.L. Menken (1880-1956)

“On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

Enter Donald J. Trump, the 47^th President of the USA, elected on November 5, 2024, by 49.9% of the popular vote, versus 48.3% for his opponent, the hapless Kamala Harris.

A moron is sometimes described as “a person who is notably stupid or lacking in good judgment”, and based on what he has demonstrated during his previous term – and even more so after 6 months in his current term – DJT excels in both categories. This concerns the leader of a country who is actively trying to demolish  his country’s international  reputation,  trust and prestige while ignoring  its constitution,  undermining its democracy and  decimating its governance. Aided and abetted by his hand-picked flock of toothless  sycophants  masquerading as federal officials and who’s only qualification is their blind fealty to their lord and master –  I can’t think of a better way to describe the chaotic wherewithal of the person currently in charge at the White House.

The real issue of course is not D.J. Trump, an intellectual clodhopper with  the  mental disposition  of a 5-tear old toddler and the personae of  a carnival barker; he simply can’t help himself.  The problem lies with the people who voted him into office (again), as well as the roughly 1/3 of the US eligible voters who did not vote  because they were  either too lazy to vote or just could not care less about the state of democracy in their country.

So here we have the MAGA crowd, a so called “populist” movement at the core of his support. They have shown themselves to be essentially a xenophobic anti- immigrant movement with the stench of racism that blames many of the things that are problematic in the US – e.g., crime, illicit drugs, cost of living, lack of affordable housing etc. – on people that are not native to their country, and even more so if they are there  illegally, as well as being non-white, non- western or- in particular – of the Muslim persuasion.

The less said about MAGA the better, but if I can draw one conclusion from their collective prowess to Make America Great Again it is the suspicion that education did  not figure  prominently in their individual  ability to think for themselves and make an informed decision  about what kind of person might be the best choice for serving the interests of their country as their president.

As it is, this quote by Thomas Jefferson might seem appropriate:

“The government you elect is the government you deserve.”

The most amazing thing about this political tragedy is that – after having endured  the first 6  month of  his farcical reign as their country’s president – there isn’t some massive national protest brewing to turf him out of office at earliest opportunity – and before it is too late and the dictatorship he is actively trying to estalish will  prevent any such action with the maximum of brutality.

Be afraid, be very afraid …

I’m looking at this in the context of  the 45th president of America now  having  left the White House, as reluctantly as that would have been the case.  He rejected the outcome of a democratic election by declaring it to be fraud,  and going as far as inciting an insurrection by urging a viscous mob to violate and ransack the US Capitol,  and trying to justify this with the – since deleted – tweet on January 6, stating that “these are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away.”

The fact that he or his supporters could not produce one shred of  credible and verifiable evidence in support of that bizarre and outrageous claim is just one more reason to refer to his turbulent and abysmally divisive four year term as the head of the USA as a unique phenomenon that requires  some exploration.

I’ve written enough about this now ex-president  in earlier posts to make it  clear that, yes,  I have an intense dislike for him – and for all the reasons  that are perhaps best summarized by something his former National Security Advisor John Bolton once said about him: he has a hole where his character should have been.

If the 45th president of the United States has demonstrated anything during his noxious reign, it is the fact that he appears to be totally devoid of humanity. By the time he left office on January 20th, over 400,000 Americans had been killed by current pandemic, yet one would have a hard time recalling even one instance in which he publicly expressed genuine empathy towards the families affected by the tragic loss of their loved ones.

Nor did he demonstrate at any time the kind of  resoluteness  and  determination required to address this deadly pandemic with the  sense of urgency that one would expect from the leader of a country that is being ravaged by it. The conclusion has to be:  he couldn’t  care less! After all – be it one or 400,00 dead Americans – they  are of no use to him, i.e., they will not  be able to pledge fealty to him, let alone vote for him. At most they are an embarrassment for having died in such numbers during his term in office, to the point that when his presidency came to an end the USA had the highest number of novel corona-virus  deaths in the world

Throughout his career in private business and during the last four years as a politician it has become very clear that the only person he cares about is himself.  Add his inability to admit mistakes by always blaming others  and deliver false and misleading claims on just about any subject should that serve his purpose: you have the textbook definition of a sociopath!

While he might seem to care about those who support him and appear to be loyal to him, the moment that seems no longer the case you may as well not exist, i.e., you are of no value to him, as many of his former supporters have found out. A case in point would be the situation his ever-loyal vice-president  found himself in on January 6, 2021, when Mike Pence decided to uphold his country’s constitution and certify the election results – as he was legally required to do – instead of complying with Trump’s  demand to throw them out so he could stay in office.  More recently it appears his ever loyal legal  sidekick Rudolph Giuliani has now been given the heave-ho, presumably for services perhaps not so successfully rendered.

So the question remains:  how was it  possible for a sociopath such as  Trump to be elected as the 45th president of the US? I don’t believe I can offer any kind of unique insight  into this – for me –  baffling phenomenon but the short answer appears to be: he benefited  from the significant and historically longstanding divisions within the country,  by appealing to the disgruntled hard hearted side of the  political spectrum and  become their chosen champion  to rebuild the USA in their image.

Moreover, he was able to  transformed the Republican party from a political organization into a cult of personality that would endow him with a sense of reverence seldom seen within Western politics. The upshot was that he could do no wrong; he could count on their absolute support for whatever action he would consider necessary  – legally or illegally – to make the country  see things his way.

That he was able to accomplish this over a relatively short period of time is remarkable, but it would be a big mistake to credit him with any kind of political savvy to make this happen. Instead,  it was  a case of being  in the right place at the right time.  Never short on ambition, his crude and abrasive in-your-face  personae became the perfect medium to personify and give voice to the spiteful and less generous side of human nature on behalf of  those on the political right wanting to express their resentment and anger with their country’s status quo.

Trump and the political right rise to power must be seen within the context of many Americans having been manipulated  to perceive  the  looming threat of “socialism” during the eight years of the Obama administration. Despite being among the top world economic powers, the US remains the sole industrialized nation in the world without universal health care coverage. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) – nicknamed Obamacare – aimed to provide affordable health insurance coverage for all Americans – it  would be portrayed as another major  step towards socialism by those who opposed it.

In terms of what we are trying to make of our lives, one would think that “better health outcomes for all” would be a desirable goal for any country interested in the well-being of its citizens. But this appears not to be the case in the USA, given the Trump administration continuing attempts to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that was signed into law in 2010 by President Barack Obama to provide coverage to an additional 20 million people who were previously uninsured. However, even with what has since been called “Obama Care” there are still approximately 40 million Americans who still don’t have health insurance.

During his campaign for President of the US Trump described Obama Care as an “incredible economic burden” which resulted in “runaway costs, websites that don’t work, greater rationing of care, higher premiums, less competition and fewer choices” and promised to replace it a new healthcare bill that would give Americans greater choice and stop the current Obamacare “death spiral” of higher costs.

Trump’s objections to Affordable Care Act appear to have resonated with Americans who were against it because it made health insurance mandatory. This needs to be seen in the context that you end up paying for it even if you choose not to participate in it, as you will have to pay a tax “penalty” unless they qualify for an exemption, and this would include such things as affordability.

With millions more Americans now being covered under the Affordable Care Act it should not come as a surprise to anyone that the total cost of healthcare in the United States has risen significantly. But this is caused by more than just the fact that more Americans are being covered, as at $9,000 per capita the U.S. spends more on health care than anywhere else in the world. To give just one example, that is $6,000 per capita more than what is spent in Finland on health care, and with an infant mortality rate less than half than in the US.

Given these astronomical costs, it is difficult to believe that the US ranks about fifty-seventh in the world in infant mortality and thirty-sixth in life expectancy as reported by the World Health Organization in 2016. It gets even more embarrassing at the state level, where per capita more children perish in infancy in Mississippi than in Botswana, to give just one example. The conclusion has to be that Americans are not getting value for money when they are paying for health care, and there are some apparent reasons for this, the main one being a cultural one.

The best way to make that point is to look a Europe and the evolution of social health institutions and the fact that they are seen as being as much sociological as economic in character – e.g., as a way of life that will benefit the majority of people.  You will find this approach reflected in the universal healthcare programs of countries such as Australia, Austria, Canada, Ireland, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Taiwan, Singapore, and Japan. There are many others—including Moldova and Portugal. This in contradistinction to the evolution of U.S health institutions into primarily an economic means, i.e., a way to make money regardless of whether this will benefit the greater whole of society.

Their health systems are simply framed by a different set of values. The primary purpose of their healthcare system approach is to provide decent medical care for all of their inhabitants. In contrast, our current American healthcare system is organized to transfer money from the many to the few.  (Dr. George Lundberg)

US attitudes with respect to any kind of universal health care are further complicated by the belief that the Government shouldn’t be in the Health Care insurance business.  This harks back to the assumption that any business will be run more efficiently and hence more cost-effectively from the private sector, where costs are a function of competition in the marketplace, hence guaranteeing the best value that money can buy, regardless of the service or product you are talking about.

This assumption is worth looking into a little further as it appears to ignore the primary raison d’être  of for-profit organizations, namely that they are in business to maximize profits. At bottom it is driven by the principle that you should always charge the highest amount the market will bear, regardless of your actual costs to produce or deliver your product or services, and regardless of the economic impact it has on the individual or community that you are operating in. Hence affordability is not something that comes to mind in the context of running a business that is looking to cash in on its market share as well as increasing it by buying out the competition.

If any of this seems contrary to or incompatible with what you would want to be the basis of an affordable universal health care service you will know why a wealthy nation such as the US of A has a problem in keeping up with the rest of the world in providing such an essential service for the majority of it citizens.

Finally, this whole matter of raising public support for funding something like a universal healthcare program falls afoul of the average US citizen’s inability to distinguish socialism from communism, and can be laid at the doorstep of their public education system.  For many Americans the implementation of universal healthcare would be the first step in becoming a communist country, never mind that successful capitalist free-market economies such as found in most – if not all – Western European Countries have adopted some version of this kind of health benefit for their citizens without having descended into communism. Seems to me the communist bogeyman as envisaged by Joe McCarthy is still very much around in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. (H. L. Mencken, 1880-1956)

Given the subject matter I am addressing today the flavour of this post can’t help but be more appropriately in tune with the cantankerous creature that I am naturally, and more comfortably, from myself.

Hitherto I have always attempted to present a range of rational arguments that were meant to be -if anything – food for thought in a world that appeared to be sliding into a soul crushing display of idiocy, to the point of self-destruction.

And what a fool I am – a Don Quixote of  mediocre intelligence, astonishing naivety and brazen assumptions about the nature of the world and all that can be found in it – in being so wrong about the depth of despair the world appears to have sunk to!

Just so we know where I stand on this, I find the world and all that can be found in it a place of incredible beauty and wonder, but then only if we were able to subtract that horrible insipid creature homo sapiens from its inventory, including all its dastardly deeds since the beginning of time. Other than that, I consider it an absolute privilege to be a part of it. Speaking of the true meaning of “a chance of a lifetime”, but, oh, how we are squandering this opportunity!

I look forward to soon being able to get back to writing about my foolish yet  guardedly  optimistic assumptions about the meaning and nature of the larger world. But before I get there I want to metaphorically throw up  some of the indigestible misery that I am forced to ingest much too frequently,  by being exposed to the actions of my fellow creatures, thanks – but no thanks, really – to the tragic but inescapable fact of being a member of the same sorrowful species.

So let me throw this one up large, as it has been sticking in my craw for some time: how could there have been enough  US citizens of eligible voting age to elect a moron of the magnitude of a Donald Trump to be their next president?

This is either a case of severe voter fraud, or there is in fact some truth to the rumour that many  Americans have been changed into zombies. The latter would be true given that even with half-a-brain it should have been clear that this self-aggrandizing individual is no presidential material anywhere,  unless we’re talking about marginal countries such as North Korea or Zimbabwe – hellholes of human misery by any other name – where  leadership  appears to be mainly a function of intimidation and bullying, requiring no intellectual capacity at all.

The absolute tragedy now is that it appears that the folks who can least afford to have a  windbag and pathological narcissist like Trump at the helm of their country have in fact given him the keys to to the White House: this is tantamount to the chickens electing Colonel Sanders to look after their interest. They have jumped from the frying pan directly into the fire, when – by “draining the swamp” of Wall Street lobbyist – he is now putting Wall Street kingpins directly into government. As reported by Forbes the other day:

… Trump announced Gary Cohn (who was seen as the successor to Goldman’s current chief executive Lloyd Blankfein) will be joining his cabinet as director of the National Economic Council and an assistant to the President for economic policy. Cohn’s appointment means there will be a trifecta of former Goldmanites in the Trump administration. Former Goldman partner and mortgage trader Steven Mnuchin has been named Secretary of Treasury by Trump. Steve Bannon, a former Goldman banker, is his chief strategist.

How confused can you get, America?  Your government will be run directly by the sharks raised and educated at Goldman Sachs, predatory capitalism’s finest specimens. Guided by the motto “To Take from the Many to Give to the Few”, these  are the folks that get up in the morning for the sole reason to stuff their own pockets  – and those of their cronies – with other peoples money, and by hook or by crook it seems.

They are the very miscreants that precipitated the September 2008 financial crisis that almost brought down the world’s financial system.  They did this by selling sub-prime mortgage derivatives out of the front door, touting them as the fines investment instruments ever, while shorting these stinkers through the back door, knowing full-well they were absolute garbage to begin with. How low can you go?  And: NOBODY WENT TO JAIL FOR THIS!

It took a huge taxpayer-financed bailout to shore up the financial industry. Even so, the ensuing credit crunch turned what was already a nasty downturn into the worst recession in 80 years. To think that these types of characters would now switch their allegiance from their own pocketbooks to Joe Six-pack – and in particular the under- or unemployed and destitute – is a stretch only attempted by anyone even more naive than I am.

Excuse me now while I look for some mouthwash to get the sour taste out of my mouth.