What am I thankful for? The Founding Fathers of course.
Actually, I’m thankful for a lot of things. A lovely wife and loving children. Parents who loved me enough to raise me and my brother right. The fact that I’m still functional, if slightly creaky, staring 62 in the ace. I’m thankful for faithful readers. And I’m eternally thankful for not being related to Donald Trump.
But I’m also incredibly grateful to our Founding Fathers. Not just for founding our beautiful country, but in the incredibly sneaky and durable way they designed it. I’ve been known to be a wee shifty meself, but lemme tell you, these guys had more brains for breakfast than I have all day. When it comes to democracy, they got downright medieval on our ass.
For starters, it became clear to me last night, as I wrote this, that The Orange Howler Monkey stole his master design for his organization straight from the Founding Fathers. How did Trump run his company? He pitted his top executives against each other. If they were busy knee dropping and eye gouging each other, they couldn’t very well plot against him, could they? By creating three totally separate but equal branches of government, and giving each one sufficient power over the others, they made sure that a charlatan poltroon like Trump couldn’t get rid of the others, nor could they conspire to get rid of his office.
There have been fears almost since day one that the strengths that our Founding Fathers built into the system through the constitution would not be strong enough to survive the insidious onslaught that Der Gropinfuror brought to bear on them. The peril was increased even further when the majority of one of the branches dishonored themselves by completely abrogating their solemn oaths to protect the constitution and the nation. That left only one bulwark between us and the destruction of the only way of life we have known since our founding.
And they came through like world champions. From the earliest days of the Trump putsch, the judiciary branch manned the ramparts. Trump’s nickname in the judiciary must be “La Pinata,” because, starting with the “Mexican Judge” in his Trump University case, they have been almost constantly whacking him around with a legal broomstick. His Muslim Ban, government workers rights, sanctuary cities, child separation, and now the whack that apparently spilled the candy out, asylum seeker rights.
Trump’s fury at the judicial branch has been both vicious and relentless. Mainly because the boys and girls in the black polyester nightshirts are the only ones to ever successfully defy him. Creditors couldn’t, he just filed bankruptcy. Wives couldn’t, he just ditched them and got a new one. His own party, the ones who actually put him where he is couldn’t, they cravenly caved to his petty ire and cheap theatrics. Only those pissant judges, including at least one whom he himself appointed, have dared to defy him, and it’s driving him insane.
Chief Justice John Roberts statement yesterday, spanking His Lowness for his criticism of the judicial branch is a watershed event for two reasons. First of all, it was a clear signal from Roberts to the rest of the bench to pay no attention to the Howler Monkey in the White House, just keep doing their jobs, Roberts has their backs. But more importantly, Trump has done something that no one else in the world could have done, he has turned John Roberts into an unreliable conservative vote, especially where executive power is concerned. The implication of Roberts’ statement yesterday was clear, he views Trump as an existential threat to the constitution, especially where executive power is concerned. With one scowling temper tantrum, Trump just neutralized Brett Kavanaugh as the crucial swing vote on matters pertaining to Trump and the constitution. That role belongs to Roberts now, and he has a legacy to protect.
And things are only going to get better from here. Not pancakes in the morning perfect, but better. The Democrats will finally get the second branch of the government functioning as intended, one part of it anyway, and provide oversight. And if the Democrats do it properly, the things that they unearth and publicize will put increased pressure for the GOP in the Senate to step up and do their own damn jobs too. The judiciary was under siege for way too long, but the paratroops are about to arrive, and engage the enemy on another front, to relieve the pressure.
So yes, I am thankful for many things. But I am uber thankful for the insights of our Founding
Fathers, for realizing that the tedious boredom of redundancy was in fact a feature, and not a bug in the democratic system. And for realizing that while the world as they knew it would change and advance, that the brighter and more innovative we got, the more bone stupid we would become. They kept stoppers, thank God. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
The wait is over! Volume two of the trilogy, President Evil II: A Clodwork Orange is now available. Amazon is whining about me crashing their site, but the hell with them, I ain't in this for their health. You can also find volume one, President Evil as well. And fear not, work on volume three is just beginning.
Cross posted on Politizoom.com
Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35
