That time when I thought Bush had damaged America beyond repair

Following are two excerpts from a letter I wrote to my U.S. Senator:

“As a citizen, taxpayer, voter and loyal American, I am begging you and your colleagues to do something to stop the madness emanating from the White House. I believe it is possible that the president of the United States might be insane.”

And…

“I voted for Democrats in the last election and I am writing this letter today. I don’t know what else I can do, so I am asking you for help. Investigate him, criticize him, override him and impeach him if you can. Mr. Bush has seriously damaged America, and someone needs to stop him before he destroys what is left.”

That’s right. The letter was written to former Senator Jay Rockefeller on July 7, 2007 – not about Donald Trump but about then-President George W. Bush. While I can’t remember any specific thing that happened around that time to set me off, I was clearly upset about the war in Iraq that was taking thousands of lives, costing hundreds of millions of dollars and eroding American credibility around the globe.  

Back then, if you sat near me in a bar, you probably heard me wondering how long it would take America to repair the damage caused by the Bush-Cheney administration, if in fact we ever could. If only I knew then what was coming in a few years, I might have been talking about baseball or TV shows or girls I knew in high school, because bad as they were, there’s just no comparing Bush’s eight years in office with the two months that Donald J. Trump has been our alternative president.

And I thought Bush was insane? I. Had. No. Idea.

Skipping over his obvious failures, let’s recap the “successes” of the Trump presidency so far:

* Allowing coal companies to dump mine waste into rivers and streams on the phony premise of bringing back coal jobs.

* Dismantling Obama-era climate change protections, because climate change is a hoax that is bad for business and politicians know more about the environment than climate scientists.

* Overturning the “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces” rule because we must make sure companies that violate wage, labor or workplace safety laws can still receive federal contracts.

* Overturning two regulations for measuring school performance and teacher training, because with Betsy DeVos at the helm, the LAST thing we want are competent teachers and qualified students in our public schools.

* Proposing a budget that eliminates funds for Meals on Wheels and Public Broadcasting, for example, to support a $54 billion increase in military spending and tax breaks for the rich.

* Taking health care away from low-income women by allowing states to withhold money from Planned Parenthood.

* Initiating a review of the Clean Power Plan, which restricted greenhouse gas emissions at coal-fired power plants, to end the fictitious “war on coal.”

* Instructing the Labor Department to delay an Obama rule requiring financial professionals who are giving advice on retirement, and who charge commissions, to put their client's interests first.

* Reviving the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines despite significant environmental issues.

* Declaring the mainstream media "the enemy of the American people.”

* Declaring the federal court system "a threat to national security.”

There is so much more, but let’s just say that everywhere possible, he’s trampling on the Constitution, not to mention common sense, human decency and people’s rights.

And I haven’t even mentioned Russia.

I also blame Trump for adding the exclamation point to the phrase “the dumbing down of America!” How else do you explain the Republican congressman who told CNN his job was “to work for the president.” The man either missed most of his fifth grade civics class or was brainwashed to believe that all branches of government are now under Trump’s control – which is what Trump apparently thinks.

I’m also at a loss to explain the focus group who told a reporter they saw busloads of illegal voters pouring into New Hampshire to vote for Hillary Clinton, then backed off and said it was maybe carloads, then backed off again and said it was "a car full," then backed off again and said it was somebody else who actually saw it and finally admitted they might have heard about it on TV.

This is the real, bottom line damage that Trump has inflicted on America. He has created a cabal of poorly educated but blindly loyal followers who refuse to acknowledge that he is a pathological liar, or that he has clearly broken every promise he ever made to them and who are either too lazy, too disinterested or too stupid to see they are being scammed.

I don't think they are going away any time soon.

These are the people who see phantom voters, believe Hillary Clinton runs a child trafficking ring out of a pizza shop and think they have TrumpCare health insurance that doesn't even exist. Calling them stupid is an insult to people who are ONLY stupid. These people's stupidity is wrapped in delusion inside a box of falsehoods tied up with denial. I don't believe there is any hope for them – not now and not ever – which brings me to my conclusion:

I don’t know which is worse, the international damage caused by the Bush-Cheney administration (which we still haven’t fixed) or the domestic damage that Trump and Steve Bannon are causing by deconstructing the government of the United States. I tend to believe that Trump’s reign of terror can be neutralized if he and his cronies are stopped in time and logic is allowed to prevail. If not, it’s difficult to quantify how much damage they’ll be able to inflict – and how long it might take to overcome.

With that in mind, I can see myself sitting in a bar a few years from now, wondering how much of Trump’s damage can be fixed…and thinking back to the good old days of George W. Bush.