Words matter AND they can do damage

By George Smith

“Send her back!”

Three words. Eleven letters.

Just three little words. But words that should strike a note of … what, exactly?

If you a traditional American (you know, a citizen with ancestors that came to this country looking for a new start, to escape persecution or famine or war), chances are you should either be chagrined, angry or sad at those followers of Donald Trump who used those three words at his recent rally in North Carolina.

If your emotional response was a shrug or a “whatever” thought, you are Trump-conditioned, an anomaly of the past three years that affect those that have to look down on someone for some reason, or who believe this is what we have and what we deserve for the 2016 election.

The president’s verbal, extremely personal attacks on U. S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, an American citizen from Minnesota, created an environment of raucous hatred disguised as crowd-mass frivolity at a recent Trump rally.

Call it was it is: A personal attack on an immigrant /refugee who is not a a what is thought of as a traditional U.S. faith, and a person of color who dresses like few, if any, of our neighbors. The rally goer’s response to Trump’s earlier “Love it or leave” edict to the congresswoman was wrapped in a transparent veil of abject racism.

When confronted with the ugly result and severe backlash from his white nationalist-like statements about the four female progressives, three of whom were born in this country, Trump reverted to his most comfortable political tactic: He lied.

The day after the rally, after, reports indicated, his daughter ivanka and wife Melania, took him behind the proverbial barn for a revelation meeting, he said he tried to stop the chanting by “speaking quickly.” Big lie, that, and easy to ferret out the truth. He stood at the rally podium, trademark smirk in place, basking the the waves of “Send her back!” for 13 seconds.

Here’s where you go: “One Mississippi, two Miss….” And during of the chanting regimen, he moved his head side to side in rhythm of the words.

By any measurement, he enjoyed the new rendition of “Lock her up!”, his legion’s tribute and rallying cry to Hillary Clinton prior to and even after the 2016 election.

In his most recent rally, Trump got the response he wanted from his minions in COT (Cult of Trump): Adoration in the form of mimicking his thoughts and actions, of picking up on his scattered stray thoughts turned loose from his verbal Mixmaster of words often found on eighth grade spelling tests.

On one level, Trump is a genius. He excels at creating fictional bugaboos and will o’ the wisps that manufacture myriad fears in the very souls of those with a heart susceptible to hate and who have a deep need to belong to…something.

Those that hated Clinton (and politicians in general) were looking for a non-politician who would take up the banner of the tired, the poor, the fearful. Those make up a majority of the 35-40 percent of Americans who avidly and blindly follow the person with a national stage and message of exclusion.

Trump knows what he is doing. He plays every decision to his base via tweet storms and televised rants and through belligerent, bombastic interviews. And, millions absorb every word as if it was a new form of the gospel.

Wait. Trump knows what he is doing? Does he really?

What if one of his edge-of-fringe followers decided to take action to please his master and tried to do harm to one of the four congresswomen who Trump has labeled as not American enough to exist in his country? What would he do then?

He’d surely follow his pattern after a major misstep, like he did after the white nationalist killed a woman with a car in North Carolina, he would deny anything he said had anything to do with the dastardly deed. And the army of COT would nod and applaud him for whatever it is they think he has done that is good for the country.

This is where we are now. And it’s a sad, sad place in the history of this country.

“If you think he’s a racist, that’s up to you. I don’t!” — Lindsey Graham, just now

“He’s a race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot.” — Lindsey Graham, 2015

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Circumference of Me – Chapter 19

19 — Great bosses don’t give orders

You have arrived. You are a manager with umpteen people. Gender be damned, you are Da Man! Time to gear up, get your team focused on your priorities, to rise to the occasion, kick ass and take names, and whatever one hundred and thirteen other clichés you want to use. It’s time to give orders and watch people scurry to do your bidding.

Whoa! Back up.

First off, Management Emperor, don’t even think about giving orders. Avoid giving orders. Orders are for Third World dictators, not up-and-comers in the business world.

Great managers follow a different principle: “Give suggestions, not orders.”

Here’s the drill: People reporting to you are co-workers, not drones. They are your firm’s most valuable resource. They are not slaves; they are the ticket to your future. Treat them like valuable commodities. Better yet, treat them like relatives you really, really like.

~~Fine, got it. No orders. But, then what?~~

A great manager at his or her first departmental or project meeting would tell co-workers the following:

I don’t give orders. I offer suggestions. With those suggestions you have three choices:

Do it, because it’s the right thing to do.
Don’t do it, but give me a better idea and a plan how you can make it work.
Don’t do it.

Nos. 1 and 2 are always acceptable. No 3 never is.

That sets a clear avenue for directions. It offers coworkers opportunities not only to be parts of the team, but to have input into solutions to problems or thorny projects. If you use the “suggestions, not orders” approach, you will empower the people you work with, acknowledge they will have good ideas, and guarantee that you will listen to them. You will lift them up, and at the same time set boundaries of protocol, punctuated by a request for their help.

Can’t get much better than that.

Which brings up the inevitable question: What happens when an employee

embraces the third choice – just not doing what you suggested?

Make sure your co-workers understand: “If I have to ever give you an order, that is never good for you or me – because I don’t enjoy conflict.”

Clear. Concise. Understandable.

The birth and growth of a great manager is not a one-event occurrence. Learning the ability to communicate will always open one of the main pathways to success.

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Circumference of Me – Chapter 18

18 — Hiccups are no big deal

It’s important for managers to learn which mistakes are important and which are mere hiccups.

A hiccup is here and gone. It is not permanent. A single hiccup does no lasting damage and few people will remember it.

A business hiccup is (for example):

An e-mail sent without its intended attachment.
A typographical error in a report.
The wrong date on a document.
Missing a minor deadline.

There are major chasms between hiccups and certified disasters. It is a frightful

part of human nature that some people cannot differentiate between the two extremes. A temporarily misplaced report arouses the same reactions in some people as does an account lost to a competitor that shouldn’t have been lost.

For active, multi-tasking managers, hiccups are like mosquitoes in swampy areas. They are going to pop up no matter what you do. Business hiccups, while aggravating, don’t make or break careers. Those who do the hiccupping or evaluate their effect on the business may think so, however.

Swallow the hiccup by acknowledging it as a mistake, apologize if necessary, and get on to more important issues.

There will be bumps in your career path. A bump is a bump. Don’t make it bigger than it is and don’t allow it to ruin the journey.

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Circumference of Me – Chapter 17

17 — Navel-gazing is hazardous to health

While viewing your career future, there are four ways to focus your attention: Behind you, down, straight ahead, and up.

Except to reflect on mistakes and go over a laundry list of items learned from your experiences, there’s absolutely no reason to dwell on the past. Dredging up frivolously ridiculous events that look even more so in hindsight, personal decision-making foibles, and avoidable corporate faux pas just wastes time and valuable mental resources.

Your time would be more wisely spent replaying what you learned and how your lessons have improved your intellectual landscape.

Looking straight ahead – maintaining the status quo – normally would not advance one’s individual worth. It would instead signal professional acceptance of stagnation and eventually, degradation of position.

It’s perfectly acceptable to keep one’s eyes looking skyward toward loftier goals, larger and more important projects, and a title suitable to one’s abilities and aspirations. But fixing your gaze in that direction has its hazards. If you don’t pay attention to where you are headed, you can easily be tripped by unseen obstacles.

Looking down – navel-gazing, as it were – with excessive contemplation and unnecessary reflection on circumstances and events over which one has no control, or which don’t really help your role in the company, is simply a waste of time.

If you are going to indulge in navel-gazing, do it on your own time.

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Circumference of Me – Chapter 16

16 — Mix business & monkey business

It was the first day of work at a new job with a new company for a public affairs manager for a Fortune 500 company. He was excited, enthused, and ready to tackle the corporate world.

One of the first people he met in the hallway on his way to his new office was the vice president of operations.

“Good morning,” the newcomer greeted the executive.

The higher-ranking manager regarded him sternly. “Come into my office.”

Once inside, the vice president ordered the young man to close the door, crossing behind his desk to sit without inviting the new manager to take a seat.

He said: “This is the way it works. You say ‘Good morning,’ and most people feel an obligation to say ‘Good morning,’ and pretty soon we’ve all said ‘Good morning’ and we’ve wasted ‘X’ number of man-minutes of the company’s time.

“To be honest, that’s just the beginning of it. After ‘Good morning’ you feel obligated to ask about their weekend or their families or what they watched on TV last night.

“Wasted time. So let’s skip all that, shall we? I really don’t care about whether or not you have a good morning. I just want you to go to work and stay at it. Understood?”

You can’t blame the new employee for wondering whether he had made a bad career change.

It’s never acceptable to treat work as an adult playground. But there is no sin in having fun at work.

Decades later, this same once-young manager (now in his sixties and nearing retirement) is still in the corporate world, and has made it a personal goal to find something to laugh at every single day. He tries to entertain his co-workers at appropriate times, performing what he calls his “happy dance,” a convoluted mixture of the “Tigger” dance and an old soft-shoe, ball-and-chain routine.

It’s funny, but it’s also fun to watch him because he gets so much pleasure out of doing it.

It’s okay to have fun at work, within reason, and within the boundaries of corporate policy. If work is no fun at all, then why do it?

Find something at work that will make you laugh every day. Having appropriate fun at work is as close to corporate heaven as you can get.

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Circumference of Me – Chapter 15

15 Handing the shovel to others

When asked or ordered to perform a shit-shoveling chore, you must approach it as an opportunity, not as an aversion. Shovel with alacrity. In doing so, you are preparing yourself for the next step in the evolutionary process of the business world. When you readily accept delegated chores, you prepare yourself to delegate to others.

The art of delegation must be learned. One cannot master it by osmosis. Neither is it a genetic attribute. Unfortunately, the only way to learn how not to micromanage every detail of a project (or just do it yourself) and to delegate instead is to become a manager or project leader and be in a position of having to depend on others.

The ability to delegate – to shift shit-shoveling to subordinates – is one of the hardest management skills for young managers (and many older, established managers) to learn. For one thing, it goes against the grains of egocentric managers and the personal preferences of many workers. Most good employees and a vast majority of managers – good, bad and in between – believe they can perform duties faster and get better results than anyone who works with them.

It’s not necessarily true, but that doesn’t make it any less so in their minds. Perceptions are realities.

If you truly want to become a corporate leader, you will have to move shit in various forms – liquid, clumps and hard, non-candy mountains – from one place to another for a time. In the Corporate Tribe, it’s called paying your dues. Ante up!

Follow a few simple rules: Take a shit chore and do it to the best of your ability. Show what you can do by simply doing it. Make a niche for yourself that proves your value to the company.

Melvin sure does shovel shit well. And he does it without complaining!

If you are in a position of having to accept shit shoveled to you, and you are told to make something substantial out of it, make it the best pile of shit ever built in the history of the company.

Aspire to be a superb shit shoveler. In fact, be the freakin’ King of Shit-Shoveling. Learn not only to shovel it in efficient, bite-sized chunks, so to speak, but also how to use the exercise as a learning experience.

Few managers see the need, or want to learn how, to be good shit shovelers. Most managers won’t, but should, confide to subordinates why shit has to be shoveled, and how they fit into the shoveling channels. Few managers ever stop to tell a new employee: “Here’s a chore. It’s not glamorous; in fact, it’s a shit chore. But it’s important and here’s why . . .”

All new employees of any company should be versed in the practical reasons why shit flows downhill and how it is absolutely essential for aspiring executive managers to shovel it quickly and efficiently until there’s no more to shovel. They should know that it’s better to shovel shit than bitch and moan about having to do it, and let it build up until the only way to get rid of it is to bail.

Shit-shoveling should be viewed as a valuable lesson that should be embraced, figuratively, if not literally. Shoveling shit is a necessary part of the business process. It also is much better than the alternative – not having any shit to shovel, sitting home watching reruns of “Cops,” and glancing at the Help Wanted ads during commercials.

When it comes to paying your dues and shoveling your share of corporate shit, adopt the approach by Oliver Twist in the musical based on the Dickens novel: “Please, sir, may I have some more?”

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The Deepening Crisis in Evangelical Christianity

Support for Trump comes at a high cost for Christian witness.

U.S. President Donald Trump (L) stands with Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. after delivering keynote address at commencement in Lynchburg, Virginia, U.S., May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas – RC1EE4E00360

By Peter Wehner

Contributing editor at The Atlantic and senior fellow at EPPC

Editor comment:

Recently I read this article by Mr. Wehner. I found it very interesting. I have often thought that the Evangelicals sold their souls to the devil to get Roe vs Wade overturned. That belief increases with each passing day.

While I found the article interesting and found the analysis by Tom Walker and the comments by Lee Guice even more compelling.

I don’t respect many people and that list deceases with time. These two gentlemen are on that short list of people I really respect. I think their word are worth preserving for future reference.

Social media is a snapshot in time and I find it difficult to find old posts – it is for that reason that have posted this article. Their words are preserved for the next 5 years.

Please take the time to read them.

Tom Walker

July 8 at 6:30 AM ·

Evangelical Christianity puts itself in the way of great harm and damage to its witness when it aligns itself with an arrogant narcissistic moral wreck. Such is blasphemy on the cause of Christ, and I have several times personally witnessed the angry blowback against “Christian witness” because of this unholy alliance with an evil character. Yet, their blinders stay on as they refuse to acknowledge this tar pit. The costs will be high and severe. (Shaking my head.)

Lee Guice

I am in 100% agreement, Tom. The New Testament is full of warnings about such wolves in sheep’s clothing. I hesitate to call anyone evil, but in this case I feel that it is justified.

Tom Walker— Ed, I am sorry I am slow responding, but this past week has been intense and demanding, with many evenings occupied with doing reports until late, and lots of travel to Dallas and Little Rock and points in between. But it is Sunday afternoon now, and I now have a bit of a break to write.

First, PLEASE READ the news article to which all these posts are attached. It is thoughtful, insightful, and respectful.

Second, it is well documented our current President was immoral with prostitutes and he used lies, deceit, and financial wealth to cover this up. Also, his arrogance is massive, and he NEVER takes responsibility for mistakes or wrongs but always blames others and casts insults right and left. He is ambitious and narcissistic to the max, for he is all about himself as being a “genius“ and “master negotiator.” But, he only exerts power through divisiveness, threats, insults, discord, and setting factions at war with one another.

In light of his behavior consider these words:

Galatians 5:19-21 NIV

[19] The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; [20] idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions [21] and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Some of these terms are descriptive and condemning of the behavior we commonly see in this president. His behavior is NOT descriptive of Christian behavior. To say his behavior is Christian is DELUSIONAL. Let’s not promote the FICTION that his conduct is.

It is severely distressing to me Christ’s name is dragged through the mud by Christians who foolishly act like this President is a savior. What they are doing is bringing ridicule and blasphemy upon the name of Christ. On FB and elsewhere I AM HEARING it. Multitudes know hypocrisy when they see it, and they are right. Many are calling out this hypocrisy and laughing with derision toward Evangelical Christians.

Here is a solution I see some of my aware Christian friends employ. They verbally recognize and proclaim this President is not walking the Christian walk though they had voted for him. They verbally admit “he is a skunk” or “he is a terrible person and I can’t stand him,” but they may go on to say “I voted for him to get a job done though I don’t like him as a person” or “I voted for him because he wasn’t Hillary” or “I don’t have to like him as a person to vote for him — and I think he is an awful person — but I voted for him to get a job done and he is doing it.” Okay. I can respect this approach. They are not embracing this President as Christian but voted for him because he was the only option to get a conservative agenda addressed. Politics and politicians are separated from the Christian walk in the minds of these believers.

Third, let’s address the issue the current President is there because God had put him there. I assume this argument was used to mean he is Christian.

The tyrant Nero, Emperor of Rome, was in power when the Apostle Paul wrote the following:

Romans 13:1 NIV

[1] Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

Nero had a horrible reputation for cruelty, and he even had his own mother executed. Many Roman emperors had cruel reputations, such as Caligula and Domitian. Yet all authorities that exist have been established by God. It is WRONG TO ASSUME that if God puts one in power such person would be godly. For sure, some people in authority were history’s poster children for evil.

Under Nero, the Apostle Paul was beheaded and the Apostle Peter was crucified upside down.

The Book of Revelation foretold of evil beasts and evil persons who would be granted power “for a short time” but then would be destroyed. The why of this is another discussion, but the point at hand is this: All governments and people who are in power are there because God allowed it or placed them there BUT NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE NECESSARILY GODLY. If this President was put there by God (and he was), it does NOT mean he is necessarily Christian.

Fourth, let’s summarize my main point: This President’s conduct is antithetical of what Christian conduct is. They do not line up. It is HYPOCRITICAL and DELUSIONAL to promote the FICTION that they do. Those who conflate the two bring blasphemy — a consequence of foolishness.

Fifth, one cannot play and work with evil without getting burned. The article to which these posts are attached in so many words makes this point that a whole generation of Evangelical believers will pay a severe price. That’s another discussion.

Lee Guice — Tom Walker this is a wonderfully worded analysis.

Let’s not forget that the same God who allowed Trump to be elected also allowed Hitler to control Germany, and allowed the Fourth Crusade to sack Constantinople in the name of Jesus Christ. God’s timing and God’s logic are beyond any of us.

I too believe Donald Trump to be totally evil

The article referenced in these comments can be read at:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/evangelical-christians-face-deepening-crisis/593353/?utm_term=2019-07-05T10%3A00%3A17&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR3rDvMIq52xVIHFhqIU8U8I1jXX46HiNOU4NIS-eLP7y5B7drFJhikyrd8

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FIGHT DIRTY

I am actively working on becoming a political consultant for the Democratic party. I know I can do a great job!

I had wanted to work for my President as a political consultant, but he has not responded to my letter/resume for over 6 months. I must assume that all the key Republican positions are filled.

If some of you are thinking, “why is he qualified to be a political consultant?” let me explain.

I have always considered myself an amoral person and I know all political consultants are amoral, so it appears to be a good fit. I have always been willing to do anything for a buck. Political consultants march to that same drummer.

I have references that demonstrate that I have spent most of my life trying to “screw” people. Political consultants spend all their time trying to “screw” with people’s minds. Another close match.

It should be clear by now I have all the characteristics needed to be a pc. Oh, and did I mention I am a good-looking, stable genus like you know who?

So, if the money is as good as I think it will be, I am ready to devote my life to the Democratic Party, except for an occasional fishing trip.

If anyone needs my help it is the Democratic Party – a political party that is headed for extinction at lighting speed.

In the past I have thought of Democrat’s as a bunch of wimps. I have changed my opinion. I now consider them a bunch of clueless wimps who don’t have the faintest idea of how to win an election.

Fortunately, assuming I can get hooked up with some wanna-be Democrat big shot the party would have a stable genus on their team and things would change.

For starters the Dems must forget a few things. Michell Obama coined the phrase, “When they go low, we go high.”

That is OUT! The Dems new slogan is, “When they go low, we go lower and grab them by the balls”. Assume there are still some Republicans, other than Trump, who still have balls; this would be a very effective technique.

The first thing that Dems need to do is make “gerrymandering” their friend. The Supreme Court has said that gerrymandering is bad, but it is legal. This means that the Dems need to out gerrymander the Gerrymanders. For year the states with Republican legislatures, have been drawn district maps that gave big advantages to the Republicans. The states with Democratic legislatures have appointed the independent commissions to draw “fair” maps.

Those days are over. To hell with fair maps. Throw out independent commissions. The Democrats must realize that days when being fair was the right thing to do are long done. The Republicans have demonstrated being unfair wins you seats and in today’s politics that is all that is important.

Fortunately for the Democrats, they can out gerrymander the Republicans if they play dirty. The reason that a cut-throat Democratic party can out-gerrymander the Republicans is that the states with Republican held legislatures are low-population states and the states with Democratic held legislatures are high-population states. So, these states have more elected federal representatives, therefore these states can do a more effective job of gerrymandering.

For example, let’s look at California that has a Democratic governor and both house of the legislature. The state has an independent commission to draw “fair” maps. As a result, there is a significant number of Republican congressmen from California. If California uses “Texas-style” gerrymandering most of those Republican seats can be eliminated and the Democrats can deliver one big boat load of Congress persons to the U.S. House for Representatives.

Democrats, you don’t have to be the political party that died. All you need to do is hire me and FIGHT DIRTY!

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Easily bored? Skip this column

By George Smith

If you feel the need, skip this column today because it’s about a really boring subject: Insurance.

Many people – virtually everyone who is not associated with the industry in some way – think they understand insurance. They are wrong – double-dog dead wrong.

Take life insurance for example. You buy insurance in order to give someone (or some entity) money if you die. Did you get that? It’s just like you’re in Las Vegas and you are gambling: You are betting the insurance company that you are going to die and they are betting you are not going to go toe’s up … at least not soon.

It’s death’s version of the dollar slots.

And like all legal gambling edifices, the odds are in the house’s favor.

Insurance companies have truckloads of information that you, the insured, do not have. Actuary tables going back to the days of Moses tell agents when the average person – based on an incredible array of data – is going to go bucket-kicking. While they do not become giddified if a customer lives to be 112 (with coverage more than likely dropping the older you get and premiums more than covering the cost of the policy over time), they do get a twinge of sadness for anyone dying young with a $500,000 policy after making two payments.

It’s just human nature.

Of course, like any professions from physicians to news employees, there are good and bad insurance agents. There are no bad doctors, newsies or insurance agents or companies in the Marshall area and that comes from personal experience. Other towns are not so fortunate.

At this particular moment in my life, I have insurance: Car (three), an ATV, homeowners, personal property, life insurance (2), travel insurance for an upcoming trip and health insurance (Medicare and a supplemental policy).

Realizing this is a Yikes! moment.

We pay out X-dollars a month in various forms of insurance and, get this, hope we don’t need any of it. On one hand, you have to have it in case you need it; so, in effect, most people are betting there will be no wrecks, that vandals don’t attack the insured property with Magic Markers, that no one dies, that burglars hit somebody else’s house, that an upcoming trip goes off smoothly, that any health issues are minor ones.

Checking on one insurance policy recently – medical – the total amount billed for a relatively minor operation (one night stay) was $82,000-plus. The primary and secondary insurance companies paid $29,800; I paid $350, leaving a balance of about $53,000. I did not pay that nor was I ever billed.

That amount was written off after negotiations between the two insurance entities and some medical company and hospital minions. So, either the hospital and staff and the doctor and helpers decided to be generous to a senior citizen or they were satisfied with what they were paid.

So, then, why is the cost so high in the first place?

Many people have become exponentially smarter since access to Google entered our lives. The Billing Advocates of America website (BAA) has tons of information for the uninformed, confused or for folks simply looking for facts rather than conjecture.

Many doctors, according to the site, do not know how much they will get paid when they see a patient, because 1) They don’t process their own billing and 2) insurance companies pay based on internal algorithms.

When doctors, or their agent, send a bill, they will typically add to the actual cost to ensure they get adequate payout. Of course, the insurance companies know this but it makes no matter since they are using their internal figures based on their calculations on what a procedure is worth.

Here’s the rub. A cash customer normally gets billed at the same high rate that is send to the insurance company. Say wha…..?

(Here’s where this column becomes worth the time it takes to read it.)

Cash patients, armed with this information, can attempt to negotiate the bill with the doctor or staff in an attempt to lower the cost to what the insurance company pays. The same goes for hospital and other medical service agencies.

If you have insurance, an annual talk with your agent will keep you apprised of industry changes that could prove beneficial. As insurance and medical costs increase, it is imperative that consumers get as familiar with the rules of the game as possible.

Check out billadvocates.com and similar sites for the best information.

Now that we’ve covered that topic, let’s turn to another riveting subject in which we all have a vested interest: Solid waste disposal ….

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Communication is an art

By George Smith

Communication is an art, like, well, art, you know, painting, acting, sculpting or chain-sawing a realistic bear from a stump. Playing a sport at the highest level is an art, as is being able to maneuver a car in Dallas rush hour traffic or winning the eternal battle of having a happy marriage through sticktoitiveness and expressing love through actions and words.

Words matter. They define who we would like to be, who we are.

“(Homelessness) a phenomenon that started two years ago. It’s disgraceful. I’m going to, maybe—and I’m looking into it very seriously – we’re doing some other things that you probably noticed like some of th4 very important things that we’re doing now. But we’re looking at it very seriously, because you can’t do that.”

It may be hard to believe that this is not a line from the movie “One Flew Over the Cockoo’s Nest.” It’s not. It’s one of the more quizzical quotes by the U.S. Communicator in Chief, President Donald Trump.

It is hard to imagine the word salad above came out of the mouth of the nation’s leader; it did, trust me. Or look it up.

How smart people can be born-again members of a cult that follows a leader who makes statements that either: 1. Make no sense; 2. Start and end with obvious lies, or; 3. Refers to himself in the third person or gives himself verbal pats on the back for his intellect, handsomeness or business acumen, eludes me.

Examples of his hair-raising statements in news conference gaggles, speeches and as Twitter fodder:

(The action was taken) “despite the negative press covfefe.”

The media: “The media is – really, the word, I think one of the greatest terms I’ve come up with – is fake.”

2016 election: “If Abe Lincoln came back to life, he would lose New York and he would lose California.’

On immigration: “Why are we having all these people from s—thole countries come here?”

On immigration: We’re roundin’ ‘em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice, But not everything is nice,”

Women’s rights: “I will be phenomenal to the women. I mean, I want to help women.”

Terrorism: “When you see the other side chopping off heads, waterboarding doesn’t sound very severe.”

Climate change: “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”

Hillary Clinton: “If Hillary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband, what makes her think she can satisfy America?”

Intelligence: “Sorry, losers and haters but my IQ is one of the highest, and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure. It’s not your fault.”

On First Daughter: “(Ivanka) does have a very nice figure…If she weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”

On Trump: “My fingers are long and beautiful, as, it has been well-documented, are various other parts of my body.”

Voters: “We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated!”

Media and women: “You know, it really doesn’t matter what (members of the media) write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of a–!”

War: This is the Trump theory on war: But I’m good at war. I’ve had a lot of wars of my own. I’m really good at war. I love war in a certain way. But only when we win.” (Note: He received five draft deferments due to “bone spurs.”)

War: “Why can’t we use nuclear weapons?”

And, finally:

Border wall: “I will build a great wall – and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me. And I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.”

Words matter…until an individual decides they don’t. And in the case of Trump, millions of Americans have decided the president’s words and actions don’t matter, that they will wallow in his message of hate and exclusion and bullyboy tactics and accept them as their own.

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