Just Scream

By George Smith

Ever felt like you needed to just open your mouth and scream? Not just a scream, but a primal scream, an ear-splitting, guttural sound emanating from your lower intestine, tearing thought your stomach, resonating off your diaphragm and creating a noise that actually scares the virtual devil out of those around you?

That’s the way I feel today.

After almost three weeks visiting Scotland and Ireland, I came back to the United States ready to renew my affirmation and love of this country. But then the realization that this country – the 2019 version – is not the version of my youth. Nor is it the country I want for my grandchildren.

The innocence, the beauty of its people, the diversity, the respect of other religious the friendliness shown by strangers to strangers, the love of family and the belief that nothing is stronger than blood ties, is elusive, if not downright missing from the moral fiber of the country.

I came back to these headlines and stories about the world’s most important nation:■ Transgender protections rolled back■ Mississippi, Alabama pass laws banning abortions even in cases of incest and rape■ Trump flails at companies hiring foreign workers; Trump hires foreign workers■ Trump puts $20 makeover on hold; slave master Jackson gets nod over Harriet Tubman■ Mike Pence tells West Point grads to “get ready for war. It will happen.”■ Florida lawmaker says “God told me to introduce abortion legislation”■ DOJ on crash course with intelligence agencies■ Trump mocks politicians opposed to tariffs as ‘babies,’ including some Republicans■ U.S. halting visas of same-sex partners of diplomats■ Trump helped his parents evade taxes, ‘including instances of outright fraud’■ ‘Good time’ to be a farmer, Trump says as he announces $16 billion in aid.■ Trump insists Chinese tariffs will cover $16 billion farm trade aid package■ Banker charged after lending millions to Paul Manafort in exchange for Trump job■ Judge suspended over anti-Trump remarks

And the list goes on…..

What has this nation become when millions accept an emperor-in-waiting as the political messiah and millions more see him as the rise of the end of democracy in the nation?

The bottom line? The 45^th president commits horrible acts of rudeness simply because of his title and personality; he is juvenile in his use of the “bully” pulpit and his utter distain for women and anyone who disagrees with him; he is not smart in protocols of diplomacy or understands the basics of the foundations of this country (including separation of powers and the responsibilities of the different branches of government.

This self-labelled “stable genius” does not read, has no realistic sense of history, no compassion for those suppressed simply for being “different,” no comprehensive of today’s global economy and America’s place in it, and does not trust men and women who have spent decades in specialized areas of global intelligence, he has no idea of the correct use of the global economy as a deterrent to aberrant behavior by rogue nations or how the U.S. economy and politics affects the world.

And most of all, thr president does not understand nor care that he is, (almost single-handedly with sufficient help from his so-called party friends like Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, Jim Jordan and Lindsey Graham) is destroying the Republican Party.

“Republican Party” actually no longer applies to the conservative branch of politics. It is now the Trump Party, lock, stock and elephant.

Past heroes of that party – the Bush groupies, the John McCains supporters, the true followers of Reagan – are all lamenting the position taken in total opposition to compassionate conservatism, balanced budget and the paring down of big government.

As a nation we must rise above partisan politics and personal pettiness. That is not possible with Trump, a pompously pious, personally pedantic, would-be dictator in the White House.

We’ll see what this country is made of in a short 18 months.

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Circumference of Me – Chapter 8

8. The legends of warlords

Another major failing among mid-level managers is an inability to see beyond their own boundary lines. Thinking, “I am in charge of this project, and I will control it,”is simply wrong-headed. Each department is a part that exists to assist other parts so the corporate engine can runsmoothly and efficiently.

Turf protectionism was common among ancient warlords and still is practiced by nations or regions run by tribal chiefs. There are no successful companies among which turf warfare is tolerated. There is nothing worse in a business than a “virus” – a virulent strain of egotism – created by the ministrations and manipulations of quarreling corporate warlords.

Managers who adhere to the archaic practice of turf protection, to the detriment of the company, will not be around to see necessary changes unfold.

While “turf” is strictly a boundary issue and a sincere bugaboo in the constant search for corporate success, a manager’s “territory” should be constantly scrutinized for expansion possibilities – not in the sense of “securing more territory” to feel important, but to improve the internal processes that benefit the company. In other words, how can one department help other departments in ways individual managers may not have even contemplated? And how do you accomplish that without offending the boundary issues of other managers?

Overtures must be presented in terms of mutual consideration and benefit.

“I was thinking about that interesting project you mentioned last week and how it could help the company. What if my department assisted you by . . . ?”

There is an example of the absolute best that communication and camaraderie have to offer: A word of praise, followed by an offer of assistance.

Real life. Real, positive results.

If you want to expand your territory, do it for the right reasons. If you just want to be in charge of “more”simply to expand your turf, buy grass seed.

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Today’s Political Climate is Brutal

By George Smith

Partisan politics, in any year, in any era, is a given: Labor/business, liberal/conservative, pro-choice/pro-life, Libertarian/Tea Party, evangelical Christians/non-evangelical believers/agnostics and atheists, white supremacist/Black Lives Matter … all forces and factions are in play in the 2020 election. Listen! You can already hear the gnashing of teeth and muttered curses in the social media brouhaha.

It is a sorry state of affairs when you stop and realize in today’s political environment, fear, distrust and hate comes into play in everyday political discussions and maneuvers.

Several states (notably Arizona, Tennessee and Texas) are being openly blatant about setting up laws that will suppress voting of certain citizens, as reported by the Public Broadcasting System (PBS):

‘After Democrats Surged In 2018,

Republican-Run States Eye New Curbs On Voting’

The fact the Republican Party in these states (with more to follow) are worked up about making sure potential Democratic voters are either frightened away from the polls intentionally or by innuendo and rumor shows the widening divide between the two parties.

In Texas, PBS stated, “… state lawmakers are considering adding criminal penalties for people who improperly fill out voter registration forms; Arizona Republicans are proposing new voting rules that could make it more complicated to cast an early ballot; in Tennessee, GOP lawmakers are considering a bill that would fine groups involved in voter registration drives that submit incomplete forms.”

The proposed laws, as yet, do not include any provisions for natural human error.

For generations, Democrats have conducted widespread voter registration drives, while Republicans seem to rely on donations to support their candidates of choice. The voter registrati0n drives across the country in 2017 and 2018 pushed a record-breaking number of seat reversals in the House of Representatives, creating a flashpoint for Republicans resulting in the current attempts to curtail future activity that could their party.

The reasons given for the present attention to voter registration, according to GOP lawmakers, is that new legislation needed to maintain the integrity of voter rolls and prevent fraud. Shutthefrontdoor! The rule changes are aimed directly at putting a damper on turnout of the poor, young and nonwhite voters, who normally would vote with the platform of the Democratic Party.

Texas Republicans are shaking in their Naconas and curled-brim Stetson Double-X beavers because demographic and political trends are on the move to change the “Lone Star State” to “Estado de la Estrella Solitaria”. As Beto O’Roarke made clear with his close race with GOP sometimes-darling Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas is now, once again, competitive on the national level for the first time in decades.

The Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 9, which would make it a felony, punishable by jail time, for anyone who provides false information on a voter registration form or casts a ballot when they are ineligible, even if it’s by mistake! For example, if someone writes in a wrong ZIP code or is allowed to vote in a different precinct, that would be grounds for jail time.

It is apparent the Republicans who consider themselves deal-makers throughout the United States are scared shiftless, not knowing which way to shift their traditional battle plan, but knowing their leader is dividing the country and dividing the party. Throwing up roadblocks to curtail voting of any citizen, regardless of perception of allegiance, is just wrongheaded, and, legal experts have opined, is unconstitutional.

We are Americans all and should rejoice in unity in the freedoms we possess through the vision, intelligence and, yes, blood, that built this country. To deny any eligible person the right to vote on a technicality is as un-American as calling soccer “football.”

Instead of working on keeping people from voting we should be expanding access for people to vote. Adopting or expanding early and absentee voting, adopting automatic voter registration and campaigning for younger voters to get involved is the sign of a true democracy, not a nation run by whim, spite or gutless naysayers and exclusionists.

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You can tell the quality of a leader by turnover

By George Smith

I hate opening a cabinet and seeing that it’s empty and almost empty. That means I didn’t do my job correctly.

Wonder what Donald Trump thinks when he looks at his cabinet.

Chaos. Turnover. Turmoil. All are objective terms defining the Trump Administration’s record of the comings and goings of administration officials in its first 27 months. The president first filled his cabinet and top White House slots with mostly wealthy people, those he liked, those that supported him, those that fawned over him, family members.

Unlike Abraham Lincoln, who famously filled his cabinets with rivals – some detested him and his homespun ways, those that wanted to be president and thought they should be rather than the country storyteller, those that truly wanted to serve the country in a time of division – Trump kept those who honor him close. He bragged before and after his election that he would pick only the best people; if he did, the majority turned rotten to the core quickly.

Trump has set a presidential record for the turnover of key personnel in the first half of his first term; no other president is even close.

The Brookings Institute catalogued all of the personnel who were fired, quit, demoted or went AWOL for Trump’s first 24 months, comparing those figures with President Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Turnover in WH staff

In the area of executive office personnel, Trump’s turnover rate approached 36 percent in his first year, 2017; his closest rival in this category was Reagan, who approached 18 percent turnover; all others were between five and 10 percent.

In Year 2, Reagan’s turnover was 40 percent, Trump’s was about 33 percent. The total turnover for any administration’s first two years was; Trump, about 70 percent; Reagan, 58 percent; Clinton and George W. Bush, about 30 percent; H. W. Bush, 25 percent; and, Obama, about 22 percent.

For example, under Trump, there have been four directors of communications, three chiefs of staffs, deputy chiefs of staff, three VP chiefs of staff, three…you get the picture, right? More than 30 percent of key White House appointments have turned over at least twice, with 12 of 13 turning over three or more times.

Turnover in Cabinet

Turnover in the Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama administration in cabinet positions in Year 1 of their administration was zero; three Trump cabinet members left the first year. In Year 2, 10 of Trump’s cabinet members left (two left this year); Clinton had seven leave in Year 2, Obama had four, and G.W. Bush had one depart. All total, 15 Trump’s cabinet members left office in 27 months; in eight years, Clinton had 12 leave his cabinet, Bush had four, and Obama had nine.

Fact of business life: With high turnover, there can be no continuity of focus or policies or programs.

As a former corporate manager, someone who teaches business classes at the college level and who used to serve as a business consultant for Business Incubator startup companies, I am adamant in the belief that high turnover in any business is an indication of one of three things or a combination of all three: Poor or erratic leadership, unfair or unequal treatment of employees, and stress.

The current White House management system, from insider reports, published articles in a variety of books, electronic media. and slick publications, is a combination of all three.

In the best of jobs, two of the three systemic negatives of any workplace is enough to create reasons to seek other employment. Couple that with President Trump’s hot/cold temperament, his penchant for making spur-of-the-moment decisions based on “gut” feelings, making major decisions via tweets (bypassing advice from key cabinet members and support staff ) creates a no-win situation for professionals at any level.

No employee, regardless of position and company, should ever be publicly ridiculed or called names or mocked by the leader of any institution, business or governmental agency. Yet this is Trump’s style of management: Please me, bend to my will, protect me, do it my way, or hit the road!

There are few people in this nation, even those among his supporters, who would withstand the verbal carnage he has heaped on those who displease him, don’t lie for him, and be inclined to be ridiculed in asinine tweets.

You treat others as you want to be treated. I learned that from the knees of my mother and grandmother; the lesson was repeated in church and at school.

Somewhere that incredibly positive and eternal lesson was lost on Donald J. Trump. And this nation and its people are paying a hefty price for that lost lesson Fact of business life: With high turnover, there can be no continuity of focus of programs.

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Circumference of Me – Chapter 6

6. Obtain, use No. 1 management tool

It’s time to do an itemized check of your professional tool belt.

Education (regular classroom or Street Smart U.)? Check.

Experience? Check (Or soon will have, or working on it).

Strong work ethic? Check.

Ability to work well with others? Check.

Ready acceptance of any task, and ability to deliver satisfactory results on time and under budget? Check (When circumstances allow).

So, what’s the problem? Why does your personal corporate vehicle seem stalled,or your fast-track career slowed down, like a tractor-trailer rig straining up a mountain highway? Are your beliefs realistic about where you are and where you should be? If you are young, eager, and impatient, probably not. If you are older, and have started questioning your abilities and blaming others for your status, another glance at the mirror will show you the problem.

Have you done everything you can do to get where you want to go in the time you wanted it to take to get there?

What do you think is the No. 1 tool that every great manager has at the ready at all times?

A great education and a high GPA? Can’t hurt, but in some cases your supervisor may have made it on a high school diploma.

Superb work ethic? Good, but that’s a given for up-and-comers.

Willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done? Okay, but see “Superb work ethic.”

Profit-oriented? A good tool to have in the belt, but it’s a Catch-22. You can’t get what you don’t have without having the wherewithal to get it. How do you get the experience you need to be profit-oriented without getting the experience?

Good communication skills? Absolutely essential, but not the main driver.

Brown-nosing without getting your proboscis dirty? Oh, shut up!

Well, what about time management?

One of the hardest things for managers to learn, and to learn to use to maximize efficiency and productivity is time management.

Let’s accept that there’s not enough time to do all the tasks assigned to you. On top of that, you get seventy to eighty e-mails a day, each requiring time and many demanding even more time. If you don’t take the time to read and answer them, then you’re a jerk, a slacker, a goldbrick, a drone waiting around for retirement, or have a colossal don’t-give-a-damn attitude. If you are a high-level manager and don’t make the time to answer e-mail queries, you are a snobbish jerque. So you lose time to e-mails.

But think: Your e-mail volume is just a percentage of what your boss gets, and his or hers is just a percentage of what the next level of management gets, and so on. If you are swamped with e-mails, that does not bode well for those higher up the corporate ladder.

Still, some great managers make it a conscientious practice to answer every single e-mail from every single employee, every dealer, and every customer or potential customer.

Aspiring managers – those who want to lead rather than perpetually follow – must quickly learn what those great managers know, whether dealing with piles of tasks or e-mails: the not-so-subtle art of time management.

Learn the two “izes”: Itemize and prioritize. Make a list of projects and tasks, prioritize them according to relative importance, and cross-index them to take into account deadlines and available resources. The items you can do quickly, or for which you can do your assigned part and pass on down the line, should be at the top of the list.

And be sure to answer those e-mails.

Here’s why: A president and CEO of a large technology company admits that answering e-mails takes a huge bite out of his workday. But he knows if he wants to be a leader, he has to make time – in a word, prioritize his acknowledgment of the concerns of others – to show people how important he thinks they are.

What could be more important to a leader?

Learn and adhere to the principles of time management in your life and work, and you will control your destiny.

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WE NEED MORE AOC’s!

By George Smith

In the wild, some dominant males kill or eat the younger members of the group – gorillas, lions and polar bears come to mind.

In the wild world of politics, the same thing can happen; just observe, it’s happening now.

Alexandria Casio-Cortez, at 29 the youngest woman ever to be elected to the House of Representatives. Without a lot of trouble or pushy personal spotlighting, she has become a lightning rod attracting stiff strikes from the Republicans and members of her own party. She has personality-plus, is charismatic in the strictest sense of the word, is intelligent in many subjects, including having social media savvy unparalleled in politics.

Known in her first three months by supporters, detractors, social media posts. headlines and TV news station screen scrawls – AOC – she has already attained the celebrity political status of JFK, LBJ, RFK and MLK. That is not necessarily a good thing; Alexandria Casio-Cortez is a mouthful, AOC can be spat put in an instant.

This New York City resident has already been on the cover of Time for her take-no-prisoners style of pushing forth her agenda, and that fact alone infuriated every Republican with a heart (which should be assumed to be most of them), not to mention her party cohorts who believe she and her “cockamamie” New Green Deal platform is sucking all the air of the party’s standard platform of jobs, health care, Social Security and accepting of immigrants.

In the basic assessment of “too much-too soon,” the AOC aginners in both parties are right.

Youth has its advantages; patience is usually not one of them. AOC has the patience of a horse fly on LSD and the temperament of a honey badger in heat.

On the International Patience-O-Meter, she falls between “None at All” and “You’ve Got to be Freakin’ Kidding Me!”

It certainly does not hurt her overall efforts to note the fact she is a striking young woman, who is as photogenic as one of the younger Kardashian/Jenners (without the snotty attitude); cameras capture her vivaciousness and spirit without much effort. She is, in the shortest time in Congressional history, a true phenomenon…a shooting political star who does not worry about process and protocol, only about setting the national and global stage for results.

Everyone knew the GOP was going to come after her with claws extended; President Trump tweet-storms about her regularly and Fox News anchors castigate her on any slow news day.

The Old Hats of her own party took immediate offense at the lack of experience and depth of her agenda and her overall push for what they thought was only personal spotlight space.

Every one of her detractors are badly misjudging AOC, what she wants and what she expects from her term in office. Of course, she is new and in learning mode. Personally, I could have preferred she learned a little bit more about the inner workings of government before starting to cut the heads off sacred cows and stomping in the blood. But that’s not her style

She is using her instant-celebrity status to try and evoke real change in various segments of society, starting with climate change. She knows her time on this political stage may be relatively short (her goal is not to die in office after 25 terms) and she is not going to just sit there quietly and wait around for leaders to take orders from the monied interests that control 90 percent of elected officials.

She is AOC:

ACTION. OPINIONATED. CLEVER
AMBITIOUS. OPTIMISTIC. COURAGE
AMAZING. ORATOR. COMMUNICATOR
ALIVE. ONWARD. CONVINCING.

Make fun of AOC at your own risk. To be honest, she doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her or her methods; she only wants positive results for the nation, the world, the future.

Of course, isn’t that what we all would like to be the focus of all of our federal officials. We can argue her method from can to can’t, but it’s hard to argue with her motives … unless you just like to argue for the sake of arguing

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Circumference of Me – Chapter 5

5. Professional you vs. personal you

Every aspiring manager should remember this simple axiom: There is life after work.

Consider three ingredients that have nothing to do with work, yet are absolutely necessary for a successful career: Family, friends, and downtime.

Family support during one’s rise in the corporate ranks is crucial to making the various transitions as smooth as possible. Work can be all-consuming, if you let it. But it cannot hug you, or listen to your thoughts, aspirations, and fears. Work cannot ruffle your hair playfully, just to let you know someone cares.

Of course, you have friends at work. If you don’t, work can become drudgery and make long days even longer. And while there’s nothing wrong with having friends who jump the boundary from work to after-work, from a psychological point of view, it is important to have friends who have nothing to do with work. Relaxing with friends from work presents two potential “uh-ohs”: 1) The subject of work will come up, and; 2) with no outside influences, ideas or observations, the flow of creative juices can be greatly inhibited.

Downtime is essential to clear, concise reasoning. Smart managers realize this small truth and make sure they take time off to re-energize. Many top-level managers make time to leave work behind on a regular basis. The ones who understand the value of time away from work always return with new ideas to create a better company. Their creativity is an offshoot of time away from the day-to-day chores that always abound in the modern company.

Your work world will survive if you are not available for a time for e-mail, phone calls or text messages. Truly, it will. Those who believe otherwise will forever be banished to Office Hell.

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Gut Decisions and Trial Balloons

By George Smith

To get inside the mind of Donald J. Trump, the 45^th president of the United States of America and make sense of the decisions he makes would take a world-class team of psychiatrists armed with a bone saw and a commercial grade MRI machine.

The president has said he goes with his “gut” in making important decisions and it’s easy to see how that is the case: He has made decisions that have made cabinet members, leaders and staff of the intelligence agencies, aides and even some followers shaking their heads in amazement.

His penchant for making a decision based the theory of the “trial balloon”, giving aides and cabinet members direct instructions on how to proceed and then reversing it after getting feedback, is the fodder of dysfunctional families and distressed companies.

Trump, for a reason known only to himself, has decided our main allies, the countries whose soldiers have fought and died in mixed regiments made up from the best soldiers from various nations, are not worth having as friendly neighbors in his view of this greerdy, take-no-prisoners world.

Alliances formed when the world was in flames and democratic and freedom-loving nations fought for the right of every nation to be free, were, by the vote of our Electoral College, were battered by the hysterical political newcomer who proclaimed himself a “stable genius”. Trump literally insulted Great Britain, France, Germany and other members of North Atlantic Treaty Organization by berating them with tales of all the United States had done for them since the mid-1940s.

Why, he surmised, are we spending all this money on maintaining military presence in Europe when the affected nations should be spending more money to protect their own turf? This nation has been “Daddy Warbucks” long enough, seemed to be the overall global message.

Each nation is required to spend two percent of its Gross National Product figure on NATO-related expenses; Trump contended, rightly or wrongly, that was not happening and the U.S. was paying far more than its share.

The point is: Having a strong U.S. military presence in Eastern and Western Europe greatly benefits this nation; it’s not simply a matter of money, but the international deterrent and security that is important. Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges recently addressed this issue, by saying he never imagined a president would kick ‘allies in the a**. When the president refers to the European Union as an enemy of the United States, that’s a gift” to Russia and China.

Trump, by his words, actions and reactions is the Demeanor in Chief. In his rally speeches, tweets and in pubic forums and interviews, he has demeaned women, people of color, countries he does not like (“s**thole countries”), U.S. territories – he said he had talked to the “president of the Virgin Islands” and accused Puerto Rico officials of unfounded charges of corruption as that island territory is still trying to recover from Hurricane Maria, which hit the island in September, 2017.

On April 1, the GOP-controlled Senate (egged on by Trump’s tweets) refused to pass additional aid for Puerto Rico without including relief for flooding and tornado damage for the Midwest. Democrats voted against a second bill providing relief for the Midwest, saying the amount of money for food relief for Puerto Rico was not sufficient.

This is government in the Age of Trump…compromises are for weaklings, each side of an issue takes no prisoners, gives no quarter and the victors get what they want and leave the spoils to the losers.

Where is the nation’s integrity, its generous heart, its moral and ethical soul, its indomitable courage when faced with adversity? We know it existed just a few short years ago; we have witnessed its power to bring nations and people together and spread the gospel of peace and prosperity around the globe; we watched as nations sought to emulate the U.S. and become a sister-beacon of light in a world of darkness.

All we need is a leader who sees the beauty that exists everywhere in this melting-pot nation and understand what made it great was inclusion, not rancor and constant bad-mouthing, bullying and constant expressions of disillusionment.

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Play Like

By George Smith

Okay, listen up, Pilgrim. Let’s play a game all readers over 45 have played as child: Play Like.

Let’s play like I’m a supporter and die-hard supporter of the promises, policies and platitudes of President Donald J. Trump. A stretch of the imagination, I assure you, but this is the game when girls could play like they were princesses and boys could play like they were armored knights attacking the heathen Visigoths.

In Play Like anything is possible.

So, Trump was not found guilty of collusion with Russia, according to the Atty. Gen. Robert Barr’s preliminary, summary report on the final report Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s report. That does not mean he did not collude; it means that no determination was made.

(Note: Forget Play Like. I was not very good at it 60 years ago and am worse at it now. There is no way I can Play Like I understand or appreciate one single thing about the Trump Administration.0

Digest that for a minute. So, if supporters of Trump presume that there was no collusion, but a serious question remains: Why did a fistful of Trump’s associates/campaign aides/WH officials lie to the FBI and in congressional committees about their contacts with Russians?

Even a devil’s advocate, if reading and research counts for anything, can come to the conclusion Trump and three of his family members have not been exonerated; the continuing investigation has simply been moved to various state-level prosecutor offices from New York to Florida. Why? Presidential pardons are not in play in state crimes.

Does anyone find the loyalty of Trump supporters in the face of his constant lies, hid chaotic management style and his inability to open-mindedly consider advice from his military and intelligence and subject-matter experts in governing this country even the least bit disconcerting?

How many people in this country find troubling his refusal to even attempt to understand the historical importance of NATO or the Paris Climate Accord and why Trump’s diminishing the necessity and effectiveness of these coalition-building organizations borders on abject stupidity and malignant neglect in respecting our allies?

Oh, his supporters say, “It’s the economy, Stupid!” I get that, but I also know the last recession hit in 2008 and the last seven years of the Obama Administration demonstrated steady economic growth (Look it up!). Trump inherited that trend and took sole credit for rising key economic indicators. What, pray tell, will he blame for the present slowing economy and rising budget deficit?

The GOP tax cuts are a classic example of how his supporters accept any program or promise and the accompanying spin he paints over the narrative explaining the reason the program fell short of expectations or failed altogether. “This tax cut is going to cost me a lot of money,” he said when on the sell-the-program trail promoting the cuts to help the middle class. When the bill passed, he shouted gleefully to the Richie Rich crowd at Mar a Lago: “I just saved you all a lot of money.”

The tax cut dramatically helped the top tier of wage earners and hurt those in every other tax bracket. Plus, the then-candidate who promised to balance the budget dumped another trillion-plus dollars on top of an already opulent deficit.

If you are a Trumpeteer until the cows come home, the fat lady sings or until you are on the other side of the grass, then, seriously, you don’t care that he has cheated small business owners who helped him built his empire; you are not fazed by the fact he brazenly claimed he can sexually abuse women because he’s famous and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in hush money to hide escapades with a porn star (while his wife was home soon after giving birth) and a Playboy model…and there are hints of may other dalliances.

It bothers you not that he had affairs with two future wives while married to two ex-wives or that, despite the fact he is a prolific liar, fraud and serial bankruptcy conman, you prefer him over any alternative.

You and the rest of his faithful followers don’t care that he cozies up to dictators and despots and will not condemn the torture and deaths of American citizens ordered by the leaders of North Korea and Saudi Arabia. And, forget the president is endorsed by white supremacist groups and took more than 18 months to utter one negative word about those addled-brained, mouth-breathers who proclaim that all whites are superior to all other races.

Simply, you don’t care…you are just peachy-keen happy he is not Hillary Clinton.

I didn’t like either choice in 2016. But the president we ended up with will be vilified as the worst leader in the history of this country.

And that is the only thing predicable about Donald Trump’s presidency.

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