We are not so not OK (Fourth of July, 2024)

I love the Fourth of July. I really do. Or I used to. 

Cookouts. Fireworks. Pops music. Uncle Sam. Red, white, and blue. Yay! BIG YAY!

But the holiday is no longer haunted by the pleasantly ghostly specter of righteous, tough-but-benevolent Uncle Sam. It's haunted - as it has been for nearly a decade now - by the ghastly presence of Donald Trump. 

What a depraved, malign, fowl, ignorant individual. The thought of him being elected again is unthinkable. And yet here we are. 

And WE ARE NOT OK.

We'll all be spending the next x months watching him trash our country and its institutions. Trash anyone he doesn't like, or has the audacity to say they don't like him. Lie like there's no tomorrow - which, come to think of it, there may well not be. Spew gibberish, physically and mentally deteriorating before our very eyes - a deterioration seemingly beneath the notice of the press that's too focused on Joe Biden's gingerly shuffling along in the orthopedic sneakers he wears to help with his peripheral neuropathy. (Note to readers: I, too, wear orthopedic, orthotically-enhanced sneakers to help me cope with my peripheral neuropathy.)

This post was written before the debate debacle. I hope Joe decides quickly whether he's in or out. If he stays in, he should have a full medical and neurological workup by a panel of neutral physicians and release the results. If what's ailing him is standard geezer slowdown and/or sleep apnea, fine. We'll get through it. If it's early stage dementia, thank you for your service, President Biden.

But if it's just standard geezer, then he needs to hit the road, give interviews, hold press conferences, demonstrate that he's okay.

The press should demand the same - full physical and neuro -  from the other guy, and one of the physicians can't be Ronnie Jackson. How about forgetting about Stormy Daniels - she's had her moment, and I'm grateful for it - and take a look at the newly surfaced allegations regarding Trump/Epstein. And while the press is at it, how about a bit more scrutiny given to Trump's utterances - the lies, the threats, the plans that others have for his adminstration (given that all he will be giving a shit about is revenge), the overall unhingedness...

This post was also written before SCOTUS ruled that judges should make decide on regulations, not experts who might, say, know something about science or whatever the domain in question is. And before SCOTUS ruled that having an overzealous prosecutor is more likely and more dangerous than the potential that a rotten-to-the-core, unbridled, sociopathic POS president will do whatever the fuck he wants, call it official, and have immunity, impunity.  

My bottom line is this: If DJT wins this November, we're screwed. Project 2025, anyone? How about throwing everyone DJT hates (Liz Cheney, Joe Biden, Mark Milley, the Clintons...) into prison and put them in front of military tribunals.

If he's defeated, we're screwed, as he's likely to whistle up his goon squaddies to wreak some ego-satisfying havoc for him. 

Heads, Trump wins. Tails, we lose. 

Lisa Whittington (@LiLiWhittWhitt on Twitter) is an artist and this is one of her works:

The upside-down-flag is used to indicate that someone is in distress. The right wing has hijacked use of this flag (among others - they're oh so good at hijacking flags), but it's time to take it back. We are in distress.

This Fourth of July, we are not OK.

Sure, I'll do something patriotic of other. Read the Declaration of Independence. Dig out that powder blue cap with the discreet flag that's around here somewhere. Watch me some concert. Watch me some fireworks out the window. 

Hard to wish anyone a Glorious Fourth when we are so not OK.