I can remember when Trump first came on the scene.  Most people regarded his relatively quick successes in the high stakes real estate world merely as flukes or at best a by product of the prior successes and status of his father, claiming that had it not been for Mr. Trump, Sr., junior would have gotten nowhere in a big hurry.  Perhaps.

Fast forward a few decades and Donald Trump, amid all of his many successes and failures, did earn for himself the negative sobriquet, “The Donald”, mostly I suspect out of plain simple jealousy and envy.

Many people today do not like him, can’t stand him and even royally despise him because he is, as they say, a know-it-all, obnoxious and arrogant, ignorant, supercilious self serving SOB opportunist who is successful, whether you like it or not, as well as his being rich.  And  that’s more than enough to dislike anyone, right?

So how in the world did he ever become POTUS?  Whether by the popular vote or the electoral vote he did win the election according to the Constitution of the United States of America.  For those of you who don’t like what the Constitution says, you can always amend it in accordance with the law.

And he achieved this win not only by standing up to the Democrats but also his own party because he was considered then and still is today, an outsider – especially by the ‘old guard’.  And how did he manage to get all of those electoral votes?  Because a large part of our population, excluding California and New York, did not like the direction in which the country was heading and they did not feel that all of the ingrained and inbred professional politicians, of either party, namely the ‘swamp’, were up to the task.  Period.

When he won it came as a shock to a lot of people.  The losers then wasted no time by quickly branding him as an anti-semitic Nazi lover, being only for the rich at the expense of the poor, a war monger, as well as a despiser of all females and a hater of blacks and hispanics and that he won the election only because of his collusion with the Russians.  Duh.  These ridiculous criticisms directed at him don’t even merit a response.  And unless the Russians were somehow able to subvert all of our electronic voting apparatus can you or someone, please reveal to me how they were able to swing the election.  It is a fact that sore losers NEVER admit to the real reasons why they lost.

Now let’s get back to the New York Times article which is the subject of todays essay.

The NYT, by way of one of its op-ed contributors is accusing Trump of trying to break up the Atlantic alliance.  The truth of the matter is that he is trying to shake it up.  Originally intended to be bulwarks against the former Communist monolith, namely the USSR, NATO and the Atlantic alliance have since outlived their necessity and usefulness, especially when you consider that the bulk of the costs were paid for by the US.  If anyone should be aware of this, it is certainly the NYT.

Going forward, because it is still respected by many, the NYT should fact check the statements of its op-ed contributors rather then print them as though they are gospel or at least have a caveat that the statements therein do not represent the opinion or position of the NYT.

With careful wording it was also implied that Trump was not present at the G-7 meeting in Quebec when in fact it was shown on all of the TV stations that he was there.

The same op-ed writer also claimed that Trump had no business to impose any new tariffs other than simply to cause trouble.  That writer should first check his facts and if he did he would know that the US puts up with tariffs of almost 300% from Canada for its dairy products.  Forget about China.  They have been getting a free ride for years because no previous administration had the courage to stand up to them.  Trump has stated that we all may be better off if there were no tariffs at all.  And that is what is known as a truly free market.

The same writer points out the LIES of Trump as they relate to: Obama’s birthplace, his own position on the Iraq war, the crowd at his inauguration, voter fraud, the murder rate, Mexican immigrants, the Russian investigation, Stormy’s hush money and SEVERAL HUNDRED other lies.  Taking these items one at a time:

Obama’s birthplace.  Trump may have screwed up here but based on what I have read, I believe the jury is still out on this one.  Trump on the Iraq war.  His position has always been that this was a stupid mistake which many agree with after all the dust has settled.  His inauguration crowd.  We all have egos, some bigger than others.  Voter fraud.  It’s already been proven, although not nearly at a level so as to sway an election, it definitely did occur with the Democrats.  Murder rates.   Just check the FBI stats.  Mexican immigrants.  They all should be permitted to immigrate to the US, legally, the way my parents and grand parents had to.  The Russia investigation.  Based on his results or rather lack of them, most people feel that they are getting a massive hand job by Mueller.  Stormy’s hush money.  Who really gives a shit what Stormy or her pimp lawyer have to say on the subject any more than when Bill Clinton was getting a blow job in the Oval Office.  SEVERAL HUNDRED other lies.  Even the NYT had enough common sense to stop here.

He also criticized Trump for praising Kim Jong-Un and Putin, his handling of the Crimean annexation by Russia, his suggestion that Russia be re-admitted to the G-7 and that he should be be more like Macron and particularly Merkel.  And lastly he made it a point to stress McCain over Trump.

As to these last critiques, what was Trump supposed to say before meeting with either of these leaders, that they are no good rotten miserable SOB’s?  I don’t think that would be an acceptable way of beginning any kind of negotiations.  You first put your opponents at ease.  You think?

The Crimean annexation is a foregone conclusion as evidenced by one of Obama’s famous red-line-in-the-sand quotes.  Since Crimea had been part of Russia since time immemorial did he really expect Trump to go to the wall on that one, especially since the Crimeans never really objected.

Yes, he suggested that Russia be re-admitted to the G7 or will it now be G-8.  It’s a big country and you can’t ignore it.

And what about France and Germany or Macron and Merkel being part of the Atlantic alliance and that they are doing the right thing.  Had it not been for France during our own Revolutionary War we might still be a colony of GB or the UK.  But that was then and this is now.  I will not comment on the position of France during WWII. Following Germany’s defeat in WWII, we did try to remake them in our own image but that was then and this is now.  Yet both of these countries are now in the shit hole because of their proven disastrous immigration policies, therefore they and those who speak for them should not be casting any aspersions on the US.

Regarding any ill feelings between Trump and John McCain, it is truly unfortunate.  Not because McCain is dying but because he served his country and because he had to put up with seven years as a guest of the Hanoi Hilton.  Notwithstanding the above, had it not been for the family members of McCain in that his father and grandfather were naval officers before him he most likely would have been discharged from the Navy because of reckless behavior that resulted in the crash of a Navy jet, an offense which would have ended the career of almost anyone else.  As to the rumors that he perhaps cooperated with the Vietnamese more than he should have, the jury is still out on that one.

All of this reminds me of when I first started to write these essays, articles or blogs as they are now referred to.  At that time I stated, “It’s Time to Stop The Bullshit”, and it still hasn’t stopped.  It’s as though a large segment of our population is engaged in this gigantic game of “Telephone”, wherein they simply repeat to one another a series of unfounded statements ad infinitum because someone else did it and now they think that it is the thing to do.

Right now I’m going out to buy a new pair of wading boots, those that go all the way up to my crotch.  And I do need a bigger shovel.