THE AMERICAN POSEIDON ADVENTURE

I often refer to the “shiny thing”, the object Trump dangles to distract from who he really is and what he is actually doing. It’s a familiar tactic: divert attention from the predator, the draft dodger, the serially failed businessman whose father gave him so much money that he became too rich to fail.

We all know Trump cares nothing about America’s wellbeing. His agenda has always been money and power, wealth and prestige. That is painfully clear in the Venezuelan farce. It isn’t about drugs. It isn’t about democracy. It is about oil/money.

And here’s the question no one seems eager to answer: how much did this reckless raid cost American taxpayers? Estimates exceed $500 million. If Trump and his allies succeed in regaining control of Venezuelan oil, where do you think the profits will go? Not toward offsetting the now exorbitant health insurance premiums worsened by Trump’s tax cuts. Not toward easing skyrocketing energy costs, grocery bills, or the housing shortage squeezing working families. No, those oil dollars will flow straight into the pockets of oil companies, already enriched by Trump’s generous tax breaks.

The rest of us will be left holding the bag, paying for the cost of an illegal, ludicrous adventure while we sink deeper into the rising cost of living. Meanwhile, Trump’s friends and surely Trump himself, float higher buoyed by swelling bank accounts from the oil money and the high-end tax breaks. As the saying goes, there’s a sucker born every minute.

Which brings us to Wag the Dog, the 1997 film in which a war is fabricated to distract from a presidential scandal, the ultimate “shiny thing.” Surely Trump and his inner circle have seen it. And surely it’s no coincidence that this spectacle coincides with renewed attention to the Epstein files or with the conveniently timed New Year’s Eve release of Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s congressional testimony, laying out in meticulous detail the facts behind Trump’s two federal indictments and his confidence that a jury of Americans would have convicted Trump on both felony charges.

As the Trumpers wag on, the rest of us, the voters, must ask ourselves a simple but essential questions:

 Are we this stupid? Is this who we really are?

RESIST!!! & EDUCATE!!!