by Barry Hastings

That’s Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini and Adolph Hitler, who all began their dictatorial and murderous regimes by undermining, then destroying the free press in their respective nations, Russia, Italy, and Germany.

The Trump Administration is treading the same path. It began, over there, and here, with a continuing barrage of lies, misinformation, disinformation and spin, creating mistrust, and eventually distrust. “Making America Great again,” indeed. How great again we must appear to our old friends, allies of the democratic nations, and others seeking freedom, the rule of law, and the cooperation required to meet the aggression and subversion of Putin’s Russia, and other tyrants.

Late last month one of the Trump Administration’s top Nazis, Steve Bannon (rhymes with loose cannon) or Reince Priebus, contacted the FBI and asked them to hold down reports of Trump, others of his Klan, and their long-term contacts (about who knows what) with Russian intelligence officers, and of Trump’s love affair with big Vlad, himself. Friday evening, the FBI notified der Fuhrer, “It ain’t gonna happen!”

What a sorry bunch you right wing asses have saddled our deteriorating democracy with! Trump has yet to publicly respond to hostile Russian acts against U.S. aircraft and naval vessels, or the Russian spy ship slowly cruising our East coast.

The worst part is, according to the actual vote count, you’re a minority by something like three million votes, and by what I’m seeing in the streets, it seems a lot of you have already changed your minds. I have serious doubts as to whether Americans will put up with you, Trump, or your damned storm troopers for four years, let alone eight. Those votes still bug the hell out of him We all know these attacks on Jewish centers and cemeteries are done by those who support him. He puts on a grave face, mutters some insincere words, winks at his supporters, moves on to kissing Putin’s butt (again).

I don’t believe America has ever before produced such a brazen and prolific liar, nor one with such dark purpose. Maybe Nathan Bedford Forrest, Confederate Brigadier, personal murderer of captive black Union soldiers, first leader of the KKK, and like most Trumpers, the very next thing to just plain ignorant. Why the federal government never hanged this SOB, and other Confederate war criminals of the same ilk, is more than I’ll ever understand. (It would have saved us many problems over too many years.)

Trump’s ad hoc press conference against the press was hastily (one hour) organized. He blustered, he told questioners to, “Sit down,” and what questions he answered were all braggadocio, false accusations against the questioners, or the news outlets they represent. He repeated his claim to be running a, “smooth, well-oiled” operation (which fooled no one who knows what a “smooth, well- oiled,” operation looks like).

“Methinks he doth protest too much.” (For the illiterate, or nearly so, that’s Shakespeare speak.)

Meanwhile, many U.S. Senators (both sides of the aisle) are still clamoring for an investigation into the twice-disgraced General Mike Flynn (who’ll never command again), and his long-running contacts with Russian diplomats and intel types.

Then he told Boeing workers, “Dreamliner” was an apt name for the new 787 aircraft, because America is, “all about making dreams come true.” If he really believes that, why does he want to saddle the nation with a whole series of repugnant, dangerous nightmares — the kind that cause you to fall out of bed breaking an arm, a leg, or your neck?

Meanwhile, the rift between Trump and our intelligence agencies is widening daily. Several sterling military men turned him down flat for the top job at the NSC. Nobody really wants to run that operation, stuffed as it is with a bunch of neo-Nazi nut jobs, like Steve Bannon, having more influence than better men who’ve made successful careers in the military and intel services. If each of them would tender their resignation as of a date certain, unless Bannon and the other “know-nothing-about-the-business” nit-wits are removed, it might stir the public to take closer notice. You can bet the slob Bannon ain’t gonna fight World War III. He got rich as an investment banker, before becoming a neo-Nazi propagandist.

Trump’s administration is all about (and I quote them precisely) “alternate facts.” Those alternate facts, far more often than not, are falsehoods, self-contradictory sentences, paragraphs and public statements. And I thought Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld were glib liars. Well, they had nothing on the Donald, and I can’t be convinced otherwise.

Tweeting boy starts each day with at least a lie, but never really seems sincere. Yet he must hope to seem so. But so far, I’ve only seen him sincere about money, his desire to crush the good things in America, and having power over everyone he comes in contact with. Emotionally, he’s a 10-year-old spoiled brat. He inspires me to re-think the idea of corporal punishment. The cause of the chaos so often mentioned in regard to the Trump Executive Office, is the chaos in the mind of its occupant. He’s a brazen liar, not a good one. Only his “deplorables” believe a word he says. The whole popular vote minority of them.

Think about the difference if Hillary held the office. Not a single general (outside of Flynn) would have refused the call to serve as her National Security adviser, and he’d never have been asked to do so. There would have been a reasoned plan for removing illegal immigrants. Our old allies would not be confused about where we stand on defense, trade, a litany of other pressing issues. She wouldn’t be kissing Putin’s butt, and the first time he hassled our aircraft or navy ships, he’d have had a rude wake-up call, had he dared do it in the first place. Putin doesn’t like Clinton, because he knows she abhors everything he stands for, and isn’t afraid to look him in the face, and say, “No way, Buster!”

Moving on, but not off, the subject

Looking at the opinion page of the Kalamazoo Gazette for the edition of Sunday, Feb. 19, I was pleasantly surprised to find four top-notch opinion pieces, two from the Bloomberg View on chaos in the White House, and how Trump lost his first confrontation with Chia giving them a diplomatic victory. A third, by George Will from the Washington Post Writers Group on trade, and the possibility of trade war, and finally, a Post analysis of where Mike Flynn (and likely others in Trump’s chaotic White House) on where the National Security Council goes from the fiasco Trump and Flynn created there.

Shooting from the hip is a common failure of politicians. But never before has a new president shot himself in the foot before clearing the holster, like Trump too often has. He’ll almost certainly do so again, if someone doesn’t close his Twitter account, and convince him of the need for thought before action when conducting international relations, and tending to international affairs. Government matters of world powers is not a “by the way,” or “off the cuff” matter. Let’s hope his Tweets and spoken words don’t get us into a shooting match before he wises up.

In the lead Paragraph of Albert Hunt’s article for Bloomberg’s piece titled “White House shakeup won’t solve president’s problem,” the writer invokes the Pogo character of the late Walt Kelly, and quotes his famous line, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Noting that Trump my be considering a shakeup in his staff, Hunt correctly observes, “Pogo could teach him (Trump) something important he seems determined to ignore: The problem is him.”