Barry Hastings: Strange occurrences in the polling place

by Barry Hastings

Is it not odd the word scam should come to Trump’s mind regarding a recount of votes cast in the Wisconsin general election?

You see, scams, and big ones, are a major part of Trump’s business background, and business practices — it’s a recorded and proven fact. He’s got a lot of bucks — Big Bucks — What if he decided to buy and steal the presidency, while warning people in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, N. Carolina, and other states, to be on the lookout for voter fraud, and making a big noise about it? There have been threats in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Trump’s advice was to be expected, “It’s over, we won, go with the flow.” It reminds me of a poem I wrote at Nantucket, in the mid 1980s, and I’m going to print it for you now. I named it “Psychology,” and here it comes:

(Going with the flow is called ‘free-form / but staying within bounds is still the norm / I’ve never been much good at going in restraint / Free-spirited, I work against the tide / and if defeated, lie back. . . and enjoy the ride.) Well, what if the intelligent people of our nation decided to not just “lie back,” but to fight back?

Trump’s “Crooked Hillary,” and “Lying Hillary,” scams were the biggest, and most certainly among the worst in American political history. His numerous “Casino” scams, cheating small businessmen, their contractors, skilled and unskilled labor, are notorious. The “Trump University” scam cheated thousands out of millions, if not billions of dollars. He got off the hook on the TU scam, paying out a paltry 25 million dollars, and will most surely find a way to wriggle out of most of that.

Hillary Clinton is not, was not, guilty of anything in the Benghazi attack — the Republican run House of Representatives is behind the real criminal conspiracy in the matter. They chopped huge chunks of cash for the Department of State security budget. The Defense Department shares the guilt for having no {zero) soldiers (Marines, Special Forces) in anything like close enough a position to assist our dead Ambassador, and his undersized security detail, all dead.

The lying, murdering House Republicans were abetted by their notorious lying presidential candidate (“a lie a day keeps liberals away”), and the icing was provided by that f-ing James Comey, the new J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI and the Justice Department. A cowardly, sneaking little s – -t, if ever there was one. Comey deserves to be taken out behind the J. Edgar Hoover building and shot in the cojones, that is, if he has them, which I sincerely doubt.

Now Trump plans, and works toward, making our nation one completely run, and administered by racist boars and sows, backed by our most disgusting and deplorable elements — take a good look at the developing presidential cabinet – composed almost completely of discredited men and women of harsh racist demeanor and dislike (at best) of all people of foreign origin.

Is this what we want for America? I don’t really believe it is, and I know it isn’t the America I grew up admiring (during World War II), and serving. Get off your butts — make some NOISE! Except for our indigenous people, we were all foreigners once, including Trump, Jeff Sessions, Mike Pence, (our own sow) Betsy DeVos, Mutt Romney, General Mike Flynn, General James “Mad Dog” Mattis, Rudy Giuliani, the “porker” Chris Crisco, and so on, down the list (and the list is very long).

Trump and the GOP ran a campaign based (almost precisely) on that of Adolph Hitler (1933) that led to him being named chancellor (1934), and supremacy of the Nazi Party party through new departments of government, terror attacks by quasi-military black-shirts, brown-shirts on Jews, and political organizations unfriendly to his Nazi Party. Once strong enough, he turned on Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland; then launched war on the rest of Europe claiming at least a hundred million victims, including at least six million Jews, 21 million Russians and Slavs. (Can you hear the drums beating, and the tramp of Jack-booted feet? Can you see the Confederate battle flags waving over the White House, and Old Glory lying in the trash can?) Well, we’ve seen it before, haven’t we?

Trump has already demonstrated he lied to his supporters often during his campaign. The list is already quite long, indeed. He promised he would begin breaking up the Obamacare health plan on “day one.” Now he says he’s going to keep major parts of the plan in operation.

He promised his “deplorables” he’d “drain the swamp,” getting rid of Washington ‘careerists’ and lobbyists.” Now those very people are everywhere you look among his transition team. His excuse is, “It’s unavoidable, because these are the only folks who know how Washington works.” His cover, a five-year ban on lobbying for those serving his government. Bad smell.

Trump told an interviewer on CBS TV’s Sixty Minutes he’ll be content to build a fence along the Mexican border, rather than a wall (I wonder if Mexico will pay the lesser cost, and doubt it).

He told supporters he’d deport 11 million Mexicans as fast as he could find them. Now, it’s two million to three million of the worst of them, the same numbers Obama has deported for the same reasons.

He’s greatly modified his plans to ban Muslim immigration.

Though The Donald said he’d never back an “Infrastructure bank,” his spokesmen say he’s now looking into establishing such a bank.

His actions so far on trade deficits are pushing up interest rates, but a fairly rapid growth in our economy, is looking like higher trade deficits, higher consumer prices, higher taxes, and fewer jobs. What a guy – like in the campaign, it’s “a lie a day.”

I can see a situation coming where the fool may be impeached by his own party, and have to be saved from conviction by Democrats, to save the nation from falling into the hands of the religious crackpot Mike Pence. It wouldn’t surprise me at all, because I believe I can say with some confidence he’s disappointing the “angry young white males” more with every move he makes, and nearly every word he speaks. He’s an ignorant man — but no where near as ignorant as most people who voted for him.

My guess is Mike Pence is secretly hoping someone will shoot the blasphemous SOB. If it happens, it will likely be done by some other religious nut with a big gun collection, a huge belly hanging over his belt from eating too much fried Chitlins and pork rinds, chased by a huge bottle of Dr. Pepper. His head will likely be stuffed (ear to ear) with an over-boiled gob of sticky grits, substituting for grey matter. What’ll ya bet?

Bye the bye, U of M’s problem on the gridiron against Ohio State wasn’t so much the referees, but that, for the most part, they played “crappy ball in the Red Zone.” (Maybe they ought to hire P.J. Fleck.) Harbaugh’s an overpaid crybaby, and ever has an excuse (or excuses) ready for the post-game interview. The fans can see the playing field, and are quite capable of making any necessary excuses.