2016 Nov 11^th

Cal Thomas. formerly a vice  president of the Moral Majority, has never given up hope of turning America into a Christian  theocracy. Now he seems to believe that Trump’s victory will help his cause. Trump’s instructions to his fans about protesters, “Smash them in the face,” a not entirely Christian position, his suggestion that he needs no forgiveness because if he makes a mistake he corrects it himself, is all forgotten by Thomas now that Trump has won the Presidency.

Cal Thomas’ opening sentence in his column today leads one to believe that his grip on reality is as tenuous as Donald Trump’s. He writes, “Donald Trump’s impressive victory in Tuesday’s election offers him a rare opportunity to change the narrative.” Really Cal? This “impressive victory” found the majority of Americans voting against Donald J. Trump and the vast majority of Americans, when asked, asserted that they believed him unfit to be president…but some of them voted for him anyway. Trump lost the popular election by very nearly 400 thousand votes. Clinton was successfully demonized and that, presumably, offset the clear evidence the Trump was Putin’s puppet. Go figure!

Thomas tells us that, “…Trump also had coattails allowing Republicans to maintain control of both houses of congress.” That’s true but those were very short coattails because the Republican majorities in both houses of congress are now less, not more, than they were before the election.

A Democrat defeated the governor of North Carolina, famous for insisting that users of rest rooms select the facility appropriate for their birth certificate listed gender. I guess there will be no cops outside rest rooms checking users’ birth certificates in North Carolina.

Thomas claims that in 2008 Democrats, “…rammed through legislation that reflected their worldview.” Therefore, Republicans should now do the same. To put it in politically correct terms, that is false to fact. The Republican congressional minority, which did not last for the length of the President’s term in office, used every parliamentary trick they could find to obstruct and delay every progressive measure the President attempted. Guess what the Democrats will do now.

Moving on from Cal Thomas, we find that Trump has appointed his children to manage his businesses, which he says will be in a blind trust. We know that his children will not say one word to him about these business interests for the next four years.

The Trump transition team has transitioned from the leadership of Governor Christie to Governor Pence. Something will be found for Christie to do, whether or not he’ll agree to do it is another matter.

Then there are dueling opinions about a Chief of Staff; this is the premier consiglieri and presidential trouble-shooter. This is a “biggy” because it appears to be between Reince Prebus and Steve Bannon. Priebus represents a move toward a normalized relationship with people with whom Trump will have to work. Priebus knows all of the Republican bigwigs and little wigs. He is the choice of Trump’s inner circle.

Bannon is entirely different; he is said to be Trump’s preferred candidate and he is cozy with the alt-right. With Bannon’s selection we might wind up with David Duke as Secretary of State.