2017 Feb 23^rd

There has been talk about a rift between two senior capos, Bannon and Priebus, overseeing the Trump transition. Not true says, “See no evil,” Sean Spicer, and Trump himself says his team functions like a “well-tuned machine.” Of course no one believes Trump and for good reason; so the Trump team must spring into action to counter this terrible main-stream media, left wing, alt-fact that Bannon and Priebus are contesting for dominance.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Team Trump decided to have Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus share the stage and be interviewed by a very friendly conservative. I watched some of the result; it was magic. The principals sat about arm’s length from each other and were asked questions about their boss; each answered in turn. They claimed that President Trump was focused “like a laser” on his agenda, making America safe and creating jobs, and that he was doing this 24/7.

Neither of them was asked about Trump’s Melbourne, Florida, rally nor about his golf game. Neither of these men said a word to, or acknowledged the presence of, the other at any time while I watched (though they did later). There is a time in the development of young children when they play together but each ignores the presence of the other; they simply do not interact. This is called parallel play. Priebus and Bannon might be a tad beyond the age when parallel play is expected but that was at least part of today’s performance. They insisted that there had never been any rift and blamed the mainstream media for falsely reporting it.

There has been a considerable eruption of angry protests at many town halls hosted by Republican legislators. In some cases the protesters simply arrive at the politician’s office and let fly. It isn’t only politician’s offices either. Look at the demonstration at the airports after Trump’s rollout of his ill-fated edict banning Muslims. Now the same guy, Steve Miller, who was responsible for the original debacle has announced that he has produced another effort but this time the immigration ban is just like the one that the courts shot down except for a few minor tweaks. This wonderful document is supposed to appear early next week.

We have been told by Sean Spicer that these protests are organized by people paid to do this sort of thing; that is shocking I tell you, simply shocking! How were those huge rallies pulled off by Trump?  Does anyone believe there were just willing volunteers who arranged for crowd control and all the other things that needed attention? We know that there were some professional actors hired to cheer Trump as he ascended the golden escalator at Trump Tower when he announced his candidacy. He tried to hush that up but he couldn’t.

I know the march on Washington shortly after Trump’s inaugural ceremony was largely organic because many of my wife’s friends were in it. If there were any paid organizers or paid participants, they were well hidden. There was a 3,000 person march here in Traverse City, Michigan, in which my wife participated. She knew many of the participants; they weren’t paid either.

If Trump has any problems of whatever variety we know there are one of two possible caused: The most likely villains are the main stream media followed ever so closely by the “unelected judges” in various courts. Any bets on how long he will last?