By Michael Woyton
I love me a good political thriller.
I’ve been devouring the third and latest season of “The Diplomat,” the Netflix series starring Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell.
Without giving any spoilers, I just came across an episode with a line of dialog that is pertinent to our current political climate.
FREE: Subscribe to On Second Thought now:
In “The Diplomat,” a brand new British prime minister is dealing with a possibly erratic also relatively new United States president and faces a showdown which very well may have no good consequences.
In a meeting with Russell, who plays the U.S. ambassador to the Court of St. James, the British prime minister says the quiet part out loud, that she can no longer trust the U.S. to do the right thing.
The prime minister said to the ambassador, “[T]he fundamental character of your country has sufficiently changed that we have no idea what you will do next.”
And how.
Just where are we in the world because of the reckless disregard this so-called president has for anyone except himself?
president donald j. felon* kisses up to the likes of Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and other authoritarians because he sees them as strong and right, something the casino-bankrupting former Queens resident can never be.
He starts wars because of the advice of an alcoholic former television talk show co-host, incorrectly thinking that he will be seen as strong, when the truth is so much the opposite.
He sends his special envoy Steve Witkoff to Russia to lavish praise on Putin, calling him a “humanitarian” — the man who started a war of conquest with Ukraine, the results so far being between 125,000 and 150,000 dead Ukrainian soldiers and more than 15,000 dead Ukrainian civilians.
Putin the humanitarian continues to unleash deadly weapons on civilian targets in Ukraine, using money the U.S. is giving Russia — now that the president lifted sanctions against the country — in exchange for diesel fuel.
The adjudicated rapist and convicted felon even has pissed off Canada, using tariffs and taunts.
Who are our friends now? Countries like Saudi Arabia, where unable-to-get-security-clearance Jared Kushner wheels and deals for his own private fortune?
When the mayor of Mar-a-Lago is no longer in office, what will the next occupant of the Oval Office have to do to overcome the hostility built up against the U.S. around the world?
The next president will have his or her work cut out for them.
And look at what is going on here in America today, less than two weeks before the midterm elections.
The dementia-patient-in-chief, who promised all adult Americans $5,000 if the Republicans retain control of both houses of Congress, is going around the country making more promises (he will never keep, including the $5,000) and threatening to withhold help (a promise which he will keep) if the Republicans lose.
Among the promises — if the GOP wins — are the settling of claims from contaminated water at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, removing bans on summertime sales of blended ethanol in Kansas and investing $100 million in a gigantic drug manufacturing plant in Kentucky.
The Washington Post points out that the president also offered $8 billion to offset diesel costs, calling “these plans ‘goodies’ during his Kansas rally and let slip that he sees them as electoral levers he can pull to improve his political fortunes.”
By “political fortunes,” the grifter-in-chief means helping him avoid another impeachment and possibly jail time if the Democrats take over the legislative branch in January.
It should be obvious to anyone that if the president really cared about the people of North Carolina or Kansas or Kentucky — and not just wants their votes — he could come up with policies to help them.
But that is not this president’s way. He is purely blatantly transactional.
So it begs the question with today’s revelation that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has told states that they are going to start needing to deal with their own emergencies with their own money: What is the art-of-the-dealer-in-chief getting out of this?
Where is all the money that FEMA is budgeted going to end up?
In whose pockets?
According to Politico, FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton told state officials that “they must increase their financial reserves and emergency capabilities to handle most disasters on their own, without federal help.”
Hamilton said that every state must keep appropriate amounts of money “to ensure that recovery efforts can start immediately and not necessarily be held up simply because of the federal [disaster] declaration process.”
The reaction on the state and local level from those who deal with emergencies has been obvious.
Eric Holdeman, a former emergency management director in King County, Washington, said there are states with small rainy-day funds which cannot make up for a lack of federal disaster aid without having to drastically raise taxes.
The rationale for cutting direct disaster aid, Hamilton said, was to have FEMA focus on “‘reducing risk and building capacity across the nation’ so that disasters cause less damage and states are better-equipped.”
Well that’s good and vague, and also a bit out of touch coming from an administration that screwed up a renovation of a reflecting pool.
It seems that the elderly golfer is not only trying to destroy relationships with our allies — and so far succeeding — as well as destroy our nation’s ability to take care of itself.
He is all-in for himself, and we are on our own.
— — — — —
* I’m following what the wannabe king declared on social media that he will only refer to the Supreme Court in lowercase because he has a complete lack of respect for them after the illegal tariffs ruling.
Find and follow me on BlueSky through this link.
Lead art by Michael de Adder
