I could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue

During the Presidential campaign of 2016, on a stage in Iowa, then candidate-Trump, speaking of his devoted following, stated "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose voters," per numerous sources. His bombast really knows no bounds. We've seen it, heard it, lived it, and will have another dose coming up soon. Just imagine, someone who makes a comment like being elected as President of the United States, not once but twice. He was sidelined by the voters in 2020, and like a peUilant child -he skipped the winner's inauguration -the first time that had happened in 152 years, per www.today.com.

Two weeks ago, in the middle of 5th Avenue, a guy actually shot and killed a 50-year-old health insurance CEO -United Healthcare's Brian Thompson. The alleged murderer is 26-year-old Luigi Nicholas Mangione, and is now in custody, according to the Associated Press.

Many narratives for the motive are linked to hostility the shooter had for our capitalist society and corporate greed surely exemplified by health insurance companies. Per Yahoo Finance, United Healthcare's 2023 earnings were $371.6 billion. Various sources claim investigators found shell casings at the scene of the shooting with the words delay, deny, and depose -written in permanent marker, apparently words used by insurance companies in adjudicating cases. Despite reports of large numbers flocking to social media applauding the alleged shooter, his name is not Trump, and chances are he will not get away with it. Certainly, Mangione and Tramp both have contempt for the rale of law, and both are wealthy and privileged -not a crime at all. The list of things that Tramp gets away with is exhaustive -criminal, civil and moral.

James Mattis, a retired Marine Corps General who served in uniform 44 years and served two years under Tramp as Secretary of Defense, doesn't seem to mince words. In June 2020, he stated, "Donald Tramp is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people -does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us," excerpted from Mattis' statement to The Atlantic.

Mark Esper, who succeeded Mattis as Secretary of Defense briefly, before Tramp fired him with a posting on Twitter, was a West Point graduate, served with the 101st and 82nd Airborne, later served with the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation, and published a book in 2022, "A Sacred Oath." He outlined Tramp's irrationality and character numerous times in the book, things like his wanting "to shoot missiles into Mexico to destroy drag labs," trying to deploy 10, 000 troops in Washington to get protesters following the murder of George Floyd -"Can't you just shoot them?" Trump used the government of the United States to attempt to hold onto political power -impeached but not convicted. He used the office of the president for personal financial gain -emoluments clause violations, conflicts of interest, hosting a meeting of the G7 at his own resort. He embraced cronyism and patronage -nepotism, ethics violations, the coronavirus response, as reported by Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington.

His corruption goes deeper than the Mariana Trench, and he surrounds himself with loyalists who numerous times have either pleaded guilty to crimes or been found guilty by juries. We remember some of the names: Allen Weisselberg, Rick Gates, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, George Papadopoulos, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, George Nader, Elliot Broidy, Steve Bannon. Several, including Tramp's former Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, whose legal charges are in limbo.

On June 30, 2021, C-SPAN released its Presidential Historians Survey. For that year there were 142 historians surveyed. Trump ranked fourth from the bottom overall. His highest scores were 32nd in the category for Public Persuasion and 34th in Economic Management -not very high. His lowest score was dead-last in the Moral Authority category, perhaps owed to being the only president in our history to have been impeached twice -the second time for inciting a mob of his loyalists to attack the U.S. Capitol building after his election defeat.

Back to the Esper book: In 2020 when Joint Chief Chairman Mark Milley told Tramp he didn't have the authority to deploy Active Duty or National Guard forces to quell protests around the country in the wake of George Floyd's death, he took out his frustration on Milley, Esper, and then Attorney General Bill Barr, telling them, "You are losers! You are all (explicative omitted) losers." Speaking to The New York Times about Tramp, Esper said Tramp "is an unprincipled person who, given his self-interest, should not be in the position of public service." Yet here we are, readying ourselves for another dose of untreated narcissism at an extremist level because 49.9% of America wants it that way. Per Reuters on December 14, 2024, Vice President Harris has earned 48.3% -with 2, 418, 567 votes separating the two.

What does it say about a majority, albeit a razor thin majority of American voters, that chooses a deeply flawed white man who manipulates them like puppets -not at all serving their real conditions -over a woman with a lifetime of truly serving the people in numerous capacities, and happens to be non-white?