America Has PTSD

I had this dream the other night, which began normally enough I suppose.  I was in a nightclub sitting at a table, waiting for George Carlin to come onstage for a show.  I saw him once in Seattle, so again, normal enough.

With a few minutes to go I was joined by my late friend Mike who was also an avid Carlin fan.  We sure saw a lot of Grateful Dead shows together, so everything still felt pretty normal.  He grinned that big toothy grin of his, saying "It figures I'd find you here."

We had just finished ordering drinks when we are joined unexpectedly by another late friend, Daniel, who remarked about how good I was looking.  You could say I was starting to see a pattern emerging when a third recently departed friend; Victor grabbed the remaining chair. He looks at me with those smiling eyes of his and says, "I wasn't sure you'd make it for the show..." and with that the curtain goes up, the footlights come on and George Carlin saunters onto a stage made to look like a courtroom for his one night only performance of "The Case Against Trump."

As much as I would dearly love to see that performance, I'm not so eager to fulfill the prerequisite for attendance, so I can only hope there is Netflix in the hereafter.  Of course when I woke up, Carlin's wit and wisdom were not among the memories of the dream, just seeing my friends again was enough as I was able to tell them all how good it was to see them again.  The dream was a kindness from my subconscious, a kind of reprieve from the increasing restlessness and chaos now surging across the country.

In a recent post I wrote about the condition known as PTSD: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and how it isn't just for combat veterans anymore.  Survivors of the California wildfires and Las Vegas sniper have it, as do survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and those who survive childhood horrors.  Basically any experienced traumatic event can leave behind a list of symptoms not to be envied.  Survivors of trauma also very often acquire a type of PTSD called survivor guilt.  We recently saw a great deal of this kind after the wildfires; where entire neighborhoods burned, but only on one side of a street...leaving some homes undamaged with neighbors reduced to ash.  Many who survived the fires whole and intact are now dealing with the unjustified and illogical guilt over having survived.  The same applies to survivors of the Las Vegas sniper who lived while those right next to them were cut down, there's a ton of survivor guilt there as well, and the list goes on and on.

The symptoms can vary depending on the person and the endured trauma; basically the longer the trauma continued, the more severe the symptoms of PTSD will be.  Those affected will have strong aversions to sudden loud noises, and large crowds of people.  They become hyper-vigilant and hyper-alert; needing to know the exact source of unknown sounds or noises.  There are invariably sleep disorders and full scale nightmares.  Any sound, smell, or grouping of specific words can trigger the symptoms.  It becomes all about the fear of the unknown.  The fear of what will happen next.

America has PTSD, President Trump Stress Disorder and it gets worse every day he remains in power.  The explanations offered to 'explain' Trump's erratic and troubling words, tweets & behavior are actually put forth for another, darker reason: to conceal his dessert tray of mental disorders.  Every day that passes brings us all closer to the inevitable showdown resulting in Trumps impeachment, or removal under the auspices of the 25th amendment.

Duty to Warn

Beneath the 24-7 Trump news cycle of absurdity there exists the fact that Donald Trump has a rather nasty collection of mental disorders; which accredited psychologists around the country are now openly discussing in public for those who have eyes to read and ears to hear, that is if you aren't inside a 'news bubble' of your own design. 

Psychologist Dr. John Gartner is the founder for a governmental watchdog group called Duty to Warn whose objective is to get Trump removed from power in accordance with the 25th amendment to the US constitution; which lays out the groundwork and pre-requisites for removing a president who is proven to be mentally incapable of performing the job of our president.

Trump favors Twitter for communications because with his mental disorders; complete, understandable sentences are not required.  Just an impulse.  Twitter also appeals to his hyperplasic ego which cannot seem to ever get enough praise: even if it has to come from him.  Perhaps this is why he gets a daily briefing of positive press stories & video about him from his staff, to placate him.  This is what Senator Bob Corker meant last week when he said. "The white house has been relegated to being an adult day care center."

Do you remember listening to President Obama delivering a speech?  I recall how he frequently would pause briefly in mid-sentence: I like a president who considers the impact his words may have, before he speaks them.  Not Trump.  With him we just get the unfiltered gibberish as it passes through his brain.

Trump has proven repeatedly that he has no regard whatsoever for the feelings of others, like when he referred to slain soldier Sgt. La David Johnson as "Your guy" during a condolence call to his grieving widow.  Any sane, decent man would admit his errors and apologize.  Not Trump; he not only denies ever saying that, he then engaged in a twitter feud with the widow, and congresswoman Frederick Wilson who heard the call in question. 

How convenient is it that the white house now says there is no transcript or recording of that condolence call?  Trump has a long established record of denying facts which are there for all to see and hear, starting with his inauguration crowd size.  He has also proven himself to be a pathological liar in almost every single thing he says.

Trump takes credit for things that were a done deal before he ever ran for office, like keeping jobs at a car plant, and releasing the classified files on the JFK assassination.  Trump blatantly claims the glory for things he never touched or had anything to do with; like last week when he claimed ISIS was surrendering because he is president! Theater of the absurd.  When faced, and challenged with the true facts in such cases, Trump doubles down on his own stupidity, insists he is right, then viciously attacks.  His behavior is childish in basic nature, and is only being tolerated because Putin bought our election last year. 

Sugar, Coffee, Tobacco & Bananas

A full month after Puerto Rico was totally wiped off the map by hurricane Maria on September 20th*, and Trump still won't sign the waiver allowing non-military ships to deliver goods to the island, which exponentially increases the amount of life-giving aid already rotting away in warehouses waiting for someone somewhere to give a fuck.  Meanwhile, the repair contract for $300 million dollars to restore all electric services to the entire island was awarded to a Montana company named Whitefish Energy; a company with just two (2) employees.  Smells like rotten bananas to me.

There is a reason why Trump and his republican businessmen henchmen are doing nothing about the disaster in Puerto Rico and it can be found by even the most casual glance thru the pages of history.  Puerto Rico was the last Spanish outpost for their colonization of the Americas, that is until in 1898 when the Americans invaded the island during the Spanish-American war, and just kept it. American businessmen saw the perfect climate for agriculture with a self replicating workforce of the poverty stricken; and wasted very little time in dividing the island up amongst themselves. 

 In 1917 all island residents became United States citizens upon passing of The Jones Act, which also ironically forbade any non-us government ships from delivering food and goods to the island.  This bill is why Trump claims he cannot save the island.  All he has to do is sign a temporary waiver for disaster relief.  He loves those photo ops of him signing new executive orders; but not this time.  He'll have none of that!  He has repeatedly refused to sign a waiver.  It's almost like he derives some perverse pleasure in knowing he is keeping life saving aid from that devastated island.

By 1930 industry and commerce had dropped and the island became less and less profitable for U.S. businesses.  Then on Sept 27th* 1932 Puerto Rico was devastated by hurricane San Ciprein; killing over 300 and causing 900 million in damage in todays dollars. * (2 Category 5 Hurricanes 85 years apart to the week.)  The American government ended up shelling out a small fortune to rebuild after the hurricane, a debt they passed on to the government and citizens of the US commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a debt they can never repay, by design and intent. 

Puerto Rico became our very own Banana Republic, and home to thousands of ex-pat American citizens as well.  We still don't have an accurate death toll from Puerto Rico, or even a date for when those supplies are to be delivered.  Now that history has repeated itself, Trump & associates don't want it to repeat again, so they're taking a pass on the rebuilding this time.  Eventually it will be bulldozed over and become something else once the land is bought at prices rivaling outright theft. 

How do we go about treating a nation with President Trump Stress Disorder?  What can be done about lessening its effects?  A good start might be a group of politicians showing enough spine to confront emperor Trump the first.  Remove now, replace later. 

The trouble is we are in a race against time.  With unwanted legal action pending on everything including Russian collusion; the chances increase for Trump doing something horrific to divert world attention from his legal future.  Why should he worry about the effect of his inflammatory remarks when he has a nuke proof bomb shelter to ride it out in?

When you corner someone with PTSD, or inundate them with more chaos than they can process, they often fight back by lashing out, sometimes violently.  Sometimes they just have a total emotional breakdown and go a bit berserk.  As more and more American citizens succumb to the symptoms of having PTSD, the more we may see such random acts of violence.  Was it President Trump Stress Disorder that sent the Las Vegas sniper over the edge.  How about the Florida man police caught with an arsenal similar to the Vegas sniper's collection?  Or the Florida serial killer terrorizing Tampa. Do they also have President Trump Stress Disorder, and what is it about Florida??

"I rise to say...ENOUGH!"

There is no doubt about it, America has President Trump Stress Disorder, and to see it you have to look no further than the US senate.  On Tuesday Arizona Senator Jeff Flake took the floor to speak to the Senate about Trump.  He said "I rise to say...ENOUGH..."  Calling Trump "Undignified, reckless and outrageous.  The republican senator announced he would not seek re-election; citing among other things Trump's "personal attacks, threats against our principals, freedoms and institutions.  He emphasized "Trump's flagrant disregard for the truth," and even the most basic decency. Flake went on about "The reckless provocations, most often for the pettiest and most personal of reasons.  To his peers, Flake added a warning, that "their silence would equal complicity."  [full video below]

"People like to say that the conflict is between good and evil

when the real conflict is between truth and lies."

                                                            ~ Don Miguel Luis~

Senator Bob Corker who said last week that the white house was "little more than an adult day care center" smelled the blood in the water and renewed his attack Tuesday, calling Trump "An utterly un-truthful president."  Senators Flake and Corker are spearheading a growing cadre of republicans to throw the gauntlet down on Trump.  Blood in the water, feeding time in the swamp.

Is this the beginning of the end for Trump; perhaps setting the ground work and mood to enact the 25th amendment to have him de-throned due to mental incapacity?  We can only hope for that or full-on impeachment: whatever process removes him from power the quickest...the 25th amendment, Impeachment, or (using his own words) "those 2nd amendment folks.

Bill O'Reilly and Harvey Weinstein were each forced out of their careers after multiple accusations of sexual harassment: but Trump with his list of 15 such accusations gets to play president.  Yeah, that'll give a country some President Trump Stress Disorder, and most likely some anger as well.  Too much raw input, too much planned chaos; all happening at a time when most Americans are more afraid of their government than terrorism.

Yes, America has a rousing case of President Trump Stress Disorder, and if we do not remove him from office like cutting out a malignant growth; it will soon spread across the planet like Fukushima fallout.  Other countries with whom America has always had good relations are now looking elsewhere for leadership and respect.  Those dominoes will continue to fall as long as the malignant growth remains in power. 

So now my Vietnam PTSD has President Trump Stress Disorder, like a pet from hell.  They romp around together playing merry hob with my head and dreams, but that's OK because no matter how much more insane things get, before the insane emperor is removed from office; I hold firm in the belief that when I'm done here, George Carlin will be doing his Case Against Trump show, and Mike will have tickets waiting at the will call window.

© 2017 full re-post with permission only

"I stand to say ... ENOUGH!"  ~ Sen. Jeff Flake

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