I agree with you. It would be better for the country and the world at large if Trump quietly passes away before November 2020. As you said, any other scenario will only result in Trump's followers taking up arms against their perceived enemies.
But then again, Trump supporters are not known for their logic. If Trump stepped outside and got struck by lightning, they will probably spin some tory about how Obama and Hillary paid people in the White House to put extra iron in Trump's food to make him more prone to lightning or something. :P
Speaking of Trump, it looks like his taxes case will still be heard Tuesday. I am going to listen in and see where the judges are leaning. However, three of them sat in on the Clinton v. Jones case, which basically said that a President was subject to the same rules that other citizens were (in that case, Clinton was trying to get temporary immunity by saying that, as President, the court could not decide on the civil lawsuit of Paula Jones until after his term was completed). Two were appointed by a Democratic administration (Ruth Ginsburg and Stephen Beyer), and one was appointed by the Republican administration (Clarence Thomas). Nevertheless, I can't imagine any of them voting in favor of Trump on this issue, as it would go against their judgment in the Clinton v. Jones case.
It is harder to predict how the other six will go, as four were Republican appointees and two were Democratic appointees. I don't trust the two judges that were appointed by Trump, and I imagine they are trying to keep from making a decision on this case and punt it back to the lower courts (which would not do Trump much good, as that means that the lower court's decision against Trump would hold). Nevertheless, if the Supreme Court rules for Trump, they overturn hundreds of years of case law and change the fundamental balance of power between the branches of government forever.
As an attorney, I know that judges take great comfort in established law. It is far easier to rely on history than to overturn it, so I imagine most of them will be conservative in the matter and either rule against Trump and/or send the case back to the Supreme Court.
But what is in those tax records that Trump would go to such lengths to hide? Does he accept bribes from Russia? Has he paid for some of his lovers to have abortions? His true debts to China? The fact that he is actually much poorer than we thought? Or something far, far more sinister?
I will be watching this case with great interest. My hope is that if Trump feels that his tax records will be released, he may resign in a crazy attempt to render the case moot or to escape the fallout. But I doubt it. As you said, nothing short of death will stop Trump at this point.
@coyote You are the good Emperor. I think we all see that. And we thank you for your wisdom.
@coyote Thinking back on @Bluebelle's beautiful description of how we looked at the Emperor Card in class, and then her amazing visions, I realize that both the Dalai Lama and Donald Trump have the same numerology based on their dates of birth --their birth dates add up to 22 which gives them the Emperor and the Fool.
In class, we gazed at the Emperor card and, throwing light on the card, saw two very different versions of an Emperor . If you are reading this post, perhaps you also can see the shift when you see the Emperor as the Dalai Lama and the Emperor as Donald Trump. You see a contrast in the two men's leadership as you gaze at the card first as one man and then as the other.
Dalai Lama: I see his strength and his tenderness, the animals around him feel safe and he holds a symbol of power, gently but firmly, in his hands. He uses that power for good. The natural world of mountains, trees, and animals look to be thriving around him, as he leads his followers towards respect for all beings.
As Trump, the image changes dramatically and we see the archetype in its most degraded form. Bluebelle described it well" "the hard features and power of the president, an unyieldingness, a coldness, a lack of compassion." Some of the students in the class saw fear in the animals, as if they had been traumatized, and the object of power in his hands looked like a bomb he was threatening to detonate.
You can do the same with the Fool cards. The Dalai Lama is an enlightened fool, funny, light hearted, able to easily laugh at himself, flexible, always willing to learn and try new things. Trump, well, he is the worst kind of fool.
The Prayer
(performed by Chris Mann and Katharine McPhee)
La luce che tu hai -- the light that you have
Nel cuore resterà -- will rest in your heart
A ricordarci che -- to remind us that
L'eterna stella sei -- you are the eternal star
Nella mia preghiera -- In my prayers
Quanta fede c'è -- there is so much faith
Sogniamo un mondo senza più violenza -- Let's dream of a world without violence
Un mondo di giustizia e di speranza -- a world of justice and hope
Ognuno dia la mano al suo vicino -- Each person holding their neighbor's hand
Simbolo di pace, e di fraternità -- symbol of peace and brotherhood
La forza che ci dà -- The strength it gives us
È il desiderio che -- is the wish that
Ognuno trovi amor -- every one finds love
Intorno e dentro a sé -- surrounding and within oneself
È la fede che -- It is the faith that
Hai acceso in noi -- You have lit within us
Sento che ci salvera -- I feel it will save us
I know lyricists re-write foreign language lyrics to fit the music, but these sentiments were expressed differently in the English translation, and the original is just as beautiful.
I happened to see the original lyrics, which I agree are also beautiful. I did find the two sets confusing but figured the lyrics were rewritten to fit the music. What I posted is what I found online. I'm not even sure who wrote the original lyrics -- Carole Bayer Sager? Anyway, I found the music beautiful and the message very comforting for these times.
I was 12 or 13 when I wrote this. I can't remember all of it and there was 5 stanzas to it. I am not particularly religious in anyway other than believing there is a Higher Power or Powers.
But for 3 days this ran through my head, especially this first part. (Probably why I remember it best - 12 or 13 was a very lonnnnngggg time ago) ;)
O’ Lord, I Pray
O’ Lord I Pray
You’ll hear my plea!
Please make the men
Of power see,
What their ambitions
Are doing to
Your Tree of Life.
And placing us
All into major strife.
O’ Lord I Pray
You’ll understand
Our lives are
In your hand.
I would like all of you to see this and if you want, add to it. As I can't remember the rest hopefully it allows other people to think of something nice and add to it. I hope also that it says something to others as it did to me. I believe those Higher Powers are hearing us and in some ways are working towards helping us.
I know things will eventually be improved, though I don't know if it will be in my lifetime.
I have to say I feel the fix is in. So Orange Man got another reprieve on the unredacted Mueller report - and these are the people that are supposed to say it's okay to get his taxes? And who is going to give Congress those taxes? Steve Mnuchin? - maybe if you threaten him with prison. And what's happening with whether or not people have to obey government subpoenas? I haven't heard much about that lately. Again, how do they get them enforced? Congress could have jailed noncompliers or held up salaries last time and didn't do it.
This business with Michael Flynn - everyone says oh, you can't do this, it's unconstitutional, you can't do that, it's against the rule of law, and yet the constitution isn't upheld and the rule of law isn't upheld every day. Now Trump is threatening to pull MSNBC's license. Oh, he can't do that. Again I ask, who is going to stop him? We need to face the fact that we're in a third world country now. One person is wielding power and feathering the nest of himself, his friends, and his relatives. And no one is stopping him.
We need to face the fact that we're in a third world country now. One person is wielding power and feathering the nest of himself, his friends, and his relatives. And no one is stopping him.
Well stated, and yet I feel this conflict of telling it like it is that is so tricky for me and likely for many, especially the journalists who have dedicated themselves to exposing it. We must not stop calling it like it is, as @suspira44 has done. We must see what Donald Trump and the Republican Party, has done and what they are. But we must never give in to it. This is not a third world country. It is a third world government.
And that party, that rogue party that calls itself Republican, that controls this government, is going to die out.
I've heard of the possibility of Biden choosing a Republican to run with him. And while I can understand the desperation that would call for such a move, I cannot imagine voting for a ticket with a Republican on it.
When I was at the 2014 Climate March in NYC, I saw a woman holding a sign that read, "Never, never, never, never vote Republican!"
As much as Republicans like to think it, they are not the party of Abraham Lincoln. As much as they try to claim it with their symbols, they are not the party of the American flag. They are a totalitarian party that the Koch Brothers have carefully shaped and funded for the last forty years. The Koch's father made the family fortune working for Stalin and Hitler during WWII and hired a Nazi nanny to raise Charles and David. Over the last three decades, Charles and David Koch shaped and funded the Tea Party into the rogue force it is today, all in the phony name of patriotism.
The GOP turned the truth upside-down. Their use of the word Patriotism (as in, the Patriot Act) is really about betrayal, authored by traitors. The word Freedom to them, a word they also use, is really about freedom for despots, freedom for Stalin, Hitler, Putin, Kim Jung Un, Xi, and the Saudi Prince. So when they use the word freedom, it means slavery. Freedom for despots, slavery for everyone else. Republicanism has come to mean totalitarianism. It created a gaslighting double speak.
The GOP will never live their betrayal down. That party will die out in this decade. Americans are a freedom loving people. We will not be cowed and gaslighted.
Well stated, and yet I feel this conflict of telling it like it is that is so tricky for me and likely for many, especially the journalists who have dedicated themselves to exposing it. We must not stop calling it like it is, as @suspira44 has done. We must see what Donald Trump and the Republican Party, has done and what they are. But we must never give in to it. This is not a third world country. It is a third world government.
Perhaps, from where I'm seeing within the tides of possibilities, the US is now at the point of no return as I cannot see the nation bounce back into the same old self. The best thing we can do at this point is to contribute to grassroot levels to the community and let it grow from there. While the possibility that it's too late to save a country, it is not too late to save the souls of the whole community. Perhaps the community itself will rebuild and grow something better for the future, even that means the US will be very unregcognisable by that point, so maybe it's for the best if we let the change happen.
But it's also important to guide the souls of the many to the right path of the future, so they won't get lost in the dark and became an anti-thesis to themselves.