The Red Menace

“Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance made in the last 20 years. Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called Social Security. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps the people.'"— Harry S Truman

Yeah, this is the refrain you'll be hearing for the next 3 months or so as we head to the midterm elections. And, yes, it would be political suicide for Republicans to claim all these things today. A lot of that is already emanating from the presidential pie-hole on a daily, make that hourly basis it seems. And, of course, it is meant to divert attention from, oh, pick a topic.

Jeffrey Epstein comes to mind. Then there's the multi-million dollar check the Prez just wrote to E. Jean Carroll, who was grabbed years ago where stars are reportedly allowed to grab.

Maybe these jangling car keys are meant to deflect our toddler-like attention away from the outrageous conduct of ICE agents who are firing on people with Yosemite Sam abandon.

The results can be seen in Wisconsin, Houston, and Maine. That is to say, people killed by poorly trained yahoos trying to fill arrest quotas with all the careful consideration of Chris Christie at Applebee's.

It might also be that this is a diversion from the daily foreign policy changes toward Iran and the effects they are having on both our defense stockpiles and economy. I mean, as I write this, it is Taco Tuesday at the Casa Trump Restaurante, and already shipping tolls he planned for the Strait of Hormuz on Monday have been withdrawn for some sort of vague investment promises from some vague foreign countries.

And this flip-flop, as obvious as it is, is being lauded by Trump toadies from Sean Hannity to the ghost of Lindsey Graham as some masterstroke of deal-making. It is akin to the fantasy factories that are being built in America due to the international tolls we now have, or don't, or may have in the future. We're not really sure.

Will this conflict ever end? Trump now says... 

"'Well, now, I don’t want to negotiate now. I said, “Let’s not negotiate.'” 

Now some have compared this to the quagmire in Viet Nam. I think this is mistaken since Trump knew how to get out of Viet Nam.

Or, it might be to deflect from some really bad candidates, like Attorney General Ken Paxton, freshly back from London with his mistress. He is indeed looking rested and renewed as he recovers from his ethics bypass surgery.

And these cries are coming from some folks whose concern for the problems of everyday people is front of mind. Like Texas Congressman Troy Nehls, pictured here wearing his $400 Trump Sneakers...

As a side note, in addition to being tasteful but useless as athletic wear, they and the overpriced Trump Watches come from a storefront in Sheridan, Wyoming that slaps Trump's name on generic footwear and so-called "Swiss" timepieces.

But when asked if he was at all concerned about the plight of average Americans these days with gas and food prices on the rise, Nehls replied...

“Affordability — what are you talking about? Over the Fourth, I’m going to get me a couple of big lobster tails, I’m going to get me some nice rib-eyes. I’m going to sit in my backyard with my family [and] my neighbors, and we’re going to be enjoying the Fourth, celebrating 250 years, the birthday of America.”

When another reporter asked if the majority of Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck can indulge in such delicacies, Nehls wondered whether “maybe those 60% of Americans don’t work as hard as I do.”

The San Antonio Current reports that Nehls is a former law enforcement officer who served as a patrolman for the Richmond Police Department before being fired in 1998 for department violations including destroying evidence and improper arrests.

Side note: I lived in the country outside of Richmond for a few years and I guarantee the town of 11,000 people will not be the setting for "CSI: Richmond" anytime soon. So getting booted from the Richmond Gendarmerie must take some doing.

But as I wrote a couple of weeks back, Democrats in some parts of the country, read New York, are going a bit loopy with Mandami Fever, electing a couple of admitted socialist candidates for Congress. And this overcompensation for the retirement home that is the Democratic Congressional Delegation is just fodder for all the red-scaring you're seeing. It's stupid and will definitely be used against them.

Also, as I write this, we are all awaiting breathlessly the big primetime presidential address concerning new evidence that he really won, let me double-check, oh yeah, six years ago. The inability to accept what most of us learned to deal with years ago- that is disappointment- has led to a constant drumbeat of whining and claims that new evidence will surface any day now or in a couple of weeks or a month or two.

You'll have seen it no doubt by the time you read this, so we can all enjoy the evidence together, while Marco Rubio reconsiders his life choices.