Resurgence of a Madman

 Here we go again.

The most inept, corrupt, self-serving president in my lifetime appears ready to announce another run at the presidency. This is despite the fact he is under investigation for numerous 'alleged' crimes. As is his habit, he is doing everything in his power to derail or at least to tie up the proceedings in never-ending court battles.

And once again, I am more fearful than ever for the future of our country. He wants nothing more than to become a dictator, a despot, who wants to replace the federal government's non-partisan civil servants with political hacks who have sworn fealty to him, not to the constitution. Already the MAGA wing of the Republican party has said it wants to get rid of Social Security and Medicare, the two lifelines on which so many senior citizens rely. Despite the MAGA claims, these are not 'entitlements' that are part of the government's largess. Everyone who has ever held a job in America shas been forced to pay into these programs through mandatory tax withholding. 

Something needs to be done to ensure that Social Security has enough reserves to pay the full benefits that people were promised. The best step would be to remove the salary cap that limits the income subject to the Social Security tax. Another step would be to limit or eliminate benefits for those earning more than a certain amount of money each year.

But that would fly in the face of the GOP's consistent pandering to the multimillionaires and billionaires in this country. 

The GOP also wants to limit or eliminate military aid to Ukraine in its battle for survival against its more powerful neighbor, Russia. The former president already has shown how much he admires autocrat Putin. The US under the Biden administration has provided advanced weapons to Ukraine, which has used them with great success. The US also has rejoined the world community. We cannot afford to once again threaten NATO and pander to the world's dictators.

Do we want a president who has stolen highly classified documents and hidden them in his Florida palace? Merely, as he claimed, declassifying documents in his head doesn't make the documents declassified. There is an entire procedure for declassification of documents. In any event, the documents were not his to steal. They are the property of the federal government and should not be stolen simply because he wants to sell them to the highest bidder.

So once again we are dealing with the rantings of a mentally unbalanced megalomaniac who will do anything to regain the power and attention he so desperately craves. He is not fit to be president. He doesn't want the job of president. He simply wants the perks, the power, the worship of his cult members and the opportunities to make more money. And perhaps the greatest benefit of all -- he can avoid prosecution for his numerous legal troubles as long as he is a sitting president.

Our country -- indeed, the world -- can ill afford to have a madman at the helm.