In my wildest dreams

I never expected a cancer like Trump to invade the GOP. No screenwriter, no author, no playwright,no matter how talented could have scripted this. I only hope and pray that he stays in the "race" and it heads in the direction in which it seems to be heading.

I had a fascinating discussion yesterday with a patient who knows Trump personally...

This fellow was involved in business dealings, specifically, the machinations surrounding one of Trumps bankruptcy bailouts. I've known this gentleman for over 30 years, he is a no-nonsense, standard issue big-shot banker/businessman here in Philadelphia with many business ties to Atlantic City.

He said, and I'm barely paraphrasing, that Trump is a functional illiterate: that he has trouble reading and processing from what he's read. He also says that Trump lies continuously about everything and the bankers realized that nothing he said was true, that he exaggerated everything about himself including financial statements and his fiscal behavioral intents. His lying is continuous and encompasses all subjects no matter how trivial. He's a "low IQ serial prevaricator".

My patient is an old-fashioned Republican who would no more vote for a Democrat than he would take a leak in the middle of Market Street. That being said, he stated to me that in his opinion Trump has no business being considered for any job whatsoever, much less to be on the ticket for the Presidency. He is disgusted and appalled. If you lose a guy like this, then you've lost everything as a Republican.

Reporting from Philadelphia....PCIntern's 16th Street Journal

My office overlooks a thoroughfare which acts as a conduit through which much occurs in the way of demonstrations and transportation, Also quite a number of my patients are involved in the mechanism of the execution of the Convention so if I see or hear anything I'll post it here immediately.

I can't believe that this is my fourth Presidential Convention Cycle here at DU, having joined early in 2004. I look forward to my community's opinions and reportage here.

A feeling of deja vu...

So we had a sniper in Dallas, Texas shooting innocents from his perch, although early news reports suggested multiple gunmen.
Where have I heard this before?

So they took the wounded to Parkland Memorial Hospital via the Stemmons Freeway.
Where have I heard this before?

There is remarkable heroism of law enforcement spreadeagled over threatened women at the risk of their own lives.
Where have I heard this before.

The killer was killed before trial (N.B. I am NOT complaining about this at all: just pointing out the similarities!)
Where have I heard this before?

The country is in shock over the senselessness of it.
Where have I heard this before?

There is endless discussion and the country is split along various lines as to what should be done in the aftermath.
Where have I heard this before?

Many people feel that the country is falling to pieces in front of our eyes after this occurrence.
Where have I heard this before?

A man known as a President of the United States of America smiles at the worst possible time during a solemn occasion and is captured by a photographer/videographer. ( I will say this: at least when Lyndon Johnson smiled at his aide conspiratorially at his swearing in, he didn't break into a strange dance like W. did during the funeral service)
Where have I seen this before?

This is all so troubling...

I had a thought about the initials RB the killer

Left written in blood.

I was thinking about cryptic messages upon ones death and the first thing that came to mind was Citizen Kane : Rosebud

RB

Something else about Trump (as though things weren't bad enough):

I figured out today one of the things that was bothering me about this ominous cloud on the horizon that is Donald Trump:

It is his paucity of language: he uses almost no sophisticated language or construction in his discourse. Now I certainly don't expect him to be a cross between Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Winston Churchill but the vast amount of his speech consists of one or two syllable street-language words with modifiers limited to words such as "very" or "no" or "big".

It isn't simply that he isn't elucidating policy or mechanism, he doesn't convey any substance via language any more than a traffic cop talking to motorists moving through an intersection or helping an elderly person across the street. There is something not right on multiple levels about this guy and this may be the least of the problems associated with his existence in the political sphere but perhaps it should be pointed out that not only is his intent ignorant and dangerous but there may be something else awry concerning his mental status. George W. Bush's inabilities to speak and communicate comfortably were legendary as we chronicled here at DU endlessly and amusingly, but he is a veritable Lord Chesterfield compared with this obnoxious pretender Trump.

It's nice to be back...

I have been on hiatus from DU for a number of months for a variety of reasons: some personal, some political, some professional. I have been a member since 2004 and was at one time a somewhat prolific poster. I have returned because I have a fundamentally strong loyalty to the site to which I cleaved after the demise of Media Whores Online, which to this day remains my favorite liberal website - a combination of brilliance, creativity, and wonderful perspective and humor. The personal reasons I will leave out; the political reasons I left for a while are legion and include but are not limited to the vituperative nature of many of the ostensibly progressive posters and their unwillingness to allow other points of view to even be heard, much less considered and discussed and the number of people who have demonized Israel and her supporters in a very hostile fashion with much of what I would term frank anti-Semitism using their lectern of anti-Zionism. The professional reasons are that I had to spend a disproportionate number of hours doing support and paperwork in order to allow my nearly forty year-old dental practice to survive. Things had become very difficult in the land of dentistry and I had to save my professional existence.

Returning here is easy and wonderful: it is once again election time in America and this is, as it always is, a unique time in our process. The cast of characters could not be scripted by Hollywood's most brilliant writers and the sequence of events is just mesmerizing. I couldn't conceive of facing this time without the bulwark of the collective participants which coalesce to form DU's power, historical perspectives, and insight. I enjoy the banter and the information as well as the interpretations of the members ( occasionally no matter how poorly conceived!).

There is no question in my mind that DU is greater than the sum of its parts: the Gestalt of DU as it were is stellar in its magnificence. I have always been proud to be a member here and look forward to rejoining the fray.

Everything Wrong With Donald Trump