You Were Hornswoggled. Admit it...

Like the man said:
"Are you going to believe a porn star who has nothing to lose by telling the truth, or a Trump who has everything to lose by telling the truth?" (Mr Roberts)

Drumpf is a con-man. 

It's a hard thing to admit that one has been conned...
I understand that. I hate to admit that I bought into the Gerald Ford campaign. (My rationale was that I was living on the tender mercies and forbearance of a Republican family.  I took some small consolation in his defeat.) 

Whew... I feel better now with that off my chest...

A very bitter pill to swallow...

A pill the size of Chinese kohlrabi.

Nevertheless, at some point, for the sake of your own sanity, (and I know that I'm addressing a very narrow audience here), you're going to have to come to terms with the fact that you made a mistake. Invent your own excuse. I did about Gerald Ford and you can do it, too, about Drumpfen-putz.

Drumpf is a con-man. 

That's his whole shtick. That and golf. My mind reels at the thought of all the people he's hornswoggled on the golf course.  It's well-known that he cheats at golf - all the time. On every hole, it's been said. Would you play 'closest-to-the-hole' with this guy for money? (I've now further limited my audience...)

Drumpf is a con-man. 

He's a veteran, seasoned liar of world-class reputation.
'Trump University'? Please...
He's a high-functioning psychopath; charming, lacking empathy, manipulative, conniving...
Did I mention; lacking any sense of propriety, being ethically untethered and morally unmoored?

Drumpf is a con-man. 

I would bet you dollars to doughnuts that little Donnie was running scams while still in short pants. (That's old fogey-speak for 'being a little kid'.)
But I digress...

One doesn't need to speculate. One only has to address the main fact; a fact substantiated by hundreds of column inches in both reputable journals and supermarket tabloids of the Drumpfster's sordid life and nefarious acquaintances. There is endless video footage of the life-style of the rich and egregious, Donald J.

Drumpf is a con-man.

America! You've been conned. I say 'you' because I wasn't fooled for a minute. I'm not being judgmental. You got conned. Happens to the best of us at some point. We fall for the packaging and later find out that the contents amount to other than what we had hoped.

25% of the eligible American electorate voted for/bought the con. 62,985,105 bought the con. You weren't alone in your error.  48% of the electorate - 94,977,814 eligible American citizens - didn't bother to vote at all. 

So, that's something. You got yourself out and voted, at least! Kudos to you for your keen sense of citizenship. Atta-boy/girl! You just made a mistake by being suckered into a con-game with clever merchandising and fetching ball-caps. 

All it takes is for a few - a proud, honest, noble, mature, intelligent few - to come forward and end the con-job.  

Admit that you messed up.

Admit it now and your name will be placed in a special, secret lottery for only the most select and valued friends and YOU COULD WIN A BRAND NEW CAR!

or not...
 

Oh, Ye of Faith...

I agree with the sentiment that people of 'faith' should not be belittled for their faith.

(Ain't I gracious?)

Many people of faith are dear to my heart. Many are not.

In some way, I respect their dedication to their faith. It takes steadfastness and resolution to adhere to a belief system based on nothing but garbled Bronze Age tales told in archaic languages.

My respect is not endless, obviously.

My kith and kin who are of 'faith' are well-aware that I have no tolerance for starry-eyed proselytes and proselytizers. If there are discussions involving their activities at their place of worship, I remove myself to a place out of earshot.

Rarely are there discussion about articles of faith, but I have been known to undertake the role of devil's advocate in arguing against the nonsense found in 'holy' books and accepted by those of 'faith'.
It's a wonderful mental exercise but very tiring.

I used to entertain myself by talking - willingly - to Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons; the most active proselytizers of the day. I felt it was an obligation to at least present a viewpoint contrary to their dogma, if not for the proselytizer's, then for my benefit.
Not magnanimous but simply dutiful.

On one occasion, I invited a visiting pair of Witnesses to come into the parlor. (Odd how they travel in pairs - as if one cannot exist without a supporting 'other'.) It was dreadful mistake, as they simply wouldn't leave once I had tired of their intractability. I had to become quite rude; finally lying about a pressing engagement to induce them to go.

My roommate pointedly warned me that that should never happen again. From then on, I chose the stalling tactic; never allowing the door to open more than half-way. In effect, it was an unfulfilled invitation for them; I was conversing, their initial goal was achieved, but the implied promise of access was unfulfilled.

Since that time of youthful frivolity, I have become less willing to exert the energy needed to swat the flies that swarm around people of 'faith'. Willingness to engage has cooled to a willingness to tolerate.

Just so long as that person of 'faith' does not try to shove it down anyone's throat, my throat...  Fine.
Stew in your own juices.
Live and let live

People of 'faith' have the right to their beliefs and I have the right to ask them to keep it to themselves. 

'Praise Jesus!' all you want but leave me out of it. 

I think that sentiment is shared by many.

I See by Your Holster

Ammosexuals who bellow about their Second Amendment Rights (as perverted and pronounced by the NRA and the rest of the gun lobby) seem to have forgotten a vital and essential aspect to civic rights: responsibility.

All civic rights come with integral responsibilities. Voting rights comes with the responsibility to educate oneself about the issues and the candidates. So-called 'gun rights' comes with a concomitant responsibility of gun-safety. 

Ironically, cynically, many on the 'right' feel that all those of the Islamic faith must take responsibility for the dangerous few who wage jihad and commit acts of terrorism. 

A similar standard is applied to other groups such as immigrants, Blacks, Hispanics, etc. All immigrants are judged and condemned outright because of the criminality (or perceived criminality) of members of their group.  A social penalty is levied against the entire group; distrust at the least.

When confronted with the 'bad apples', the 'lone wolves', the 'sickos', who commit multiple-homicide with a gun, those same fervent god-fearing, gun-toting folk are not so inclined to perceive that their gun rights are unalterably conjoined to the responsibility of how the proliferation of guns in American society has negatively effected all of us. They are not so keen on being grouped with psychos who are also gun-lover.

Yet, in truth, they must be grouped together; for the law-abiding gun-lover and the psycho murderer do share a very blatant and obvious characteristic.

Any guesses on what that commonality is?

Hope against hope

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/28/politics/rooney-hope-hicks-russia-cnntv/index.html

The culture of lying in Washington is so pervasive, so endemic that this GOP Congressperson, Rep. Tom Rooney, is defending Hope Hicks for lying.  He is outraged (outraged, I tell you!) that Dems would 'leak' (i.e. inform the public) about Hick's admission to telling 'white lies' for Drumpf. 

Rooney even went so far as to give an example of an 'acceptable' lie: to wit - his assistant lies to a constituent that Rooney is 'not in the office' in order to avoid a call.

So there you have it. Lying liars justifying lies in defense of the Liar-in-chief.

Poor little Hope...