SEPTEMBER 13, 2024 – Hmmm. While contemplating today’s post I vacillated. Inspired by several natural phenomena I’ve encountered during my time in paradise up here at the Red Cabin, I wanted to highlight a few.
On the other hand, gobsmacked by the latest news about Laura Loomer, who is charitably described as a “right-wing provocateur” and uncharitably excoriated—by a Republican Senator, no less, Thom Tillis of North Carolina—as “a crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage intended to divide Republicans[; a] DNC plant couldn’t do a better job than she is doing to hurt President Trump’s chances of winning re-election. Enough.” Just for good measure, fellow “rightwing provocateur,” Marjorie Taylor Greene, has condemned an X post by Ms. Loomer as “appalling and extremely racist.” Yet another ardent Trump supporter, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, has weighed in against Loomer: “The history of statements by Ms. Loomer,” he said, “are beyond disturbing.”
What does Trump have to say about the young (31-years old) buddy of Old Man Stone—as in Roger Stone, whose name and M.O. have been synonymous with “Dirty Tricks,” reaching way back to the Nixon Era? The Man from Mar-a-Lago offered his usual inelegant dodge: “Laura’s been a supporter of mine, just like a lot of people are supporters, and she’s been a supporter of mine. She speaks very positively of the campaign [. . .] Laura is a supporter. I don’t control Laura. Laura has to say what she wants. She’s a free spirit.” Maybe so (he doesn’t control Ms. Loomer—sounds as though no one does), but how then, has Trump allowed her to finagle her way into his inner-inner circle? What ought to worry us is not that Trump doesn’t control Loomer but the other way around.
Anyway, that was going to be the centerpiece of my post, I figured; that plus a warning that this time around, we have much more to worry about with a Trump Administration.
The man himself is now four years older, which from 74 to 78 means a lot more than from 59 (Harris’ current age) to 63. If he was ill-equipped for the job of president in 2016, today (let alone over the next four years), he’s ever less capable cognitively, emotionally, and psychologically to manage much of anything, let alone public policy or giving the nation inspired leadership and any kind of vision for the future. What harm could such a person so lacking in capacity do? Plenty, I suppose, simply by throwing White House china at the wall in a demonstration of his “get tough with China” policy. (Speaking of “wall,” given how exercised Trump is about immigration, do anyone wonder why “building a wall”—Trump’s signature promise in the 2016 campaign—finds no mention whatsoever in 2024?)
But seriously, what we should fear far more than The Old Man and the Sea (of Daily Briefings by his Aides and Advisors) are a bunch of “rightwing provocateurs” of the ilk of Laura Loomer. And let’s not forget the likes of Steve Bannon, who in his interview with David Brooks just before Bannon surrendered himself to federal prison officials earlier this year, issued a threat (or was it a promise?) to burn the house down. In Bannon’s estimation, Trump was a milquetoast. The phalanx of extremists behind Trump are most definitely not (See videos of the January 6 crowd at the Capitol,) And if Trump himself has attempted to dodge affiliation with Project 2025, know that there are people hellbent on turning the 900-page rightwing playbook into policy. Having witnessed the first Trump Administration and learned from it, these people are waiting in the wings, in full riot gear and poised from “day one” to manipulate the self-styled Emperor this time around to effectuate their extremist agenda. Laura Loomer is not the only “rightwing provocateur” to have learned The Art of the Manipulation.
. . . So, you see, I’d wanted to rant about politics along the lines of the foregoing fulmination, but while kayaking along our shoreline this evening, I thought, no, no, no. I can give politics a glancing blow, but the main punch of today’s post has got to be nature’s positive effect on my psyche. I mean, the antidote to politically-induced anxiety is getting back to nature in all its glory, large and small, close and distant, subtle and spectacular. That is what I wanted to impart in today’s post. As the sun slid toward the western shoreline of the lake, I began organizing my thoughts accordingly.
By the time I returned to the dock, I decided to abandon the political business altogether and focus entirely on nature. People have heard enough political opinion, I thought. The last thing they need or desire is more of the same old hash with the same old seasoning; better to get back to nature and stay there—at least for today’s post.
Something happened, however, on the path from the dock to the cabin porch. As I gazed up at the tall pines guarding the grounds, their interlocking branches reminded me that despite being surrounded here at the Red Cabin by woods and water with eagles soaring overhead by day and uncountable stars glowing by night, I’m still integrated with human civilization. I’m still a citizen, still a voter, a father and a grandfather. I have a vested interest in the country’s prospects and in how our nation is governed, and in a manner of speaking, I have a democratic duty to . . . rant about our prospects and politics, at least semi-responsibly.
Okay, so there you have it, and for now—my rant is done, as is the day. Now for some star-gazing—to put everything in perspective.
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© 2024 by Eric Nilsson
