“Seventeen congressional Republicans signed a resolution on Wednesday vowing to seek “economically viable” ways to stave off global warming, challenging the stated views of President Donald Trump, who has called climate change a hoax.”
In challenge to Trump, 17 Republicans join fight against global warming
Reuters
So, Pruitt’s prepared his rejection
of carbon dioxide’s connection
to warming the earth.
He claims there’s a dearth
of evidence( since the election).
© 2017 Susan E. Eckenrode
“Trump’s eldest son tweeted or retweeted 26 posts about the report by 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, thanking MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow for revealing that Trump paid $38 million in federal taxes in 2005, slamming the media as ‘#fakenews’ and boasting about how his father’s tax rate compared to that of other prominent politicians.”
Donald Trump Jr. is really happy about his dad’s tax returns
Politico
While his daddy is screaming “No fair!”
Donnie Junior’s ecstatic that there
was a tax return leak
allowing a peek
at the one year he paid fair and square.
© Susan E. Eckenrode, 2017
Yeah the one year he paid fair and square
and it’s leaked– gee, I wonder from where?
Distraction’s the game,
no matter how lame.
Is there really no tack he won’t dare?
© Lily Beth Baker, 2017
“One thing all of this makes clear is that the sickness of American politics didn’t begin with Donald Trump, any more than the sickness of the Roman Republic began with Caesar. The erosion of democratic foundations has been underway for decades, and there’s no guarantee that we will ever be able to recover.
But if there is any hope of redemption, it will have to begin with a clear recognition of how bad things are. American democracy is very much on the edge.”
– Paul Krugman, How Republics End
The Opinion Pages, The New York Times
When a body has harbored disease
with few symptoms to trigger unease,
just before its demise,
a clue may arise
that reveals how it failed by degrees.
© Susan E. Eckenrode, 2017
Though failing for years by degrees,
the body, infested by fleas,
succumbed to infection
by way of election
and rapidly fell to its knees.
© Lily Beth Baker, 2017
It rapidly fell to its knees
in denial of all guarantees.
With equality’s torch
buried under the porch
it’s emitting the ultimate wheeze.
© Mary Boren, 2017
Emitting the ultimate wheeze
as it drifted aloft on the breeze,
the hint of a spark
arose in the dark
to offer a moment to seize.
© Susan E. Eckenrode, 2017
Just trump the term “Obamacare”
and stick with ACA,
’cause thus it was and thus it is;
it’s working every day.
Why not retain the good and where
it isn’t, make it better?
Your legacy can still be deemed
a positive trend setter
for future presidents to see
a man of true compassion.
(Retain your present course and find
your past will keep rehashin’.)
Your promises to shake things up
could bring you real acclaim
around the world if you’d aspire
to make your famous name
synonymous with empathy
for every living thing.
You’re president…for good or ill.
Which future will you bring?
*
*
—
© Susan E. Eckenrode, 2017
Mail your postcards to:
The President (for now)
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500|But before you do, take a photo of it, post it on social media, and tag us! #TheIdesofTrump #postcardprotest #resist #trump #idesoftrump #postcardstotrump #theresistance #dailyaction
Thanks @thedailyaction!
theidesoftrump.com
Mr. President,
If you respect Americans,
as you profess to do,
Respect us all not just the ones
who cast their votes for you.
Come, prove us wrong and prove you’re fair;
Let kindness conquer fears.
Your legacy as President
will echo through the years.
Susan Elizabeth, 3/15/17
“What does this mean for the country—and for the Americans on the receiving end of Trump’s constantly twisting version of reality? It’s both a cultural question and a psychological one. For decades, researchers have been wrestling with the nature of falsehood: How does it arise? How does it affect our brains? Can we choose to combat it? The answers aren’t encouraging for those who worry about the national impact of a reign of untruth over the next four, or eight, years. Lies are exhausting to fight, pernicious in their effects and, perhaps worst of all, almost impossible to correct if their content resonates strongly enough with people’s sense of themselves, which Trump’s clearly do.”
Trumps Lies vs. Your Brain
Politico Magazine
He spews accusations with force,
But they’re totally baseless, of course,
And it’s likewise, you see,
With his whole coterie—
Not one is a credible source.
© 2017 Colleen Anderson
Not one is a credible source
And unlike the rear end of a horse
The front’s not aligned
With its sightless behind
And each tale is detached from its arse.
© 2017 Susan E. Eckenrode
So each tale is detached from its arse,
thus making their pap hard to parse
But they’re upping their scores
as the vitriol pours
from their nightmarish, psychotic farce.
© 2017 Lily Beth Baker
One could infer a lot about Trump’s goals for the next four years from what Bannon said. Here are some of the most interesting passages and some of his more interesting word choices:
Steve Bannon outlines his plan to ‘deconstruct’ Washington
CNN
Bannon proffered his plan from the start;
deconstruct and replace is its heart.
With the crew all on board,
now they’re swinging the sword,
while Distractor-in-Chief does his part.
© 2017 Lily Beth Baker
The Distractor-in-Chief does his part,
By choosing his tweets à la carte
From a mish-mash of news
That is ripe with pee-yews
And usually comes out as a fart.
© 2017 Susan E. Eckenrode
Each tweet that comes out as a fart
is more foolish and putrid and tart.
With his juvenile sprees
he has launched a disease
that is ripping the country apart.
© 2017 Mary Boren
Destroying the “administrative state,” you would think, requires that he tell us whether the “administrative state” includes the safety net, entitlement benefits, anti-insider trading and consumer protection laws, anti-discrimination statutes, labor restrictions, transportation/infrastructure building, etc.
What would Trump and Bannon ‘deconstruct’?
The Washington Post
The Bannon Bunch,
the Bannon Bunch,
They’ll deconstruct your house
then munch
on liberty,
equality,
a constitution shredding spree
with every scrap of justice too.
Don’t let Nayslayers
threaten you!
© Susan E. Eckenrode
[…] with mounting tension inside the West Wing over stories portraying an administration lurching between crises and simmering in dysfunction, aides are increasingly frustrated by the pressure-cooker environment and worried about their futures there.
Now the BLOTUS is moaning and crying
About leaks from his staff who were spying.
I say, let those leaks out;
Real patriots speak out
When their boss is the one who is lying.
© Colleen Anderson, 2017
When their boss is the one who is lying,
presented the facts, keeps denying,
they’ll go to extremes,
embrace any means
to save a republic that’s dying.
© Susan E. Eckenrode, 2017
“Maybe the rest of us need to get with the program. Maybe we all need to stop complaining. Maybe we all need to shut up and embrace America’s present, glorious greatness.
All we need to do now, is to all become wealthy, white, straight, Christian Republican Congressmen—and we’ll be set.”
– John Pavlovitz, Hey America, are We “Great” yet?
Voters ushered him in on a bet
he would anchor a nation beset
by a turbulent squall
that would stop at the wall.
Is America great again yet?
© 2017 Mary Boren
Is America great again yet?”
she inquires of a Dreamer she met.
“No, not when it’s hate
that’s driving our fate
to erecting a wall of regret.”
© 2017 Susan E. Eckenrode
“We’re erecting a wall of regret.”
sighed a wounded American vet
who had barely come back
from a tour in Iraq
where he’d witnessed what hate can beget.
© 2017 Lily Beth Baker
Here we witness what hate can beget
and we vow we will never forget!
As we each raise a fist,
we proclaim we’ll resist
’til we right this egregious upset!
© 2017 Susan E. Eckenrode
