Category: Healthcare

The Daily Dog: No Dogs Allowed!

July 20, 2017

This week, Donald Trump once again reached into his magic Twitter bag and sprinkled crazy across cyberspace. With no regard for human life or the well-being of any American, Trump called on his Washington minions to forge a new path for health care — “Let it die.” That the self-appointed savior of the nation would callously dismiss the health and safety of millions of Americans is a threatening prospect.

If Trump has so little regard for life, what would stop him from executing more drastic and immediate measures that could harm men, women, and children across the country? He cannot be trusted with anyone’s safety, let alone an entire nation. It is no wonder that Trump is the first White House occupant since President William McKinley not to have a pet dog.

Without offending the cat lovers of the nation, a semi-public residence like the White House simply seems the domain of dogs. Imagine a cat slinking around the Oval Office, sneaking into the Rose Garden, or getting lost in the legendary hidden passages. A cat’s curiosity and independent nature have no place among the hustle and bustle of the daily briefings and other White House events. Most White House dogs, however, are large enough not to be lost in the activity, and relaxed enough to snooze in a corner during meetings like Trump does.

Babies 07202017
Help, mommy! He bit me!

The thought of Trump cuddling with a dog in the White House is as foreign as Putin electing Hillary Clinton in 2020. For anyone who recalls photos of Trump mugging babies on the campaign trail, the pet situation is equally creepy. Trump is the kind of person who would pick out a dog, and it would promptly bite him — much like Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been accused of doing by his boss.

Trump is one of the first American leaders who lacks the qualities that our country has come to expect from someone who runs for political office. The personalities of elected officials run the gamut from sour to sweet. However, we generally expect a modicum of sincerity, humanity, and warmth enough to embrace babies naturally — or have a pet dog. Trump is none of these. He is the anti-politician without any personality whatsoever. He is a plastic-wrapped, spray-tanned, disingenuous, artificial, and unemotional Ken doll without a brain. He speaks without passion or sense, ridicules his critics, and pursues a self-serving agenda of homage to Trump. A dog may be man’s best friend, but for a man without any friends, a dog would be a burden to Trump.

As another iteration of the Mitch McConnell-Republican health care bill crashes and burns, Trump cannot find or say a single kind or reassuring word to the millions of Americans worried about how they will care for themselves or loved ones. Trump fails to understand that his job is about the American people and not about Trump — that position ended last January. If Trump is unable to put that aside, he never should have stood for election, because political office is not about the glory or the self-awarded honors.

While mothers and fathers across the country struggle to make sure their children will be cared for if they fall ill or have an accident, Trump whines about personal attacks and vows not to accept responsibility for his regime’s failures. With every mounting tweet, he exposes how unfit he is for any office. If the Apprentice aspired to something more than reality television — like being a president — Trump should have started small. He should have tried caring for a dog first…before he thought he could care for a country.

The Daily Dog: DNR for GOP Trumpcare Bill

July 18, 2017

In an appropriate twist of irony for the Trump regime, at roughly the same time Trump was tweeting about his successful day the White House Monday and boasting about his healthcare bill being passed, Trumpcare was dying on the table. Two more senators defected on Mitch McConnell’s bill to strip millions of Americans of their health coverage, killing the most recent attempt to revive the Frankenstein patchwork law.

Trumpcare DOA 07182017
Wooden stakes and silver bullets finally killed McConnell’s Trumpcare bill.

Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) announced late Monday that they would not support the bill and joined holdouts Susan Collins and Rand Paul. A vote on the bill already had been postponed to allow Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to recover from emergency surgery and return to Capitol Hill. However, without the support of Lee and Moran, McConnell’s Trumpcare fiasco is predicted to garner only 48 votes — not enough for the simple majority the senate is relying on to pass the legislation.

Though Monday’s defeat is another nail in the coffin of Trumpcare, as long as Donald Trump and his republican henchmen continue to dominate Washington politics, the fight is far from over. Already, McConnell and his supporters have made several, albeit short-lived, efforts to force the legislation through the senate. It is almost as if McConnell’s paycheck is dependent on his ability to destroy one piece of Obama-era legislation and he is likely to try again.

Under McConnell’s so-called leadership of the Senate, it appears that the U.S. government has no priorities other than repealing Obamacare. Of course, the Senate’s inability to move beyond its contempt for President Obama is commensurate with the slow moving progress of the Trump regime and its comparable political sentiment.

Every administration since George Washington’s presidency has left a mark on America. In our nation’s succession of representative government, the federal government progresses by building on the foundations established by each predecessor — not by destroying the accomplishments of previous leaders.

Though incoming administrations may not always agree with a former policy, it is unbecoming for the current heads of government to constantly demean and ridicule another group of American leaders. It is almost like the Trump regime and its associates are looking at our country’s recent history as — dare we say it — enemies of the state. They are so vehemently opposed to practically everything established in the past 25 years that Trump and company have become un-American.

America has always been a nation proud of innovation and individuality. It is a place where men and women make their marks with their own ideas. They forge new paths and create successes from nothingness.

With the rise of Trumpism, those values and expectations have evaporated along with national unity and spirit. Pseudo-leaders like Trump and McConnell cannot use their own ideas and positive goals to foster progress because they do not have ideas or goals. They revert to leading by destruction, by taking credit for what others have done, and by using fear to control the public’s perception.

There is nothing American or normal about the manipulative state of politics in Washington, D.C. America has seen good and bad presidents alike. It has witnessed poor choices, inept leaders, and civil war — all in the name of democracy.

What our nation has never witnessed, however, is a government so unskilled and lacking in thought and ideas that it arrives in the capital with no signature direction, agenda, or future. Moreover, Trump has failed to grasp the gravity of Washington’s role in America. The Oval Office is a not an uncensored boardroom from which Trump can issue edicts based on personal preferences.

While Trumpcare is headed for the morgue this morning, its failure leaves Americans in a more precarious situation as Trump begins calling for the repeal of Obama’s health plan with no replacement. Trump and McConnell are creating a healthcare disaster that will have far-reaching and detrimental effects. Without a coherent plan of his own, Trump is proving only that he cannot choose on his own what is best for America because America is not a kingdom of one.