Trumps campaign rhetoric lies

President-elect Donald Trump continued his "thank you" tour with a stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan, during which his crowd chanted their beloved, "Lock her up!" Only to be told by Trump, "That plays great before the election- now we don't care."

He added he doesn’t stand by his many previous comments that the election was rigged, because he won.

Well, Trump supporters, hate to break it to you, but there is not going to be a wall. Trump told the New York Times editorial board that when the audience looks a little bored, he starts screaming about the wall to wake them up and rouse the crowd. Sure, he knows the wall won't ever get built, but he needs the applause. So he lies.

About his campaigning he said:

“If it gets a little boring, if I see people starting to sort of, maybe thinking about leaving, I can sort of tell the audience, I just say, ‘We will build the wall!’ and they go nuts,” he told the Times’ editorial board.

He is not the first politician to do this, but the difference is his statements arousing fear, racial animosity and division. 

Trump’s Daily to do list.

1. Tweet at 4 a.m.

2. Spend two hours looking in the mirror.

4. Deport the waiter at the restaurant because my food was cold.

5. Call up Vladamir just to chat.

6. Get fitted for my robe and crown

7. Have someone look for my job description……oh, just forget it, I will make it up as I go. I am very smart.

8. Appoint Clive Bundy Secretary of the Interior.

9. Order a larger mirror, but don’t pay for it.

10. What else?

Each day that trump names another terrifying nomination to a cabinet post my mood sinks to a new low and I wonder why I just shouldn’t give up?

I feel impotent. What can I do? What can we do?  Sure, I can write blogs and donate to organizations that will fight him, although I am getting a little tired of all their pleas for money: first tell me what you are going to do and then maybe I will give a little more. I can also sign petitions, but I don’t really think they are going to change anyone’s mind.  What else can one person do? All I see and hear so far is a lot of talk and words. I am frustrated.

I have heard and read several people voice that we need to organize. Fine: to do what? I am ready, but not just to hear speeches or form committees. I don’t think there is time for that. Action is needed now, but I don’t know what, who or where.

For a long time I have been bothered by the so called news reporting of television and  the internet. Also, for a long time I have avoided television news. How can a story with all its complexities be told in a sound bite? The internet is full of items which are purported to be news stories, but are in fact either outright fiction or very slanted viewpoints. I put some of the blame for this on the anonymity of the medium. I would prefer that news reporting go back to the days of the five W’s and one H: who, what, where, why and how. I do not need a reporter telling me how I should feel or think about a particular item. Give me the facts and I will make up my own mind.

Where can I find that straight forward reporting today? NPR? They are slanted, but do a better job of reporting than other sources. I have never been too excited about “The Economist,” just not my cup of tea. So, I must admit, despite what I have written in the first paragraph, that I get most of my news from the internet and also from newspapers. Newspaper reporting and the internet do not assault me like television and its hyperbole. Both newspapers and the internet allow me to pick and choose what I want to learn and their auditory onslaught is non-existent.