All posts by Sue Prent

About Sue Prent

Artist/Writer/Activist living in St. Albans, Vermont with my husband since 1983. I was born in Chicago; moved to Montreal in 1969; lived there and in Berlin, W. Germany until we finally settled in St. Albans.

Condemn Ralph Northam for what he did, not for what he said.

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There is no question about it, Gov. Ralph Northam certainly has a lot to answer for in his insensitivity about blackface, but it is interesting how inartfully Donald Trump avoids condemning him for that and chooses instead to focus on remarks the pediatric neurosurgeon has made with regard to life-and death decisions concerning non-viable fetuses.

As I understand it, the remarks that Republicans have chosen to seize upon in embracing the call for Northam’s resignation are the following:

“[Third trimester abortions are] done in cases where there may be severe deformities. There may be a fetus that’s nonviable. So in this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” Northam, a pediatric neurosurgeon, told Washington radio station WTOP. “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

What Northam was saying essentially, is that, if a baby comes into the world either braindead or afflicted with a birth defect so severe that it could not survive and would potentially suffer if life were extended artificially, the parents and the doctors have to make a decision of conscience about whether or not to resuscitate.

This is true of end of life decisions for braindead patients and the last hours of the terminally ill.

I think you will find that the majority of Americans agree that these decisions appropriately belong to loved ones, informed by clergy and doctors of their choice.

In this instance, Dr. Northam was just stating the painful truth.  As a pediatric neurosurgeon he would probably be the first to argue for extreme surgical intervention if there was even a chance it could succeed.

This is a stupid issue on which to prosecute the governor’s fitness for office.  

In elevating this argument so that they can make a case to demand Democrat Northam’s resignation, the GOP faithful demonstrate their utter insensitivity to the real issues of racism at the center of the controversy.

Why am I not surprised?

Vermont Justice Fails Our Values; Over-and-Over Again

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Like many other folks, ’outrage fatigue’ has distracted me from the everyday injustices that are happening right here in Vermont.  That is one of the collateral costs of the Trump circus playing out like a bad soap opera in Washington.

It’s easy to assume that, in our tiny, generally progressive state, overtly threatening racist acts and sexual exploitation are both infrequent and met with swift justice.  Would that it were so.

I am learning that Vermont justice seems ill-equipped to address these threats, even in the twenty-first century.

Case in point is the sorry tale of Kiah Morris, formerly our lone black female legislator, who was successfully felled by a self-entitled white nationalist by the name of Max Misch, who got his fondest wish when, in order to protect her family, Rep. Morris abandoned her reelection bid.

Sounds like AG TJ Donovan, who recently ran a strong campaign for Attorney General, caved like a cheap suit when Ms. Morris appealed to him for relief from Misch’s harassment.

Who buys his argument that Misch’s threatening behavior is nothing more than ‘free speech’, protected under Article one of the Bill of Rights?  I don’t.  

There is real harm in Misch’s menacing words and presence, not just to Ms. Morris and her family, but to her constituents who, it could be argued, were unjustly deprived of Ms. Morris’ future representation by a single bigot and not the electorate as a whole.  That sounds like election tampering to me.

I don’t believe that Mr. Misch should be allowed to succeed by hiding behind a key provision of our Bill of Rights, which was, after all, intended to protect the individual from abuse; not to open them up to intimidation.

AG Donovan has a lot to answer for if he fails to make a better case than this.

And while we are at it, what about the shabby job done by the Franklin County States Attorney’s office in prosecuting accused serial sexual abuser and former state senator Norm McAllister?

No thunderous “Me too” challenge here!  Instead, having outlived one of his accusers and gotten the benefit of another accuser’s unjust shame, his attorneys only had to answer for accusations from the third woman, who was a crushingly poor victim of marital abuse, low on self-esteem and easily intimidated under questioning.  The attorney for the state only managed to get the least of the counts against McAllister to stick.

After pleading guilty to the one charge of procuring and receiving a laughably light sentence, considering the predatory nature of his still-alleged history; McAllister, all-lawyered up, has now managed to get a mistrial called on even that procurement charge and is scheduled for a new trial in March.  None of McAllister’s other history of accusations from other women will be allowed to be heard at the new trial.  The poor woman who must now repeat her grueling trial experience, was first encouraged by the state’s attorney to pursue her complaint against McAllister under the belief that she would not have to stand alone.  Having witnessed her humiliating testimony first hand, it is difficult for me to believe that she will be willing to go through that again.

My guess is that the whole thing will be dismissed, a quiet footnote in the evening paper.

In other words, McAllister will, like Misch, get off scott-free.

Vermont justice, it would seem, is not just blind, but sclerotic and decidedly white-male.

Complaint Filed Against Vermont Guard

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What’s up with basing the military’s newest and most controversial fighter jet, the F-35  under operational control by a National Guard force that is, itself,  under scrutiny for corrupt behaviors?

Vermont Digger was recently taken to the woodshed for daring to investigate the Vermont National Guard with regard to systemic issues of sexual harassment, discrimination, corruption and substance abuse; but they are a prestigious regional news source and we are just a lowly blog site with no pretensions of influence; so we have have little to fear, and, arguably, an obligation to speak truth to power.

If anyone has paid attention to our postings, they will know that a number of GMD scribes have taken issue with the F-35 siting at Burlington airport.

Our questions were mainly about the safety of the densely populated urban area left at least statistically vulnerable to a disasterous crash by a minimally tested, nuclear-equipped war plane. More subtle issues of public safety, like health impacts from audio disturbance and unknown stress for aerial wildlife also concerned us. Then there was the extremely puzzling choice of Burlington over much more suitable (and willing) locations.

It appears that nothing will stop the fledgling war-dragons from descending on Burlington Airport now.  What the Guard wants, the Guard gets, and on this there simply is no political will for pushback.

With the recent scandal investigated in a series of articles by Digger’s Jasper Craven, there is even more reason to question the wisdom of the F-35 siting.  How is it prudent to hand over control of such a sensitive weapons system to a unit that has failed so recently and so conspicuously in the areas of discipline, honor and simple common sense?

Being a civilian, the conventional wisdom is that I am too ignorant even to raise questions; and I probably haven’t gotten the technical picture even half-right, from that point of view.  But if there is even a kernel of validity in the concerns that have been raised over the past few years about the siting and the process, we civilians have a right to be very worried by disciplinary failures in the Guard.

This is a rather long-winded way to segue into a complaint filed on January 4, 2019 by South Burlington attorney James Marc Leas with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  I will allow excerpts from Mr. Leas’ press release to take it from here, and will add the full text of Mr. Leas’ press release, the full complaint and links to Jasper Craven’s articles in the comments section below.

“The heavy drinking culture and severe alcohol-impairment is inseparable from the intermingling of the military jets with a densely populated civilian neighborhood,” said Leas. “Pilots cannot be expected to blast children with thousands of F-16 afterburner takeoffs each year, impairing their learning and permanently damaging their hearing, as described by the US Air Force in its 2013 Environmental Impact Statement, without negative impact on themselves,” he said. “What was revealed by VTDigger are state agency commanders and pilots awash in alcohol and operating dangerous equipment amidst the densely populated Chamberlin School neighborhood of South Burlington. A recipe for imperiling health, safety, learning, hearing, and honor.”

…Far from putting a stop to the misuse of alcohol, VTDigger reports that under the redesign of facilities for the F-35, commanders are doubling the size of the “Afterburner Club” room for alcohol abuse. Commanders and pilots appear to understand that as they increase harm to civilians, more space for alcohol abuse is needed.

Nor is the corruption limited to Guard commanders and pilots. The abuse originated in political and military leaders who pushed for routine use of the F-16 afterburner in 2008, “just in time to vastly boost ‘baseline’ noise levels to facilitate selection of the Vermont Air Guard for the F-35 in the scoping process that began in 2009,” said Leas.

The complaint notes that the culture of falsifying records mentioned in the VTDigger series is intimately related to the F-35 basing. The fourth in the VTDigger series of articles disclosed a “longstanding policy” in which Guard commanders did “a very deliberate cooking of the books.” In the VPR interview, Jasper Craven explained to VPR’s Mitch Wertlieb, “Senior officers of the Vermont Guard are also alleged to have cooked the books around their personnel numbers ‘to project an operational readiness, a sort of strength to the National Bureau, in order show that the Guard deserves continued support and the F-35.’”

…said Leas, “None of the VTDigger articles suggested wrongdoing by the enlisted women and men of the Guard–the bad apples are all at the top of the tree: the commanders, the pilots, the congressional delegation, the Burlington mayor, and the governor himself. All the bad apples must be removed and composted. The enlisted women and men in our Vermont National Guard, and the public, deserve a leadership and a culture devoted strictly to serving the people of Vermont, free of alcohol abuse, where sexual abuse, retaliation, and falsifying records has no part, and where impairing learning of children and damaging hearing are not permitted.”

 

Donald Trump: The Moscow Candidate

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What a week it has been! While federal workers continued to struggle with the Trump Shutdown, made all that more real by their first zero-sum paycheck,  two venerable news sources, the New York Times and Washington Post revealed damning evidence that Donald Trump may indeed have a sinister relationship with Russia.

It may be shocking to hear out-loud speculation from the mainstream media that the American president could be a kind of “Manchurian Candidate” for Putin’s Russia, but it can no longer be dismissed as far-fetched.  In fact, with very little effort it is possible to reconstruct one’s very own forensic trail contributing to this alarming conclusion.

As a convenience to our GMD readers and with a quick Google search, I’ve compiled a few handy links for your interest.

Searching “Trump 1987,” yields, among other things, an account from Politico that appeared in 2017. It’s very interesting; reminding us that on his first visit to Moscow, he seems to have been  cosseted by the KGB.  This has probably been mentioned many times before but deserves special attention in light of this weekend’s revelations.

In the same search, I came across a curious piece from the Hollywood Reporter claiming that, in 1988, Trump was angling for Reagan to appoint him ambassador to the Soviet Union.  I offer the link here with no idea how valid the assertion may be.

The New York Times provides an exhaustive timeline of intersections between Trump-world and Russia.  Of course it ends in December 2018, well-before the new bombshells hit, but covering Donald Trump’s indiscretions seems to be a never-ending job.

Another good read comes from New York Magazine, “What if Donald Trump has been a Russian Asset since 1987?”  It even has a pictorial chart!

Exactly how might Trump have given service to Russian handlers over the years, even before reaching the White House suggests some additional data points.  Trump has been a public fountain of misinformation through much of his adult life.

Remember the Central Park Five? What prompted the stingy mogul to invest $85,000. in advertising to gin up hatred for these wrongly accused young African American men and advocate for their execution?  This, from a man who is notoriously un-philanthropic and won’t even pay his bills on time.   Why did he appear to care so uncharacteristically much? 

One can’t help musing that this would have been an ideal way to introduce a future candidate to the hate lobby.

This was followed by accusations that President Obama wasn’t born in the U.S. and the repeated suggestion that, if the accusation was true, his presidency was illegitimate.

He let that insulting calumny hover out there in the hate realm, without an apology, long after it had been effectively debunked.

Then, leading up to the 2016 election, he repeatedly attacked the integrity of the electoral process.  Most people just assumed he was making excuses for why he would most likely lose the election, but what if this was part of Putin’s plan to delegitimize the U.S. democratic process?

Anyway,  it’s quite a pattern; and Trump himself doesn’t display the cunning or even the simple attention necessary to sustain such a prolonged assault on our norms.  It is far more likely that he is simply the corrupt vessel through which Putin has delivered poison to the very roots of American democracy.

Trump-proofing U.S. Democracy

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With the Southern District of New York essentially confirming that we have a felon for a president, the focus of pundits seems to be evolving rather quickly from can he or can’t he be indicted to what the hell happens AFTER Donald Trump.

I read an interesting, if depressing piece shared by Will Martin on Business Insider, predicting that U.S. capitalism and, more importantly, the institutions of its democracy, might be forever changed by the spreading corruption of Donald Trump.

Others are speculating that, despite Trump being exposed as the most dishonest and corrupt American president in modern history,  Democrats might actually find it difficult to unseat him should his presidency survive to 2020 for a second go-round.  Some say that the only way to defeat him is with a candidate that exceeds or at least duplicates his savage populist style.

I’ve gotta say that, if that is the case, maybe the U.S. no longer deserves democracy.

The shameless Republican Party, with one foot in the Third Reich,  has somehow succeeded in redefining basic democratic aspirations like a living wage, universal healthcare and education as “far left” pipe dreams to which only a fool would give allegiance. Why do we let tham do that?

Objectively, they haven’t a leg to stand on, having surrendered every remaining ounce of integrity in the service of the Emperor Who Wears No Clothes.  Somehow, though, our tradition of fair play, maintained only on the left, gives the toxic claims of the GOP-in-denial, equal time before the media court of public opinion.  

With an entire television outlet (Fox News) and innumerable right-wing tabloids and websites slavishly devoted to defending and promulgating even Trump’s most conspicuously false statements, why does the rest of the media even give GOP talking heads the time of day?

How is it that in the face of multiple ongoing scandals of treasonous portent, and having made innumerable xenophobic and unsavory comments, Donald Trump somehow still enjoys close to 40% approval? 

Has our national character descended so far since wartime audiences embraced “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington?”

Instead of asking the question, how can we defeat Donald Trump in 2020, we should be asking the question, how do we defeat him for all-time?

When the GOP began its assault on public education and cultural institutions, we should have paid closer attention.  We kind of let that slide.  The end result is that we have a population that is progressing toward greater ignorance, which makes them more pliant to populist extremism.

The only insurance against ignorance and lies laying waste to our democracy is a rigorous and liberal education for all.  Beyond that, we have some serious fence-repair to do in the legal framework of the presidency.

Even China has recognized the importance of education and made great strides in raising its population from poverty, so that it is now evolving into a technology giant.   

We have been doing the opposite.  There will ultimately be an overall economic price to pay for concentrating public policy on further enriching the top 1% earners at the expense of better educating the masses and elevating an informed electorate.

Banana Republic or Docent of Democracy?  The choice is ours alone to make.

Norm McAllister Reappears in the #Me too Moment

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Apparently, Norm McAllister is back in the dock, pursuant to a civil case brought by one of the three women who accused him of sexual assault and procurement.

You may recall that one of the women passed away before the states attorney’s office could bring her case against McAllister to trial.

A second woman, who was a minor when McAllister allegedly attacked her repeatedly, was extremely reluctant to be dragged into public testimony.  When she was finally forced to testify, the sordid details and public humiliation proved too great for her.  In a classic “blame the victim” moment, she was confronted with her own behavior, and fibbed about kissing another young employee at the McAllister farm.   

I suspect no one had warned her that she, the victim, would stand trial rather than the alleged perpetrator who was never required to utter a word.

Her allegations were abruptly abandoned by the prosecution and McAllister faced a sole accuser who was also a poor farmhand with a sketchy past. The jury chose to believe the denials of Senator McAllister over her extremely credible testimony about multiple instances of sexual exploitation and abuse.  Perhaps unable to completely exonerate McAllister in their collective mind, the jurors did convict on a single count of procurement.

Mr. McAllister is now seeking to reverse even that single count as he awaits a brief incarceration. but because the deal he agreed to had him admitting guilt in that single count of procurement, the accuser’s civil cases for damages against him was allowed to proceed.

It is that civil case that is now before the court, citing nine counts, per the following:

.sexual harassment in the workplace

.unfair housing practices

.abuse of power and authority by a public figure

.assault

.battery

.negligent infliction of emotional harm

.breach of warrant of habitability

Naturally, McAllister’s attorney, Bob Katims, seeks to have the civil case stayed pending the outcome of his appeal of the criminal conviction; but the plaintiff’s attorney,  Evan Barquist makes the case that Mr. McAllister points out that the plaintiff has been awaiting justice since 2016.

The plaintiff’s attorney, Evan Barquist, argued the case should move forward. Barquist said McAllister waived his right to avoid self-incrimination by testifying during his criminal trial. Barquist said, “He can’t unwaive them now.”

One can only reflect that, with former senator, Norm McAllister, Franklin County met and failed it’s “Me too” moment, two years ahead of the rest of the country. 

The whole experience has highlighted prevailing winds of misogyny and cowardice that buffet even tiny Franklin County’s Republican delegation. 

To quote our Abuser-in-Chief:  “Sad.”

The Enigma of GOP outrage

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A campaign flunky for Don Turner has turned his righteous indignation toward the least likely senate candidate from Franklin County. Talk about choosing a soft target!

Isn’t it interesting that, attached as he is to the campaign of proud Donald Trump supporter and candidate for Lieut. Gov, Don Turner, Shayne Spence somehow managed to muster outrage over a tasteless joke made several years ago by Franklin County senate candidate Dustin Tanner. The fact that Mr. Spence proudly boasts of going to great lengths to ferret out a questionable tidbit speaks volumes about Mr. Spence’s own rather icky character, but that is beside the point.

What surprises me is that Mr. Turner’s prospects apparently are so dim that his campaign staff has nothing better to do than waste time “getting something” on a Franklin County novice who hasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell against the Franklin County Republican Machine, oiled as it is with outside donations from the likes of “hate donors” like Carol and Tom Breuer and the bashful Ms. Lenore Broughton.

The County Courier, predictably a water carrier for the GOP, leapt on the meager “scandal” like a starving dog on a rubber chicken, gleefully embroidering the story with feigned outrage. I can’t share a link to the mighty Courier’s two full pages of coverage, because there is none, but we’re talking molehill-to-mountain proportions. Slow news days can stretch into months for the Courier.

This leads me inevitably to ask, where was the outrage when disgraced Senator Norm McAllister stood credibly accused of multiple acts of sexual assault, including violation of a minor? Surely The VGOP and the County Courier could have mustered a little more sensitivity for the victims, all of whom were not only dependent on him for their economic survival, but also politically dependent on him as his constituents. Surely the weak exploited by the powerful makes for greater indignation than a sophmoric standup routine.

Republicans try desperately to avoid responsibility for their own all too frequent acts of gross misogyny, but whenever someone from the other side of the aisle transgresses, they are all over the outrage even as Democrats are manning up and taking their medicine.

Now repeat after me, Mr. Spence:

“Hey-hey. Ho-ho. Kavanaugh has got to go!”

The Party of Old White Men Gets It Wrong AGAIN.

National, Uncategorized

It was a fool’s mission, but I used to cling to the hope that common decency would prevail in the GOP.  

So many abdications of congressional oversight have occurred recently that its hard to know what deserves priority in our outrage.   Republicans just cluck like an indulgent mother while their Darling Boy continues to smash half-a-century of progress with petulant abandon.

On the one hand, abusing his power to serve his own interests at the expense of national security is nothing new for this president.  On the other hand, even Nixon wouldn’t have declassified FBI intelligence docs in the midst of an ongoing investigation of his own White House.

But the apex of GOP irresponsibility has got to be their determination to ram through Kavenaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation before the October session, regardless of credible questions about his character.

Even before Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations of attempted rape came to light, there were unanswered questions about Judge Kavenaugh’s truthfulness, as well as evidence that he should not be trusted with decisions involving the rights of either women or minorities.  The fact that massive numbers of documents from his judicial history have been withheld from Democratic scrutiny in the confirmation process is sufficient to raise suspicions that the man is even more unsuitable than we even imagine.

I remember the days when any hint of discernible partisanship in the record of an SCOTUS candidate would prevent him or her from even being put forward as a nominee.  Both parties recognized that if partisanship gained a foothold on the nation’s highest court, it would be the end of justice as we have come to known it in America.

Even when non-partisanship began to slip away, presidents from both parties continued to at least pay lip service to that ideal.

As with other aspects of his misbegotten presidency, Trump isn’t even trying to be subtle in his efforts to rig the court so that he can ensure he holds onto power for a second term.  That’s all that matters to him now.  He doesn’t believe in anything; doesn’t have any overarching values; and he doesn’t care what happens to the country so long as he gets his.

The GOP has so thoroughly prostituted itself to the quixotic tyranny of his venal desires that there will be no going back when he finally is uprooted from the Oval Office.

There are slightly more women than men in the U.S., but Republicans seem disinterested in the female half of the population other than to limit their self-determination, healthcare and compensation levels.  In the long run, the philosophical misogyny and xenophobia of the GOP are headed for a nasty collision with demographics, no matter how hard they try to rig the system.

That’s little comfort to women and minorities who must live through the last reign of the Republican Party.

What will happen when a Supreme Court packed by the far right in defiance of consensus inevitably comes into conflict with majority public opinion?  Let me tell you, it won’t be pretty!

Lifetime appointment?  Not so fast!  While there originally were very good reasons for an indefinite term of office, those reasons must now be scrutinized in the new light provided by an administration at war with the very spirit of our constitution.  

Justices can be impeached just as presidents can; and, as we are constantly reminded now, impeachment is a political process, not a legal one.  How’s that going to work out for Judge Kavenaugh, once the Court has been permanently diminished by his ill-considered elevation?

What has Corey Parent got that Carol Breuer wants? Chapter 2.

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Franklin County candidate for state senate, Corey Parent presents himself reasonably enough, as a “local boy,” “family man” and someone who “reaches across the aisle;” but you have to ask yourself why Tom and Carol Breuer, big time far-right conservative donors who have been especially active in opposing gay rights in Massachusetts, have been contributing heavily to Parent, in particular, over the course of the past two election cycles.

Some may recall a blogpost about Parent and the Breuers that I wrote way back in 2016 when I first was made aware of their oversized support for Parent, who ran successfully in that election for the House.

That targeted support suggests to me that Parent is being groomed as another handmaid of the religious right, which, as we have seen on the national stage, is less interested in cooperating in order to do the people’s business than it is in arresting the evolution of our diverse democracy toward more progressive and inclusive policies.

This does not make me want Parent to climb that next rung of the ladder into the state senate.

Surely the folly of promoting individuals backed by the far right has more than proven itself since Donald Trump took the White House by questionable means.

I’m sorry if this sounds harsh, but here is where it all begins.  Local candidates strike the contribution mother load, then bind themselves ever tighter to an exclusionary special interest, as they rise in political fortune on a sea of easy cash.  

For me, this is not what the democratic process should be all about.

Is Donald Trump too ugly for a presidential bobblehead?

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I was trolling around the White House Giftshop website, trying to find out what became of those commemorative coins Trump ordered to celebrate his “historical” (read: “hysterical”) meeting with Kim Jong-un.  In case you, too, were wondering, they ship August 30.

My question answered, TrumpChristmasBobble-7TI came across something infinitely more entertaining: the first in a a new series of Presidential Christmas Bobbleheads , representing (you guessed it) the current Bobble-Head-in-Chief.  Amusing as that may be for obvious reasons, a picture of the novelty gave rise to all-out hilarity around our house which I thought I’d share with our generally glee-less readership.

Now I ask you to be the judge.  Look at the slim youthful figure, luxuriant blonde hair and boyish grin.  That’s the spitting image, not of Donald J. Trump, but of Bill Clinton on his first campaign, before he put on that “freshman fifteen” pounds in the Oval Office.

Then I read the promotional text, cut-and-pasted here for full effect:

Donald John Trump became the 45th President of the United States on Friday, January 20, 2017. He was sworn in with his left hand on both his personal and also on the Lincoln Bible. Trump’s path to the presidency was long and reasoned. Intimations of his presidential potential appeared as early as 1987 when a large group of supporters gathered outside a Rotary Club meeting in New Hampshire and waved signs: Trump for President and Trump in ’88.

We have chosen three symbols to represent President Donald J. Trump’s first White House Christmas:

1. The Christmas Tree represents Trump’s campaign promise to evangelical Christians, “We’re going to start saying Merry Christmas again.”

2. The portrait of Abraham Lincoln represents President Trump’s respect for Lincoln as the quintessence of American Presidents. As Trump stated, “I can be more presidential than any president … except for Abraham Lincoln.”

3. The diorama scene with President Trump in the State Dining Room at hearth and fireplace represents President Trump’s entrepreneurial spirit and iconic successes in the hotel and hospitality industry. The hearth is redolent of the fire that heats a home as well as suggestive of Trump’s enormous passions as entrepreneur and now as President of the United States.

We hope you will enjoy this first diorama in your new, ongoing, and sophisticated limited edition diorama collection of the White House Gift Shop, Est. 1946 by permanent memorandum of President Harry S. Truman and volunteers of U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division.

Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings

Anthony Giannini, Executive Director

The White House Gift Shop, Est. 1946®

Mr. Giannini is also credited as the creator of the series, but formatting clumsiness and errors in the overblown text suggest that, if Donald Trump didn’t actually compose it himself, one of his “best people” was in charge of the roll-out.

(By the way; why was Trump’s left hand on his “personal” and the Lincoln bible?   Doesn’t that mean he was touching his “personal” to the Lincoln bible?  ‘Must violate more than a few archival rules, I would think!)

‘Hope this turns that frown upside down.  Happy Tuesday.