By Raul Hernandez
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It’s the first day of 2016; the sun is shining in Southern California.
I get up, make coffee, turn on the television to see if any lunatic set off something, somewhere in the world or whether another video showed up of a cop beating or shooting another unarmed suspect.
There is yet another roundtable of talking heads/political pundits yakking away about Donald Trump. The roundtables are endless.
I turn off the TV.
I’m a news junkie but it’s too early to watch the Trump Show.
Rummaging through the Internet, I run into these headlines. Trump’s name is splashed all over the Internet’s news sites.
“Here’s Where Donald Trump Could Take The GOP In 2016 And is it too late for the Republicans to get off the ride?” and this: “Trump’s New Year’s resolution: Win the Presidency”
And this headline, which states: “Donald Trump Thanks Conspiracy Site For ‘Amazing Honor’ Of Being Its Man Of The Year.”
Back to the TV – more of the same: TV pundits continue to dissect, dismantle and analyze what America’s political Captain Kirk, aka Donald Trump, is saying.
It is as though he is some kind of an Egyptian enigma, and they are just starting to decipher the political hieroglyphs, going where no man has ever gone before.
It’s really not that complicated, not at all.
Captain Kirk is taking the country’s gullible, its fools and racists and lifetime underachievers and losers to a distance planet, a far removed galaxy, free of facts where he spoon feeds them his version of reality.
And, they love it! They are lapping it up — applause, whistles and shouts of “Trump! Trump! Trump!”
Captain Kirk promises the faithful to “Make America Great Again.” The pep talks, however, are occasionally interrupted by hecklers. Trump’s goons with encouragement from his followers cart the hecklers away while some of his drones utter angry curse words at the disrupters.
Most simply write-off the heckler bumps and bleeps as part of the show on an otherwise smooth and happy ride aboard the Trump Starship.
But many more of his supporters would prefer a time machine. One that would take them back to those days in the 1950s. The Happy Days of yesteryear when the Beav’s mom, June Cleaver, wore high heels and pearls while vacuuming the house. June at that time was PMS free and seemed to waltz around the house from room to room. She was as sweet as apple pie, and so were her chipper chimes when she called The Beav or Wally.
And, of course, who could forget the pipe-smoking Ward Cleaver who wore plain-manila business suits, drove a Plymouth, worked for a New York City “trust company” and loved to golf at the country club.
Oh yeah, Americans yearns for those wonderful years. Those delicious decades before the country was hijacked by liberals, scratch that — godless progressives. A time when things were separate yet very equal. When there were black and white drinking fountains and when Eisenhower sent elements of the 101st Airborne Division to desegregate a high school in Little Rock.
That epic bookmark in our nation’s history when whites had already logged those frequent flyer miles of more than 200 years of unabated Affirmative Action.
Sometimes, I wonder if Trump’s minions ever wonder whether their guy is flashing signs of dementia or whether they really believe it is normal for a guy running for president of the greatest nation in the world to act like a drunk uncle. A relative who believes he is insightful and funny and works a crowd as though he was at the Laugh Factory.
But then, the majority of the GOP, including 60 percent of Trump’s supporters, believe that Obama was born in Kenya and is a Muslim. So why would they ever bother to wonder about anything Trump says?
Basically, they’re in good political hands. Captain Kirk also promised to keep the monsters he created at bay with walls and revoking their visas.
More applause, whistles and cheers: “Trump! Trump! Trump!”
Captain Kirk is putting political points up faster than the scoreboard on a pinball machine.
Other Americans say they are fed up with Trump 24/7 and of the constant, nonstop political head shrinking of Captain Kirk by the TV Talking Heads.
But as soon as Trump approaches a microphone, CNN, MSNBC and Fox, which is Trump Central, pry themselves from the “Breaking News,” drop everything on the large screens and cover Trump, his hecklers and converts.
Trump is definitely not dull. Not a bit. He tells it like it is. Yes, he does and the residuals pay handsomely for others. Fear mongering is good for TV profits and ratings. America is defined by its fears.
CNN and the other networks bragged about the ratings they got after Captain Kirk appeared on the debate stage with the others, the, huh, other GOP candidates.
Should people be afraid of Donald Trump’s bigotry and crude comments and remarks? No. Of course, not. If the party of Lincoln and Reagan picked him as their nominee, Trump would be trounced by Hillary.
Also there is the other side of America. The one that elected Obama twice and is growing. And, these voters, especially women and minorities, will show up at the polls in droves. Thanks to Captain Kirk.
Bottomline and simply put: Many of the Trump fearful are scared to death of America’s changing demographics, the minority population is growing, and it’s making millions of them squirm more than a little bit.
In California, its already happened. Whites are the minority, and the state hasn’t gone underwater yet or fallen into the ocean.
In 2014, Latinos will surpass whites as largest racial/ethnic group in California, according a January 2014 article published in the Pew Research Organization
California has many problems but it’s vibrant and progressive state for the most part. It has a white mayor, Jerry Brown, a billion- dollar surplus, a strong economy and very strict environmental and gun laws.
Tomorrow is day two of the New Year — And, Trump in ten, nine, eight, seven, six…..
(UPDATE CORRECTION: I stated that California has a billion-dollar deficit. That is incorrect. It is a billion-dollar surplus)
The Lone Star State — America’s Bouncy House
From the state that gave the nation Ted Cruz, Gov. Greg Abbott, Louie Gohmert, Blake Farenthold, Rick Perry and other statesmen comes Open Carry.
As of Friday, Texans can carry weapons in public.
BTW: This is the Gov. Abbott who asked the Texas National Guard to keep on eye on the U.S. Army’s training exercises in the Lone Star State to make sure Obama wasn’t up to something —psst: a takeover of Texas.
I kid you not.
Guns permits are soaring in Texas
The New York Times reported Friday: “Armed Texans Celebrate State’s New Open-Carry Status.”
“More than 40 states allow some form of open carry. But Texas will become the most populous open-carry state, and the public nature of the debate and vote has produced measures of elation, anxiety and confusion over the new law,” the Times reported stated.
For the record: 70 percent of Texas’ police chiefs are against this Open Carry law.
My Friends and Open Carry
Having lived in El Paso a good chunk of my life and gone barhopping with some very good and very rambunctious friends, I wouldn’t feel safe if anyone of them decided to open carry any weapons while we are out on the town. This includes slingshots, throwing stars, swords and flame throwers, which are legal.
Side note: Flame throwers are legal in the USA and people are buying them, according to an August 2015 CNN report.
“Flamethrowers were gruesome weapons of war and so controversial that the U.S. military stopped using them after Vietnam,” the CNN report said.
Cue the “Dueling Banjos” music from the movie, “Deliverance” and check out this Youtube video posted in November of last year:
Happy Open Carry Day, Texas! Now, Meet the Huey Newton Black Panther Party Gun Club in Dallas