Teddy Roosevelt Would Thrash the Cad

It is an old term. Woodrow Wilson told some reporters that if they did not quit reporting on his first wife Ellen Wilson he would thrash them. It makes us think of a man with gloves slapping another man or someone whipping someone else. The technical definition is to beat someone with a stick or a whip. In the old Victorian sense of the word someone was thrashed for a slight on insult or an injury to honor. A thrashing was the warm up for a duel the ultimate settling of a slight. So now we really have a situation where someone needs to be thrashed.

Maybe Jeffry Lord on CNN should be thrashed for saying it is alright to imply that women are menstruating everywhere and bleeding from everywhere. Theodore Roosevelt would thrash Lord for that if not beat him to a pulp. Roosevelt confronted more than a few men who implied he was a coward and demanded retribution and even offered himself available for a duel. He in fact bought dueling pistols when he was a student at Harvard.

Another great word is cad. Definition: a man who misbehaves dishonorably especially toward a woman.  Cads are always thrashed sooner or later. There were certain lines that were not to be crossed. And when they were crossed the cad was thrashed. Lord says equality demands that men and women be treated equally and women should be able to take being insulted by powerful men.

What a cad.

Forging a President

The Secret Presidency of 1919 Could Happen Again

Whenever there is a vacuum of power someone moves in. When Woodrow Wilson fell ill in 1919 Edith Wilson took over and the ran the government for two years. No one knew and most people still don't. I am amazed at how many people know nothing about the Edith Wilson presidency. But lets take our current president. Donald Trump does not read. At all. He does not like complicated facts or data. His attention span is 140 characters. He exists in bytes and television  and delegates off everything except the bold command. That means there is a HUGE power vacuum because after the initial awe inspiring order there are the details. Like the immigration order Bannon worked up. It is just the beginning.

The point is the 25th amendment that calls for the vice president to take over if the president cannot fulfill his duties will never get invoked. Trump will continue to skate on the ice leaving Bannon and others down below to enact policy. It is in the details after all as we can see from this weekends fiasco. The Secret Presidency does not necessarily have to involve someone becoming enfeebled or ill. Someone could have no real interest in the job itself.

And that is Donald. After his game of RISK he grows bored. Make the bold statement. YOU'RE FIRED. A WALL. BAN THE MUSLIMS. Then go play golf or goof around in Trump Towers. Power lies with those who grab it. A short attention span and an addiction to drama is a perfect setup for a man who wants to smash the Means of Power.

 Don't you think so...comrade?   

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

                                                                                                                                                                                

The Hangover That Won't Quit

You wake up and there is something wrong. You feel like you were drinking the night before. A heaviness that pulls you down. A dark cloud on your soul. What the hell was in that drink? And then your head clears and you realize that you didn't drink a thing. You went to bed early not believing the television. Like a thunderclap it comes to you and you don't quite believe it. Not really. Maybe a bad dream but no... it is true.

You go back to the thousand conversations. All those hours watching debates. Your remember thinking that at least it was good television and that eventually the serious candidates would take over. But then there was that night. You just stared at the television and watched the walls fall down. It was like a virus taking over the electoral map. How could all that red subsume all that blue. But it did.

Finally you could watch no more. You woke hoping that somehow someway it was a mistake. No the electoral college had done in America. The popular vote told the tale but it didn't matter. The  man who no one could fathom ever getting close to the presidency had just been elected. You might as well start drinking because the four year hangover has just begun.

Better get some ice.

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

Madam President Will Need a New Deal

FDR put through the New Deal because he knew the country was about to go into revolution. Doug McArthur had fired on the Bonus Army marchers and there were people who said capitalism didn't work for the many and the Russians had the right idea. Communism was more equitable. Even manufacturing understood this and one of their motivations for giving the Chicago Worlds Fair of 1933 millions of dollars and showcasing their goods was to get the country buying again and to keep it from going "Bolshevik".

The Brits just took a turn to the hard right. Not unlike what the Germans did when a paper hanger failed art student giving speeches in beer halls told them the Jews were to blame for their economic woes and he would give them back their pride and their country. And we have the Donald aping that paper hanger and promising to restore America back to her place. Close the borders and batten down the hatches and the jobs will return.

It doesnt matter if he is wrong Madam President has to recognize the  boat is top heavy and go bold with  New Deal type of programs to get people to not go down Britain's path. There is too much money at the top and it has drained the middle class. The great irony is a man worth ten billion dollars is claiming he can right the ship. A thousand families could live on his fortune for years. If he really wants to make America great, he could give back all that money. Short of that, Madam President should take a page from FDR and take note of a Britain that is no longer Great.

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson