Is it April fool’s day, or am I dreaming?

 Shannon Bohrer

(4/2018) Aprils fool’s day is known as a day that people play jokes on others. If you were in coma for two years and just woke up and someone told you about our politics for the last year, what would you think? Would you say it was believable - or was this just an Aprils Fool’s joke.

Last year, political commentators from both political parties labeled President Trump an "unconventional" president – meaning they can’t explain his words and/or his actions. He made outrageous comments before the election, like the one about the town in New Jersey where Muslims supposedly celebrated in the streets after the 911 attack. Even when the police chief of the town said it did not happen, Trump stuck by his assertion that he saw it on the news. Later we were introduced to the theory of "Alternative Facts"

I understand that there are many people who still support the President and I truly feel sorry for them. Fact Check .Org listed him as the most untruthful candidate in the election, which is not something anyone should aspire to be. He also had, actually still has, a habit of saying something and then changing his mind as if he rethought the topic. However, he usually goes back to his initial position. During the campaign he said he would not sign the Paris Accords because global warming is a hoax, or just fake news. After the election he said would be taking a second look at global warming. After he was sworn in, he changed his mind again.

President Trump asserts that he would have won the popular vote, however because of the illegal votes cast he lost by 3 million votes. He asserted that 3 to 5 million votes were cast illegally. President Trump cited the Pew studies to justify his claims of voter fraud. However, the Pew studies, which do exist, never examined voter fraud. His claim of the illegal voters was deemed the lie of the year at Politifact.org. He did create an election fraud commission to examine this but the commission later disbanded - with no results.

Of course with all the controversies, the one most often reported is the interference of Russia in our elections. The president says it’s just a hoax, but has never condemned Russia for anything. In fact he talks glowingly about Putin and Russia. Just months after his inauguration, he held a private meeting with Russian officials in the White House. I say it was a private meeting because no one other than President Trump and the Russians; including the Russian press, were there. In fact the Russian press provided the American Press photographs for their news coverage. Does that count for diplomacy?

It was reported that our president gave the Russians some top secret information during the private meeting. This was at first denied, then later confirmed. Our president said it was ok to do so, because as president he has the authority to declassify anything. Our President seems to have a great fondness for Putin and the Russians. He has vilified leaders in his own party, leaders of other democratic counties, but has praised Putin and other dictators. When the Congress passed sanctions on Russia for their interference in our elections, President Trump just ignored them.

The President and the White House have repeatedly said the Russia investigation is a hoax. However the Muller investigation has resulted in six indictments of former campaign aides and white house advisers with several people indicted have already plead guilty. Thirteen Russians were also indicted. We don’t know how many people have been interviewed, but it does appear that there is something nefarious between Russia and our president. Maybe not - but there is a lot of smoke.

The Russia investigation is news every day, except when other things are so bad they go to the front page, like the White House employees with no security clearances. The employees included the President’s Daughter and his son-in-law. When this came to light, it was also reported that four countries were trying to influence Jared Kushner, his son in law. Apparently the son in-law could not qualify for top secret clearances. Sometimes when we think that things are as bad as then can be, they get worse. Mr. Kushner was also accused of having meetings at the White House and then securing loans for his businesses, with the companies he had been meeting with, in the White House.

The school shooting is Florida took some of the bad news away from the White House, but only for a day or so. The President met with congressional leaders and promised stricter gun control with background checks and age limits. He then meet with other representatives and changed his mind again. When congressional leaders were questioned about this, they responded that when he promises something, they call that the Tuesday Trump. Later, when he changes his mind they call that the Thursday Trump. These are people in his own party. The Tuesday Trump said he would sign an immigration bill and the Thursday Trump changed his mind.

It seems like every day we have conflict and problems surrounding the President, his staff or his family. The President’s daughter; Ivanka Trump has a fashion clothing business. The clothing line was dropped by Nordstrom and the President tweeted; "My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by Nordstrom. She is a great person -- always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!" The President of the United States of America can criticize an American department store, but he can’t or won’t say anything bad about Putin or Russia?

In early February of this year our military forces along with our coalition forces were attacked in Syrian, by Syrian and Russian forces. The U. S. Forces were in contact with the Russians, to prevent any conflict, and during the attack the Russians said it was not them. The U.S. then defended their coalition forces and repelled the attacks. After which, the Russians asked for time, to recover their casualties. The Russians in support of the Syrian forces attacked the US backed forces, including our troops and our President said nothing?

"Which is the true nightmare, the horrific dream that you have in your sleep or the dissatisfied reality that awaits you when you awake?" - Justin Alcala