A Tiger Named Trump, Part Two

I originally posted “A Tiger Named Trump” on August 31, 2016, (beingbornblack@wordpress.com) before Candidate Donald J. Trump became President Donald J. Trump. As we witness “unprecedented events ” unfold each and every day, I have decided to revisit this post especially in light of the quote by former President John F. Kennedy,”…those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside (of the tiger).” I was amazed and hopefully you will be too, if you read or re-read about “Candidate Trump” four years ago and compare it to “today” as President Trump , now with salt and pepper shakers in hand, prepare to devour those who rode to power “on the back of the tiger” named Trump.

Breaking News…Trump Pardons Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Charles Kushner in Another Pardoning Spree reads the front page story of the Huffpost dated December 23, 2020. More “Breaking News” as dated Christmas Eve, December 24, 2020 at 7:29 am by CBS News…“Democrats will try to approve $2,000 direct checks, putting Republicans on the spot.” There exist no need to go over all the breaking news stories from than 300,000 souls loss to COVID-19 during the past nine months or rhe most recent cyberattacks by Russia (China if you believe the president). Maybe you are a “mask wearer” or a in self-denial as to COVID-19, after all it is your choice. Your choice affect your views as it relates to attempts to vaccinate 330 million Americans under a quasi quarantine or how the economy is in a free fall down to the very pit of hell. In the mean time “unprecedented events” continue to unfold in real time every second, moment and day as we count down to January 20, 2021 at 12 noon. As the old folks back inthe day would say, “You aint’t seen nothing yet.” As the final chapter of “The Art of the Deal” is being re-written this time by President Donal Trump and the final season of “The Apprentice” is played out for the entire world to see, we find that the band is playing on.

While listening to presidential historian, John Mitchum, attempting to decipher the most recent actions of President Trump’s “pardoning spree”, I was somewhat surprise that he highlighted Trump’s motives about playing to his base, holding up the much needed stimulus relief legislation and pay raises for our troops over “naming rights” for military bases. Others on the panel speculated how President Trump probably couldn’t name one Confederate General while Mitchum confirmed what I have been writing for sometime that the “Civil War” continues. As President Trump builds the “gallows” for President-elect Joe Biden, his sinister plot may result in him standing on the very gallows meant for Biden. I conclude with a question by Joseph N. Welch put to Joseph McCarthy during the Army-McCarthy Hearings. “At long last, have you (McCarthy-Trump) no sense of decency?” Keep riding the tiger.

COVID-19 and The Cold Within

Six humans trapped by happenstance, in bleak and bitter cold. Each one possessed a stick of wood or so the story’s told.
Their dying fire in need of logs, the first man held his back. For of the faces round the fire, he noticed one was black.
The next man looking cross the way, saw one not of his church, and couldn’t bring himself to give the fire his stick of birch.
The third one sat in tattered clothes, he gave his coat a hitch. Why should his log be put to use, to warm the idle rich?
The rich man just sat back and thought, of the wealth he had in store, and how to keep what he had earned, from the lazy shiftless poor.
The black man’s face bespoke revenge, as the fire passed from his sight, for all he saw in his stick of wood, was a chance to spite the white.
The last man of this forlorn group, did nought except for gain. Giving only to those who gave, was how he played the game.
Their logs held tight in death’s still hands, was proof of human sin. They didn’t die from the cold without, they died from the cold within.

James Patrick Kinney

I couldn’t help but think on the more than 300,000 lives lost during the past nine months or longer to COVID-19 as James Patrick Kinney’s poem, The Cold Within, came into my mind. I had used the poem once before in a previous blog post, as Kinney’s words gave a new meaning to the word “cold”. I recall the admonition of Martin Luther King, Jr, when he said “we shall all live together as brothers are we shall all perish together as fools.” I don’t recall who said when one person dies, especially one of your loved ones, “it is a tragedy,” (to us) but when thousands of people die, they are (to us) “statistics’’. Over the last four years we as a nation and as individuals have become “numb” or to use spiritual jargon, Love has waxed “cold.” Mathew 24:12 KJV. It is not my intentions to challenge your belief, because we all as humans believe in “something” or “someone”. Half the country believe the 2020 Election was won by President Donald Trump, and the other half believe that President-elect, Joe Biden won the election fair and square. Where you stand on the political issues depend upon where you sit at the table of your heart and your core beliefs. We all have a “stick of wood” in our hand as we experience the coldness of man’s heart towards each other. Some think and believe that COVID-19 is a “hoax” while others believe the virus is real and deadly. Some refuse to wear a mask citing the infringement upon their rights and privileges, while others don’t leave home without it (the masks).
When I started my blog, beingbornblack@wordpress.com more than five years ago, I frequently wrote how America, the home of the brave and the land of the free, was a divided nation. Yes former President Barack Obama’s speech about “Reds States versus Blue States” sounded good to our ears and eventually paved the way for Obama’s subsequent two terms in Office as our president who happen to be black. I always call into play one of the old classic cartoons, where one character cited the “Civil War” and the other character called it the “War Between the States”. The cartoon character would fight it out just over the naming rights of the war where over 600,000 died. Even today more than 150 years later American History still can’t agree on what the war was all about. Was it really to free the slaves, or was it all about “States’ Right” and the mighty dollars since slavery was a four billion dollar business when the war first broke out in the halls of the United States Senate. If you think we have a divided Congress and country today, it will serve you well to review the events before the “shot heard around the world” was fired at Fort Sumter. There existed an entire US Senate of “Grim Reapers” back in 1861 before the start of the American Civil War or The War Between The State.

COVID-19 doesn’t care which side of the divide you choose to take your stand on, whether you call it the Civil War or the War Between the States. We are all free to choose our choice, but we are not free to choose the consequence. COVID-19 doesn’t care if you are Republican or Democrat, black, yellow, red, or white. Everyone is equal in COVID-19’s sight. Sure the more than 300,000 deaths in this great super power of the world called the United States (emphasis on “United) have undressed the underbelly of the inequities of our day, striking those who are deprived, economically, socially and politically, but the bottom line is that COVID-19 claims the young and the old, the ” Phd’s and the “no D’s” and everyone in between.. Unlike man, this pandemic has no respect of color or culture, continent, or character or the rich or the wretched. It just does.t care.

As we prod along during this dreadful and dark cold winter, anxiously awaiting the exit of 2020 we are looking forward hopefully to live another day, and another, week, month, or year. The coldness all around us have made us “numb” to this “new normal.”. Each and every individual has a “stick” or log in his or her hand. We have the freedom of choice and can choose this day what to do and which way to go. The choice is ours, the consequence is not.