It could have been a movie, John Wayne standing tall, indignant written all over his face, a snarl to make the mood even more meaningful, shoulders broad, dressed in a leather military jacket, poised and posed facing the enemy, all done with a stern face almost carved in stone. There was Mike Pence, standing at the DMZ facing the North Korean military, safely on the South Korean side, surrounded by the US forces as well as the South Korean military. Then Dana Bash from CNN, all straight faced, her hair pulled back in a semi pony tail, with rain gear on her body and a bit of a hood on her head, holding her microphone high, speaking in a voice as if she was detailing the next move of a professional golf tour, precise in her staccato voice, almost whispering to the audience, that Mike Pence is about to give the North Koreans the “what for”. Then just as dramatic as Mike Pence, with his pensive and perturbed stance, Dana Bash of CNN asks the camera man to scan the scene and as the camera lens faces the north, Dana Bash finds a new voice, one as if she was a ghost hunter who ended up in a haunted house and was about to let all of us know, that perhaps in the corner of the room if you look close enough you will see the demon waiting to eat you!
Mike Pence now looks directly at the CNN camera, he asked by the now demur, yet a bit disturbed Dana Bash, what is next sir. Soaking in the drama, the potential for at least two dozen sound bites, three dozen election cycle material for commercials, Mike Pence, hesitates, he inhales a hearty bit of breath, all the while looking directly into the camera, he squints his eyes, demonstrating that the question what next is REAL, is LEGIT, or perhaps he has no idea what is next because thee is no WHAT IS NEXT…but this is his moment and after a pause Mike Pence tells the audience that NO ONE FOOLS AROUND WITH TRUMP, and for good measure, Pence then reminds us of the failed policies of the previous administration…and then as if the church ceremony was over, Pence bows his head as if the rest is up to God.
Trump and Pence and their GOP comrades love a good war pretending that this war is for the survival of democracy. Yet in the USA, it seems democracy is old school thinking, rigged elections, denial of civil rights to the LGBT community, women, people of color, the poor. The divide between church and state is almost invisible, the 1% will be paying less taxes, social security, affordable health care will be demolished, and the air we breathe will become drier and less healthy. The Russians have hacked our government at all levels, and of course the Emperor and his family can only stand from their gold plates balconies and tell all of us to just eat cake. But, PR firm of Trump and Pence are quite savvy, and they understand that the invention of an enemy trumps any other concerns. Forget how illegitimate the Trump administration is and was, we got a NUCLEAR WAR coming up, and NOW that is something to think about.
