Two thousand years ago, the procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, asked Jesus, “What is truth?” Jesus was on trial for treason, a capitol offense under the Roman occupation of the area they called Palestine. Was Pilate’s interrogative that of a district attorney’s probing of an accused individual? Was Pilate merely being philosophical and probing the ontological questions of reality? Or was his question that of a skeptic who had become soured on life and any notion of virtue?
What was Jesus’ reply? There was none (John 18:38). And the rest is history.
Some things apparently never change; at least in the heart of man. We moderns fancy ourselves as better than the ancients, but actually man hasn’t changed in millennia, just his technology. An example is our loathsome media and the craven Washington establishment who pursued prurient rumors about Trump for eight months. Finally, out of desperation, CNN’s Jake Tapper mentioned the made up stories and then two hours later BuzzFeed published all thirty-five pages of the salacious “fake news.”
In the run-up to the November election an establishment Republican campaign operative obtained fake stories about Trump and sent them to the CIA. John McCain sent an aid to Europe for a copy of the same stories and gave them to the FBI. One begins to understand the depravity that is now present in all agencies of our government. A recent secret intelligence meeting with Trump was leaked to the media forcing Mr. Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, in an unprecedented statement, to disavow leaks from the intelligence community. He also expressed “profound dismay” with the bogas and salacious “golden shower” material. I refuse to call this tripe a dossier, a term used by the media.
We’ve just gone through a contentious and momentous election cycle where Americans chose a different direction for the country. It is evident that Washington hasn’t changed, yet. Obama’s policies were repudiated by the election rendering his farewell address a study in irrelevance. Some have said Obama’s statements that the economy is improved – despite 95 million Americans out of work – and that race relations in America are better, “delusional.” And despite Jill Stein’s ridiculous vote recounts, rampant fake news in the media, protests by anarchists, and Hollyweirds like Meryl Streep (who lives and works in a fantasy world), change is coming. Actually, I liked Ms. Streep much better when she “had a farm in Africa.”
Some years ago a friend asked me to name the branches of government. Having survived many exams in college and medical school, I knew this was a rhetorical question. I said the Constitution outlines three branches of government: Executive (President), Legislative (Congress) and the Judiciary (Courts). He replied, “Yes, but you must also add the fourth branch of government – the entrenched bureaucrats and government workers throughout the vast Washington establishment. If you think these follow the lead of the President, especially if he’s a Republican, you might be delusional as well. Fortunately, a new sheriff is coming to town and bringing with him a cabinet of people, who like Trump, are already successful and don’t need a job like Al Franken, the erstwhile comic Senator from Minnesota. You can expect the swamp to be drained because people proven to be competent and successful know how to manage people.
The establishment and media still don’t understand that they can’t bully the man from Queens. Trump can’t be emasculated by the group-speak of political correctness. He can’t be destroyed by the harpies of CNN and the main-stream media. He is not beholden to campaign donors, the Chamber of Commerce boys or even the Republican Party, especially establishment types like the antiquated John McCain.
The Bushs and the Clintons are gone. Obama is irrelevant, and the disgusting media is no match for people of substance, real life experience and vision. And if you doubt that change is coming, Google Ted Cruz’s testimony of the Judiciary Committee’s hearings of Jeff Sessions. Cruz eviscerated committee Democrats who disparaged Jeff Sessions, and who previously said nothing about illegal sanctuary cities, Obama’s $2 billion ransom to Iran and releasing dangerous terrorists from Gitmo, etc. Hypocrisy is as rampant in Washington as it is in Hollywood.
In an ideal world facts would be collected, organized into compendiums of working knowledge and used honestly and wisely to approach the notion of truth. I guess it is good that the New York Times, the leader of the media, now says they will no longer use fake news which they and others have used to try and destroy the outsider Trump.
Yet, the desperate media continues with the fake news that Russians hacked the November election, though the only evidence we have is that the Russians hacked the Democrat Party and John Podesta’s email; Podesta’s password was “password!” You can’t fix stupid. It doesn’t surprise me that foreign governments or their operatives would try to hack our computer networks. We try to hack theirs. The issue is the disturbing content of Podesta’s and the DNC’s emails, more so than the actual hack. Whining Democrat operatives, formally known as the major news media, refuse to discuss this fact.
Despite all the fake news and dishonesty, there is a new sense of hope reflected in rising consumer confidence, increases in construction activity, jobs staying in America or coming home and the “Trump bump” in the stock market. And as I pen this essay, my daughter, son-in-law and my new grand daughter, Cleo, have come home for a visit! They live in Portland, Oregon, and we now have to share them at Christmas and holidays. I love my hometown of Knoxville, but, if I may put in a plug for Portland, it’s a great place to visit.
I’ve said many times that essays find me. I didn’t have a conclusion for this polemic until today. I was keeping a sick granddaughter while my wife was getting her hair highlighted. All was well until the grand child woke up with inconsolable crying and a patient of mine arrived at my door with pneumonia, diagnosed as I held my crying granddaughter on my shoulder.
As I made arrangements with a colleague to admit Mr. Jones to the hospital, I thought to myself, “I can still multitask.” And I have no doubt Mr. Trump can as well.
