Teflon Man

There appeared to be some light in the effort to hold Donald Trump accountable for decades of shady business practices, first and foremost lying about his assets and their valuations in order to receive preferential loans from lenders.

Unlike you or I, no one questioned him. Lenders took him (and his claims) at face value. Imagine. His well-known reputation as an inveterate liar was somehow pushed off to the side and forgotten.

But just as a case seeking to prosecute Trump for these actions was gaining traction, Alvin Bragg, the District Attorney for New York County, has stepped in and announced he has “doubts” about the case. Doubts which provoked its two lead prosecutors, Carey R. Dunne and Mark F. Pomerantz, to abruptly resign after years of work.

That the timing of this is incredibly suspicious goes without saying. What were you offered, Alvin? Or perhaps more to the point: what were you threatened with?

With apologies to Ronald Reagan, it must be asked: is Donald Trump the real Teflon president? Trump's repeated dodges of consequence call to mind the expression “I'd rather be lucky than good.”

But is he that lucky? Really?

To put it mildly, I am not a fan. He is the most contemptuous public figure of my lifetime. More plainly, I wouldn't wipe my ass with him. His recent endorsement of Vladimir Putin again confirms the emptiness and blackness of his soul. 

If Donald is the question, a lingering, painful death is the answer.

That being the case, I'm trying to conceive of the irony in having a core Republicant tenet turned against them. Namely, the rash of 'Stand Your Ground' legislation awaiting passage in red states across the country.

To anyone with a half a brain, these statutes legalize murder, permitting anyone who feels “threatened” to unload the contents of their AR-15 assault rifle into the torso of the alleged offender.

With just one side of the story available in court, feel free to hazard a guess as to the outcome.

Just for fun, imagine a red state resident who feels threatened by Donald Trump. Does that mean a resident of, say, Florida, can buy an AR-15 assault rifle and empty the contents of the gun's magazine into said threat?

Ah, what delicious irony.

Alas, the phalanx of taxpayer-funded Secret Service protection Donald and his family enjoys into perpetuity makes that a remote possibility at best.

But in the face of such an execrable man, the thought alone is a comfort.

And these days, I'll take whatever comfort I can get.