It’s Sunday morning here, a little after 7 AM. I’m literally at the center of our small town where I live in a Merrill Gardens senior living facility. My apartment’s on the third floor, so I have a nice view of our library and city hall. Both are in the same building. I think it’s a nice touch. Our seniors community flies our flag at the edge of our property. Just beyond, the national and state flags swirl in a light breeze. Two cars just went through our major intersection. A lone woman strides the sidewalk across the way. She moves slowly, but somehow cloaked in an aura of purpose. I watch her and find myself wondering what she’s thinking. In this small, still corner of our country, what’s decided her course, her goals, her hope?

Tomorrow my President will enter a room inhabited by Vladimir Putin and two interpreters, creating a grand total of two humans.  I say “my President” because it’s important to be constantly reminded that both men are elected. Those who elected them are now in the peculiar position of watching those same individuals slash all restraints on their personal power to assure that no one is ever elected in their stead. Or anyone is elected anywhere who does not adhere to their every whim. In the words of our President, when he speaks, everyone is to sit up straight and pay attention. In his defense, he didn’t add “or else.” Similarly, Josef Stalin never said out loud “Eastern Europe is Russian,” but he gave the effort to make it so his best shot. That’s because people like Stalin, our President, Putin, and Kim understand these things. They have an unspoken language that has no need of “us” because the whole rest of the world is “them.”  Unfortunately for him, our President is a ridiculously slow rookie in the Major Tyrants League. Our President, who advertises himself as the greatest deal-maker in history, proved that in his Singapore meeting with Kim, a creature who’d never stepped foot out of his disaster of a country until a few weeks prior to said meeting. Kim, whose biggest negotiation ever was an argument over how to tie one of his enemies to a cannon in order to blow him up. Kim won that argument – we must assume so, because the victim and his rope are presently buried here, there, and yonder – and he left Singapore the winner once more. He pantsed our President like a schoolyard bully working over the class nerd. Stripped our President down to his socks and sent him strutting back to us to brag about Asian tailoring. Our President gave Kim everything he asked for and more; we can’t even schedule joint military maneuvers with (what used to be) our South Korean allies because Kim finds the exercises offensive. Of course he finds them offensive: The theme is always resisting an attack from the north. The high-heeled tub of guts has been scheming how to pull that off all his life. And the evidence of nuclear proliferation keeps coming on. Our President just doesn’t have the weight to tangle with a Kim. He got out-lied at every turn and the President never landed one tiny fib on him.

Now we have this meeting with a truly accomplished dictator. Be sure our President will speak to Putin about the proven effort by the Russians to interfere with out electoral process. I would imagine that’s second only to providing a detailed account of his tax returns. One shouldn’t be too eager for our President to indulge in criticism of his pal, however. We have his assurances that the goal is to cultivate a friendlier relationship between the leader of the free world and a rabid monkey who murders people who vex him. In that regard, we have no proof that Putin ever personally killed anyone, nor should we misinterpret some off-hand remark like, “Get rid of that sonofabitch,” as sinister. Mistakes of this order are common currency. We have an exceptionally skilled, professional FBI agent who foolishly used email to compare some of the President’s core group to ignorant hillbillies. This could easily be misconstrued as critical of all hillbillies, which is manifestly inaccurate unless, of course, we’re referring to Congressman Go-whatever who’s both those things, one by birth, the other by sheer force of will. What we must do presently is take the President’s word that the meeting is not a prelude to surrender. And why should we not? He’s told us stranger things. And then told us he didn’t tell us. Anyhow, this may be the President’s only chance to properly lick Putin’s boots. Certain political acts require deep state secrecy. Just ask Stormy.

The most important thing is that our President’s scared spitless. I think it’s apparent Kim and Putin are role models. The President doesn’t fear them as enemies of America, he’s afraid he doesn’t have the juice to become one of them. Like any garden-variety coward, he’s kissing up. He wants to be the closest friend of the biggest thug. The President knows you can’t trust democracy. Those damned fools vote, and we have living proof of how wrong that can go. So while he’s got his international romancing on, here at home he relentlessly attacks America’s ideals and institutions. He has help. There are people here who’ll say or do anything to grab power, all the while assuring us that, once they have total command, they’ll right all the wrongs. Wrongs, incidentally, which they committed in order to seize power, such as kidnapping children and holding them for ransom to assure the immigration program of their choice. Wrongs such as polluting our waters and the very air we breathe to benefit lobbyists and the corporations they pimp for.  Wrongs such as enlisting young men and women to our military as their path to American citizenship only to discharge them for no reason other than they’re immigrants. No one, military or civilian, is identified as responsible for this illegal and shameless performance. Worse, we get this outrage from the administration of a person who sniveled out of possible military obligation by claiming he had a bone spur or some such. We can be pretty sure it wasn’t a backbone spur. In any case, the patriotic fervor of our Commander In Chief apparently shuts down cold at the prospect of personal involvement. Or confrontation with someone who’s risen to the heights of his own desire.

I’m willing to bet that soon after this meeting with Putin, the President will be looking for where to stick the knife in either the CIA or NSA. He won’t take kindly to Americans exposing the GRU and he’ll lash out at someone, for sure. I think the attack on the FBI has lost most of its charm for the President’s supporters. The enclosing walls of the investigation into who was snuggling up to the hackers are inching ever closer. One could get scorched, perhaps badly burned, and the President can’t pardon everyone, can he? The supporters desperately wanted us to believe – as they themselves pretended to – that an indiscreet FBI agent and a young lawyer were a powerful cabal determined to corrupt a national election. The failure of that effort would’ve been comedy were it not so craven. Now they need another villain. Enter the CIA. Or NSA. Logic decrees that someone was spying on our friends, the Russians, because we have proof they were spying on us. Bingo. Problem solved. Directly we’ll be hearing that those agencies must reveal all sources and techniques, just like the FBI, to the proper authority. That could be Deputy AG Rosenstein, but, truth to tell, his neck’s stretched out like the last banana on the tree. He may not be around long enough to receive anything more than a coup de grace. As a nation we’ve watched several countries pervert democracy into tyranny. This would be a very bad time to assure me it can’t happen here.