Anyone who has ever owned a car and has been too poor to replace it before it breaks has gone through the often agonizing repair-versus-replace argument. Are the costs of repairing and maintaining the vehicle greater than the cost of a new car?

This is the argument that’s beginning to emerge between “the extremists” and the “middle of the roaders.”

I consider Trumps and his followers AND the Democratic Socialists of America, the DSA, to be extremists. They claim that things (congress, law enforcement, social programs, foreign relations, etc.) are not working and should be replaced. Those in the middle often agree with the premise that “things are broken,” but they want to fix them using the vehicles available to us under the current system (the Constitution, courts, laws, policies, precedents, etc.).

I am very much on the side of those in the middle. Not because I think government and our institutions are working well, but because throwing it all away and starting over will be too traumatic for us to bear. We’re already seeing this in a mild form with Trump and his cronies, who, in their efforts to make things “right,” are bankrupting us, taking us into more forever wars, and eliminating those things that protect out libery (like the free press and the truth). I have no doubt, the DSA would have the same outcome, probably worse.

If I’m right, we will soom begin to see the repair v. replace argument become the focus of the midterm elections. Hopefully, this will force those in the middle to unite and crush the extremists at the polls.

Are you kidding me…! In my opinion, we are being conned by someone who is actively working to become America’s king, and a third of us keep denying it. So what’s the truth, is Donald Trump really interested in becoming King Donald I, the Supreme Leader? Who knows, maybe he doesn’t even know for sure himself, maybe he just likes the power and wants to keep it, but given that we could lose our democracy if he prevails, shouldn’t we at least take a hard look at the evidence?

For example,

• He prefers authoritarians like Putin (Russia) and Orban (Hungary) over democratic leaders
• He lies with impunity and clearly implies that it’s okay, that it’s “for our own good”
• He ignores facts that don’t support his agenda or deflects legitimate arguments
• He appoints unqualified loyalists to positions of power in the government
• He treats people who have not promised him their fealty with scorn and derision
• He unfairly favors the oligarchs who follow him
• He ruthlessly persecutes those in the press who disagree with him or ask hard questions
• He undermines the election process by claiming fraud with zero evidence
• He blurs the distinction between election “influence” (legal) and “interference” (illegal)
• He uses foreign policy, including war, to advance his political and personal agenda
• He is actively building a para-military force that is loyal only to him
• He uses his office unfairly to enrich and further isolate himself and his family
• Much more

Then there’s the con led by the democratic socialists or communists or whatever their label, who actually promote ridiculous ideas like “free <everything>” and “world government,” “no police, no prisons, no poverty,” and assume “peace and love,” … ideas that have never worked in all of human history and that make no logical sense.

Truthfully, I can’t tell which is worse. What I can say though is that without a center, a common-sense, middle-ground option, this country, as we know it, is doomed.

I’m embarrassed that President Trump represents me.

And he does! As much as I dislike it, the president and the bunglers in his cabinet speak for me, for all of us! Scary thought, right? I want to slide under the table when Trump insults, brags, misdirects, or lies in my name. (Even the pope isn’t safe from his jabs.) Of course these are just words — his real offenses include corruption, which is now a normal part of his reign, starting wars, pissing off allies, and screwing up the economy — but as Obama said “words matter” which is perhaps why Trump has his minions say the those things that are truly outrageous.

Think I’m exagerating, let’s take Pete Hegspeth, our always-fierce secretary of “war” as an example. Some of his most quotable gems are: “To our enemies: F-A-F-O” (Fuck Around and Find Out) during an address to military leaders; “Kill them All” referring to drug-boat operators and the helpless survivors of air strikes; or how about when he called objecting Dems “defeatists” and the “biggest adversary” to military success. (I think he meant “the biggest obstacle,” but whatever, is he saying that the Dems are more of an enemy than “the enemy?”)

Is this big-mouth the new “American Warrior?” I used to think our role models were quiet and unassuming like Gary Cooper in Sergeant York or the Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan. Pete reminds me more of the mentally unstable Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny.

How about U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi who, when asked why she revealed the names of Epstein-survivors, gave Congress the inimitable non sequitur, “The Dow is over 50,000 right now. That’s what we should be talking about.” Or when she confused legal hate speech with illegal threats with, “We [the ‘Justice’ Department] will absolutely [go after] you if you target anyone with hate speech.” Or maybe it’s her sickeningly sycophantic personality when she calls Trump, “the greatest president in American history.” Trump, by the way, didn’t deny her assertion, implying that he agreed. Take that Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt; you’re all slackers compared to Trump!

Then there’s our Secretary of Health who says what he thinks even if its controversial, evidence-free, widely-debunked, or juat plain bizarre. For example, he said that COVID-19 was “targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people” and not Askanazi Jews and Chinese. (Chew on this for a minute and ask yourself why only “Ashkenazi” Jews?) Whatever, when you have a national audience and permission to say any stupid thing that comes into your head, it’s okay. In fairness though, Kennedy later clarified that he didn’t mean the virus was deliberately engineered but that it was a “proof of concept.” (So, it was not deliberate, just a test to see if they [the Chinese I assume] could makee a virus that “passed over” certain races?) And how about his classic statement, that the polio vaccine has “killed more people” than it has saved, which is estimated to be about 1.5 million, not to mention the estimated 20 million who avoided paralysis. Again, this is the guy IN CHARGE of our public health.

I could go on all day. There’s no shortage of crackpots in the White House.

My apologies though to all the losers I’ve missed, including Tulsi Gabbard (Director of National Intelligence), who is often described as a one-woman national security risk, Kristi Noem (Secretary of Homeland Security), whose abysmal job performance and shocking scandals rival her boss’s, and Marco Rubio (Secretary of State), who redefined the term “politically ambitious” by turning from a Trump-enemy — calling Trump a “con artist” and a “third-world strongman” in 2016 — to a Trump ass-kisser.

There’s an old peroverb that a man is known by the company he keeps, which in President Trump’s case, is “unhinged,” to say the least.

Why did Republicans elect Donald Trump? Why did Democrats and independents abandon Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton? Surely, these things didn’t happen because Trump was so much more qualified or experienced, and they certainly didn’t happen because he was more likeable. Then why, why did voters put him, an arrogant, self-aggrandizing bigot, with delusions of grandeur, and an unhidden distain for American law and traditions into office?

My theory is that after 25 years of government failure and incompetence, people had simply had enough. Trump was their statement, an expression of their frustration and anger. By electing the very worst possible choice, they were sending  the message that they are fed up with the nonsense in Washington.

Don’t think it’s been nonsense…? Were you happy with:

• The do-nothing congresses of the last decade?
• The shutdowns and other contortions and contrivances used to avoid legislative compromise?
• Federal actions on abortion, gender ID, sexual preference, religious freedom, energy, climate control, diversity, equal rights, regulation… (just to name a few)
• Duke Cunningham, Bob Menendez, Dollar-Bill Jefferson, Charlie Rangel, Jerry Lewis, and, of course, the epitome of sleaze, George Santos?
• Stuffing the Supreme Court with blatantly biased, marginally qualified judges?
• The complete abandonment of immigration laws and sane asylum policies?
• The one-sided implementation of Obamacare?
• The rise of ISIS, the abandonment of the Kurds, the Syrian migration?
• Sanctuary cities that basically spit in the face of federal immigration law? …Which by the way, has needed congressional reform for decades.
• The annual [over]spending by the feds of $1 trillion to $2,000,000,000,000… mostly for government-run “insurance” programs like Social Security and Medicare because the premiums for these were spent on other stuff?

• Spending almost a trillion dollars a year on the military (40% of what the entire world spends) to maintain pax-Americana… absolving most other developed countries of their responsibility to defend themselves?
• And how about that federal deficit which has grown from $6 trillion to $36,000,000,000,000… which in fact is a $100,000 loan taken by our government in the name of every American man, woman, and child… which we will need to pay back when people, mostly foreigners, stop buying government paper!
• Not to mention the Second Gulf war, in which maybe a million people died, and for which we still have no rational explanation, or Afghanistan, that killed or wounded almost 30,000 Americans and went on for 20 years for reasons that are still unclear.
• And lots more

Sure, spin-doctors, politicians, and the fast-talking media have turned these into easily forgotten bumps-in-the-road, but honestly, can they really be called anything but abject failures? Would we tolerate this kind of performance or lack thereof in any other public institution. Would you, for example, buy an insurance policy if the insurance company was using your premiums for social welfare programs and counting on future premiums to pay future claims? Would you keep your money in a bank that displayed such nincompoopery with their borrowing, debt, and deficit? Would you allow your son or daughter to risk their lives in a foreign war that no one can explain or adequately defend?

Okay…okay… maybe this is a bridge too far. We and our government has survived lots of stupidity. But isn’t this primarily because every four years we can eject the nincompoops and replace them with leaders who appear more sensible? This remedy has worked for more than 200 years to keep us reasonably happy and supportive.

Only something went badly wrong a few decades ago – we began to elect people who were worse than those they replaced. To whit, I give you: Bill Clinton, a former Alabama attorney general with a penchant for stupid sex, George W. Bush, who never held a job his father didn’t get for him, Barack Obama, a former community organizer and radical who redefined the word “giveaway,” and Joe Biden, a back-slapping congressman who in 36 years was only able to get a crime bill and a violence-against-women bill passed into law.

Donald Trump fits in perfectly with this group. After all, he did file for bankruptcy SIX times; he has been married thrice; he was or is a womanizer by anyone’s definition; he lost his business partners so much money that eventually only the Russians and the Saudis would work with him; and he rose to popularity on the basis of being a “hardnosed” reality TV star and a persistent Obama-birther. Like I said, a perfect fit.

Compare this bunch, including Trump, to those that came before them: Roosevelt, who led us through the Depression and WW-II; Truman, who ended WWII and defended Korea; Kennedy, who ensured our survival through the Cuban Missile Crisis; Johnson, who gave us the Civil Rights Act and Medicare; Reagan, who ended the Cold War; and and Bush-41, who smacked down Saddam Hussein in Desert Storm when he invaded Kuwait.

It doesn’t seem like we’re headed in the right direction. Hopefully, we have touched bottom with Trump, and the post-Trump era will reverse the trend. Hopefully.

Let’s put aside Trump’s personality. Sure, most Americans think he is despicable, crude, and vulgar, and that his behavior is unacceptable for an American president, but believe it or not, many presidents have been just as rough. Some of Trump’s supporters would even argue that his Neanderthal moments are prima facie evidence that he’s not pussyfooting around.

And, let’s put aside his often incompetent and outrageously excessive execution of the law and government policy, which he carries out without sophistication, proportionality, sensitivity, consensus, or any sense of right or wrong. It’s a reality TV show gone wild and using real bullets. But again, some people think this farce shows his true commitment.

Which brings us to his policies.

Trump says he has a mandate to bring common sense back into government, that years of government stagnation have left Americans yearning for straight talk and bold action, that past administrations have tolerated all manner of abuse…

Crime, open borders, amnesty abuse, DEI overreach, useless foreign entanglements, environmental nonsense, absurd giveaways, stifling regulation, medical-industry malpractice, energy-industry repression…

And that a correction, a restoration of balance, is long overdue. This argument resonates with many Americans, especially those who believe our goverment has been grossly ineffectual and overly focused on the disadvantaged. But again, let’s not argue the merits of this, let’s just agree that there’s room for debate here.

So what’s my problem with Trump if it’s not his clownish personality, his roguish execution policy, or his claims that he’s restoring balance to government?

It’s his arrogant distain for the law when it stands in his way.

The law … remember, that body of rules that by-our-consent regulate our lives and define our right and wrong; that are supported by centuries of precedent (practical experience); that are administered by a vast court system…? When you think about it, the law documents our values, and when a President arrogantly dismisses it, isn’t he arrogantly dismissing us? Isn’t he replacing our “consensus” with his unilateral dictates, with a might-makes-right rationale for whatever he feels like doing?

This is why I cannot support President Trump.

Every summer from 1990 to 2001, my friends and I vacationed together on a rented sailboat with our sons. These one-week rentals were always "men only," which reduced griping, and "bareboat," where we crewed the boat ourselves. This isn't as crazy as it sounds: our captain William Frank had his Coast Guard certification and an impressive sailing resume; the kids were young and strong; and, after a trip or two, experienced enough to help. More importantly, they were engaged, excited about sailing the boat anywhere we wanted, and stunned by the freedom.

...

There were few rules aboard ship and few of us willing to enforce the one that remained. The boat (never "the ship") was usually a 12-meter (40-foot), monohull, sloop (a sailboat with one hull and one mast) that could do 11 knots (12 mph) in a good wind. It had three or four small cabins, which the men used, and several sleeping berths, benches, and two fo'c'sle (forward) compartments. These compartments were more like glass-topped coffins built into the deck, but the kids loved them. That is, until the nighttime rain forced them out, usually to an empty space on the deck. A good night's sleep was rare for everyone, but there were few complaints. Imagine, teenagers without complaints; griping was simply not part of the shipboard ethos. Anyway, who would they complain to, we were literally all in the same boat.   

Of course, there were more comfortable options for going to sea. For example, we could have rented a glass-enclosed, air-conditioned, gas-guzzling motor-yacht, which our captain referred to as a floating microwave -- 'nuf said about this. We could have also rented a catamaran. The 12-meter cats had two hulls, a galley/lounge between the hulls, and flat forward deck space for sunbathing; it also had two or three times more space than a monohull and was therefore considerably more comfortable for sleeping, eating, and hanging about during a long sail. The problem with the cat was that it was hard and dangerous to heel the boat, that is, to lean it over on its side for speed ... and we wanted speed. Sailing from place to place is a mind-numbingly boring experience, what made it exciting was racing the boat.

With good wind, well-trimmed sails, a courageous helmsman, and a daring captain and crew, the boat could be heeled onto its side, nearly perpendicular, with its rails in the water. This maneuver raised the hull out of the water for maximum speed. It also forced the crew to hang on for dear life as tons of water passed just inches from us at 18 feet per second. Eleven knots is not very fast, but in a sailboat it feels like a rocket ship. It was exhilarating and the source of endless discussion once the boat was secured for the evening. Again, imagine teenagers engaged in animated discussion about anything with adults.

In fact, there were lots of opportunities for teenage engagement -- the pure adventure of having no agenda, the non-trival challenge of sailing, learning new and essential shipboard skills, the novelty of a different beach or anchorage or town or ports.... All of it generated deep and long discussion in which everyone -- adults and kids -- participated. After all, most nights there was nothing else to do but talk to each other. Even the lowly anchor was the source of much discussion and debate -- where it had been placed, whether it had set properly, the nature of the seabed it gripped, what seabed was best for anchoring, would it hold the boat while we slept, how much of a wind could it handle, and so on. It all seems trivial now, but in a pitch-black night on the water, the anchor was our god. 

Our trips took us to windy waters off Capri, Cape Cod, the Bahamas, Grenada, the BVI, St Martin, St. Lucia, Nevis, Antigua, Dominica, Anguilla and more, and to exotic ports like Charlotte Amalie (St. Thomas), Philipsburg (St. Maarten), Castries (St. Lucia), St. John's (Antigua), Fort-de-France (Martinique), and Gaeta (Italy). Each day of the sail, we would race and explore a deserted beach or two, and each evening we would anchor or moor the boat in a different anchorage. If there was a town, restaurant, or bar around, we would all jump into the dingy and motor to shore. (Not many rules regarding minors in remote Caribbean anchorages.) If not, we would cook burgers or local fish on the boat and talk. Again, there were few complaints; it was the wind, the sea, the distance, the weather... that was responsible for our situation, why bother complaining about them?

Not that it was all good. We ran into horrible El Niño weather one year off St. Lucia's Pitons. It whipped up a 60-mph wind one night that nearly smashed our $1.5 million dollar boat, and us, against the inhospitable shore.

Then there was the sail when we ran into a head wind and arrived in an unfamiliar Dominica anchorage in the inky darkness, inching our way forward with inadequate flashlights. Then there was the trip when a new crewman showered unnoticed long enough to consume all our fresh water, and we spent three days in the tropical heat without showering. Still, we survived it all, and the boys were wiser for the experience.

Sadly, William died in 2017.

Still convinced, however, that sailing was a great experience for kids, I took my grandsons on several more trips. We had to cut back a little on the adventure by renting a cat instead of a racer, by hiring a captain instead of William, and by sailing the gentle BVI and Bahamas instead of the wild Grenadines and remote Dominica. It hardly mattered though; we had the same great times. Sometimes on those trips, I imagined that it was my son Mike handling the lines rather than his son Mitch.

I'm less agile now, and I do most of my sailing on cruise ships. Not that I was ever much of a bareboat sailor -- Mike and the other boys and my grandsons were much better than I and a lot more serious about their shipboard duties.

Would I recommend it? Absolutely. Sailing is a terrific hobby, great fun, and inexpensive, contrary to the common misconception that it's a rich man's sport. In fact, it is a relatively inexpensive way to vacation if you're prepared to rough it a bit. Most sailboats rent for less than $1,200 a day, including a captain and provisions. That's $200 per day per person with six people sailing. This is a small fraction of what it would cost for a group of six: to vacation at a Caribbean resort in an ocean-facing room; to visit five or six nearby islands; to swim on deserted beaches; and to dine and drink in private and exotic anchorages. Things will go wrong, of course, like running out of water far from any possibility of resupply, getting stuck on a sand bar, losing your engine, and worse, sometimes much worse, but coping with the unexpected is part of the fun. Try it.