In Iowa And New Hampshire "The Nightmare Has Already Begun"

 Monday, January 29th, 2024

My Dear America:

In A Television Season Long Ago one of My Favorite Shows was a Science Fiction Series called "The Invaders".  The series starred Roy Thinnes who played an American named David Vincent who had accidently discovered that America was being invaded by Aliens who looked just like us.  At the beginning of each show the  voice of Actor, William Conrad was heard narrating the setup for the show.  Conrad had been the voice of "The Lone Ranger" on the radio and also played "Cannon" on television.  At the end of his introductory dialogue for every episode of the series William Conrad said the same thing in his unique booming bass voice.  He said:

"And The Nightmare Has Already Begun"

For some reason the frightening sound of Conrad's ancient television warning has been playing in my head in recent days as I have watched with horror the truly disturbing results of the Iowa Caucus and the vote in New Hampshire both important results in the beginning of the 2024 Republican Primary. 

Caucus Night was one of the coldest nights that Iowa had ever seen.

I was hoping against hope that the Frigid temperatures might keep the Iowa Polling results from coming true.  

After all, How could it be in the real world that a man who is facing 91 Felony charges in various courts in different states, a man who has been proved in court to be a rapist, a man who dines with Neo Nazis and sounds like one himself, a man who admires Dictators, A man who was for many years a very close friend and Running Buddy in Palm Beach with Jeffrey Epstein and a man who has not even participated in even one of the Republican Presidential Campaign Televised Debates,  How could this man possibly win the Iowa Caucus by a staggering margin of victory.

Unfortunately Donald Trump won big in the Iowa Caucuses and Donald Trump also won the Republican Primary Election in New Hampshire, although not by as wide a margin as he had expected.  In New Hampshire Trump won only by a margin of around 10 points.  Indeed, Nikki Haley, with every other Republican Rival other than Trump having abandoned their Presidential Ambitions showed by her strong showing in the Granite State that her Campaign might just be gaining enough strength to be giving Donald Trump a run for his money in the future.  

Haley's Speech at the end of the New Hampshire Primary Election Campaign made it clear that she was encouraged by her closer than expected showing and unlike her many rivals for the prize before her who had quit the Campaign trail, she was staying in the race.

Certainly Donald Trump was not at all happy to hear that Nikki Haley was staying in the Republican Race for President.  Onstage With Trump at his Victory Party in New Hampshire were two of the most obnoxious of his previous rivals for the Republican Presidential nod, Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy.  Both were doing what they did best as they ran for the Presidency.  They were both onstage Enthusiastically Kissing Trump's Ass.  Trump repaid Scott for his homage by humiliating Scott and Nikki Haley in the same breath by reminding Scott that Nikki Haley had appointed him to the Senate and yet Scott supported Trump.

To make that situation even more humiliating and disgusting, Scott marched up to Trump and told him "I Love You" over the Microphone.

Jesus.  Don't these people ever get embarrassed by their disgusting behavior?

I guess not.    

The truth is that Nikki Haley is probably not a whole lot better Candidate than Donald Trump although she does seem to tell the truth more often than Trump..  She is at least beginning to hit Trump where it hurts, however.  She is calling him out on his astonishing gaffe in which he was lying about how Nikki Haley was calling him from the Capitol on January 6th, 2021 begging him to send troops to save the Capitol.  More than six times Trump mentioned Nikki Haley's name although the person he was talking about was obviously Nancy Pelosi.  In his speech about this incident Trump lied that he sent the troops right away.  The truth is that Trump's Flunky's in the Pentagon were not asked by Trump to send the troops.  The troops were finally sent to the Capitol because Vice President Pence demanded it along with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.  Nancy Pelosi took care to set the record straight on CNN on Sunday and made sure that Trump was not given any credit for sending troops to the Capitol on January Sixth.

After this embarrassing Trump Speech Haley has finally begun to talk about Trump's "Cognitive Decline".

Yes, Friends and Neighbors The Nightmare has already begun for us as Trump has Triumphed in Iowa and New Hampshire. 

But, do not get get too discouraged at this bit of bad news for Democracy.  Lets  not forget that in New Hampshire, where on the Democratic side of the balloting Joe Biden was not even on the ballot but in an astonishing development he won over 50 percent of the votes as a Write In Candidate in the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Primary.

Although there was not a lot of Good News in Iowa and New Hampshire. 

There Was that.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

A Sad Farewell To Chris Christie On The Campaign Trail - The Truth Has Set Him Free

Thursday, January 11th, 2024

My Dear America:

Let me be very honest about this.

I have never been a fan of Chris Christie.

I have found him to be pretty much an Obnoxious, Overly Ambitious Blowhard who in many ways ruined New Jersey and especially New Jersey Politics for the time that he was the Governor of that state.  He seemed to take great pleasure in shafting the Teachers Union in his state and his oversized Ego was surely on display in Bridgegate, when he took it upon himself to deliberately screw with traffic on the George Washington Bridge to get back at a Democratic Mayor in New Jersey for some god forsaken reason.

His self centered ambition was certainly on display when he was one of the first also ran candidates of 2016 who stepped up to support Donald Trump when it became obvious that Trump was going to be the Republican Nominee for President in that race.

I haven't completely become a Chris Christie Fan but after watching on You Tube his farewell to the Presidential Campaign speech that he gave in New Hampshire I have to say that I was impressed by his speech.  I was also impressed by the fact that in the Republican Party Christie was one of the only Republican Candidates for President who was consistently telling the truth about the Republican Front Runner, Donald Trump.  

The Republican Party is a party in which the truth in Political thought seems to be increasingly a thing of the past.  Those people in the party that have consistently told the truth about Donald Trump have been people who have largely been driven out of the party by any means necessary to satisfy the whims of a party leader who seems to be increasingly desperate and delusional. 

I don't know where things go from here for Chris Christie.  He certainly is bound to be a Pariah in Donald Trump's Party.  

What Trump has done to the Republican Party is not going to be easy to fix while Trump is still on the scene.  

It appears to be almost certain that Trump will win the Republican Nomination this year.  That is truly a shame for the Republican Party and for the Two Party System in America.  

Although I have no personal love for the Republican Party I do respect and admire the Two Party System in our country and I hope that at some point those people who are still truly Republicans in the true sense of the word are able with the efforts of leaders like Chris Christie, Liz Cheny, Adam Kinzinger,John Kasich, Charlie Dent and others like them will make an effort to regain the leadership and the Principles of their party in some way shape or form.  

Either that or they should get together and create another New Party that will fit in where the classic Republican Party left off.

Regardless, I want to say to Chris Christie Thanks for Trying to get your party on the right path.  I hope that you and your fellow Republicans are able to get your party straightened out before we are all required to raise our right arms and say 

"Seig Heil" in our daily greetings to one another. 

Always know that in this particular matter you have surely done the right thing

 

It Is January Sixth In America And All Is Not well

 Saturday January Sixth, 2024

My Dear America:

Today Is January Sixth.

this is a day that to Americans should surely be a day that much like other historical markers should certainly live in Infamy.

On January Sixth of 2021 My wife and I sat in our living room waiting to watch the Congressional Presidential Certification and instead watched in horror as thousands of our Fellow American Citizens marched from Donald Trump's speech out in front of the White House down to the Capitol Building.  

At first it looked like many of the same type of legitimate protests that we have seen before many times in Washington where marchers would hold up signs and slogans and march around peacefully making their voices heard

But on January Sixth, 2021 as the Congress, under the guidance of Donald Trump's Republican Vice President prepared to finally legitimately certify that Democratic Candidate, Joe Biden had won the election for President of the United States in November of 2020, all hell broke loose.

Call it what you want.

An Insurrection, A Riot, an out of control mob.

Whatever you call it don't call it a Peaceful Demonstration.

It wasn't that.

Donald Trump wasn't there at the Capitol that day.  

Luckily for him and for us his Secret Service Officers apparently had enough sense to refuse to drive him down to the Capitol although, thanks to the information we have learned from the January Sixth Congressional Committee, we now know that President Trump encouraged his Acolytes to march forcefully to the Capitol.  The MAGA Crowd followed their leader's instructions and marched quite forcefully to the Capitol.

Once the crowd, already fueled by Donald Trump lying about the 2020 election being stolen, arrived at the Capitol Building several members the crowd of Trump followers did some very strange and surreal things.  

They shouted "Hang Mike Pence" and prepared a platform with a hangman's noose attached with which to do it.

They smashed windows and entered the Capitol en masse.

They beat the shit out of Capitol Police and comrades from other Police Departments who tried to prevent the "Tourists" from illegally entering the building.

Some of them shouted "Where's Nancy" and broke into her office and the offices of other Congressmen and Women.

Some of them used flagpoles with United States flags and Trump flags as weapons. 

Some of them "Poo Pooed" in the Capitol Building to use Nancy Pelosi's less offensive term.

Thanks to quick thinking on the part of the Capitol Police and Congressional Leaders most of the members of Congress and their staffs were moved to safety and later on in the evening when the situation was once again relatively under control the certification of Joe Biden's Election as President took place under the Guidance of Mike Pence.

To put less delicately than Nancy Pelosi would probably put it:

What happened on January Sixth of 2020 was a Shit Storm of Epic Proportions.

Many of the Capitol Invaders are in jail paying for their crimes these days but Donald Trump, the instigator of the entire messed up Stop The Steal situation, is still living in Mara Lago, Running for President and although he continues to be charged with crimes he is inexplicably still the Front Runner in the Republican Presidential Primary Campaign.

What The Hell

Are We living in a Nightmare, or what?

I woke up this morning earlier than I normally do and turned on my television.

Our local Cable Company has recently bundled Fox News Channels, OAN and Newsmax closer together for quicker Right Wing access, I guess.  

Although I normally stay away from those channels for some reason today on January Sixth I didn't.  I flipped around the Right Wing Channels and found a world that prior to today had been hidden from me.

The following is some of what I saw today on the Republican channels for the few minutes that I could stomach watching them:

A guy with a United States Flag Tie talking about the wonderful Trump Years and totally distorting what they were like.

On another channel I heard someone talking about how great it is that Republicans including Donald Trump are trying to get along with that wonderful guy, Vladimir Putin.

All I can think about since stumbling on this Nightmare Television Experience is that now I am beginning to understand why and How Republicans can be so out of touch with reality.

Those people who are watching those Right Wing Channels are living in an Alternate Universe filled with Lies and Bullshit.

Unfortunately we are all pretty much living in that same Alternate Universe these days.

And That Alternate Universe looks and feels like a Nightmare to Me that I certainly hope we all wake up from when Election Day rolls around in November of 2024.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher 

I saw a guy