To meet his ravenous egoic needs, the lush and lovely Rose Garden at the White House is now a paved over patio to resemble the architectural decor of Mar-A-Lago. His justification was that the grass got too wet and was a challenge for women in high heels to traverse. I am smirking as I am typing these words and I can feel my gut twisting. The information indicates that the taxpayers are not footing the bill, but deciding truth from fiction is becoming more challenging.
Each morning I wake up and wonder what fresh hell has broken out over night. I imagine the scenario of him sitting in a dark and foreboding lair as if in a horror film, eyes agape, orange makeup melting down his face, as he furiously types the contents of his fevered mind onto a computer screen or phone. Does he really consider the worst possible decisions for the wellbeing of the country before fingers hit keys? I wonder if he truly believes that the needs of the nation don’t matter as long as his insatiable needs are met. He has so many sycophants in government and the private sector who will stand by him no matter what that I truly sense he doesn’t care. He seems to have no conscience. There is no costumed superhero to save us from his larceny and lewdness. WE are each the superhero, who together, are stronger than the force we are facing. When we show up at protests and rallies, when we speak truth to power, when we reach out to our elected officials, when we write letters to the editor or articles such as this, when we vote, we are a force to be reckoned with.
I will keep reminding people what they voted for. Please don’t tell me I am being non-spiritual, judgmental, divisive or that all opinions have equal validity and weight. This administration is paving over beauty, wiping out inspirational, illuminating, compassionate services in PBS and NPR, denying necessary health care, stripping away jobs, changing names of institutions and waterways to serve the ego of the dictator-wannabe, bringing media sources to their knees, because they dare to call him into account. Are you really okay with this? Can you keep looking away? Those who claim to love and want to protect children, can you deny his involvement with his buddy Epstein? The FBI report redacted his name. What does that say about what should be his shame (except the man has no shame)? They can use their marker and cover up his name, but it is still there.
I have been a long time member of local community supported radio and tv. My local NPR/PBS station is WHYY. My non-commercial music station is WXPN. Both are located in Philadelphia. I increased my donations to each of them and am now a monthly sustaining member to both.
In an AP article that highlights the process and rationale for the cuts, “Federal money for public radio and television has traditionally been appropriated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes it to NPR and PBS. Roughly 70% of the money goes directly to the 330 PBS and 246 NPR stations across the country, although that’s only a shorthand way to describe its potential impact.”
“Trump, who has called the CPB a “monstrosity,” has long said that public broadcasting displays an extreme liberal bias, helped create the momentum in recent months for an anti-public broadcasting groundswell among his supporters in Congress and around the country. It is part of a larger initiative in which he has targeted institutions — particularly cultural ones — that produce content or espouse attitudes that he considers “un-American.” The CPB’s demise represents a political victory for those efforts.”
I shake my head in bewilderment as I consider what Fred Rogers did to assure funding for the CPB. He would be rolling in his grave at what has happened to the beloved service that helped broadcast his iconic show. And Sesame Street with its sweet song, “You’re getting smarter, stronger, kinder, on Sesame Street.” Does he really want kids to be dumber, weaker and meaner? Seems like it. How short sighted of him. He thinks he can wipe out history with a Sharpie marker. He truly believes that by erasing his name from the Smithsonian display of presidents who have been impeached, we will forget that he was, not once, but twice, impeached. It’s like a little kid who hides under a blanket and croons, ‘You can’t see me,’ so he must not be there.
Let’s plant our own gardens, watered with kindness, weeded with determination. No one can take that away from us.
The Joni Mitchell classic, Big Yellow Taxi is even more poignant and powerful now.
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This Post is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: iStock
