Coast is clear

Jeez, how the time does fly by.  It hasn't even been two years since the inauguration of the big crybaby and look at what we've been through.  Not so surprisingly it keeps getting more convoluted, the latest bits of information are indicating that polls were being manipulated, at no small expense, to favor the Trumpness.  Dirty tricks are common at the highest levels of political intrigue but not with so many foreign fingerprints.  According to my scorecard the Russians are winning the early rounds of the social media battles but much is yet to come.

Many names are being bandied about for the 2020 presidential campaign but, based on the foreign influences in 2016, who can we really trust?  I doubt that Trump is the only name on Putin's list of useful idiots.  Vlad plays a pretty shrewd long game and it wouldn't surprise me if he had a few Democrats in his pocket.  It's going to be a long grueling trip to the next election, I fear.

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I think that Trump is going to soon fold regarding the government shutdown and he has himself to blame.  With all of his yammering about the borders and national security he seems to have overlooked one small detail, the role of the Coast Guard.  Look at the US/Mexican border and then look at the US coastline.  How many illegal incursions been prevented by the Coast Guard, how many lives have been saved by the Coast Guard, and what quantity of drugs have been intercepted by these same guys?  And because of the shutdown they are no longer being paid for the jobs they have sworn to do.  They'll probably still show up for work but will they be able to buy food for their mess halls or fuel for their boats and aircraft?   I can't think of a greater threat to national security than Donald J. Trump.

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Mr. Beagles seems to favor the dissolution of the federal government, a position I do not hold.  Isn't the destabilization of Western Democracies something that our friends in the Kremlin are seeking to achieve?

As far as reconstructing state borders, I don't know.  An interesting idea but not viable; too many compromises would be required because nobody wants to give up their land.  What would happen if the folks in the Upper Peninsula petitioned to flee Michigan and join Wisconsin; think it would fly in Lansing or Madison?