When I was contemplating the Democrats' strategy of trotting out Michael Cohen to air dirty laundry against his former boss, President Trump, a funny memory came to mind. It involves a couple of now deceased pornographic publishers, so maybe I'm going too far; but then again, maybe not.
I do not recall what show I was watching -- this must have been 25 years ago. Nor do I recall who the host was (perhaps Larry King?). But what's most important is that the late Playboy founder and publisher Hugh Hefner was a guest, along with an evangelical minister, and the topic was the damaging effects of pornography on women, families, society and spirituality.
Somehow, the conversation got around to other, more hardcore porn magazines, including Penthouse, Oui, Screw, and Hustler. Hustler was headed up by another upstanding citizen, Larry Flynt, while the late Bob Guccione, another sleazeball, was in charge of Penthouse.
The line that stands out in my mind was the minister's description of depravity when he answered a question about the content of Playboy and Penthouse, as well as the ancillary endeavors of their publishers: "Mr. Hefner's in the basement," he said. "Bob Guccione is in the sub-basement."
Basement and sub-basement; plain liars and damned liars; penny-ante thieves and armed bank robbers... Pick your perversion. I know the Democrats do, on a regular basis. The shameful Michael Cohen testimony before the House Oversight Committee was another example of the left using a tainted, tattered vessel -- Stormy Daniels, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, the social media celebrity du jour (Nathan Smith, Jussie Smollett, or the latest Muslim woman who claims a MAGA goon yanked her hijab off her head and cursed her with anti-Islamic venom) -- to cast aspersions upon Trump and his supporters.
Now, before I go any further, let me emphasize as I have on numerous occasions that Trump is no angel. He's often a narcissistic blowhard; he lies regularly as do all politicians; and he's been a philanderer for too many years. But imperfect vessels can and do bring about positive results, and so far, Trump has delivered -- on jobs, tax cuts, reduced regulations, a healthy economy and a trade policy that's no longer submissive to the likes of China and other nations that give their manufacturers unfair advantages over American companies. That's why so many millions of people support Orange Julius.
But getting back to the porn peddlers and levels of depravity..... Well, it gets complicated when one attempts to pin down what a person's long-term motives may be, what's in his heart or how morally outrageous his actions are on a spectrum. We all agree that politicians tend to be egotists, narcissists, manipulators, two-faced, and often greedy and hypocritical. The people with whom they surround themselves also are pretty sketchy, in most cases. And it goes without saying, lying is to politicians what gasoline is to the internal combustion engine. Maybe we shouldn't bring it up so much.
So with all of that out of the way, let's ponder actions and consequences. Trump has used women for sexual pleasure, often paying huge dollars to silence them. He has cheated on spouses. Maybe he has cheated on some of his taxes or business dealings. (It's hard to be in his position and not have cut some corners.) Some claim he's a racist or treats his employees poorly, but there are many thousands of them who are non-Caucasian who would adamantly disagree.
One reason Trump's supporters are so loyal to him is they realize he understands the founding principles of this country, including freedom of speech, religion and press. He knows, just as the Founding Fathers did, that our government is set up with checks and balances to avoid having too much power fall into one person's hands. He recognizes that a massive, unaccountable bureaucracy treads on individual liberty and the dignity of the individual. (And make no mistake, the thoroughly corrupt Deep State has done that to Trump three years now.)
In that vein, Trump opposes abortion, but in particular the odious practice of partial birth abortion as well as procedures performed in the third trimester. Millions who oppose abortion realize that a government that can wantonly destroy life for broad and vague reasons like "the health of the mother" or poorly defined genetic defects, also could resort to euthanasia or even pogroms.
Trump also is not naive about the hatred so many people throughout the world feel for our nation, and the harm they wish to inflict upon it. He takes seriously his duty to protect this nation from dangerous, unhealthy and destructive people who wish to enter.
It's not that most immigrants are criminals or carry disease; its' that a significant share are and do; therefore, background checks and proper screening are necessary. It's not that most Muslim immigrants or visitors want to perpetrate acts of terrorism; it's just that there are more from that particular religion who do than there are from any other religion. We must be cautious when allowing them into our country. Opening up the floodgates, as Hillary would have done had she been elected, is tantamount to someone living in a dangerous neighborhood who goes to bed each night without locking the doors.
Background checks, travel bans and the like are entirely reasonable. But to emotional, naive idealists who let feelings and idealism rule their thinking (e.g., many of the youngsters in the Washington press corps), these amount to bigoted, narrow-minded obstinate behavior. This segues into one of the most disturbing things I noticed about former President Obama: He seemed so nonchalant and matter-of-fact when it came to true evil such as Islamic terrorism. He was robotic in his demeanor. Oh, but when it came to the perceived evil of the NRA, Republicans and conservative Christians who opposed abortion/contraceptive mandates of Obamacare, Obama's dander would rise.
Same thing for the heinous practices of partial birth abortion and Planned Parenthood's harvesting / selling baby parts. It's as if there was a calculating logic module injecting this into the O-man's head: "Let me be clear: This is progressive. This is right. It's enlightened. Only the rubes and bigots oppose these steps toward progress. To go beyond this is above my pay grade."
So, to round things up, the sleaze in the House is just so much sensationalist window dressing. Even with Cohen's testimony, Democrats never found the smoking gun they were looking for with regard to supposed Trump / Russian collusion. But beyond the surface issues, there's no doubt in my mind that American voters have looked at the whole tawdry mess and decided which moral outrages we can live with and which -- like infanticide, kissing the Iranians butts, trading Taliban war criminals for a military deserter, demonizing police, or forcing Christians to go against their religious beliefs -- we cannot.
Put simply, Trump is the scruffy, chunky schoolyard bully in the faded flannel shirt, torn jeans and with the ugly scowl on his face. He threatens only with his fists. The progressive left, whether represented by Obama, one of the motley crew of presidential candidates, or a beautiful CNN info-babe, is the dapper Don mafioso in the $2,000 suit. He may look suave and make you feel good as he puts his arm around you, offers you a drink and begins with the sweet talk. Just beware, a Sicilian necktie is on the menu.
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