2018 ended with no real surprises. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. The government shut down. The wars continued in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. North Korea and Iran remained nuclear threats. And the revolving door to the White House continued to spin with the leaving of a so-so number of bigwigs, some of them generals.
We’re so used to all this stuff that we barely notice when it happens. What we would notice is when it doesn’t. No worries.
Although the democrats now are the majority party in the House the president still is president, the Senate is still a flock of headless chickens. They may be even more chicken now because the traffic lights on the road they keep trying to cross have been turned off as part of the shutdown.
Impending roadkill.
Oh, about those generals: Do you think they all left at around the same time so they could hang out at the Officers’ Club to plot the coup? Probably not. We have no one to ride to trump’s defense as Yeltsin in the tank did for Gorbachev.
The “president” has a new enemy in his own party, Mitt Romney, someone unlikely to attract sympathy from practically anyone. But he has two things going for him: Romneycare in Massachusetts and a big mouth, but polite.
The worry about Mr. Private Equity Fund is that he’ll run his mouth in speeches, then toe with party line when the votes are counted. Romney is no McCain, Flake or Corker, but he’ll do for now.
He’s right when it comes to one thing: the presidency is not “just” about policy and appointments. The president, he said less clearly than necessary, sets the moral tone and the attitude of a country.
At this point a stiff like Mitt is preferable to an amoral pirate more at home on the seas around Somalia than in the White House of a supposedly civilized first world country.
In any case, when you’re at the supermarket, avoid the whole chickens in the cooler if they have tire tread marks, else you might be having Mitch McConnell for dinner.
SHRAPNEL:
--China has landed a spaceship on the dark side of the moon. A friend predicts it will be followed by a McDonald’s franchise. Others see the construction of steel mills and sewing factories that don’t meet code.
--Apple says sales of iPhones in China have been slowing, leading the company to revise earnings downward and investors to push the stock lower in a market that’s already shaky. The mighty hasn’t exactly fallen, though. Fourth quarter revenue is still going to land in the 80 billion dollar range, between five and ten billion less than most analysts forecast.
--And about those analysts: They’re so often wrong, few pay much attention. They also are the largest breed of worker bees who get to keep their jobs. Oh, and some get raises for their A-for-effort.
I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com
All sponsored content on this post is fake.
© WJR 2019
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