If the New York Times ain't happy, ain't nobody happy: The Gray Lady throws Joe Biden under trhe bus

 Perhaps you've heard that old Southern aphorism: "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

Today, I'm modifying this ancient pearl of wisdom to reflect on the odds against Joe Biden winning a second term as the leader of the Free World: If the New York Times, a powerful voice in American politics, ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. 

And the New York Times is not happy. Less than 24 hours after Biden's dismal debate performance against Donald Trump, the Times editorial board swiftly and decisively called for Biden to drop out as the Democratic Party's nominee for President.

New York Times columnists Thomas Friedman, Paul Krugman, and Nicholas Kristof--the Democratic Party's Pretorian Guard--joined the chorus, advising Biden to step away from the vehicle.

Nevertheless, some media voices are sticking with Joe despite the glaring signs that he suffers from dementia. The going-down-with-the-ship camp bases its misplaced loyalty on one of two arguments. 

First is the Howdy Doody crowd. These are the commentators who say that Trump is so odious that a diminished  Biden is preferable. These people would vote for Howdy Doody over Trump.

A second group is sticking with Biden based on race. One writer pointed out that Biden's leading critics are white men over sixty. And we all know we can't trust those guys.

Which group will prevail? My view is this: The New York Times has decreed that Biden must glide down the exit ramp. Eventually, all of Biden's supporters will fall in line.

Why didn't Howdy Doody run for president?

The Hill's Michael Starr Hopkins calls for Plan B after Trump-Biden Debate, but he ain't got no Plan B

 I was stunned by how quickly the mainstream media threw Joe Biden under the bus after last night's presidential debate with Donald Trump. It was as if the leftist pundits awoke from a deep sleep and realized for the first time that the Emperor was wearing no clothes!

Even the New York Times's op-ed writers, reliable lap dogs for the Democratic Party, admitted Joe's debate performance was dismal.

Michael Starr Hopkins, writing for The Hill,  undoubtedly spoke for millions of progressives when he wrote today that "Democrats need a Plan B." Unfortunately for the Trump haters. Hopkins has no Plan B.

Hopkins admitted it would be "political suicide" for the Democrats to switch candidates at this late hour, and thus, they must rally around Biden despite his glaring flaws. "We can't change the quarterback," he acknowledges, "but we can improve our playbook."

In essence, Hopkins argues that Biden can still defeat Trump on election day if Democrats simply repeat the shrill mantra that Biden is better than Trump.

It's a pathetic argument, and most Americans don't buy it. They're looking for a leader who can end the Ukrainian war before it goes nuclear. They are searching for someone who can shrink the national debt, which accrues interest at a trillion dollars every 100 days. They want a secure border that will keep rapists and human traffickers out of the country.

Biden has done nothing to address these problems—in fact, he created them or made them worse. I think Donald Trump will defeat Joe Biden in November. If so, Democrats will have only themselves to blame.

"If you vote for Biden, you ain't Jewish": Biden has alienated a crucial Democratic constituency

Remember when Joe Biden chided an African American radio host during the 2020 election season? "If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump," Biden flippantly claimed, "then you ain’t Black."

It was a racist remark, stereotyping all Black Americans as Blue Dog Democrats who would be denying their own interests if they voted Republican.

Now, that phrase has been turned against him as Jewish voters recoil from Biden's betrayal of Israel. As Varda Meyers Epstein wrote on the Elders of Zyon blog site, "If you vote for Biden, you ain't Jewish." Writing last month, Epstein accused Biden of betraying Israel in its life-or-death struggle with Hamas. Biden was "withholding arms and information," Epstein charged, and concealing "critical intelligence for later leverage, and was now using it—carrot and stick—to force Israel to stand down from Rafah."

Epstein might also have mentioned that Biden undermined Israel when he implicitly endorsed Senator Chuck Schumer's speech excoriating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and calling for his ouster. Biden called Schumer's outrageous betrayal "a good speech."

Why has President Biden stabbed Israel in the back? Some commentators say he's afraid he'll alienate Michigan's Muslim voters before the November presidential election if he doesn't take a more pro-Palestian stance in the Gaza war. Michigan, after all, is a critical battleground state.

I disagree. I think Biden's betrayal is a cowardly capitulation to a rising tide of anti-semitism in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Racist Democrats hate Jews, and they don't care whether they alienate Jewish voters who have traditionally voted for the Democratic ticket.

If so, Biden made a fatal miscalculation. Even if he carries Michigan in the November election (a doubtful proposition), he may lose other states with significant Jewish populations. 

Earlier this week, New York voters swept Jamaal Bowman, a pro-Palestinian Congressman, out of office, and Jewish PAC money helped defeat him. Bowman had accused Israel of committing genocide, and Jewish voters took note.

Bowman's defeat is an indication of how Jews will probably vote in November. Jewish voters may have concluded that if they vote for Biden, "they ain't Jewish." And there are 1.4 million Jews in New York City alone.

Pro-Palestinian protesters outside a Jewish synagogue in Los Angeles
Photo credit: Wall Street Journal

Why take out student loans to get an Ivy League degree when you can learn to be a bigot for less than twenty bucks?

 American universities have spent millions of dollars on affirmative action, women's varsity sports, litigation defending their race-based policies, and the newest race-obsessed fashion trend--Diversity. Equity and Inclusion (DEI). 

All these investments should produce kindlier and more tolerant college campuses--a collegiate nirvana, an idyllic state of perfect racial harmony.

But not so. Over the past few months, universities have shown themselves to be racist institutions and hotbeds of antisemitism. The most racist schools have been the most elite: Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, and UCLA, among them.

And it's not just the students who are bigoted toward Jews. Professors have also attended disruptive anti-Israel rallies, and when college presidents call the cops, the faculty protest by passing votes of no confidence in them.

Few college leaders openly espouse anti-semitic opinions, but they often don't take campus anti-semitism seriously. For example, three college administrators were put on leave at Columbia recently for exchanging "unprofessional text messages while attending a panel discussion about antisemitism on campus. "

Young people might profitably ask themselves why they should take out $100,000 in student loans to surround themselves with bigots on an Ivy League campus. After all, you can school yourself in racial prejudice for the price of Adolph Hitler's Mein Kampf, which you can purchase from Amazon for only twelve bucks.

Mein Kampf: Cheaper than a liberal arts degree from Harvard

Civilians are suffering in Gaza, but that's not Israel's fault

Antisemitic racism on college campuses has disguised itself with crocodile tears for the civilian population in Gaza, which has suffered greatly during Israel's war with Hamas. But I think that's bullshit.

College protesters don't give a damn about the carnage in Ukraine, where the New York Times estimated a half million casualties--and that was almost a year ago.

According to the mainstream media, 37,000 people have died in the Gaza conflict, but the legacy press depends almost solely on Hamas for its casualty figures.  Who believes Hamas--the outfit that raped, tortured, kidnapped, and killed innocent Israeli civilians?

Without a doubt, the Gaza war has created massive suffering, but civilians die in every war. Hamas chose to commit war crimes against civilian women, children, and the elderly, and now it wants a ceasefire purportedly to protect the civilians with whom it is hiding. That doesn't work for me.

I have no sympathy for Hamas and little sympathy for the Palestinians who are protecting them. People who keep Israeli hostages in their homes are not civilians; they are combatants. 

 If the nation of Israel is to survive, it must wipe out Hamas--every root and branch. Tragically, this means there will be substantial collateral damage to the civilian population of Gaza.

Another boneheaded idea: Western meddling in Moldova

Moldova, a small country near the Black Sea coast, is nestled between Ukraine and Romania. This nation, once part of the Soviet Union, gained independence in 1991, marking a significant turning point in its history.

So far, Moldova has not been dragged into the Ukraine war, but the conflict is on its doorstep. Chisinau, Moldova's capital city, is only 230 miles from Kherson, where there has been heavy fighting.

According to Bloomberg News, "Moldova's President Maia Sandu is pursuing a pro-Western course that would take it permanently out of Russia’s orbit." As  the Bloomberg news agency noted, Moldova is "at the heart of a geopolitical struggle between Washington and Brussels on one side, and Moscow on the other."

Moldova is holding an election in October to vote on a constitutional change that would allow Moldova to join the European Union. As the Bloomberg story observed, a pro-Western outcome "may offer the West a potentially important win" that would significantly shape the geopolitical landscape in the region.

The Bloomberg story should have mentioned that 20oo Russian troops are already stationed in Moldova's breakaway province of Transnistria. Moreover, as the news agency acknowledged, the autonomous province of Gagauzia is showing pro-Russian tendencies. 

In short, Moldova is a complex mix of ethnic and political tensions, much like Ukraine in 2014. Pro-Russian Moldovans advocate for closer ties to the Russian Federation, while pro-Western Moldavans push for Moldova to align with the West.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Chisinau recently, bringing his tireless message: I'm from the American government, and I'm here to help. He announced a gift of $50 million to help Moldova "resist Russian interference." He would have given them more money, he explained apologizingly, but he left his wallet in his other pants.

Perhaps Blinken brought his guitar and sang "Blowing in the Wind," that old Peter-Paul-and-Mary tune, at a Chisinau coffee shop. Or maybe he secretly promised President Sandu some American weapons and military support. Or maybe not.

Almost certainly, however, the CIA is in Moldova, as it is in Ukraine, sowing mischief. God help the Moldovans if the Ukraine war spreads to their country. And God help the United States.

America's top goofball diplomat plays the guitar in Kyiv.

Pax Americana will die in the wheatfields of Ukraine: The American Century is over

 About 100 nations attended a peace summit on the Ukraine war last week, held at a 5-star resort in Switzerland. Ukraine wasn't invited, and several invitees—including China—did not attend. Most attending nations signed a communique on the Ukraine conflict, but some important countries did not: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Mexico, Indonesia, India, Brazil, and India. 

Hmmm. The BRIC nations, which are working to undermine the status of the dollar, were all nonsigners. What do you suppose that means?

The United States--far more interested in cramming a Gaza ceasefire down Israel's throat than peace in Ukraine--sent VP Kamala Harris as its official representative, and she only attended briefly. Meanwhile, President Biden spent time with George Clooney and Julia Roberts out in Califonia, raising money for his reelection campaign.

None of these world leaders proposed a plausible plan to end the Ukraine war. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it won't be time to discuss a peace plan until Ukraine's military position is more robust.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "sane" ceasefire proposal that would require the West to renounce Ukraine's membership in NATO and cede the Donbas and Crimea to Russia. Ukraine dismissed Putin's offer as a nonstarter.

The Ukraine war has only three possible outcomes: First, Russia will win the conflict and absorb the Donbas into the Russian Federation. It already has a firm hold on most of the territory it demands.

Second, the United States, ever more desperate to defeat the Russkies, will escalate the conflict, eventually pushing Putin to use tactical nuclear weapons, which he has repeatedly threatened to do.

Third, the Ukraine war will simply drag on for several more years until Ukraine is a wasteland and Uncle Sam is dead broke.

The third possibility is most likely. If the Ukraine war drags on for a few more years, the U.S. will no longer be a world power. In other words, Pax Americana is in its twilight years and will end as the BRICs accede to world dominance.

Personally, I think the collapse of America's status as the world's leader is a high price to pay for fucking with the Russians in the wheatfields of Ukraine.

Bad Moon A-Rising: America faces a looming real estate crisis

I see the bad moon a-risin'

I see trouble on the way

I see earthquakes and lightnin'

I see bad times today

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Americans live in a Panglossian environment, encouraged by our government to believe we live in the best of all possible worlds. Inflation? It's going down. The job market? Our economy is creating an astonishing number of new jobs. Our President? A paragon of wisdom.

Of course, we don't live in the best of all possible worlds. America is neck-deep in two terrible wars: Ukraine and Gaza, and those wars will eventually bite us on the national butt. Right now, these global disasters still seem far away. No reason to put off buying a new Land Rover.

Domestically, however, an economic calamity is looming, and it will soon come crashing down on us. I'm talking about the collapse of the domestic real estate market.

Driven by catastrophic weather events (hurricanes, wildfires, windstorms, and floods), the cost of homeowner's insurance has risen significantly, increasing the cost of owning a home.

Lenders require people with home mortgages to have adequate property insurance, typically added to the home borrower's monthly mortgage payment. Since most homeowners buy houses based on what they can afford in monthly payments, rising insurance costs will force many Americans to buy less expensive homes.

Interest rates on home mortgages are going up, too. The Biden administration and the Fed are doing their best to keep interest rates down until after the presidential election, but the days of 3 percent mortgages are over.

On the global stage, the BRIC countries are slowly undermining the American dollar's status as the world's reserve currency, and that process is well underway. Our government now spends a trillion dollars every 100 days in interest payments on the national debt, and that debt grows larger each month. Our growing debt has started to put pressure on interest rates, including the interest rate on home mortgages. 

All these trends are gathering into a perfect storm for homeownership. Who resides on the dirty side of this storm? 

Not the banks. When the real estate market collapses the next time, the feds will bail out the banks as they've done in the past, assuming the value of the U.S. dollar holds up through the crisis. 

No, the losers will be American middle-class homeowners. And when the next real estate crisis is over, the American middle class will be much smaller. 

You'll be goddamn lucky if you're still in it. In the meantime, I recommend listening to more Creedence.

Who stole the Dude's Creedence tapes?

Maureen Dowd labels the Supreme Court as "rotten" and "corrupt": I disagree

 Earlier this month, Maureen Dowd, an op-ed writer for the New York Times, published an essay calling the U.S. Supreme Court "rotten" and "corrupt".

According to Dowd, the Court is "in the hands of a cabal of religious and far-right zealots, including a couple of ethical scofflaws with MAGA wives."

Dowd cites no evidence to back her hysterical accusation. In fact, reading Dows's shrill screed a little further, she makes clear that her main beef is the Supreme Court's decision to overthrow Roe v. Wade, thereby "yanking away women's right to control their own bodies."

Of course, that's nonsense. The Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson shows that a majority of the Justices hold a conservative view of the Constitution. In Dobbs, it ruled that the states, not federal courts, have the ultimate authority to regulate abortion. Millions of people, including Dowd, disagree with that decision, but that's no basis for labeling the Court as corrupt.

I believe most states will eventually pass legislation that closely aligns with Roe v Wade. In other words, women will have an almost unrestrained right to terminate their pregnancies during the first trimester, but that right will become more restricted the closer a baby comes to term.

Some people believe the state should have zero authority to regulate abortions. Thus, if the "birth person" decides she needs more "me time" after the fetus is in middle school, she should be free to put a contract out on little Johnny to ensure the tyke sleeps with the fishes.

I take a more conservative view. If a woman hasn't snuffed her fetus by the time it's in kindergarten, mom should learn to live with the little brat and open a college savings account.

Little Johnny sleeps with the fishes.

Inflation and the elderly: Most retired Americans will die broke

Here’s a scary statistic: the average pre-tax income of retired Americans is about $55,000, and most of that income goes to housing, transportation, healthcare, and food.

Most retired Americans live on a fixed income that will not go up. Their living expenses, however, are rising at an alarming rate. Food costs have gone up almost 20 percent over the past four years. Homeowners insurance has seen double-digit increases in some places. Car insurance prices have risen astronomically in recent years--more than 20 percent just over the last year.

None of these costs will go down in my lifetime. For example, the rising cost of home insurance is driven by catastrophic weather events like hurricanes and wildfires. Auto insurance prices reflect the higher cost of buying and repairing cars and abusive tort litigation. Those trends are irreversible.

Most Americans cut back on expenses when they retire by moving to areas with lower living costs and downsizing their homes. Moneywise suggests that retired Americans sell their cars and buy bicycles. They should also order big portions at restaurants and take the leftovers home for a second meal. They should also quit buying their groceries at Whole Foods.

Of course, retired people have already implemented those strategies, but the fact remains that living costs are going up dramatically and show no sign of ever retreating.

Our government believes that America has plenty of money. We’ve got cash to put illegal immigrants in four-star hotels. We’ve got money to give jets to Ukraine. We’ve got money to send ammunition to Israel. Rich people have enough disposable income to shower political candidates with wads of cash and can even afford special bathrooms for their pets. Retired Americans have no cash reserves for such projects.

As a kid, I remember visiting my grandparents in Harper County, Oklahoma, and riding horseback by the county's poor farm. That’s where the elderly went in rural Oklahoma when they were dead broke. I visited Harper County recently, and the poor farm is closed. Even the building is gone.

Very shortly, America will have to decide whether to shift national resources to elderly people so they can live in dignity or reopen the poor farms and continue financing the wars in Europe and the Middle East. My guess is that our political leaders will pursue war rather than shift our priorities to the welfare of struggling Americans.

Senator John Fetterman renounces Harvard for its tepid response to campus anti-semitism: Good on you!

Senator John Fetterman made headlines recently when he removed his Harvard hood at Yeshiva's commencement ceremony and renounced his Ivy League alma mater for its lackluster response to campus anti-Semitism. I say, good on you, John.

Fetterman's high-profile rebuke highlights the alarming rise of anti-Semitism at the nation's most prestigious colleges: Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia, among them.

All over America, ambitious young high school students dream about possibly attending one of the nation's most elite universities. If I can just get into Harvard, they tell themselves, a whole universe of opportunities will unfold: wealth, power, fame.

Of course, the elite schools are expensive. It costs $90,000 a year to attend Yale--a third of a million dollars for a four-year degree. You can always borrow the money, and if President Joe Biden is reelected, he might forgive all or at least some of the debt. 

Moreover, if you can present yourself as an exotic candidate, such as transgender shotputter, you might be eligible for a full-ride scholarship. However, this strategy requires careful planning. You'll need to start demanding special restroom privileges by the seventh grade.

Is a degree from an elite school worth the investment? Maybe not. Today, Fortune magazine posted an article (reposted on Yahoo Finance)reporting that graduates of only two Ivy League schools drew median salaries of $100,000 or more ten years after graduation.

Across many colleges, 23 percent of bachelor's programs yield a negative return, and a staggering 43 percent of master's programs leave their graduates underwater (as reported by the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity).

Literally, many young people would be better off financially if they pursued a blue-collar trade rather than attend Harvard. And they'll likely meet a better class of people in the trades--fewer anti-Semites.

 

WaPo's Jennifer Rubin defends President Biden's judgment

 Today, Jennifer Rubin published an op-ed essay in the Washington Post defending President Joe Biden's judgment. Despite his advanced age and elderly gait, Rubin argues that Biden's judgment is sound and far better than that of Donald Trump.

In sum, she writes:

At the most basic level, Biden . . . can discern friends, revers the military, understands the value of alliances, generally hires capable advisors, puts together complex legislative deals and exhibits inexhaustible empathy for other's suffering.

Furthermore, Rubin maintains that Biden "complies with the legal process . . ., follows Supreme Court decisions . . . , and engages in successful international diplomacy." 

Rubin's paean to Joe Biden is just another sign that the East Coast media elites and I live on different planets. I see Joe Biden as nothing more than a cognitively diminished political hack who can barely read his cue cards, and at least half of America shares my view.

Let's look at Rubin's list of Biden's shining virtues:

Can Biden "discern friend from foe"? Not really. He's betrayed Israel, apparently incapable of grasping the fact that the Israelis are fighting for their very existence in Gaza.

Does he "revere[] the military"? Not enough to oversee an orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan, where the U.S. left the Taliban in control of the country after twenty years of warfare.

Does he "understand[] the value of alliances"? No, he has followed Barack Obama's disastrous policy of baiting the Russians, thereby dragging our NATO allies to the verge of nuclear war in Europe.

Has he chosen "capable advisors"? You decide: Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Alejandro Mayorkas, Rachel Levine?

Does he comply with the legal process? Our open border answers that question.

Has he "engage[d] in successful international diplomacy"? Obviously not, or the U.S. wouldn't be presiding over two wars, not to mention missile attacks on the American military by Iran's proxies. 

And then there's inflation, a ballooning national debt, and Biden's nutso transgender agenda.

I'm sorry, Jennifer, but Joe Biden has terrible judgment, and millions of Americans agree with me. Fortunately for Biden and the media elites, Biden's most strident critics live in Flyover Country, and who cares what those folks think?

Are we nuts? Transgender sports and mass formation psychosis

Ten years from now, will biological men still participate in women's sports? I don't think so. 

In fact, the people who are advocating now for allowing transgender women to compete against real women in varsity sports will be embarrassed by their stance and will try to scrub this bizarre episode in our national psyche from social media archives. 

Kinda like Senator Elizabeth Warren downplaying references to her Cherokee heritage. Or President Nixon's henchmen who had "no present recollection" of Watergate.

Are we nuts? Isn't anyone embarrassed by the sight of a transgender shot putter competing against school girls at a middle-school athletic event? 

How do we explain the nation's descent into monumental foolishness? Robert Malone, a medical doctor, posited the term "mass formation psychosis" for outbreaks of national craziness. This is how he defined the phenomenon:

When you have a society that has become decoupled from each other and has free-floating anxiety in a sense that things don’t make sense, we can’t understand it, and then their attention gets focused by a leader or series of events on one small point just like hypnosis, they literally become hypnotized and can be led anywhere.

Malone's theory has not been accepted in medical literature, and the term "mass formation psychosis" is not a recognized psychiatric diagnosis. Nevertheless, his hypothesis makes a great deal of sense.

Otherwise, how can you explain federal bureaucrats' position that Title IX legislation,  adopted by Congress to stop discrimination against women and girls at schools and colleges,  gives biological males the right to compete against real women in varsity athletic contests?

I think today's transgender madness will one day be looked upon as some sort of societal disorder, much like the Ku Klux Klan era when otherwise sensible businessmen thought it made sense to dress up in hoods and white robes and bully Blacks and Catholics. Even Hugo Black, who later became a Supreme Court justice, bought into that nonsense.

Here's my advice to school superintendents, college presidents, and varsity coaches. Don't put yourselves on the public record as a supporter of the nation's transgender mania because someday you will have to apologize to your granddaughters.

The Spanish Inquisition comes to Manhattan: The Trump hush money trial

A New York jury convicted President Trump on 34 felony counts for a bookkeeping bookkeeping error connected to hush money Trump paid to a porn star. He will be sentenced later this summer.

As James Howard Kunstler, Alan Dershowitz, and others have observed, Trump was convicted by a kangaroo court in a show trial reminiscent of the justice system in Stalinist Russia. 

Judge Juan Merchan was obviously biased and should have recused himself. 

Prejudice towards President Trump runs rampant in Manhattan, and he was entitled to a change of venue. 

Trump’s conduct was, at worst, a simple misdemeanor, and the statute of limitations expired on the alleged offense. Only through tortured legal reasoning were prosecutors able to bootstrap a trivial matter into a felony, thereby extending the statutory deadline for prosecution. 

Judge Merchan tainted the entire proceedings by allowing Stormy Daniels's salacious testimony, testimony that was irrelevant to the charges against the President.

In essence, Donald Trump was subjected to a modern-day Spanish Inquisition. The trial was a political event obviously designed to keep him from returning to the White House. The mainstream media cheered and jeered like a Jacobin mob during the French Revolution.

About half the nation hates President Trump and enjoys seeing him humiliated. But we should all remember that a fair and unbiased judicial system is the foundation of democracy and a safe and secure society. What happened to President Trump can happen to anyone. It could happen to you.

The Spanish Inquisition: Now showing in a theater near you.

Biden promised to be the grownup in the room. Did he keep his word?

We’re all drifting and things are going rotten. At home, there was always a grownup.

 Ralph, The Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies, William Golding’s timeless tale about schoolboys descending into savagery, speaks to us today. Rules are breaking down, and timeless truths about decency, fairness, and rational decision-making have been abandoned. Americans desperately need a grownup to be our president, a mature and civic-minded leader who can repair our chaotic national culture.

Joe Biden promised to be the grownup in the room when he ran for president in 2020. Did he keep his word?

Would a grownup president with a clear sense of our nation’s global responsibilities turn his back on Israel, which President Biden did when he adopted the role of mediator in Israel’s life-or-death struggle with Hamas instead of standing fast as Israel's ally?

Would a grown-up president with a basic knowledge of biology interpret federal law in such a way that biological boys have a legal right to compete with biological girls in varsity sports?

Would a grown-up president cognizant of his responsibilities to keep the American people safe drag the nation to the verge of nuclear war with Russia over a regional dispute in Eastern Europe that is none of our goddamn business?

I don’t think so. If Biden is the grownup in the room, then the American people have defined a grownup as a demented grifter and influence peddler with no moral compass and no regard for the nation's safety or its cultural values.

Where is the grownup in the room?