I watched a speech that Mr. Trump made recently.  Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker Paul Ryan were sitting behind him during his speech and it brought to my mind peas in a pod. In this particular case, it brought to my mind rotten peas in a pod.  In order to prevent peas from rotting the soil condition must be almost perfect.  Even if the conditions are perfect there are still many different sorts of insects that at times attack the plants and fungi will take a shot at them as well.

Now, there are far more Republicans than Vice President Pence and Speaker Ryan that come to mind as proverbial peas in a pod and who could easily be included in the picture taken of Mr. Trump during the aforementioned speech.  Republican leadership and the entire Washington Republican party are rife with elected officials that have sold their souls for the sake of personal gain and/or party.  Among the other prominent members of the Republican leadership, aside from Speaker Ryan, that come to mind are Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senator Chuck Grassley, Representative Trey Gowdy, and Representative Devin Nunes.  Every Republican seems to fear Mr. Trump and, as a result, have decided to bow down to him instead of carrying out their sworn duty to the Constitution and their obligation to the American people.

This whole scenario that has developed since Mr. Trump took office seems surreal and evokes the feelings of a horrible nightmare that, I’m sure, most Americans hold out hope that they will awaken from.  In the meantime, because of his enablers – the Republican party that now controls all three branches of federal government, Mr. Trump has become even more emboldened than before and is openly defying all of the norms and principles that all Americans hold dear.  He has no regard for the law that the ‘Rule of Law’ Republican party has so loudly touted for years.  He is doing whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and to whomever he wants to do it to without any fear of reprisal from this spineless current congress.  He has no regard for the high office that he holds and he completely and regularly disrespects it.

Although Mr. Trump is only one man against the American people and the many men and women in congress, though he might be stupid and uninformed, he is not crazy.  He has been around long enough to sense that he has these so called powerful congressmen with their backs against the wall, he can smell their fear, and he can see that they are running scared.  He is an apex predator so this is simply instinct for him; this situation is simply an unadulterated display of his street creds (“credentials”, for those who might need the word defined) coming through.  He has met them on their turf and beat them at their own game…and in their house!  There is little doubt that those on the street do not recognize his game.  Why shouldn’t they?  He is playing their game only at the highest level.

America is falling apart bit-by-bit and although congress knows this because they hold a front row seat as witnesses to what is happening, they continue to allow it to occur without taking any action to mitigate or, better yet, prevent it.  There is no doubt that things are tough but, as American people and American voters we must persist.  There is also no doubt that Mr. Trump is a formidable foe who is tough beyond what might be beyond many people’s wildest dreams.  But they must realize that this is because he is a narcissist who believes that the universe revolves around him and that all he knows to do is to persevere as long as it will keep him at the center of that universe.  And that no matter what happens to everyone else, no matter how bad that might be, as long as it does not happen to him everything will be alright.

Evoking a comparison of peas and what it takes to successfully grow them to our elected officials; at the beginning of this article, I talked about peas in a pod and the things, like insects and fungi, that can cause them to rot even when the soil and conditions are perfect.  The bottom line is that unless care is continuously taken to control the insects and to prevent the development of conditions that foster the germination and growth of fungi, insects will develop and prosper and fungi will also appear and do its part to stunt the growth of the peas if not totally destroy them by way of rot.  As much as it hurts to say this about an American who holds the Oval Office, Mr. Trump appears to be the ultimate fungus.  And he is rotting all of the peas!

I hope that I am wrong but if this is the case, as Americans and American voters, it is incumbent upon us to do everything that we can to assure that the soil remains perfect for the growth of peas.  And if insects and fungi have already begun to infect the crop, then we must do everything that we can to get rid of both.  We can wash the insects off of the leaves and we can work to assure that the soil is free of fungi.  As this relates to the situation with Mr. Trump and his enablers (our spineless congress) we can fulfill one of our chief responsibilities, which is to vote and, in effect, wash the leaves and decontaminate the soil.   So let’s do that by getting informed and voting.

Then, from that point forward, always remember, whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!  Be sure that you vote in 2018 and 2020.  And if you do not already do so, begin to vote in all of the elections in which you are eligible to vote.  And if you can’t vote in all of them, be sure to vote in as many of them as possible.

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line