Trump Dismantles Washington

It hard to know what to make of Trump's presidency. Every day is something new, something previously unheard of, something that usually can't be explained. Not by him, his staff, or his allies in Congress. Even his base admit they don't like everything he does, but they do love him. Back in December 2015, before the primaries even began, I became so hung up on the words leaving his mouth-not so much the words, but rather the order they came out, that I came up with Trump Throughout History. The president's words cause many to be afraid in today's uneasy and oftentimes divisive environment. I decided to insert him into familiar situations from the past. Because the aftermaths of these events are already set in stone, they are immune from the harm his words normally cause. I thought hearing his mangled utterance, which like his current ones, make no sense whatsoever, might bring a smile to readers' faces in these troubled times. Maybe that was unfair, a case of me doing what he has accused everyone of doing throughout his presidency-namely picking on him. For possibly the first time, he is right. I am picking on him. I'd also say, he's got it coming. The fictional, A Thousand and one Trumpian Tweets, is a look at what, still to this day, doesn't make sense to a lot of Americans. How did Donald Trump, an egotistical, barely literate, boastful, bullying blowhard with nothing going for him except a lot of money, much of it made through questionable business dealings or given to him by Russian banks-how did this man get elected president? Maybe the fictional answer I give to that question might be the only one that makes sense-until the Mueller Investigation gives us a better one. In Trump Unraveling History, I offer up essays-some previously published, some not-that look not only at him, but also a Republican party that has failed to stand up to him. Trump does what he does because he has no choice. He is who he is. Congress doesn't have to put up with him, but they do. Maybe they have no choice either. Maybe they are who they are.
About the Author: I was born in Rochester, New York, served in Vietnam as a feature writer for "Hawk Magazine" and worked for the Postal Service for 30 years before retiring in 2010. I've lived in Virginia Beach, Virginia for the last forty years. As a guest columnist for The Virginian-Pilot, I've written on a variety of topics. Many since 2015 have been political in nature. After publishing a crime fiction novel, "The Man Who Wrote Letters" earlier this year, and with the political climate once again heating up, I began work on a project that culminated with "Trump Dismantles Washington." Previously, I published "Postal Service," which compared today's Postal Service with the Post Office that Charles Bukowski wrote about in "Post Office." I also wrote a novel, "Hell on Earth, a love story," which looked into the possibility that someone else, someone not of this world might be exercising more control over our lives than we ever suspected.