Paul's Passing Thoughts

Never judge a book by its cover. It seems reasonable that a well polished gentleman like Mitt Romney should have every right to judge the crassness of President Trump, as he did in a recent opinion piece published by the Washington Post. But there is only one problem: Romney is a Mormon, and Mormons believe some far-out stuff. That’s putting it politely, the way Romney likes it.

But it shouldn’t surprise us. After all, the founder of Mormonism came along in the 1820s and proclaimed that everyone in human history had been wrong about God until God and Jesus visited him to inform him of such. They also instructed him to write his own Bible which he did. So, for an elitist who is all-knowing…the perfect religion. In defense of the Donald, I really can’t see him believing such things. And for my money, I will take a guy who is a little crass over someone who swears by the likes of Joseph Smith. Trump is accused of having a large ego, but he has never claimed that God and Jesus paid him a personal visit nor has he ever followed anyone that claimed such.

By the way, Joseph Smith and his brother died as a result of trying to start a theocracy and annoying many people in the process. Other attempts by the Mormons to start a theocracy led to several other regional wars. Eventually, the Mormons settled for closed societies within the United States versus attempting to make America a church-state. Well now, that’s a comforting historical background regarding the faith of an American politician. And by the way, their closed society ended up running Utah where Romney was recently elected as a Senator.

The fact that Romney is a Mormon with his stunning arrogance following is a ten-volume book that will not be written here, but we will simply look at the Seamus the dog story. It’s something that could be right out of the National Lampoon…as the cliché goes, “You can’t make this stuff up.” And gain, try to imagine Trump doing something like this.

On a 12 hour trip to Canada by car, Romney strapped a pet carrier to the top of his station wagon and rigged some sort of windshield in front of it. The dog rode on top of the car for the entire trip. Along the way, the dog had a bout with diarrhea and Romney stopped at a gas station to clean up the dog and the car, and returned the dog to the carrier for the rest of the trip. A Chevrolet Caprice is a large wagon; so, why wouldn’t you strap the luggage on the, you know, “luggage rack” and put the dog in the back? Usually not a fan of the liberal media, I must admit that I find humor in Seattle journalist Nancy Guppy arriving at a red carpet affair in a dog kennel strapped to the top of a car during the time all of this was trending. And apparently, it never occurred to Romney that hauling a live animal on top of a moving vehicle might be against the law, which it is. Eventually, Romney, unable to manage Seamus and supply sufficient wellbeing for the dog, sent it to his sister to take care of.

When Trump associated with the upper crust of society he was beloved, and I don’t think they much minded him running for president; that is, until they saw a side of him they had never seen before: confidence in the individual. Trump has revealed a side of politics we have never seen before: how the elitist class politicians really perceive middleclass Americans. While both parties pretended to advocate for working class Americans, they were really the brunt of jokes at all the cocktail parties. The ruling class has never respected the working class and never will. But worse yet, they epitomize people living in glass houses throwing rocks.

That’s what is behind Trump derangement syndrome and little else.

paul