Wretched Excesses, Anyone?

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/jaime-o-neill/113737/wretched-excesses-anyone

Wretched Excesses, Anyone?
by Jaime O’Neill | May 2, 2025 - 5:18am

“I know that hope is the hardest love we carry.”
— Jane Hirschfield


We know there can be too much of a good thing, but I don’t remember ever hearing anyone say that there can be too much of a bad thing. Maybe it goes without saying, but I'll say it nonetheless: we have way too much of a very bad thing. We have so much of a very bad thing that we barely even seem to notice anymore. Just another day in the madhouse.

snip//


And so it is that we see the toadies lining up to kiss ass in the ritual of offering praise Trump made a tradition with his first cabinet, a stable of “men” and a few token women, willing to publicly shame themselves shamelessly. Like a vampire, Trump lives on performative self-degradation from his legions of sycophants. He showers in their disgrace and there's no water pressure strong enough to wash away the dirt and the stench.

And then there’s Lindsey Graham, the most shameless of all, a ridiculous little man who suggests that the Vatican seriously consider Trump’s idea that Catholics make him the new pope.

The excesses have become so wretched that we can no longer keep track of them. There’s the Hegseth excess, the Bondi excess, the Patel excess, the Noem excess, the RFK Jr. excess. Name a Trump appointee or associate and you will have named a wretched excess and outrageous abuse of power. And, having gotten away with everything thus far, he's emboldened to take it to the limit one more time.

Fire thousands of people without cause or justification? No problem. Deport people to hell hole jails without due process? Why the hell not? Refuse to correct your own mistakes? That's just good business and Americans elected a good businessman. Threaten to invade and take over neighboring countries in the style of Vladimir Putin and the Russians? Good idea, right? Rename large bodies of water in pursuance of a lunatic whim? Sure. Unleash an army of thugs in ICE outfits to terrorize people without warrants on the basis of skin color? Isn't that in the American grain? Rewrite history to hide truth? Only as needed. Subsidize the making of a documentary about Melania with millions of dollars of government money? Just another day at the office. Deny FEMA funds for even red states like Arkansas hit by disasters? No problemo. Eliminate most any program that has been shown to actually help people, from Meals on Wheels to Social Security? Helluva a good idea there, Republicans.

Too much of a bad thing? Ya think?

And that doesn't begin to explore the depths of the excess of wretchedness, does it?