America's "Perfect Storm"

A Perfect Storm

A critical or disastrous situation created by a powerful concurrence of factors.

An event in which a rare combination of circumstances drastically aggravates 

the event.

The event begins

The storm clouds of America's frightening political future began gathering in the summer of 2016.  A man named Donald J. Trump, with no elected political experience, was running for the office of President of the United States on the Republican ticket against Hillary R. Clinton on the Democratic ticket,  former Secretary of State, New York Senator, and First Lady to President Bill Clinton.

Outside of New York State, few  Americans know much about Trump.  He is a boisterous, unpolished individual who was considered by many a "one trick pony," and that one trick was being the greatest businessman in the world.  Never mind the number of times he went bankrupt, was sued by hundreds for not paying his workers and other debtors.  His inability to tell the truth was paramount in his resume.

The Perfect Storm begins to take form

Trump is elected to theutter amazement of all - including himself and his family. His brashness and lack of intellect immediately come into view. His  inability - or unwillingness - to learn the job became evident early on.

He has a complete lack of understanding of the job, which immediately becomes clear in his choices of people around him.  If they did not show him complete loyalty and obedience,  they were quickly removed - and there have been dozens escorted out of the building.  The manner in which he treated people became obvious as their rush to write books began filling the shelves.

America's loyal allies soon began feeling his wrath.  He was rude and often crude in his dealings with them.  His meetings with adversaries, however, was another matter.  He would side with them over his own intelligence agencies and friends abroad.

The Storm builds up steam

His first great downfall was when evidence was brought to light about inviting Russia to help him get elected.  A Special Prosecutor found sufficient facts to urge the U. S. House to begin impeachment proceedings, which were ultimately successful.  The U.S. Senate, however, adding to our Perfect Storm, turned a blind eye to the facts and refused to remove him from office.  The president's bigoted past was on full display as his "base" of supporters carried out vicious marches with his full support.  He even referred to them as "good people."

More turbulence is added to the storm

While the date of the coronavirus pandemic's entrance into America is still being argued, it became seriously evident in February 2020.  The president immediately saw this as a grave event to his re-election efforts.  He began by calling it a hoax.  From there, he insisted it would quickly disappear - in a few days or a few weeks, at most.  Then he began downplaying the crisis as our medical experts sounded the alarm bells.  America's warehouses of personal protective equipment for our health care workers was nearly empty and our doctors and nurses were screaming for the supplies. The president said Former President Obama left warehouses empty, although evidence to the contrary came to light.  

Trump is running amok, trying his best to put out the fires of his mishandling of the crisis.  When it becomes obvious to him that his re-election is slipping away, he decides he has to get the economy back together after the coronavirus had closed offices, plants, schools...nearly everything.  Hospitals were filling to capacity, ventilators to save lives were not to be found, and people were dying at an alarming rate.  But, no matter, he was bound to open up the country - regardless of more sickness and loss of life.  His White House minions are urged to take up the fight and convince us all that Trump is right and the medical experts are lying to us about the harm of opening schools.

All elements finally come together

The president's party members in congress are beginning to break away.  There are murmurs circulation about his mental state.  Even his hard core followers are becoming silent.

We are now at the vortex of our Perfect Storm.  

The president has whipped his Republican followers into a frenzy and it is nearly impossible to convince them he is wrong.  If we don't all start wearing masks and practice distancing when in public places we will lose this fight.

In a little over three years, we have witnessed a calamity of gigantic proportions sweep over our country.  We elected an inept man who refuses to admit he is incapable of doing the job and stumbles forward from one crisis to another.  We have suffered through an impeachment because a foreign adversary was invited to meddle with our election.  We suffered through numerous battles that brought racism to a boiling point.  And now we are facing a pandemic that is threatening our very way of life in America.  More than 135,000 lives have been lost, with probably many more.

All of these elements have come together during the president's first four-year term of office.  All of them can be laid at the feet of the president through his mismanagement or direct cause.

It is now up to the people to weather this storm and come out on the other side stronger, safer, and much more careful about who we place into office.