Twisting Knots for Profit

"In the past, for reasons I try to explain, I've often felt I had to be careful in public, like I was up on a wire without a net."
"Now I'm letting my guard down."
Hillary Rodham Clinton

"Now free from the constraints of running [?sic], Hillary takes you inside the intense personal experience of becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major party in an election marked by rage, sexism, exhilarating highs and infuriating lows, stranger-than-fiction twists, Russian interference, and an opponent who broke all the rules."
"In these pages [forthcoming book, 'What Happened'], she describes what it was like to run against Donald Trump, the mistakes she made, how she has coped with a shocking and devastating loss, and how she found the strength to pick herself back up afterwards."
Simon & Schuster publishing bumph

"Hillary Rodham Clinton has written a new book. Except maybe she hasn’t. It all depends on what the definition of 'written' is."
"The former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state had some help on her new memoir, 'Hard Choices.' Clinton employed a phalanx of aides and associates in producing the volume, which is being released Tuesday."
"But don’t expect to hear much about Clinton’s 'book team', as she calls those who helped her write the book, which carries her name alone on its cover."
"Clinton’s acknowledgment of her three-man team — Dan Schwerin, a former Senate and State Department aide to Clinton; Ethan Gelber, another State Department aide; and Ted Widmer, a Clinton adviser and Brown University historian — appears in just a few sentences on Page 597 of the 635-page book. Their exact contributions, however, aren’t spelled out."
"Such is the lot of the ghostwriter."
Paul Farhi, The Washington Post, June 9, 2014

HiIlary Rodham Clinton listens before signing a copy of her book, "Hard Choices" at Barnes and Noble bookstore in New York. (Bebeto Matthews/AP)

On Thursday the announcement of this latest work of fiction from Hillary Clinton was made public.
Instant sensation. The title of her new book leaped forward from its position number 3,350 to 17 on Amazon.com. It is now the 'must-have' tell-all of the month, presumably. Ever hopeful, people who plan to read the exculpatory tome written by someone, certainly not Hillary Clinton, though viewed through her personal lens, will be treated to a version of events that put this woman in high dudgeon until she managed to recover, consoling herself with the assurance that it wasn't her fault.

That Ms. Clinton, the infamously famous woman who imagined herself entitled through a long apprenticeship to sit in the White House, not as a 'first lady' but a First Lady, wrote yet another book is a risible absurdity, and an insult to those who actually labour at the task of writing books. Her name is always front and center as the author of the books in her name, while sometimes the actual name of the person who wrote the book, like the writer of 'It Takes a Village', Barbara Feinman Todd, Georgetown University lecturer and writer who spent 7 months writing it, went unnamed.

These incidental oversights appear to be endemic to Hillary Clinton. She has a casual approach to so many vitally important nods to responsibility and honest revelations, with a penchant toward portraying herself as misunderstood and under-appreciated. Clearly she was misunderstood when she spoke of the type of wretched American voters to whom Trump appealed as presidential material. Just as she was massively under-appreciated when so many of the U.S. voting public felt her past performance revealed too much about her personal style that was unappealing to them as presidential potential.

And perhaps it somewhat stuck in the craw of the ordinary American who struggles to make ends meet living in a society that favours the enterprising and the wealthy -- a nation that prides itself on its exceptionality as a democratic republic that views all its citizens with equanimity in an equal light of opportunity, however disadvantaged a large demographic is when seeking health care, unable to afford what they need to remain healthy and able to maintain employment -- that this woman never missed an opportunity to enrich herself.

And good gracious, here she is, doing it again. Letting her guard down in a mission to explain her lapses in judgement, not those lapses that painted her as unlikely presidential material, but those in failing to understand and connect to the needs of those not as privileged as she. To whom her adversary did appeal and connect with, an issue that in the larger scheme of things, made all the difference. Her defeat at the polls, a 'stunning blow' to someone who expected to breeze into the Oval Office was definitely not her fault. Cue the Russian card. And then-FBI director James Comey; both scuppered her, undeniably.

She talked a good line in excusing herself, from her email server to her State Department response on Benghazi, and her embroideries about being under fire in a field of combat. The field of combat that really mattered to her might have seen a lot of people souring when word of her use of State Department contacts to embellish the charitable enterprise of her husband certainly did her no good. She has a certain way of evincing indignation at suspicions of her self-interested motivation; there we go again, misunderstood.

A flawed candidate in capital letters. In capital letters though she would not have enhanced the status of president while basking in the euphoria of representing the first American woman to hold that position, surely her win at the polls that fateful election day would have been preferable to the election of that uncouth, ignorant, vengeful, egotistical habitual liar whose lack of knowledge and certainty of his personal wisdom is destroying whatever is left of the dignity of political office in Washington.

Choice, You Say?! Heaven Forfend....

"I'm sure a lot of you may be asking what this new email story is about, and why in the world the FBI would decide to jump into an election with no evidence of wrongdoing. That's a good question [with election day coming in short order]."
"I understand. And as I've said, I'm not making any excuses [for private email system]. I've said it was a mistake and I regret it."
"There is no case. Now, what people are focused on is choosing the next president and commander in chief of the United States of America."
"I'm running against a man who says he doesn't understand why we can't use nuclear weapons. He wants more countries to have nuclear weapons."
"And if you're telling yourself he's going to surround himself with smart people to stop these crazy ideas, remember this: He was asked who he consults on foreign policy. Donald Trump said he doesn't need to consult because, and I quote: 'I have a very good brain'."
"[Vladimir Putin] knows he can use flattery to get into Donald's head, to make Donald the Kremlin's puppet, and it seems to be working. Donald has signalled to Putin that he will let Russia do whatever it wants."
Hillary Clinton, U.S. Presidential contender

"Hillary is the one who sent and received classified information on an insecure server, putting the safety of the American people under threat."
"Hillary is the one who lied to Congress under oath. Hillary is the one who lied on so many different occasions to the FBI."
Donald J. Trump, U.S. Presidential contender

Mrs. Clinton asks her supporters to ask themselves and possibly challenge supporters of her nemesis:
(a) Can the candidate be trusted to command the American nuclear arsenal? (b) How does the candidate handle a crisis? (d) Do  you know the difference between our allies and our adversaries? Needless to say, the very same questions could be put to her. Of course, Mrs. Clinton represents a Democratic administration that sat back when it should have taken action and instead permitted Mr. Putin do whatever he wanted, manipulating the U.S. to the point of emasculation.

Smoothly glossing over the fact that a candidate for the presidency, while acting in a key cabinet position committing to an egregiously serious lack of judgement potentially imperilling the very security of the country that she pledges to uphold and protect doesn't cover herself in glory by magnanimously stating she erred, she regrets that, and has learned from the situation. The presidency is not a learning opportunity. Augmented by her lack of commitment to the position of Secretary of State, willing to sell access to high bidders to enrich the Clinton estate, augers ill.

When FBI Director James Comey released his little bombshell last Friday over the agency's ongoing probe of Mrs. Clinton's private email server, citing the discovery of another immense cache of previously unknown emails many of which could be incriminating in nature, betraying the open house that the State Department had become, offering entree through the Clinton Family Charitable Trust, it served to shock additional members of the voting public into confused disarray.

It was all fodder for political groupies and pundits assessing the outcome of these damning revelations as polling day galloped closer. What should have alarmed the Democrats is that the Trump campaign had already, before the thuddingly surprising revelation, been profiting from her downgraded reputation. Donald Trump was steadily gaining on the elevated support numbers of the Clinton campaign. ABC, which had Clinton with a 12-point lead a sneeze-event earlier placed Trump slightly ahead of her just before Director Comey's regrettable statement.

Attributable by those taking the rising temperature of the American public over news of an amazing premium increase in Obamacare, it was clear to many that this was what the reaction amounted to; a ditching of Clinton support and a switch to Trump. There's more of a sour whiff of Hillary Clinton's efforts to bring universal health care to the United States when her husband was president and gave her that job, presumptuously ugly in the minds of those who preferred to limp along without universal coverage, to remind them of yet another reason why they balked at this political establishment.

The Clinton campaign team spent lavishly on television advertising, pointedly taking well-deserved shots at the fact that a nasty egotist whose faith in his own intelligence supports his animus toward anyone who isn't like him, and an utter ignoramus on international affairs could conceivably become the next President of the United States, an event too horrible to contemplate for any thinking individual. This, while practically nothing was spent by the Trump campaign on election advertising and public relations.

Now, with scarcely  time left to blink before November 8 arrives, Republican election adverts of stunning negativity are hitting the Democratic candidate in a double whammy of Trump and Comey. Revelations of tens of millions of dollars ushered toward Bill Clinton personally in the pay-for-play playlist is all delectable fodder for Clinton dynasty haters. The reality of continued FBI scrutiny of the reported staggering 650,000 additional emails discovered on Huma Abedin's husband's computer is a backdrop too far; a candidate for the American presidency under examination by the FBI for wrong-doing?

And then there is the Clinton Foundation and the fact that it too is and has been under investigation by the FBI, irrespective of the Justice Department opposing any such investigation. As matters proceed, things could get worse and worse still for Hillary Clinton's aspirations. As matters continue to proceed, the outcome could be disastrous for the United States in the potential prospect of the next president succeeding the current one to bring in the Trump administration; an outcome too sordid and frightening to allow the mind too long to linger upon.

World's No. One Headliner

"I will get rid of gun-free zones on schools. My first day, it gets signed, OK? My first day. There's no more gun-free zones."
"[The] two million criminal aliens now inside of our country? We will begin moving them out day one. As soon as I take office. Day one, my first hour in office, those people are gone. They're going out. They're going out fast."
"I love it [waterboarding]. I think it's great. [That American general a century ago in the Philippines who slaughtered 49 terrorists, sent the 50th] back to your people, and you tell them what happened. And for 25 years, there wasn't a problem, OK? Twenty-five years, there wasn't a problem."
"When the students poured into Tienanmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it [the protest] down with strength. That shows you the power of strength."
"I would bomb the shit out of them [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]. You have to take out their families when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, don't kid yourself. When they say they don't care about their lives, you have to take out their families."
"When they [Iranian naval vessels] circle our beautiful destroyers with their little boats, and they make gestures at our people that they shouldn't be allowed to make, they will be shot out of the water."
Donald J. Trump, Republican candidate for U.S. presidential election

The problem is that ALL of the people in the United States of America have no wish to be represented by this monumentally inappropriate charlatan. That some Americans see their way clear to voting for this unabashed and unregenerate buffoon, racist, misogynist, braggart, liar, is quite beyond comprehension. Even granted that Americans are fed up with an administration that appears to have bungled every international situation of grave moment it has turned its attention to, and has been equally incapable of internally administering the affairs of the nation instead of alienating the expectations of the citizenry and failing to diplomatically achieve a measure of bipartisan cohesion, the situation is utterly inexplicable.

The democracy that has led the way for the rest of the world to feel secure in their choice of political will appears to have collapsed inward upon itself. Both Republicans and Democrats have done inestimable harm to their political reputations. The liberties and freedoms that the United States exemplifies has left it free to remain obliviously ignorant of what constitutes reliable leadership both from within and without. It is unspeakably inane, frighteningly so, that this great country, so long a beacon of the free world, has been unable to field candidates of merit and trust to represent the nation and instead is prepared to elect one of two inadequate, unreliable, morally bankrupt candidates sends shivers of apprehension down the spines of foreign onlookers.

On one hand there is a crude exhibitionist who is convinced that every fatuous word he utters represents divine wisdom, and that he is entitled to behave in a manner that would never be countenanced in civil society were it not for his acquired and inherited wealth and his 'celebrity' status among the easily led and gulled. And on the other there is an equally entitled egotist whose capacity for bald-faced denials is readily identified as similar to Trump's. Hillary Clinton and her husband Bill, a former president who shamed the White House with his uninhibited sexuality, preying on women from the height of his status, again the equal of Trump, offer little comfort as the solution preventing Trump from sitting in the Oval Office.

John Sommers II/Getty Images, BNN edit

Hillary Clinton used her executive office as a conduit to enrich herself and her husband by clandestinely offering access to the State Department for political hearings bought through generous contributions to the Clinton Charity, which appears to be a nominal charity, one that has served to benefit a high-flying couple who hadn't the financial wherewithal they craved for, even as he held the highest office in the land. Access bought and paid for is responsible for the Clintons' net worth of an estimated $150 to $200 million. The emails she so zealously filtered away from access to information requests by not using the official, secure server were hers to dispose of as she chose.

Labelled a liar and skirting criminality consequences for her lies under oath, unequivocally identified as such by the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who chose not to prosecute the candidate for the presidency, leaving her free to win by the default of an electorate thankfully -- when all the chickens come home to roost -- squeamish enough to backtrack on their deadly fascination with Trump, come the new year she will be inducted into the presidency of the United States.

Gotcha! 

Seth Wenig/AP

Political Bumf and More Bumf

CNN Politics -- Clinton and Barack Obama wave to DNC crowd on Wednesday, post-Obama speech

"Even in the middle of crisis, she listens to people, and keeps her cool, and treats everybody with respect. And no matter how daunting the odds, no matter how much people try to knock her down, she never, ever quits."
"I can say with confidence there has never been a man or a woman -- not me, not Bill, nobody -- more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States of America."
"Nothing truly prepares you for the demands of the Oval Office. You can read about it. You can study it. Until you've sat at that desk, you don't know what it's like to manage a global crisis, or send young people to war. But Hillary's been in the room; she's been part of those decisions."
U.S. President Barack Obama

That's my man! Your truth, dignity and grace reminds us what real leadership looks like. I am always proud of our @POTUS. -mo            (who might've guessed?)

Love-ins are great feel-good events, where everyone involved pulls together with their focus on responding to the public weal and the need to selflessly offer to guide the country through domestic civil affairs and external threats, to uphold the rule of law and see that justice works equally for all, and that citizens who work hard and lead decent lives and care for their families will find employment; health care will be available when needed, and children will be well educated and borders will be protected from unsanctioned egress, while enemies of the state from abroad will be confronted and neutralized.

The Democrats with their well-funded public relations and their celebrity-faction support, their charm offensive and passionate promises to perform beyond reproach to respond to all of America's challenges while keeping the country great, as the sole great-power nation on the planet, do have a bit of a problem among the demographic that, though responding to their appeal, feel ignored. That large segment that views the establishment, corporate interests, the moneyed class and the social elite hogging privilege and leaving them dregs, have not made for an entirely sanguine, harmonious campaign or convention.

Which reminds us of that poutingly disparaging remark by Michelle Obama away back in 2006 that should her husband not attain the position of Democratic presidential candidate she would be "ashamed" of America. She hasn't been ashamed for eight years running, now. And for someone who claims that Hillary Clinton is more suited to the presidency than was he himself, Barack Obama is clearly writing a fairy tale for the gullible, since he edged her out of the candidacy and the White House away back when he was convinced he was the better "man" for the job. So which is it?

Oh, America, how polarized and how mawkishly patriotic you can be, how given to facade and celebrity, to lionizing yourselves as symbols of power, strength, capability, endurance and trust. Indeed, "In God We Trust", not the greenback with a church on every block while worshipping those with personal wealth beyond count, and at the same time resenting that one percent that scoops up gold bullion and leaves copper dregs for the 99%. On the other hand, if American isn't great why is the rest of the world so emulative of its culture?

There is an alternative to the Democrats. There WAS an alternative. There is always the putative Republican candidate whose skills as a marketer of dreams (his own) to the ignorant, wretched masses who feel so left behind that regard a crude ignoramus as the answer to their demands that the establishment be swept aside and a genuine man-of-the-people who just happens to be a sterling example of the moneyed-class-through-capitalist-excess replace those they loathe. And where will this 'populist' lead America?

To greatness! To isolation! To trade security! To Xenophobic gratification through exclusion. The poem on the Statue of Liberty will, of course, require a change in declarative purpose and intent. That's all, folks, absorption of the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free has completed its mission. Donald Trump for president. And, as president, he will restore to America something that it never was, but that he feels it should be.

Seriously now, folks!

Finding much in common with another showman who portrays himself as invincible and all-knowing, he is willing to move aside a bit, to make room on the world stage for two super-powers once again, seeing little untoward in democracy sliding into autocratic reform with Soviet panache. "I would treat Vladimir Putin firmly but there's nothing that I can think of that I'd rather do than have Russia friendly as opposed to the way they are right now so that we can go and knock out ISIS together with other people and with other countries.

"Wouldn't it be nice if we actually got along, as an example, with Russia? I'm all for it and let's go get ISIS because we have to get ISIS and we have to get them fast. Right now, we don't have a good relationship. Putin has said things over the last year that are really bad things. OK? He mentioned the "N" word. You know what the "N" word is, right? He mentioned it. I was shocked. He has a total lack of respect for President Obama. No 1, he doesn't like him. And No.2, he doesn't respect him. I think he's going to respect your president if I'm elected. And I hope he likes me."

Well, things can't be all that bad if Trump is shocked to hear that Putin spoke dirty in re-invoking that disgraceful word that blacks used to be called. Oh, it wasn't that? Nuclear, was it? You're confused over his statements, they sound contradictory to  you? Well, fella, join the club and get used to hearing strange statements erupting out of this man's uncouth and untutored mouth in reflection of a man whose mind is so engaged with his own perfection there's no room for serious thought about anything else.

So, Americans, how're you voting come November?

A Polarized, Traumatized America

"I will work every single day to make your dreams come true, to make you believe that America's future can be even better than our past."
"We are a forward-looking nation, aren't we? And I know that if we set our goals and we work to achieve them, we will. It has always been thus."
"This country has always delivered for the American people."
Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton == Twitter

This declaration of faith in the candidacy of a hopeful for President of the  United States, sounds like a sugar-coated echo of the statements made by Hillary Clinton's Republican rival. He emoted very similarly, but crudely and clumsily with just his typical dose of venom thrown in for good measure. And to emphasize that he would be the trustworthy "voice" of the voters who would place their trust in his capabilities and intentions, he gave forth on the reasons why no one in their right mind should vote for his rival.

"No matter what your political leanings, I think we can all agree that never in the history of conventions, certainly, but I think even more broadly, have we moved forward together by pointing fingers and scapegoating and blaming people instead of rolling up our sleeves, getting a plan together, and then working to achieve it."
"I've never heard of an American leader, or at least someone who wants to be an American leader, claiming that he's all we need. That's not a democracy, my friends. As I recall, we had a revolution to make sure we didn't have someone who said, 'I can fix it alone'."
Hillary Clinton, first female candidate for the U.S. presidency

Again, sketch in the appalling undercurrent of nastiness to more fully attire the brutal Trump version of the above and there isn't really all that much that separates them. With Bernie Sanders and his faithful following hot in pursuit of the first female candidate, Hillary Clinton has seen the urgency of steering  herself a lot closer to the leftist ideology whose anti-establishment, pro-populist message has resonated with liberal Americans.

The irony, of course, is that both Trump and Sanders' underlying message is distrust of the establishment and concern for the common man. Both are nativists, critical of past American involvement in world affairs, optioning that America remain at home and be less concerned for the weal and well-being of the world to focus on domestic affairs. And just set aside free trade, please. It is only their ideological perspective that is at odds and, of course, their delivery, equally passionately delivered, with Sanders' more palatable.

As for Clinton's promise to bring Americans together, to work in Congress and the Senate with both parties, a similar promise and hope was pronounced by her predecessor, now campaign mentor, but though Barack Obama glowed with the promise of "Yes we can!", he found he could not, or would not, engage in a bipartisan administration. And there is no reason to believe, given the corrosive verbal assaults that have taken place this election year, that Hillary will deliver any better.

TNS  Republicans complain Democrats haven't mentioned terrorism or ISIS

But the alternative? How does the prospect of a Trump presidency auguring for a U.S.-Russian reset seem? It seems on the surface that there is an unspoken conspiracy of mutual need propelling an odd relationship between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, both men with hot love affairs focusing on themselves, each deeply admiring himself. Both given to outlandish public displays and overweening pride in self, preening and prancing and spouting the rubbish of doltish thugs. But Russian investment in Trump projects does trump other concerns.

And the question arises did the Democratic National Convention conspire against a Sanders selection? Was the Russian military tasked to cyber-infiltrate the DNC archives to extract embarrassing information that WikiLeaks could be relied upon to enthusiastically disseminate?
"We don't have information right now about that, but what we have is a kind of bromance going on between Vladimir Putin and Trump which is distinct from this leak", gushed Clinton adviser John Podesta.

The spectacle of a bumptious, divisive and worrying Republican Convention with the Trump clan parading their sumptuous disregard for sober and intelligent discourse in a crass display of marketing and the hypnotic effect on the masses of wealth and societal success and celebrity, appeared to be matched by a Democratic Convention of blame-and-shame and polarized opinion between the establishment and the Sandists.

Lots of celebrity star and political power to glitter the event; dysfunction aside, with ample testimonials to faith in the second Clinton to aspire to the throne.

It's becoming increasingly difficult to find within this ungodly mess a meaningful future for this crumbling power-nation.

The Ugly American

"The most important difference between our plan and that of our opponents, is that our plan will put America First. Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo."
"They [big business/major donors] are throwing money at her [Democratic Hillary Clinton] because they have total control over everything she does. She is their puppet, and they pull the strings."
"I have a message for all of you: the crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon come to an end. Beginning on January 20th, 2017, safety will be restored."
"... My greatest compassion will be for our own struggling citizens. My plan is the exact opposite of the radical and dangerous immigration policy of Hilary Clinton. Americans want relief from uncontrolled immigration. Communities want relief."
"Yet Hillary Clinton is proposing mass amnesty, mass immigration and mass lawlessness. Her plan will overwhelm your schools and hospitals, further reduce your jobs and wages, and make it harder for recent immigrants to escape from poverty."
Republican candidate for November 2016 U.S Presidential election, Donald Trump 

Donald J. Trump greeting supporters in Cleveland on Wednesday. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

The inconceivable has occurred. A monomaniacal self-promoter, with the attention span of a gnat and the intelligence of a toad has bored himself with business interests, no longer absorbed in his success as a television entertainer, aspiring to unlimited power and prestige, now has succeeded in convincing a large and diverse segment of the American population which has been suckled at the teat of wealth and celebrity, that he is the ideal candidate for the presidency of the United States.

It is as though a mass psychosis has overtaken a significant proportion of Americans; those who have not personally been offended by the man's insufferable arrogance, meanness of spirit, doltish behaviour and leering assaults on women, Hispanics, blacks, gays and Muslims. Incredibly, at the Republican convention just concluded, there were groups of Republicans holding signage identifying them as Hispanics for Trump. The master of ceremonies welcoming convention delegates was a black man with a raucous voice and a beaming countenance as a Trump standard-bearer.

Trump accuses Clinton of lies, of corruption, of offending all standards of decency and official regulations. All of which no one can deny, all of which he is himself guilty of. The only matter that distinguishes the two candidates is that she presents as the establishment figure, the woman who shared the presidency then took up the most powerful executive position other than the presidency and was incapable of the most elementary security precautions in protecting state security and he is a political poseur.

Trump is champing at the bit to have the same opportunities when the same outcome or worse can be guaranteed.

His xenophobic free trade aversion and his intention to sequester America from its traditional role as a military, commercial, trade and cultural power with a wide and vast net of collegial nations would alter the balance of world power beyond belief. His clumsy, bullish offhandedness and penchant for abusing people of whom he is critical -- and they are legion -- represents his fitness as a diplomat on the world stage, but on the other hand, it is the world stage he plans to vacate the United States from.

Both Republican and Democratic candidates are resorting to appealing to the lowest common denominator in their respective bids to become the next president of the United States of America. Surely, Americans must feel they deserve considerably better than to be served by these two horribly flawed candidates each of whom has dreadful baggage of incompetence, overweening ambition outstripping suitability for the position, and a host of failures in their professional lives trailing them.

Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Hillary Clinton has the current executive body behind her. Was there even the remotest chance she would face criminal charges for flouting security of her country when she was Secretary of State? Mildly finger-flicked as careless, but no cause for any further action which would obviously destroy the ambition of an unfit politician to lead the country her entitlements to do as she wished placed in potential peril. The Clintons who cried poor while in the White House have parlayed their joint experience into vast wealth through story-telling publications, speaking engagements and charity.

Donald Trump, the bored billionaire, is merely attempting to do far more successfully what previous moneyed contenders have tried, to buy the White House that will become another piece of commercial property in the Trump empire. His poor taste and rude commercial attributes were reflected in his daughter's viewing of the convention as a splendid opportunity to flaunt her design label, then advertise its modest price for those eager to appear as fashionable as a celebrity figure.

It's all in the family, and American voters will get their chance to select which family they prefer to guide them into the near future and it's a tossup which of the two could bring a greater blemish of misery and incompetence to the office each of them, Trump and Clinton, hunger for. It is a power game, at the most elite level, one an amateur novelist might have conjured up out of a fevered imagination which would have received poor literary reviews as a credible storyline.

Mostly because we believe, as rational human beings, that no one could be that ignoble, crass and downright stupid.