A former political writer, I’m skipping most of the news, their hysteria, thoughtlessness, laziness, persecution, and epidemic of hatred, dishonor, and greed. Our politics are immoral and cruel.

I’m generalizing, but I’m just not joining the whirlwind again; there is nothing there for me and perhaps for you.

What I can do is offer some perspective.

The modern corporate media, which is most media now,  has an enormous financial interest in keeping this civic soap opera going,  turning out political life into a middle-school football game. A small, independent, and honest media staffed chiefly by young men and women is beginning to emerge. May they prosper and grow.

The corporate media, a/k/a the “mainstream” media,  have been wrong about every critical election for the past few years and are no longer in touch with the electorate’s people, with whom they barely speak.

We are a nation of polls, not conversations, which are consistently unreliable and inaccurate. There is no substitute for looking people in the eye and talking to them.

The mainstream media are wrong now in pretending that our democracy is in imminent danger of being pushed over a cliff or that any of the most unlikeable and unelectable, incompetent politicians scaring the wits out of people can take our whole Nation over.

I’m not into conspiracies, but big corporations seem much more powerful than the government they once controlled. And they have a vested interest in keeping our government paralyzed – no new taxes or regulations – and our people divided and suspicious of one another.

Thus they are spending billions of dollars on political entities that hate regulation, women’s freedom, taxation, and oversight.

Finding and separating good guys from bad guys is difficult; few people have the time, interest, or resources.

Armageddon is not around the corner; you can take it to the bank (poor choice of words?). It could cost the Corporate Nation too much money.

Persecution and prejudice are the weapons. Nobody can win or lead as long as we hate and are frightened by one another. Lincoln was right. A divided nation cannot stand. And people are working hard to keep it that way. But our country isn’t really to fall either, far from it.

Since truth is hard to come by, we need to do our thinking. You are not likely to get much truth or reality from the faces you see on your phone, big screen, or online.

The corporate entities that run our country and most of Congress will never permit our economy to be torpedoed by Marjorie Taylor Greene, Rep. Gaetz, or their small army of insurrectionists. It would cost them too much money.

Older adults alive today will probably never see the cost of their medicine drop. The federal government is no match for Big Pharma and its lobbyists. You will never hear Trump or DeSantis talk about that.

I’m no pundit, but I have a pretty good – not perfect – record so far. People need to make up their minds about it.

I think I can tell you some of what you need to know and aren’t learning or reading in just a few lines, which may soothe some fears and worries. I believe the truth is plenty scary, but not as frightening as we are being led to believe.

I do this from time to time and will keep doing it up through the next presidential election:

– Donald Trump will not be our next President. The media doesn’t want to see it or know it, perhaps. But everyone with profound political experience knows it to be true.

He is the media’s money tree, lifeline, and a God to his followers; almost all of the media is now owned by giant corporations or billionaire lunatics and political extremists. This kind of media is not close to being reliable.

In case you haven’t noticed, Donald Trump is now a political Titanic heading straight for the iceberg field. He is the unsinkable ship heading for disaster and sinking in real-time for all of us to see if only our eyes were open.

You can watch him get chewed to pieces or go about your life, and I won’t waste much psychic or emotional energy fearing his return to the White House. Donald Trump will never get into my head. Neither will Ron DeSantis.

Trump is already the biggest loser in the history of national politics. He can’t wait to do it again. That is true arrogance. Tremble if you wish; it’s your decision. I won’t go there.

Mr. Trump is falling apart a little bit more every day. Don’t believe the bull. He has no more chance of being President again than I do. Save yourself some heartburn.

–Ron DeSantis will not be the next President either. If I thought he had a chance, I’d be trying to rent a house in Costa Rich with a backyard big enough for two donkeys, an artist studio,  and a garden bed.

The bottom line is this: he and his terrifying wife, Casey, are way too fanatic and creepy to win a national election away from the brain-melting heat of Florida. People who work with them in Florida say they are terrified of both, finding them humorless, vengeful, and dictatorial. Politics and Elon Musk prove that billionaires are not necessarily bright.

There is nothing warm, soft, or likable about Ron DeSantis; he’s just the latest political to take millions of dollars from people and throw it away. One former aide compared the governor and his wife to a mean-spirited Adams Family. He scares more people than Trump, and that’s saying something. The Republican Party is heading for the iceberg as well. The idea in politics is that you want people to like you, not scare you. Mussolini would never have won a fair vote.

Imagine what might happen if Trump or DeSantis raised all that money and sent a million Floridian kids to college. It’s unimaginable, and that’s the problem.

-The Republicans and their spineless leader Speaker McCarthy are even creepier than DeSantis. At this rate, they will lose their majority in the House of Representatives next time, and Jim Jordan will buy a sports jacket or suit and return to Ohio to coach again. Or maybe he’ll run for President himself.

All of these people named above are committed to making the same mistake. Trapped in their bubble, they can only hear each other and believe it is the truth. But it isn’t.

One day, our democracy may weaken and collapse, but that day is far from now. Most of our central institutions are solid and intact. Under tremendous pressure, they are holding up, even in the courts.

It is not difficult to please the Trumpian base – all you have to do is support lying, corruption, treason, and incompetence.

But their problem is that most Americans – way more than 50 percent and close to two-thirds of the Nation still believe in moral leadership and would like to remain free and in a democratic society for a good while longer.

Donald Trump has not gained the support of a single voter since he was defeated in 2020 and has been lying about it ever since, thus making it worse. If he isn’t dumb (which he isn’t), then he is not well (which he isn’t either).

His followers love this soap opera, but he shows no signs of gaining even one more voter, not since he lost the last election. And Donald Trump is bursting with charisma and appeal next to his Frankenstein son, Governor DeSantis.

Maybe he was brought to life by lightning in some Florida castle.

I am not writing this as an ideologue but as someone following politics for a long time. I love it.

This is different. These are the bozos, wackadoodles, and goofballs J.L. Mencken wrote about so beautifully and perceptively many years ago. Jefferson predicted they would come, that is the price of equality,  and they are here.

-Women are the big story in American politics, whether the Republicans like it or not. And they can’t seem to stop persecuting and alienating them, as well as people of color and people who are gay. If you know any intense women – I live with one – you know this is folly.

Women and many other people outside the Trumpian bubble are not buying any of this; without them, the people who would bring us back into the dark ages cannot win.

That’s not politics or punditry. If I’m wrong, I’ll only be too happy to admit it. I guess I’m arrogant too.

Unlike politicians or corporations, it’s simple math, and math never lies. Even Donald Trump can’t lie about the numbers or the dynamic and growing political power of women and “others.” There are enough thugs with rifles to stop them or kill them all. It’s a finger in the dike, as unnerving as it is.

I am sad to see that most modern media, my beloved journalism,  is now a hot mess of little use to anyone but the billionaires who own and run them.

If this changes, I’ll try to let you know. It’s really all about perspective. Being frightened accomplishes nothing and reveals even less.