Today is Friday, October 6, 2023. Today I’ve stupefyingly heard that the “party of chaos” in this country, the cult of Trump, has floated the idea of nominating the disgraceful and pugilistic “Gym” Jordan to replace the previous speaker, Kevin McCarthy. If you think this choice is bad, just think that House members were actually floating the “Twilight Zone” idea of nominating the person who tried to tear down our democracy as speaker: Donald J. Trump. How could this idea be ever justified when we just went through a failed coup d’etat on January 6, 2021. Both damn choices must be rejected by the moderate wing of the Republican Party, if it ever exists. Jim Jordan was excoriated by former Rep. Liz Cheney in a speech she recently delivered in which she noted how Jordan was a principal figure in the failed attempt to overturn the election results of 2020 as he scored points by allying himself with Chump. How could this party elect such an unethical figure as Jordan who is known for his despicable and undying support of the former president? He was subpoenaed by the January 6 Select Committee to offer testimony and this asshole failed to comply with that summons. Another plain reason why Jordan’s name should be disqualified without ado is that Chump endorsed him for speaker: that’s reason enough to say reject him.

In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proposed to her interviewer that a “formal deprogramming of the cult members” who support the embattled ex-president is necessary to get them on board with a more pragmatic view of the reality behind what’s going on in the country. It seems that the buffoon was watching this interview (I wonder why) and fired back at his former opponent in the presidential race way back in 2016. This give and take is covered in an online Radar article by Connor Surmonte entitled “Donald Trump fires back after Hillary Clinton proposes ‘deprogramming’ of MAGA ‘cult members.'”

The former first lady and defeated 2016 presidential nominee started the interview by focusing on the extremist wing of the House GOP and Kevin McCarthy’s recent removal as House Speaker.

Clinton then suggested those issues were “symptomatic” of Chump and his MAGA supporters.

Here is where she might have aroused the ire of the sulky toddler when she said. . . . “But there wasn’t this little tail of extremism wagging the dog of the Republican Party as it is today, and sadly, so many of those extremists, those MAGA extremists, take their marching orders from Donald Trump, who has no credibility left by any measure. He’s only in it for himself.”

Then she added, “He’s now defending himself in civil actions and criminal actions, and when do they break with him?” (I’ve been wondering this for years!) She added, “You know, because at some point, you know, maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the cult members.”

Unable to say how this could be done, Clinton then suggested that the only way to defeat Chump and his “cult” is to defeat the former president in next year’s presidential election.

Whatever team Chump fired back at the remarks of Clinton is not worthy of repeating here. It obviously cut quick and riled them to such an extent that they had to respond to Clinton’s harsh comments about the cult of Chump and its millions of acolytes.

Since I will be away when this movie premieres, I thought I would mention it for those who aren’t aware of the film’s weight in propulsive narrative. I’m talking about Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon which is supposed to open worldwide on October 20. This is the true story of an otherwise lesser-known American tragedy, the disturbing Osage Nation murders, which took place between 1921 and 1926 in Oklahoma. I have the book, by David Grann, displayed prominently on one of my bookshelves in the bedroom. My history with the book began pre-COVID when Elliot and I traveled to Bryce and Zion National Parks – for the first time – in Utah with our cousin “Jody” in her car several years ago. To while away the time, Jody put the book in audiocassette form to play all throughout the long journey. I have to say that was the first audiobook I listened to and it’s actually the only one thus far that I’ve listened to. I haven’t had the pleasure of listening to any others since that national park trip. Anyway, we were all hooked by the fascinating story contained in the audiobook. I enjoyed listening to this fascinating nonfiction tale of attempted genocide and the birth of the modern Federal Bureau of Investigation that I returned to reading the paperback edition several years later. I now have the book sitting on my bookshelf.

I had heard at least about three years ago that the book was being filmed, and I eagerly looked forward to seeing it. Well, my dream is finally going to be realized, as it is now being released at the end of October. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, two Scorsese regulars, and newcomer Lily Gladstone, who plays one of the Burkhart sisters, Mollie Burkhart, who is enmeshed in a devious plot to kill her family and other Osage members because of the oil that was found on their land which made her people the richest indigenous people ever – to the dismay of the white residents of the towns where they lived. DiCaprio plays her white husband, Ernest Burkhart. The film has already received wholesale praise when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival over the summer. I recommend that you put this production on your calendar and see it when it first comes out. It promises to be an Oscar contender, I dare say.

It’s now a scant two days before our trip. Boy, time is running out quickly.

Stay safe and be well.