While we were growing up, in school and after, how many times did we say it was the fault of the Germans? They could have stopped Hitler from gaining power, and from exerting power the way he did. All they needed was courage that they clearly did not have. It was the fault of the Germans.

Guess what? We seem all to be Germans today. And we all know it. And it looks like there is very little we can do in order not to be Germans. I say that looking at myself, 83 years old with no influence with the public. But it is also true looking at others, even looking like the most influential anti-Trumpers. They seem to have no more power to stop Trump than I do. We are all Germans.

Yesterday was not a good day for my social or political psyche. We spent the day on a short trip to Occoquan VA, had a nice lunch, popped into a couple of shops, went to their elaborate riverfront park, and toured some of the beautiful south Fairfax County residential areas in and around Clifton VA. The weather was beautiful, the company good, and it was relaxing.

During the day, I saw that Bob Mueller had passed away. I wasn’t really surprised because I knew that he had been sick, but it was too bad. He was a man with an extraordinary career dedicated to public service, who was given the very difficult job of leading an investigation on whether the Russians interfered with our election, whether the Trump campaign worked with the Russians in that regard, and whether Trump was involved in obstruction of justice.

He was hamstrung in his job in that Trump was then the president and there was longstanding Department of Justice policy against bringing a criminal indictment against a sitting president. In light of that restriction, Mueller apparently decided that investigating Trump for criminal conduct would not be a worthwhile or proper thing to do. He also (and I am not sure of the rationale here) never spoke with Trump and never sought his testimony or deposition. Mueller concluded therefore that although he could not say that Trump was guilty of any criminal activity, he might reach a different conclusion had he had the authority to conduct a full investigation.

Some time after the Mueller Report was released to the public, I remember that Bob Mueller was called to testify before Congress, and his testimony was a failure. He seemed old and distracted and his memory did not seem as sharp as you would hope. This was a year or so before he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, and it is possible that he was already feeling the effects of the disease that would end his life six or so years later.

So, while I was sorry to hear that he had passed away, as I said it did not come as a shock. But the response to his death by our abhorrent president was a shock, even though it has become so difficult for Trump to shock me any more. I quote from Trump’s Truth (sic) Social (sic) post:

“Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people.”

I put a comment on Face Book that in effect said that there was maybe one person happy that Bob Mueller died, but there would be billions who would be happy if the same thing happened to the president. Obviously, this is so.

But there was more than this that upset me yesterday. After we got home from our venture, I turned on CNN and watched a report that they had from southern Beirut, that was concentrated on the effect of Israeli strikes on children in the area. It was heartbreaking. And, as the CNN reporter stated as the cameras showed residential buildings that had been hollowed out by the bombing: this neighborhood, a week ago, was bustling and vibrant. I understand that Israel is trying to take Hezbollah out of the picture, but at what cost? And I could same thing about the “mistake” the U.S. made when it killed about 150 young school girls. At what cost is this war worth it?

With respect to the war in Iran, it becomes clearer and clearer that Trump has no idea what he is really doing there. He says that Iran’s ability to respond to the American and Israeli attacks has been destroyed, although this obviously is not true, as they continue to send drones into Israel, the UAE, Diego Garcia and Kuwait. He says that the leadership has been wiped out, and any possible successor leaders have been wiped out (he discounts the son of Khamenei as a leader, hardly ranking him as a human being), and there is no one to talk to. He says that we are almost through with the war, but he is not ready to talk peace and he is bringing 2500 (or is it now 5000) Marines and three battleships into the area from San Diego. And from Israel, where the nuclear center town of Dimona was hit, Netanyahu has said, in effect: “Now, I am mad. Now, you will see how mad I am.”

Oil and gas prices have skyrocketed and the experts all say that there has been damage to various facilities that cannot be quickly repaired and that we are in for higher than necessary prices for the next year or two, at least. If the Strait of Hormuz stays blocked, this can go on longer. My assumption is that Trump wants to use the military forces on the way to the Persian Gulf to capture the Island of Kharg, where most Iranian refining and shipping takes place and bring Iranian oil, like Venezuelan oil, under American control. Rotsa ruck, as they used to say.

The way to avoid this takeover? Maybe (only maybe) if Iran obeys Trump’s latest demand – open Hormuz by Monday night (our time), or see your power plants destroyed. Well, as Nick Kristof said last night on MS NOW, if that happens, Iran will target power plants and desalination plants in its neighboring countries and where are we then?

Of course other things are going bad as well – the war in Ukraine, the situation in Cuba, and so forth. But I want to end this by giving a few remarks about our pitiful Congress.

Explain this to me. The Department of Homeland Security has not been funded, and the Department’s various agencies are running (or have run) out of money or authority to spend money. Well, not all of the agencies, because the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) was given money through the Big Beautiful (sic) Bill, so that it can keep operating without getting the additional funds that it would get if the DHS bill is passed in its current form. But the other agencies – the Coast Guard, TSA, FEMA and many others – cannot keep operating.

Everyone in Congress, Democrat and Republican, wants to fund all of DHS other than ICE (which the Democrats don’t want to fund, but which has enough money from the BBB anyway, making the debate meaningless). The Democrats have offered to fund everything but ICE, which will have no effect on ICE, until changes to its operations are negotiated. The Republicans won’t agree to this unless ICE is now included in the appropriations bill. In my mind, the Democrats have by far the better argument, but Republicans think the Democrats should just give up, and who knows what Independents think?

Why do I think the Democratic stand is better? Because we are treating those targeted by ICE (undocmented immigrants, properly documented immigrants, U.S. citizens) as bad as Germany treated Jews, Romani, and gays during the early years of Nazi rule.

But the fact that the argument over ICE is, on the ground, meaningless, and every thing else is agreed to, and Congress can’t do anything but blame the other side, is just sick. Pitiful.

I started by saying we were Germans. Are we? Is it possible that we might even be worse?