In order to run for President of the United States of America, the Constitution says that a candidate must be at least 35 years old, a natural born citizen, or a resident of the US for at least fourteen years. It doesn’t say you can’t run while being indicted, or (if my interpretation is correct, because I could be wrong) convicted of a crime. Therefore, unbelievable as it may seem, Donald Trump is still in the race.
Sensationally appearing in a Manhattan courtroom last week, former President Trump entered a plea of not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment made in 2016, i.e. during the final days of the then presidential race. The recipient of said ‘hush’ money was adult entertainer Stormy Daniels, whose silence Trump was allegedly buying regarding an alleged affair.
While I’d love to see Trump led away in handcuffs and get his comeuppance, it’s my opinion he’ll never even see the inside of a prison cell. Why? Well folks, we only have to read the United States’ Sixth Amendment guaranteeing all citizens ‘the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed’ to know why.
The word ‘impartial’ is key here. Given that Trump is one of America’s – if not the world’s – most divisive individuals, I’m willing to bet it’d be almost impossible to get an unbiased, unprejudiced group of 12 right-thinking people to sit in judgement of him. To that end, it’s highly likely that Trump, despite spewing what I’d describe as a doomsday-style attack, framing his intention to return to the White House as an all-out war – even vowing he’d seek ‘retribution’ for the wrongs he’s suffered – may just get his chance to run again.
As there doesn’t appear to be another Republican candidate in place to topple Trump, we have to hope that current US President Joe Biden (a man whose advancing age appears to be the hot topic of conversation) not only runs against Trump, but beats him hands down! G’wan Joe!
Anyone who listened to Trump’s inflammatory language when summoning his baying mob (aka the ‘MAGA Martyrs’) to the Capitol on January 6th 2021 will realise that retribution and revenge are the very platforms on which he is running. Sadly, this very manifesto may see those who’re delusional enough to share his extreme beliefs vote to return him to power. How scary is that?
When will the world ever get to wake from this recurring nightmare scenario whereby a fanatic who seeks to try and overturn another president’s election, mysteriously manages to emerge as his party’s frontrunner in the next one? All of the above makes me wonder what former First Lady Melania Trump, who gave birth to the couple’s baby son Barron while her husband allegedly enjoyed a dangerous liaison with Ms Daniels, is thinking about his salacious escapades? She’s put up with a lot from her marriage to this man.
However, while many readers have told me this week how they feel sorry for Melania, I have to say I don’t… not for one minute!
Melania’s a beautiful, intelligent women who I’m sure is capable of living whatever kind of life she chooses… yet she chooses to spend her years devoted to a misogynistic lout who objectifies and disrespects women. She stayed with Trump when the contents of the now famous Washington Post’s tape were disclosed, revealing him bragging about how he pursues (and treats) women.
Melania Trump is no pushover, and while there’s no actual evidence (it’s only speculation) that the former fashion model renegotiated her pre-nup with Trump when he became President in 2016, it’s my thinking that this smart lady most likely did! I mean, other than financial gain, what would keep anyone married to this mean, disagreeable, soulless narcissist?
An Easter weekend filled with dental dramas!
Regular readers may know how I have odontophobia – a major fear of going to the dentist, avoiding visits at all costs. However, due to an infected, impacted wisdom tooth, which was shifting my other teeth and causing me intolerable agony, following several doses of antibiotics to clear up the contamination, I had no choice but to give in to my lovely dentist Dr Eleanor Keaveney’s request to have it removed by an oral surgeon.
Due to the level of damage to my tooth, extracting it in the normal manner proved impossible. Yep, it’s safe to say that wisdom teeth are not only a pain in the face, neck, shoulders and head, they’re also (as I found out due to the cost associated with their removal) a pain in the pocket! But hey, having been surgically removed by a procedure performed by a wonderful oral surgeon in Tipperary (recommended by Dr Keaveney – thank you Eleanor), it’s now out and sitting in a little pill bottle on my dressing table!
However, that wasn’t the end of the drama. Let me explain: even though he-who-minds-me-like-a-baby was, er, minding me like a baby following my ‘procedure’ and not allowing me to lift so much as a finger, I, in my panicked state, managed to fizz everything up.
When leaving my Tipperary appointment, I’m told that due to the combined effects of relief and the anaesthetic, I was ‘high as a kite’, spewing out a stream of non-stop, nonsensical words in a sing-songy voice only dogs could hear. So you could say all went well and I didn’t feel a thing!
However, due to me being a drama queen worthy of a Tony Award, I later experienced what I’m calling my ‘post-traumatic, dental stress disorder’ (PTDSD), and that night I actually ground my teeth so hard in my sleep, I damaged one of them, rendering me in need of emergency treatment.
Thank God for Eleanor and her lovely staff. A panicked, tearful phone call first thing Saturday morning had me in her chair that afternoon, and in her no-nonsense manner, I was prepped and numbed and my damaged tooth (on the opposite side of the surgical-extraction site) was expertly filled.
It’s safe to say our Easter weekend didn’t go the way we’d planned. Mind you, hubby’s delighted my wisdom tooth is finally out and says he’s looking forward to the day when I no longer have a reason to complain. Let me know how that works out for you darling!
As for Dr Eleanor, thank you so much for your patience and your professionalism.
Charles treated Diana like an expendable ‘hired womb’!
Despite the fact that ‘mummy’ decreed that on the occasion of her eldest son’s coronation as King Charles the third, his wife should be referred to as ‘queen consort’, Charles has reportedly gone against those wishes, paving the way for her to be known as Queen Camilla.
In a move I believe formally and finally signifies that the artist formerly known as Prince Charles might actually have grown a backbone, the future monarch is insisting that stiff-upper-lipped Brits accept Camilla as a so-called respected senior member of the royal family. As a proud Irish woman, I have to ask… is there such a thing as a ‘respected’ British royal?
As a woman, a wife, and a mother, I have to say it’s such a pity this whiny, over-privileged prat, sorry king, didn’t show the same level of respect for his first wife Diana, the mother of his two sons, as opposed to treacherously treating her as an expendable ‘hired womb’!
