December 3, 2022

Pot and psilocybin mushrooms in Oregon

 Pot and psilocybin mushrooms in Oregon
by Hal Brown

Two slightly related stories caught my eye on the website of a local Portland area TV station. Once I started writing about them my mind wandered far afield to cover other subjects.

Former employee reveals details about Shroom House’s operation




The use of psilocybin mushrooms will be legal in Oregon next year but apparently they are available now - the article concludes:

“I’ve never even seen this stuff before. So I’m trying,” said Scott Yon, a customer at Shroom House. “I understand it may not be legally up yet, but in Portland, it doesn’t seem like people get arrested for anything.”

Even though the Oregon Health Authority and police say this is not legal, the long lines seen outside the store show the simple economics of supply and demand.

I've considered trying psilocybin mushrooms once the clinics, where someone trained to help you navigate the experience will help you, to see what unexplored part of my mind was opened to my consciousness. 

Since the psychedelic era there were two groups (not mutually exclusive) of people who used LSD and similar substances. Some belonged to the "turn on, tune in, drop out" group, a term popularized by Timothy Leary, and the others wanted to discover more about themselves. Some eventually followers of Richard Alpert who was Leary's partner, who became Baba Ram Das, and led a movement aimed at spiritual enlightenment.

When I was in college during the height of hippie and counterculture psychedelic times (1963-1967) I knew lots of people in the former group. There was a people's park I often walked through at Michigan State where students camped out and got stoned. Reference. 



I have concluded that I don't want to take the risk of using psilocybin. I am leery of any substance that leads me to be out of control of where my mind goes. Once a psychoactive drug is in your brain there's no "off" switch. You have to ride out the experience.

I like to be able to embark on unstructured  mental journeys to see where my unconscious leads me, but I want to be able to exert some conscious control.

I have friends who meditate using one or another technique. Almost everyday I spend time just letting my mind wander freely. I am not sure whether this would be considered mediation but I like the experience.

Since my mid-teens I paid a lot attention to my dreams, what Freud called "the royal road to the unconscious" and in fact read two paperback books by Freud when I was in my teens. One was his "Introduction of Psychoanalysis" and the other was "The Interpretation of Dreams."
Karl Jung agreed and wrote that “the dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the psyche.”

These readings led me to understand that there was much more to people, including myself, than they were aware of. This understanding always informed the kind of therapy I practiced for 40 years. I feel the crucial way therapy helps is the relationship between client and therapist, but that there are times with certain clients when it is helpful to facilitate insight into why they are distressed. 

The following article should be both cautionary and reassuring to those using cannabis, which is legal for recreational use in Oregon:

While I've tried high in CBD cannabis edibles to help sleep through the night I find that I don't like the effect that even the amount of THC, usually about a third, has on me. I makes my mind race and causes near hallucinatory images. I don't use any cannabis at all now, but I live in a senior community where many friends and acquaintances use it. If you visit any of the  560 + Oregon pot stores you will see customers ranging in age from 21 to 91 or older.  You will see hipsters looking for a better high to elders with bad hips relying on budmasters, the pot store version of your pharmacist, suggest varieties to help with different ailments.

It should be reassuring to cannabis users that the state is testing the products, but it seems to be common sense that anyone trying a new variety realize that the testing takes time to find contaminants so they need to make changes with caution.

...



December 2, 2022

From The Twilight Zone to The Outer Limits to Twilight Zone to InfoWars

From The Twilight Zone to The Outer Limits to Twilight Zone to InfoWars
by Hal Brown

Archives on Right >

The Twilight Zone was popular from the first series (1959–64), second series (1985–89), third series (2002–03) with a fourth series (2019–20). 

The Outer Limits ran for only two seasons between 1963 and 1964. 

The very popular X Files was different from these two shows because it featured Fox Mulder and the ever skeptical Dana Scully and their adventures, as well as a few other recurring characters like Cigarette Smoking Man. It ran from September 1993 to May 2002, on Fox. The program spanned nine seasons, with 202 episodes. A short tenth season consisting of six episodes ran from January to February 2016.

All three of these shows featured stories that came under the broad themes of science fiction and the supernatural.

An exhaustive list of similar vintage series would have to include shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and My Favorite Martian. 

Then a fairly obscure man named Alex Jones created InfoWars in 1999.  InfoWars features The Alex Jones Show on their broadcasts and was established as a public-access television program aired in AustinTexas in 1999.

InfoWars can be exactly called a television program since it isn't nationally broadcast. It was also suspended from all major platforms for violating their terms of service.

Of course it is in the headlines now because it featured Kanye West, now calling himself Ye, praising Hitler.

There's a huge and significant difference between the entertainment sci-fi and fantasy shows and InfoWars besides the fact that they spin yarns and have sets and actors. Everyone who watches them and the numerous horror and fantasy shows on TV now, except for some of those who may be psychotic knows, they are make-believe. 

InforWars don't have actors unless you consider Jones and guests like Ye to be performers,  but it purports be a news show. 

The tragedy of America is that there is a huge swath of the population that believes the show is real. They believe it reports the facts. All you have to do is look at a Trump rally and see all the QAnon signs.

This should lead a rational person to pause to ponder just what kind of Kool-Aid so many people are drinking.

Click for image search of the meme.

Addendum:

Here's a story you won't read anywhere else. It's about how a man wearing an InfoWars t-shirt helped me find organic potatoes in our local supermarket. Unfortunately I was afraid to ask him to pose for a photo so this was the best I could do:




December 1, 2022

Hershel Walker and Dissociative Identity Disorder

Hershel Walker and Dissociative Identity Disorder

By Hal Brown

Introduction:

'Thought he was going to beat me': Herschel Walker hit with disturbing claims by yet another accuser

 This is the comment I posted on the RawStory article, above, which led me to repost my blog stories about Herschel Walker and his claim that he suffered form Dissociative Identity Disorder, perviously called Multiple Personality Disorder.

I was a psychotherapist for 40 years and treated about five patients with the diagnosis, dissociative identity disorder (DID) - aka multiple personalities which Walker claims he was cured of (by a therapist that believes in demon possession). This is alway caused by severe prolonged childhood trauma, usually sexual abuse, and far more common in women than men. A hallmark of DID is that when one personality is in control the other often have amnesia for that that personality does. Another is that there are one or more personalities (called alters) that identify with the past abuser and are dangerous to the other personalities and sometimes other people.

Walker's abuse seems to be that he was bullied as a child. This doesn't fit the diagnosis. "Cure" means that all the personalities have been integrated into one. It means there are no amnesias.

DID is extremely difficult to cure. If, a big if, Walker really had DID, I believe he still has it. This would explain his saying he didn't do thing others attest to his having done. It means that another personality did it. The personality denying it might not remember doing it.

My updated original story:

Herschel Walker, or one part of him, may be telling the truth 

By Hal Brown

About the "therapist" Jerry Mungadze who Walker claims cured him.  He believes in demonic possession, the occult, exorcism and gay conversion therapy.

Breaking story:

‘Train wreck’: Herschel Walker criticized for new ad claiming God helped him ‘overcome’ mental illness


One does not "overcome" a serious disorder like he claims to have had with help from God.

Here's my original story:

During my 40 year career I have treated five patients with dissociative identity disorder of DID. I could write a book about them and my experiences in trying to help them avoid engaging in the self-destructive behavior which was caused by one or more personalities, or alters, trying to hurt or even kill the others. In some cases these alters didn't know that killing the body of another alter or alters would also end their lives. The belief system of such alters sometimes didn't include a recognition that they resided in the same physical body as the other alters. In fact when in control these alters often had far greater physical strength than the others and didn't experience pain.

This being said I have come to a conclusion about Hershel Walker claiming that allegations of his paying for an abortion or abusing his ex-wife are lies may be the truth as he knows it, or at least as the Walker saying this knows or remembers it. 

The best way to understand Hershel Walker may be to consider his own book about how he suffered from dissociative identity disorder (which until it was renamed it was called multiple personality disorder or MPD). You can read a good summary of it here.

To quote the article:

Everyone has various facets that make up his or her personality -- assertive, angry, comforting. But, experts explain, in DID, these various parts -- known as alters -- don't come together as one cohesive single personality. Instead, one or the other part of the identity takes over and determines one's behavior. Video

Asked how many different personality facets, or alters, he has, Walker replied: "To be honest, I have no idea." But in the book, Walker talks about a dozen. They're described by their roles or function: the Hero, the Coach, the Enforcer, the Consoler, the Daredevil, the Warrior, to name a few.

Some of these alters did a lot of good, he said. But others led to some extreme and violent behavior, most of which Walker said he doesn't remember. As a result, the disorder, or DID, led to the breakup of his marriage. "I lost the person that was like everything to me," he said. "I lost my wife and that's totally, totally devastating to me." 

Walker said a competitive alter caused him to be a danger to himself, playing Russian roulette more than once. In the book he describes another incident, the very late delivery of a car, that made him so angry he had thoughts of killing someone. It was the moment he realized had to seek help, he said, which ultimately led to his diagnosis.

 

There are two crucial sentences above:

  • Some of these alters did a lot of good, he said. But others led to some extreme and violent behavior, most of which Walker said he doesn't remember.
  • Walker said a competitive alter caused him to be a danger to himself, playing Russian roulette more than once.

In the first sentence what is most important to note is that he admits to amnesia. In the second sentence he refers to a competitive alter engaging in suicidal behavior. Calling this merely a competitive alter minimizes the fact that this alter was dangerously self-destructive and malevolent. Having such an alter is, if not a universal trait in DID at least is very common. It is a personality that in order to protect the core personality or personalities identified with the aggressor.


The following is based on my own experiences with DID patients, extensive reading, and attending workshops presented by experts.

DID develops as a way to cope with extreme childhood abuse. It is usually sexual abuse of a female by an adult male in the family, usually a father, step-father, or other caregiver. DID in males in less common. The most well known case of a male with DID is Billy Milligan. 

For reasons not known, some victims are capable of creating alter personalities which experience the abuse and then instead of developing totally amnesia for it create, through a kind of self-hypnosis, another personalty which has no memory for it. 

In DID a patient can have only two personalities, one with the abuse memories and one with no memory of them. Other patients may continue to create new alters to deal with other incidents of abuse, and then use this ability to continue to spin off alters to deal with other life stress.

Sometimes they never seek treatment because despite periods of amnesia they don't feel much distress.

It is an unfortunate aspect of the disorder that in the worst cases the patient has an alter that identified with the authority figure who abused the actual patient who is perceived by this alter as a different person. While originally a protector they can develop to be a destructive force in the patient's life.

A hallmark of DID is amnesia.  During many of the times when certain alters are in control other alters have no memory of what was happening. 

Here's a clinical example from my own experiences (with all names changed). This client died about 15 years ago, officially ruled a suicide although it is possible that he aggressive malevolent alter attempted to kill all the other alters believing he would survive:

One of my patients first came to me with the presenting problem being that she was losing things, and when I pressed her to explain she reluctantly told me she was also losing track of time, sometimes entire days. In that first session I said matter-of-factly "is there someone here who'll tell me what happens when Alice doesn't remember what is going on. Alice was very puzzled by this question but I told her to bear with me and I asked again three or four times. She then changed her facial expression, looked me directly in the eyes, and said in a slightly different voice, "she's so stupid she doesn't keep her valuables in a safe place." I asked who I was talking to and my patient said "I'm Denise." Then I went on to talk to Denise and when I realized I was dealing with a full-blown case of DID I also ended up "meeting" the malevolent and dangerous personality who I eventually had to tell with in almost all of our sessions. This was George who eventually was created as a protector when Alice was being sexually abused by her father but when she was an adult also became her most destructive alters.

Successful treatment of someone with DID usually means working with the healthier alters to form alliances among them so they can resist having the dangerous alters take control. All of the therapy involves with these alters must be conducted with the therapist knowing that the dangerous alter is aware of your intervention and observing the session. That personality sometimes takes over so the therapist has to deal with him (with females it is usually a male) and works both an advocate for the vulnerable alters and tries to create a relationship with the dangerous alter. There are times when the therapist "makes deals" with the dangerous alter. 

Curing DID is exceedingly difficult and those therapists who claim they have done this may be deceiving themselves. A complete cure means that all the alters have integrated into one, that the memories of being abused have been dealt with in therapy, and there are no incidents of present day amnesia. The reports of amnesia with someone with DID means that another alter or alters were in control during the period of lost time.


Back to Herschel Walker -

If Walker really had DID it would mean that at some point in his life he suffered severe abuse and that this was most likely prolonged and came from an authority figure. It could have been a family member or someone in the community like a church leader or coach.

If he now is a mostly functional individual who still has unresolved issues with DID, perhaps with several personalities present at different times but with the destructive  personality dormant, he would still have amnesia for things that personality did in the past.

If Walker had DID it is likely he still has it. He identified several different alters in his book. If Georgia voters elect the body and the brain that contains them they are electing all of them to be their senator. He could also create new alters as needed once he is a senator. This isn't deliberate in the way we understand someone consciously developing a persona. People with DID sometimes have alters who create alters because there isn't one central psychic entity. They don't exist as one person, they exist as a group of people/personalities some of which have no knowledge of the existence of the others. They live their lives in a way unique to people with DID.

There are a number of celebrities who claimed or are reputed to have or had DID. Marilyn Monroe, Britney Spears, Lady GaGa, Mel Gibson, and Roseanne Barr are among them. Here's a list which does include Hershel Walker.


November 30, 2022

One person train wrecks and a huge traffic pileup

One person train wrecks and a huge traffic pileup
By Hal Brown

Archives on Right >

 


Is it any coincidence that all of the people who have become one person train wrecks and the large group that has become a huge highway traffic pileup are Republicans? I can't think of a Democrat but would be happy if readers can find one to add to my list.

In a quick glance at RawStory this morning I saw these articles:

The first one is about the coming battle in the House for who will be Speaker. I consider this just the beginning of what will be a huge traffic pileup for the House GOP as they begin their investigations into Hunter Biden, who everyone has heard of but few care about, to Alejandro Mayorkas who nobody has heard of but will once the hearings start.  Their eventual goal may be to try to impeach President Biden, an effort that might be successful in the Republican controlled House but will go nowhere in the Senate. 

What it all adds up to is a gridlocked (to use another traffic term) legislative agenda in the House which you better believe Democrats will publicize to their advantage when popular bills go down to defeat.

The individuals who have the most ginormous train wrecks Donald Trump and Elon Musk who are the most publicized. The lack of judgment and self-defeating grandiose narcissism of these two is 

If Herschel Walker loses he will be added to the list. Hell, if he wins, covering his putting his foot in his mouth as a Senator will prove irresistible to media.

Other train wrecks who make the news who come to mind are Kari Lake (read story) and Ye (who is apparently going to run for president with 

Nick Fuentes and Milo Yiannopoulos helping in his campaign ). 


I predict that there will be many opportunities for the likes of Jim Jordan (read yesterday's blog story about the soon to be chair of the GOP Judiciary Committee) and other House Republicans, especially those in the Freedom Caucus who crave attention like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Matt Goetz, to vie for the dubious distinction of becoming headline grabbing train wreck of the day or week.

The reason some of the individuals who will crash and burn will be due to calculated attempts to gain notoriety and to stand out in a crowded field. Keep my highway metaphor, compare it to someone driving 100 MPH in attempt to beat everyone else to a destination.

Most of them also just happen to meet the many of the clinical criteria for having a narcissistic personality disorder.  This is from The Mayo Clinic:

Symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder and how severe they are can vary. People with the disorder can:

  • Have an unreasonably high sense of self-importance and require constant, excessive admiration.
  • Feel that they deserve privileges and special treatment.
  • Expect to be recognized as superior even without achievements.
  • Make achievements and talents seem bigger than they are.
  • Be preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate.
  • Believe they are superior to others and can only spend time with or be understood by equally special people.
  • Be critical of and look down on people they feel are not important.
  • Expect special favors and expect other people to do what they want without questioning them.
  • Take advantage of others to get what they want.
  • Have an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others.
  • Be envious of others and believe others envy them.
  • Behave in an arrogant way, brag a lot and come across as conceited.
  • Insist on having the best of everything — for instance, the best car or office.

At the same time, people with narcissistic personality disorder have trouble handling anything they view as criticism. They can:

  • Become impatient or angry when they don't receive special recognition or treatment.
  • Have major problems interacting with others and easily feel slighted.
  • React with rage or contempt and try to belittle other people to make themselves appear superior.
  • Have difficulty managing their emotions and behavior.
  • Experience major problems dealing with stress and adapting to change.
  • Withdraw from or avoid situations in which they might fail.
  • Feel depressed and moody because they fall short of perfection.
  • Have secret feelings of insecurity, shame, humiliation and fear of being exposed as a failure.





November 29, 2022

The rising star of the GOP will be Jim Jordan

 The rising star of the GOP will be Jim Jordan
by Hal Brown

Archives on Right >
Click above toe enlarge image.
Above are the three other House committee chairs who are likely to lead investigations into Democrats. The chairs for other committees haven't been selected yet. Is there a rising star among those three? I didn't recognize a single face and unless you're from their district I bet you didn't either.


Read the entire HUFFPOST article below: \/


This is the excerpt related to what to expect from Jim Jordan's committee:

The Judiciary Committee handles oversight of the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security and issues such as crime, immigration and protection of civil liberties. It’s typically one of the most partisan committees on Capitol Hill, yet Jordan’s combative style stands out even there. The committee would be the place where any effort would begin to impeach a member of the Biden administration, as some Republicans have been proposing for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Jordan’s inquiries to the administration in recent months make clear the committee will investigate the FBI’s execution of a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. He has also advocated for a wide-ranging look at the Biden administration’s immigration policies and the origins of COVID-19.

“All those things need to be investigated just so you have the truth,” Jordan told conservative activists last summer at a conference. “Plus that will frame up the 2024 race when I hope and I think President Trump is going to run again and we need to make sure that he wins.”

The House of Representatives has its share of unhinged grenade throwers and media hogs. Some are better known than others, but all of them are members of the Freedom Caucus, also known as the 'MAGA Squad', which incudes Paul Gosar, Marjoie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Madison CawthornLouie GohmertMo BrooksAndy BiggsScott Perry, and  Lauren Boebert. Per the HUFFPOST article none of them seem positioned to chair any of the high profile committees, or any other committees for that matter. Obviously they will all have a chance to make their bones to the base by bloviating and bullying whenever they get a chance in whichever committees they are on.


All of them will have committee assignments, even Marjorie Taylor Greene who lost all of them under Democratic leadership. Look for the Republicans to seek revenge by doing the same thing to some or all of the members of The Squad.


B
ack to Jim Jordan.


I have no doubt he will make sure that he spends the next two years making the news as often as possible. The 58 year old two time NCAA wrestling champion and winner of the Medal of Freedom Award would never challenge his pal Trump for the presidency. I think his ambition is to build his brand for a future run for the presidency by spending the next two years, and should the Republican's keep control of the House, as long as he can remaining the chair of the Judiciary Committee.


Jordan's main GOP competition for the media spotlight over the next two years will be Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, and anyone else who stands a chance of winning the Republican primary. 


He is in the enviable position of never having to do anything to piss off Trump or DeSantis unless you count getting more screen time and lead headlines. 


Trump is the master of angry screaming and facial expressions.

Jordan rivals him because he has the angry yelling and finger pointing down pat too. He will beat Trump who only does it to a camera and rally audience because Jordan will be able use it against witnesses in order to try to intimidate them. 



All Jordan has to do is prove himself to the MAGAs is to be the biggest baddest thorn in President Biden's and the Democrats ass.  It won't matter that objective observers will look at his investigations and conclude that there's no there there because it will be all about the show.





November 28, 2022

This might be the first day in a long time I have nothing remotely original to write about politics

 

This might be the first day in a long time I have nothing remotely original to write about politics

Suppose you gave a party for all your mental muses and none of them came...

By Hal Brown

Archives on Right >

It's not like this is a slow news day. It's just that having read numerous articles about what's happening, both straight news and opinion, I couldn't find a topic about which I had a remotely original thought.

For example, here are the stories on RAWSTORY (click each image to enlarge).



Opinion writers like one of my favorites, Heather "Digby" Parton offered this take on an issue making the news big time:

Trump, Kanye and Nick Fuentes: Can we stop pretending that Republicans even care?

Look who came to dinner: Of course Trump has no problem with hardcore white supremacy, and neither does his base

Another writer, also on Salon, who I like is Chauncy DeVega:

Ronald Reagan's daughter Patti Davis has a guest editorial in The New York Times:

Excerpt:

What if there was a collective pledge among responsible news organizations to take Donald Trump off the front pages, to not talk about him every single day? He would huff and puff and try to blow the house down, but no one would be paying attention. Think of how much calmer the waters would be. Think of how many other stories would get the bandwidth they deserve.

It’s not easy ignoring someone who keeps barreling onto the world stage, determined to create chaos and eviscerate the democracy we depend on, but it is often the only remedy that will work. The person being ignored will find himself alone on a battlefield he created, with only his own voice bellowing around him. Linger on that image for a moment — Donald Trump all alone in the wilderness, with only his own voice to keep him company.


Added: NYT subscription needed to read. Suffice to say that Alejandro Mayorkas should make sure the  situation is remedied. 

Thousands of Russians are crossing the U.S. southern border to claim asylum. Many are ending up in immigration prison. “I left Russia for a place just like Russia,” said one.


I just come up dry when I try think of a remotely original perspective on any of these subjects.

Oh well, to quote in a very different context as, Scarlet O'Hara's said in the very last line in Gone with the Wind, after all,  tomorrow is another day.



November 27, 2022

What to expect from the Donald Trump Comeback Tour

 What to expect from the Donald Trump Comeback Tour

by Hal Brown



First I read this on RawStory which led me to read the article it was based on:


I suggest reading the article which this is a summary of in The Guardian. The excerpts on RawStory didn't convince me Trump would eat DeSantis alive but the full article had so many good points now I lean towards thinking otherwise. Trump will clean his clock. However, if DeSantis puts aside his arrogance and gears up and prepares for what will come if he is the front runner against Trump he may prevail. He will need the equivalent a Navy SEAL training program to toughen up to beat Trump at the martial art he has mastered to the point his killer moves are instinctual. Just ask Hillary Clinton.


The only way I see the Republicans beating Trump in the primaries is for them to coalesce around the candidate who is most capable of taking him on. I doubt this would happen considering the egos involve in the quest to be on the primary debate stage.

Currently of course they are two likely GOP candidates for president in 2024 being discussed, Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. Anybody but DeSantis seems like a long shot. In reverse order here's how The Washington Post ranked them last week.

10. Sen. Rick Scott

9. Gov. Chris Sununu 

8. Mike Pompeo

7. Nikki Haley

6. Sen. Ted Cruz

5. Sen. Tim Scott

4. Gov. Glenn Youngkin

3. Mike Pence

2. Donald Trump

1. Gov. Ron DeSantis

Honorable mentions: Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.), Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.), Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, Donald Trump Jr.

 

Previously on this list, at No. 6: Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who — like many MAGA candidates this cycle — ultimately lost her very winnable race and lagged much of her party on the same ballot.


Even though Trump hates losers, he also might find Kari Lake to have charms he can't resist. Who would he want looking with adoration at him between Kari Lake, Nikki Haley, and Kristi Noem. They all might be in close competition with each other. After all Trump think's he's God's gift to women.

Forget about Ted Cruz who is a walking disaster and reputed to be the the  most, if not the most, disliked senator among his colleagues. How desperate is Cruz to get some national attention. Consider how close he's suddenly become to Herschel Walker:


I think Trump will pick a woman because he also thinks she would help him pick up the votes of suburban white women. Even though Nikki Haley is an Indian-American she has an appealing all-American looking family that isn't threatening to the bigots:



If I had to bet he'd chose one of these three women when it came time to announcing running mate. If history is any lesson, he'd make sure it is someone who had mastered the fine art of sucking up to him and also was a national figure. My bets would be on Kari Lake despite, or perhaps because of, her loss in Arizona.

As much as she probably wants to be Trump's running mate I doubt Trump really wants batshit crazy loose cannon Marjorie Taylor Greene to be his VP. I think she has other ambitions.


Of course he could decide on this guy, ya neva know with Trump:

Seriously: 

Trump is the only potential GOP candidate with a hardcore national following. DeSantis is well known but doesn't have large numbers loyal to him. No other potential GOP candidate does.

I predict the GOP primary season will be chaotic but not as chaotic as their convention will be if Trump doesn't come out at the sure winner. 

In that case it will be chaos on steroids with double-crossing dirty dealings going on in every nook and cranny.

If Trump doesn't win the primary I think he will run as an independent. He will wreak vengeance on those who didn't back him by assuring that President Biden, assuming he's the Democratic candidate, won.

Trump's legal status won't make any difference. He could even be in jail. In fact, I think that the more legal jeopardy he's in the more this will fuel his desire to stay in the spotlight and play the tried and true victim game while attacking his accusers.


Related more of less tongue in cheek story:




For some MAGA manly men, Hegseth's sexual assault and drinking charges are badges of honor worthy of a medal, by Hal M. Brown

  Republicans Look Past Sexual Assault, Alcohol Allegations Against Pete Hegseth Reading this led me to react the with title of this blog an...