Trump's Bus Pre-empts Storm Coverage

Were you a big fan of the television series 24?  I was!  It starred Keifer Sutherland as Jack Bauer, the only one in the counter-terrorism unit that could save this country.   Each one-hour episode depicted one hour’s worth of events over a period of 24 hours in the life of Jack Bauer.  It was a suspenseful, action thriller that kept you on the edge of your seat during the entire show. 

This past weekend, I felt I was watching a non-stop series of the show, 24.  I was glued to the television as a monster storm of historic proportions, was headed to the eastern coast.  This was especially distressing because all my siblings, many close family members, and good friends reside along the coast of Florida and Georgia.  The path of the storm was depicted every few moments on television by a big red menacing arrow.  Add to that, the Governor of Florida was shown every five minutes saying, “This storm will kill you!” 

I spent all day Thursday checking on evacuation plans of family while keeping my eye on the red arrow.  This killer storm kept getting closer and closer and my family was being indecisive.  We’re leaving.  We’re staying.  Leaving.  Staying.  I kept checking to see how long they had to live and my stress was building.  One of my sisters and her family live on an island in Glynn County and wanted to ride it out.  After being deluged with requests for them to leave, they finally headed inland.  Seriously, that was a relief.

I was particularly concerned about my brother who lives on the coast at the Georgia-Florida line.  He was too sick to travel.  In hindsight, I probably should have made a list of all the preparations I wanted him to make, instead of calling every five minutes.  He sure knows how to push my buttons.  He said, “If I don’t make it, I guess someone will let you know.” 

On Friday, my vacationing brother and his wife arrived from Florida.  They weren’t real refugees fleeing the storm but we pretended they were, since my real ones cancelled. All that was left to do was watch the pounding of Jacksonville by the killer storm, and wonder if my brother would be blown away.  At that moment, just like on 24, something happened!   Something that has never happened in the history of the world!  Something so horrendous, the television networks pre-empted coverage of the projected killer storm.  Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for President, bragged about his method of sexual assault! 

For the next two hours, I was mesmerized by the video that was shown over and over again.  Pundits were speculating what this revelation would do to Trump.  Facebook was blowing up.  I suddenly realized I had lost track of the storm!  The only storm coverage I could find was on Fox News because obviously they weren’t interested in showing their golden boy blowing himself up.  Next came the hostage apology video from Trump while being held at gunpoint by his staff and the RNC.  Then Speaker Paul Ryan refuses to campaign with him.  Trump’s own Vice Presidential pick finally refuses to defend him and disappears.  Fellow GOP’ers began un-endorsing him and calling for Trump to leave the race.  The RNC is considering cutting all financial ties to Trump.  Meanwhile Trump is taking his campaign further into the gutter and with it, the American people.  This stuff was incredible to witness.

That brings us to Sunday night—The Big Debate.  All America watched to see if Trump’s head would blow up like a volcano, spewing Tic Tacs all over the stage.  That didn’t happen but there were some close moments.  He was visibly angry and desperate.   Just like last debate, I found his continuous snorting very distracting, like a mad bull. 

Trump repeatedly called Hillary a devil, and that she had hate in her heart. Trump threatened, if elected, to have Hillary investigated by his Justice Department and if he were President, she would be in jail.”  That’s what Putin does, not this country.  For those words alone, it shows he is unfit to be President.  He’s hateful, nasty, and knows no bounds. 

Our country is in crisis and Trump is about to go nuclear.  The suspense is building.  And, just like on 24, we’ll have to stay tuned to find out if our country will stand.

About the storm...all my family were safe and very fortunate.  Others were not.  There seems to be a disconnect between the pre-storm hype and coverage of the aftermath.  Many are suffering all along the coast. I wish the media would give this dire situation more coverage than Donald Trump.

Please note: The editor of this paper and I don’t agree on anything and butt heads often.  However, in the case of Trump, he chose not to endorse him.  Kudos to Will Davis!