A bleak state of affairs
The knowledge that America’s intelligence agencies have learned that the Russian government’s top choices for the 2020 presidential election are Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders does not fill me with joy.
It means, first, that the Russians are again meddling in the American electoral process, and, second, that the choices that Americans themselves seem to be heading toward are those that the Russians want as well.
The general assumption is that the Russians, led by President Vladimir Putin, want Mr. Trump to continue as president, for a number of financial and political reasons, and that they think Mr. Sanders is the Democratic candidate easiest for Mr. Trump to defeat.
This reality, for many here in Western Pennsylvania, likely feels like a splash of cold water from one of our three rivers. For me, it made me wonder if Buck, the dog in “The Call of the Wild,” might be interested in a presidential run. Then I learned that in the new film adaptation, the dog is computer-generated. Please take me back to Lassie and Rin Tin Tin.
If Mr. Sanders emerges from the Democratic pile-up with his arms around the ball, he will likely be the only option for Americans who can’t stand the thought of four more years of Mr. Trump. Mr. Sanders’ age, health and sometimes bizarre views, for me, do not make him an ideal candidate, but I might be willing to vote for him to get rid of Donald Jr., Ivanka and Jared Kushner.
Donald Sr., meanwhile, is with his wife, Melania, in India, where the president has more known personal business entanglements than any other foreign country (he could have more elsewhere, but we still have not seen his tax returns). We will have to rely on the still-free American press to let us know where his Indian business partners figure in his schedule while in India.
Elsewhere in the world, British authorities have to determine whether WikiLeaks bandit Julian Assange would receive a fair trial in the United States before extraditing him to the tender, loving care of Mr. Trump, Attorney General
William Barr and their merry band of law flouters. Her Majesty’s government will have to decide if Mr. Assange could receive a fair trial from the highly politicized U.S. Justice Department.
The timing on this issue is especially bad, given its proximity to Mr. Trump’s efforts to intervene in the judicial process to get a light sentence for his friend, Roger Stone. Mr. Assange’s prospects for a fair trial in the United States are, frankly, meager, but will the British have the nerve to say so? Or will they just hand him over and cross their fingers?
On top of all that, there is the truly depressing news of the proliferation of the coronavirus pandemic. Our health authorities are doing their best to keep it from becoming a 21st-century bubonic plague, but the issue has been exacerbated by our sophisticated transportation and economic globalization, which has made the spread of the disease almost unavoidable.
I’m looking for the daffodils and listening for the bluebirds, although I doubt that they could survive Pittsburgh’s air and traffic.