The Observation Deck

It's been less than a month, and the Trump meltdown is already underway.
This week we've seen:

*A civilian posting a Facebook photo with the Nuclear Football as if it were the Stanley Cup
*Flynn's forced resignation due to his contacts with Russia
*The first cabinet pick to be shot down.....Mr. Bikini Burger Guy

That's only a small taste of the corruption and incompetence.....I don't have time to list more.

Here's my concern:
The GOP still refuses to dump Trump, which means the freak show will likely continue at least through 2017.
There will be daily news reports of scandals, payola, carelessness, and general stupidity.
Not to mention more idiotic tweets from Donald himself.

I fear that this environment will numb voters to scandal. Incompetent and corrupt government will be normalized to an extent never before seen.
Politicians like Nixon, Dimora, and Hillary were small timers compared to Trump.
His combination of corruption, incompetence, and ego will preoccupy the entire nation.
Team Summers' sins will seem like Small Potatoes by comparison...they and other corrupt local politicians will have free rein to do whatever they want.

Will voters be able to muster outrage at local corruption? Or will they simply break down and give up?

Michael Deneen wrote:It's been less than a month, and the Trump meltdown is already underway.
This week we've seen:

*A civilian posting a Facebook photo with the Nuclear Football as if it were the Stanley Cup
*Flynn's forced resignation due to his contacts with Russia
*The first cabinet pick to be shot down.....Mr. Bikini Burger Guy

That's only a small taste of the corruption and incompetence.....I don't have time to list more.

Here's my concern:
The GOP still refuses to dump Trump, which means the freak show will likely continue at least through 2017.
There will be daily news reports of scandals, payola, carelessness, and general stupidity.
Not to mention more idiotic tweets from Donald himself.

I fear that this environment will numb voters to scandal. Incompetent and corrupt government will be normalized to an extent never before seen.
Politicians like Nixon, Dimora, and Hillary were small timers compared to Trump.
His combination of corruption, incompetence, and ego will preoccupy the entire nation.
Team Summers' sins will seem like Small Potatoes by comparison...they and other corrupt local politicians will have free rein to do whatever they want.

Will voters be able to muster outrage at local corruption? Or will they simply break down and give up?

Mr. Deneen,

The short answer is: NO.

There was a tidal wave on national outrage against Washington (or more appropriately Clintonian) corruption in last year's election, yet locally the largely progressive liberal Lakewood voters failed by about 700 votes to muster enough outrage against Crooked Mike, Lying O'Leary, Bullsh..r Bullock, et al. In 2015, when Summers was re-elected, Trump was not even considered viable.

There is now nothing on the ballot for the "voters" to do anything about the local Democrat corruption.

So as I see it locally, we are left with one local courageous Republican attorney---Matt Markling, spearheading the fight for good governement by representing a courageous Progressive Democrat State Senator and a lowly moderate Republican Lakewood citizen in Skindell v. Madigan and State Ex Rel Essi v City of Lakewood respectively.

What action are you taking?
Joining or making a donation to Organizing For Action will not help Lakewood oust its corrupt Democrat leadership representing the shadowy bad actors.
https://www.ofa.us/

What is happening with Trump nationally has zero impact on Lakewood.

What's your "action" solution to combat Lakewood corruption?

Brian Essi wrote:

Michael Deneen wrote:It's been less than a month, and the Trump meltdown is already underway. This week we've seen:
*A civilian posting a Facebook photo with the Nuclear Football as if it were the Stanley Cup
*Flynn's forced resignation due to his contacts with Russia
*The first cabinet pick to be shot down.....Mr. Bikini Burger Guy
That's only a small taste of the corruption and incompetence.....I don't have time to list more.
Here's my concern:
The GOP still refuses to dump Trump, which means the freak show will likely continue at least through 2017. There will be daily news reports of scandals, payola, carelessness, and general stupidity. Not to mention more idiotic tweets from Donald himself.
I fear that this environment will numb voters to scandal. Incompetent and corrupt government will be normalized to an extent never before seen. Politicians like Nixon, Dimora, and Hillary were small timers compared to Trump. His combination of corruption, incompetence, and ego will preoccupy the entire nation. Team Summers' sins will seem like Small Potatoes by comparison...they and other corrupt local politicians will have free rein to do whatever they want. Will voters be able to muster outrage at local corruption? Or will they simply break down and give up?

Mr. Deneen,
The short answer is: NO.
There was a tidal wave on national outrage against Washington (or more appropriately Clintonian) corruption in last year's election, yet locally the largely progressive liberal Lakewood voters failed by about 700 votes to muster enough outrage against Crooked Mike, Lying O'Leary, Bullsh..r Bullock, et al. In 2015, when Summers was re-elected, Trump was not even considered viable.
There is now nothing on the ballot for the "voters" to do anything about the local Democrat corruption. So as I see it locally, we are left with one local courageous Republican attorney---Matt Markling, spearheading the fight for good governement by representing a courageous Progressive Democrat State Senator and a lowly moderate Republican Lakewood citizen in Skindell v. Madigan and State Ex Rel Essi v City of Lakewood respectively.
What action are you taking? Joining or making a donation to Organizing For Action will not help Lakewood oust its corruptDemocrat leadership representing the shadowy bad actors. https://www.ofa.us/
What is happening with Trump nationally has zero impact on Lakewood. What's your "action" solution to combat Lakewood corruption?

Mr. Essi,
Clinton is a corporatist which moves her far from any progressive roots better owned by the Democratic Party. Let's agree that she was uninspiring, but she was far from the most corrupt or most craven in the national race. Nor is she an arsonist like the Mango Mussolini.

I urge you to read heavily on anything Koch Bros, Adelson, other $B-aires and their dark right think tanks ALEC, Cato, Heritage, etc. Starting with the Lewis Powell Memorandum of 1971 through Dummy Reagan and Citizens United to today. It is the "GOP War on America."

It appears Lakewood has some Koch corporatist influence amongst the Fake Democrats in City Hall and the related civic groups. Can never be a good thing. Bonus points to identifying her or them.

Focus bigly on the election this fall. Vote!

The Democrats’ spastic reaction to the Trump election is hilarious. Especially since it was an entirely self-inflicted wound. Running Hillary, then even alleging that Trump invites “payola.” Yikes!

And locally….

Presuming Lakewood’s elected officials are in fact corrupt, local Democrats don’t seem anywhere near as eager to oust them as they are eager to similarly see Republicans oust Trump (who has been in office for less than a month). Go figure….

And were these same presumably-corrupt officials purporting themselves to be Republicans, if anyone thinks other Lakewood Republicans would work earnestly for their ouster, well that too would be a mistaken notion. That’s how the game is played, unfortunately.

Basically what I am saying is that both organized parties are basically full of it. But it’s another unfortunate fact of life in our chronically undereducated society that you have to pick one or the other if you want to get elected. That’s also how the game is played.

And Brian I disagree somewhat with your statement that “what is happening with Trump nationally has zero impact on Lakewood.” What happens nationally, the policy stuff at least, has far more impact on people from Lakewood than what happens here locally. Tax policy, Federal spending, healthcare policy, Federal meddling in education, monetary policy, all that has a far greater impact on most people than whether we drive 15 minutes to the hospital or haul our own trash to the tree lawn. Plus I can move out of Lakewood a lot easier than I can move out of the U.S. All I have to do at this point is set a price and push one button. Whenever it suits me. Then start packing….

Though I agree that all the laughable Trump hysteria has little bearing here. Or anywhere outside of D.C. for that matter. Which makes it all the more amusing. After all, if you can’t watch this shit-show with some bemusement, it WILL drive you crazy….

Tim Liston wrote:The Democrats’ spastic reaction to the Trump election is hilarious. Especially since it was an entirely self-inflicted wound. Running Hillary, then even alleging that Trump invites “payola.” Yikes!

Hillary was definitely a horrible candidate...that's why she lost Lakewood in the primary.

I agree that Hillary would be doing some of the same things (for example, DAPL and charter schools). However, there is no debate that Trump has The White House in chaos.
Comparing Trump to Clinton is like comparing Johnny Manziel to Brady Quinn or most the Browns' other former QBs.
JOhnny wasn't just a bad player.....he was SPECTACULAR in his failure (social media nonsense, complete lack of self discipline, total unwillingness to do his homework, massive ego, and supporters that stubbornly believed that he would magically "turn it around")

Brian Essi wrote:What is happening with Trump nationally has zero impact on Lakewood.

You may be overestimating the amount of attention that the average voter gives to these issues.
The average Lakewoodite has a job(s), kids, and home to take care of. They only have so much time to follow the news.....Trump will absorb an unprecedented share of the news cycle. It will be easier than ever for Team Summers to fly under the radar.
It's already happening with County Council the "Q Arena" issue....that Summers-style backroom deal will use Trump's cover. Organizations like CCPC are mobilizing citizens against it, but people only have a limited amount of time to protest/call/write/attend council meetings and town halls.


There's also another aspect that I failed to mention in the original post: When (not if) the poop hits the fan, Trump will be an excellent scapegoat for Team Summers' failures.
I can easily imagine these exchanges in the next couple years:

Taxpayer: "Why do you need to raise taxes, Mayor? Your finance director said that wouldn't be necessary. Isn't the hospital closure having a bigger impact than you told us?"
Team Summers: "At the time Pae made those comments the economy was still stable. We had no way of knowing that the market would crash. Like most people, we didn't expect Trump to win. Circumstances have changed"

Taxpayer: "The pace of new development in Lakewood has slowed dramatically. Should we be concerned?
Team Summers: "Unfortunately the bad economy has impacted developers. This is just like what happened with Rockport during the 2008 recession. In the meantime, we will have to ride this out."

Taxpayer: "Why are you making cuts in our city services?"
Team Summers: "Unfortunately we have seen severe cuts to federal funding like the CDBG program. Much of that money was used on things like street repair. Trump and the Congress cut the funding, so we needed to adjust. There have also been cuts at the state level due to the shift of many federal programs to Columbus."

Tim Liston wrote: And Brian I disagree somewhat with your statement that “what is happening with Trump nationally has zero impact on Lakewood.” What happens nationally, the policy stuff at least, has far more impact on people from Lakewood than what happens here locally. Tax policy, Federal spending, healthcare policy, Federal meddling in education, monetary policy, all that has a far greater impact on most people than whether we drive 15 minutes to the hospital or haul our own trash to the tree lawn. Plus I can move out of Lakewood a lot easier than I can move out of the U.S. All I have to do at this point is set a price and push one button. Whenever it suits me. Then start packing….

Though I agree that all the laughable Trump hysteria has little bearing here. Or anywhere outside of D.C. for that matter. Which makes it all the more amusing. After all, if you can’t watch this shit-show with some bemusement, it WILL drive you crazy….

Mr. Liston,

I agree with much of your post--my comment about "zero impact" was a reference to what you referred to as "laughable Trump Hysteria" --I could have been clearer in my post. I am watching the national freak show with much bemusement.

I will mostly disagree with your comment concerning the "15 minute to the hospital"--It would have a great impact on those who died 2 minutes before arrival and those who don't have cars to visit loved ones.

I just wanted to point out that Trumps Chief Strategist is Steve Bannon founding member of Breitbart News who Bannon has touted to be a platform for the alt-right. Does that worry anyone? I do not have time to make a long list of things I see as unsettling. Again it has nothing to do with which party one is affiliated with, it is the man and his men that worry me.

Brian,

I know this thread is drifting, but, thought this was worth mentioning.

According to Lakewood EMS runs, it appears that the average total time from start to finish for a run is about one hour and fifteen minutes.

That is a major thread drift Lori. No comment on Trump?