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Talking politics with
the old gang
To the editor:
I was busy the other day, but I didn't want to miss Louie's Christmas party, so I popped into his place. It was packed, probably because Louie now serves food on the house at his party, all his favorites -- clams casino, stuffed shells, chicken parm, the whole bit. A lot of the regulars were there -- Jim, Tommy, Joe, Moon, Frank and some others. Everyone was in a good mood, but you could feel uncertainty in the room.
With the election over and Congress split, there was pessimism that things weren't going to turn out as well as everyone had hoped a month or so ago.
Ed said, "This border crisis is a mess. It has gone on so long that the ways for people to get into the country have been widened. I'm not sure that a wall would keep them out; they'd probably find ways around it."
"I know what should happen," chimed in Jack. "What you do is get airplanes. When these people show up, you put them on planes and you fly them back to Mexico, some airfield near Mexico City, and you keep doing it until those people realize that there is no longer an easy way in."
"The Mexicans would never permit that."
"Well, that depends who's in the White House. Biden of course wouldn't make that happen, but if someone else who knows how to make things happen were president, he (or she, whatever) would tell the Mexicans what was coming, and if they didn't like it, they could lump it."
Tony said, "Yeah, if Trump were back in, he would do it."
Ed let out a sigh. "Don't bring up Trump again, please. I hope we've learned our lesson about Trump. He was great while it lasted, but he blew it. I don't know if he was legally at fault for Jan. 6, but can you believe that that would have happened without him? He's still ranting about the election. The guy's really unhinged, all obsessed with himself. If he runs again, creating noise and insulting people, I hope that enough people who are tired of all that will turn off on him. If he were the nominee, God forbid, there's no chance he would win. The only ones who would vote for him are the Jan. 6 types, and they would not swing an election."
"Well then, who do you like?"
"Ron DeSantis seems like a strong guy, but I hope there are other Republicans who will step up to the plate. A little competition never hurts to show who is strong enough to make a good president. It's still way too early to tell."
Tommy jumped in. "Forget about the next election. How are we going to survive the next two years? This Biden's a zombie. Did you see him with Macron the other day? Macron had to lead him around like he was some guy who escaped from a nursing home."
"He should be in a nursing home, because he's dangerous. How can he ask Venezuela for oil when he won't permit drilling here? Somebody with that logic in a private company would be out the door by the end of the day."
"Well, when all the Hunter Biden stuff really hits the fan, the Democrats will start easing Joe off into the sunset."
"I don't know about that," said Ted. "When the Post wanted to print that stuff, Twitter covered it up. Now that Twitter's more open, the Left is trying to silence Twitter. The Left is very good at suppressing stuff they don't want out. For instance, have you heard yet why Paul Pelosi said that guy in his house was a friend of his named David? The reporter who asked that question has conveniently disappeared."
"Hunter Biden is strutting around town like a big shot these days; he'll probably avoid getting caught, somehow. The media is a big octopus, with ties to the government, big business and big tech. They have all the big money, so how can you beat that?"
This sobering thought created a bit of silence in the room, until Stewart, who had been nursing his Scotch down at the end of the bar, turned to us and smiled.
"You guys spend too much time getting yourselves all worked up with all these national problems. Can you do anything about them? No. Washington's another world that really doesn't care about you, so why should you care about them? You should spend more time thinking whether your lives have been good this year. For instance, Andy, did you have a good year?"
Andy answered, "Well, the addition on my house came in under budget, so that was a plus."
And then, there were other answers:
"My daughter got a full ride to Ship."
"We had a good time in Vegas."
"My aunt died; she was a real pain, so it's been a good year for me."
This went on for a while until George admitted that he had to have his 6-year-old grandson show him how to work his cell phone, and that broke up the room into laughter. I was laughing, too. I had been going to leave, but I decided to stick around for another beer and some more of Louie's stuffed shells.
John Brittain
Lewistown