Congress Is Making Me Crazy: On Donald Trump and Billy Beer
The results of inaction.
Yesterday I spent way too much time getting AI to make images of Donald Trump as Billy Carter.
It’s come to this. This is how I spend my time. I’ve lost my damned mind.
We all know people who prefer to complain about problems for the entirety of their lives, as opposed to taking an action.
Nowhere is this more rampant than politics. Almost 90 million registered voters did not vote in the last presidential election. It’s a stunning number, especially when you consider the mess in which we find ourselves.
I bet at least 89,000,000 of those people are still complaining about politics.
But not I. I’m a doer.
I discovered something late in life: doing something is far less trouble than thinking about doing something. If I take an action, I no longer have to think about it. Vast quantities of room open up in my brain.
So when Donald Trump gave Elon Musk—Elon Musk!—the keys to the financial kingdom in order to focus on his Personal Vendetta Tour, I started moving.
I called the Capitol Switchboard regularly. I got into conversation with my congressman and read him the riot act. I left messages for my senators. I wrote. I marched.
And nothing changed.
That’s okay, I said to myself. Something will give eventually. They can’t just let him continue like this; he’s running the country straight into the ground.
I kept calling, talking, writing, doing, acting.
And nothing changed.
At this point, I feel like suing Congress for driving me crazy. It is quite obvious their inaction is responsible for my tenuous mental state.
On reflection, here’s where I erred.
Every action I’ve taken is rooted in the Old Ways, the Old Rules. I’m acting like I live in a country that has 535 people in Congress putting service to their nation ahead of everything else.
Every congressional representative and senator swore to defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic. It’s part of the job description. They all took the oath.
And yet, they do nothing about the onslaught of executive orders destroying the fabric of our nation. They do nothing, even as Trump makes their roles meaningless.
They just sit there, occasionally signing onto a letter, as if Trump reads letters.
The United States is turning into Trump’s personal toxic dump site as we speak. Nobody can live in a toxic dump. It is an uninhabitable place.
In normal times, Congress would step in and say,
“Sorry, buddy, but the Constitution counts, as does the rule of law, as does the privacy of our citizens, as do our NATO allies, as does the economy, as do our government workers, as does the healthcare of our veterans, and PS, we need a head of Health and Human Services who understands the science of vaccinations, and a head of defense whose life’s work is the military, not Fox News; Vladamir Putin is not our friend; and most of all, you absolutely cannot make money off business dealings with foreign nations, that just does not fly around here.”
But no. For reasons I will never understand, they’re playing by the new rule:
Because Trump Said So.
Members of Congress are sitting on their hands, looking stupid and/or evil, depending on your party affiliation.
All of us ask,
Why aren’t you doing something?
Congress looks back and goes,
“What?”
If you’re like me, you may find yourself going mad with worry and an unbearable sense of powerlessness.
Cue Billy Beer.
I’d forgotten about Billy Beer. But a friend of mine sent me a text out of the blue that read,
Do you remember the outrage directed at Billy Beer? I was just reminded in relation to Trump’s new crypto bank.
I immediately responded,
Jimmy Carter’s brother.
And I started wondering—could Billy Beer be the elusive holy grail of parables? Could the story of Billy Beer turn our nation around?
It’s more likely I’ve gone crazy.
I don’t know. But I’m desperate for change, so writing about Billy Beer is worth the effort.
Billy Carter wasn’t an elitist who graduated from a dreaded Ivy League; he attended Emory, and did not complete a degree. Billy owned a gas station in Georgia, and he just happened to be the brother of the late President Jimmy Carter.
Perhaps Billy could be the key to the MAGA mind. Perhaps Billy’s story could let Trump supporters know how badly they’re being abused by their president.
Back in 1977, there was a president of the United States who was humble, frugal, devout, and ethical: the late Jimmy Carter. He had a brother named Billy.
Almost every family has a Billy.
Billy was what we used to call “an embarrassment.” I used to be a bit of a Billy myself, so I know of what I speak.
A few Billy qualities:
1) Trying their hardest to do as little as possible.
2) Always looking for an unrealistic and astronomical payout for doing as little as possible.
3) Only caring about ethics if caught.
4) A commitment to grifting.
These characteristics tend to derive from something called “entitlement issues,” defined by,
A belief that one deserves special treatment or privileges, often without earning them. This can manifest as a persistent expectation that others should cater to one's needs, a lack of gratitude, and a tendency to blame external factors for problems.
Sound like anyone you know? Yes.
Sometimes there are families composed entirely of Billys, and their last name is often Trump.
While President Carter was trying his best (with little luck) to do right for the American people, Brother Billy decided he might as well make a buck from his brother’s success. He got in cahoots with a company to produce a beer, marketed as—you guessed it—
Later, in what could only wind up as a movie starring Ben Affleck as the CIA hero rescuing us from this idiot, it was revealed that the funding of Billy Beer came from a source in Libya.
Not great news. Billys do have a tendency to get in over their heads. And don’t you know, Libya is in the news today, because Trump said he’s deporting immigrants to Libya, and Libya’s governments—both of them—are saying oh no you aren’t.
I take the Libya news as a sign I’m on the right track with the Billy Beer story, because as previously stated, I’m insane. Crazy people make all sorts of connections that aren’t there.
When Billy Carter got involved with Libya, the consequence was something called a Senate Investigation.
And here’s my point, oh ye of MAGA faith—I am a lifelong Democrat, and President Carter happens to be a personal hero of mine. And guess what?
Congress did the right thing by investigating him. If ethics count for one person, they count for us all.
In case you’ve forgotten American politics previous to the past 100 days, Congress used to investigate things when they started smelling fishy.
The stench from our current White House reeks like dad took a 12-pound striper out of the cooler to clean, but forgot and went to the bathroom instead. Then, Billy Beer in hand, he went inside to watch the game.
As president, you are forbidden from profiting from your office by the United States Constitution. We have an Emoluments Clause, put in to ensure presidential independence.
Listen, people, I didn’t make up this rule. It’s not a left-wing plot.
Foreign Emoluments Clause (Article I, Section 9, Clause 8):
This clause prohibits any person holding an office of profit or trust under the U.S. government from accepting any gift, emolument, office, or title from a foreign government without the consent of Congress. An "emolument" is defined as any "profit, gain, or advantage," including things like payments, benefits, or other forms of financial gain, according to the American Constitution Society.
Domestic Emoluments Clause (Article II, Section 1, Clause 7):
This clause specifies that the President shall receive compensation for their services, and this compensation cannot be increased or decreased during their term. Furthermore, the President cannot receive any other emolument from the United States, according to Congress.gov. This clause aims to ensure the President's independence from Congress and state governments.
As Billy Carter found out, it’s frowned upon for family members to profit as well. Because if Brother Billy is Grifting in Libya, what is to stop him from passing a few dollars to his brother Jimmy?
It’s a conflict of interest.
Now. I’ve come up with a list called,
Things in the White House That Stink Like a Dead Fish Because Donald Trump is a Grifter
(This is for his current term. If you want a list of his 3400 conflicts of interest from 2020, here’s a link.)
1) Real Estate deals, particularly in the Middle East.
2) His own cryptocurrency bank, World Liberty Financial
3) Trump Media and Technology Group, aka Truth Social
4) Real estate holdings
5) Trump merchandising (sneakers, bibles, etc.)
Not to mention the tariffs shenanigans, which one might be inclined to see as possible market manipulation.
When you, the MAGA voter, see your retirement portfolio drop because of 125% tariffs the president put into effect, and then you experience relief when the market shoots back up, what do you think happens in between these two events?
Rich people buy up stock for cheap, and when it goes up, they’re much richer.
So far, Adam Schiff is the only person in Washington who has called for an investigation into insider trading. I guess it was Trump’s “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT” post that got his suspicions up.
All these conflicts of interest make the $200K Billy Carter “borrowed” from Libya (it’s estimated he only paid $1K back) look like pretty small potatoes.
And yet, it was investigated.
Let’s return to things that stink, or the dad who left the fish in the garage.
Ordinarily, someone smells the rotten fish, and deduces quickly where it originates. Because that’s the first thing we do when we smell something rotten—we seek out the source so we can eradicate it.
Someone in the family might say,
“Mom? Something is smelling really bad; I think it’s from the garage.”
Then mom would say, you know, you’re right, and go check it out. She’d immediately come back inside and shut the door, then yell for her husband to come and clean up the damned mess he left.
The sheepish dad would get rid of the fish while everyone yelled at him.
That’s what would happen in a normal family.
But what happens in a family with an abusive father?
Nobody says anything, because it’s dangerous to upset Daddy. When he drinks himself to sleep, the mother cleans up the fish, in order to protect her kids from their father’s temper.
Or the father himself discovers the fish, and doesn’t remember he left it there. He was in a blackout from drinking too much Billy Beer. Abusive Dad proceeds to blame it on his wife.
Why didn’t she clean the fish, all good wives clean the fish their husbands bring home!
In order to protect her kids, his wife says,
“I’m so sorry you’re right.” Then she cleans up his mess, praying nobody gets hit.
All eventual outcomes are the same: one cannot live in a house with the smell of rotting fish. It’s inhabitable. The fish gets cleaned up.
Not anymore. Under Donald Trump, all bets are off, as are rules, law, and order.
In this administration, there’s dead rotting fish all over the place, and aren’t dead rotting fish wonderful, and isn’t the president a genius for giving us stinking fish, we never knew we liked them so much.
If Congress is Dad of the Dead Fish’s family, it’s composed of two factions:
1) The Wife, aka Republicans
2) The Kids, aka Democrats
This family is in what we call a crisis. All the other families in the neighborhood (NATO) want to call Child Protective Services, but it got defunded by Elon Musk and DOGE.
Every community meeting is on what can be done about the crazy house down the block, because the fish smell is permeating the entire neighborhood, and the delivery guys won’t even turn down the street anymore.
I mean seriously, we most resemble North Korea right now.
The Republican wives praise Crazy Daddy, isn’t he wonderful. The Democratic kids are too scared to speak up. They’re just keeping their heads down, praying they’ll make it out of their teens alive.
Every time Donald Trump takes an insane action, there needs to be a consequence. All Congress has to do is lead the way.
This morning I woke up and thought:
Maybe Congress should ask for help. Maybe they should just hold a press conference and admit they don’t know what to do, and ask the American people for help.
We would help. If they asked us to show up and protest, or to go on a general strike, you can bet we’d be there.
Because whatever this is, it ain’t working. No wonder I’ve made Billy Beer memes all day.
Right now I want to be sitting in a bathtub and scream, "Calgon, take me away."
I'm right there with you- feeling crazy! I also feel as if I'm living in bizarro-land. If Obama or Biden did half the crap he does, they would of been immediately removed from office. And, what about the Republicans carrying on about Hunter Biden? Meanwhile, Trump has made his children millions while in office. So disgusted! 😡