The next time you find yourself watching the news completely and utterly bewildered by the actions of America’s modern day Benedict Arnold, the next time that man appears on your screen spewing a litany of lies and accusations of offenses by his political opponents without any evidence, the very next time you hear President 45 fabricate entire scenarios to explain the treasonous actions of his family and/or his administration, remember this one important fact: He’s not talking to you!

The President is speaking to that 35 percent base that continues to support him regardless of his recklessness, lies, deception, illegal, and unethical practices. He speaks to those that give their unwavering loyalty and devoted commitment with reckless abandon of the constitutional provision that America is a nation of laws and not men. So, don't let this insanity become normal to you. It's not! It's just that the embarrassment-in-chief has a loyal base of individuals whose emotional and psychological ties to his authoritative personality overrides common logic and thoughtful decision-making. Many, if not most, are persons that are themselves authoritarian types. Some typical behavior and beliefs of this personality type include:

1) Blind allegiance to a set of believes about right and wrong. Essentially, the inability to process nuance.

2) Submission to those in positions of power.

3) A belief that aggression is acceptable behavior to insure compliance towards those that refuse to comply with conventional thinking, or are different.

We have witnessed all of these traits routinely displayed by 45 and his base as he, and they, attempt to justify improper and unethical behavior, conflicts of interest, and straight out illegal activities. A recent probe revealed that on June 9, 2016 Donald Trump, Jr. met with Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, Paul Manafort (Trump’s campaign boss), Jared Kushner (Senior Advisor to the president), and Russian-born American lobbyist, Rinat Akhmetshin. The stage was set for this meeting when Donald, Jr. received an email on June 3, 2016 from one of his father’s business associates offering to provide the Trump campaign with dirt on Hillary Clinton. The communication stated the documents “would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.” The email continued, “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” This specific sentence is of significance as it offers the recipients’ information and assistance from a foreign government, a direct violation of our Federal Election Laws. The same election laws which, by the way, he assembled a controversial Presidential Commission on Election Integrity to "supposedly" protect. The layers of hypocrisy are alarming.

Nonetheless, the President has attempted to gloss over this meeting with Russian operatives, stating that he believes most people receiving this email would have taken the meeting. During a time of war these actions would be considered treason, still his supporters concur with unquestioning loyalty, yet another demonstration that their loyalty blind loyalty and commitment to 45, trumps their allegiance to this country. If you, like me, were amazed at the audacity of his answer to these allegations, just know that you're in the majority. His response was not intended for us. His sound bites and tweets were not designed to appeal to reasonable people that question his motives or actions, but rather they are directed specifically at the right-wing media that his supporters watch, listen to, or read.

These news outlets spin any issue that might challenge or seriously question his responses to subject matters that could undermine his presidency. They inform their followers that anyone who believes anything other than what they present are outsiders and are just angry Hillary supporters and only want the President to fail. Additionally, they conclude that nothing came of this meeting, thus nothing illegal took place. Given their history of lies, misleading statements, and falsehoods it would be foolish for any reasonable person to assume that they are being truthful. Unfortunately that "reasonable person" bar, is easily dismissed.

If you, like most Americans and world citizens in general, are confused, shocked, and appalled by what you see unfolding before your very eyes…if you find it hard to believe that this is the reality that we're living in, know that you are in the majority. THIS IS NOT NORMAL. We are watching insanity unfold in real time before our very eyes. If you feel that your intelligence is being insulted every time the President opens his mouth, just remember: he is not talking to you.

Morris Graves

Writing since July 2017 · 1 story contributed