Idiot Wind

Someone's got it in for me
They're planting stories in the press
Whoever it is, I wish they'd cut it out quick
But when they will, I can only guess

As I write this, John Kelly has just denied that he has called the current Commander-in-Chief "an idiot." Since lying has become a popular sport in United States government, we the people get to try to figure out who the liar is: the Chief of Staff? Or the White House staffers?

For many of us, Kelly's presence in the West Wing has been our last hope for some stability there. Clearly, he has become a flawed official (as seems to happen to most of the current staff appointments), but it was at least comforting to believe that he is not an erratic, impulsive, undisciplined character with personality disorders in charge of our nation's survival. To put it simply, we believed that Kelly could keep his boss under control. Given that boss' rant on Fox & Friends the other day, that clearly is not the case.

So does anybody want to place any bets on when Kelly will be unceremoniously fired? And if that happens, who will take his place? Hannity?

You'll find out when you reach the top
You're on the bottom

And while the news of the day seems focused more on whether or not Michelle Wolf should apologize to Sarah Huckabee Sanders, we have real issues that threaten our reputation and our future: teacher walk-outs, cruel ICE deportations, the plight of asylum-seekers at the border, a potential policy shift in Afghanistan with a subsequent return to isolationism, climate change, the never-ending issue of gun control, "that Rusher thing," ad infinitum. And Flint, Michigan still does not have safe water, and Puerto Rico is still reeling from storm devastation.

But, but, but . . . Sarah's feelings were hurt!

Perhaps the end of John Kelly's stint in the West Wing will echo the end of Dylan's song:

I been double-crossed now
For the very last time and now I'm finally free
I kissed goodbye the howling beast
On the borderline which separated you from me

The only question is: whose lines are they? Kelly's or Trump's?