An Appointment in Samarra

Photo by Rob van der Meijden

There’s an Arab tale/proverb, thousands of years old, that goes like this-

A merchant in Baghdad sent his servant to the market to buy provisions. In a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned, I saw it was Death and she looked at me and made a threatening gesture. Now, lend me your horse and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there, Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse and the servant rode away as fast as the horse could gallop. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and saw the same woman standing in the crowd and asked her, why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning?  That was not a threatening gesture, Death said, I was only surprised to see him in Baghdad, because I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra…

So, is it our destiny? Are we locked into our fate in 2024, just passengers on a downward spiral? Not me, I have a lot of confidence in the average American. The right says we need to get this country back to where it was, the America we grew up in. The left and a younger generation say, this is life in America, it’s 2024, get used to it…

Just for the point of argument and prior to the New Hampshire vote this Tuesday, let’s use today’s leading candidates, Trump and Biden, lock them in as their party’s presidential candidates, throw away the niceties and political correctness and look at them both.

Trump did some good things as president—cleaned up the income tax brackets, renegotiated NAFTA, working with Mexico began to get at least some degree of control on the southern border and bargained with China to get more favorable terms with one of our largest trading partners. But Trump, with his isolationist stance, managed to piss off most of our allies and with his big mouth, managed to do the same to a wide swath of the American public. The result was Joe Biden got elected president. Nobody voted for Biden, they just voted against Trump. If somebody would have taped Trump’s mouth shut and taken away his iPhone, he’d still be president. Trump likes to swagger around like he’s a tough guy, he’s no tough guy, he a garden variety asshole- all talk. When was the last time Trump shed a little blood for a cause, got bumped off a promotional list for defending a subordinate, drew a line in the sand and defended somebody who couldn’t do it themselves. Don’t waste a lot of time looking, you won’t find anything, he’s not made that way, it’s all about what’s in it for him. If he’d have been on the Titanic, he’d have been pushing the women and kids aside to be the first person on the lifeboat…Trump doesn’t deserve your respect or your vote.

Joe Biden, what can I say about ole’ Joe? At one time he was a champion of blue-collar workers, farmers, just average working people.  I’m not sure what he is today (and I kind of doubt he does either). Back in depression era, out on the side of Highway 61, the old Mississippi blues man, Robert Johnson, sold his soul to the devil to become the best guitar players in the Delta. Well, Joe Biden sold his soul too, but he didn’t even get guitar lessons. Joe agreed on a complete buy-in on inclusion, climate and anything else the wackos in the far-left fringe wanted. It all looked great until the first day at work when the crisis bell rang and none of them had the slightest damn idea what to do. So, here he is, almost four years later. He’s wandering around the White House with his cokehead, pervert son Hunter, stapled to his coat tail, trying to find the Oval Office. Joe’s past it, I’m only a couple of years younger and I’m reminded of it every night watching Jeopardy- I instantly know the title of the book, the characters, the plot and can’t remember F. Scott Fitzgerald’s name. Wish Joe well in his retirement as a former president, but don’t vote for him.

So, is it fate, destiny, our version of Samarra? No, it’s all on us. We’ve run out of excuses. Don’t vote for either of them, go out and find another candidate who reflects your values.

Tomorrow or the next day, you’ll get to see me lose some friends because I want to talk about Jan 6th…