Everyone has quirks and/or things which bother them, and possibly no one else. Here are some examples of issues, comments, or actions which get on my nerves.

• You are standing online at the grocery store checkout and the lady in front of you is paying for her groceries with a paper check. Yes, in the 21^st century, she’s using a paper check. But it gets worse. She waits until all of her groceries are rung up by the cashier. Then she opens her pocketbook and starts searching for her checkbook. And of course, she can’t find her driver’s license.
• When you leave for work 15 minutes early, every traffic light is green and there’s hardly any traffic. But when you leave for work 15 minutes late, every traffic light is red, there’s a school bus in front of you, and/or a motor vehicle accident.
• You’re working at home and the phone doesn’t ring for several hours. When does it ring? It rings as soon as you step into the shower.
• People who drive 15 to 25 mph slower than the speed limit in the fast lane.
• Dangerous people who ride your bumper on the highway. Tailgating will probably save them all of 2 seconds, but they still do it, endangering themselves and you. In my opinion, the majority of accidents on our highways are a result of tailgating.
• What about those non-stop drug commercials on TV where they show people living a fabulous lifestyle, but only if they use the advertised drug. Do you listen to the caveats in those drug commercials? Use of this drug may result in strokes, heart attacks, and occasionally death. Are you going to use a drug with those potential side effects?
• Adults on TV talking about a list of reasons, while counting them, using their fingers, as if they are still in the second grade.
• Why do web designers, or others who create forms, place the area code portion of a phone number in parentheses?
• Why do web designers make the log in button prominent, but hide the logout button behind an icon?
• I hate it when someone is talking about something positive happening in their lives, then they say or actually KNOCK on WOOD. What? Do they really believe knocking on wood will continue their good fortune?
• After talking with somebody for several minutes, they preface their next statement with, “To Be Perfectly Honest With You”. It makes me wonder if much of what they said up to that point in time was dishonest.
• He was shot in Broad Daylight. Is that different from NARROW daylight?
• She gave birth to a baby boy.  Thanks for clarifying, or else I would have thought it was an adult boy.
• It was a gruesome murder. Really? Are there happy, friendly murders? They are all gruesome.
• NBA players who repeatedly foul jump shooters, especially behind the 3-point line. They probably block one shot for every two hundred fouls they commit. Why don’t coaches take them out of the game for repeatedly committing those dumb fouls?
• The never-ending commercials in an NFL game. The game itself is only 60 minutes, but it usually takes 3 hours plus to finish it because they have so many commercials.
• NFL coaches or players who waste a valuable timeout over a possible 5-yard delay of game penalty in the third quarter, or early in the fourth quarter. Don’t you realize that timeout is much more valuable than a 5-yard delay of game penalty?
• NCAA college basketball, where they stop the game after the first whistle at the 16, 12, 8, and 4 minute mark of the half, for a series of never ending commercials. It ruins the game.
• What is your reaction when someone says, I saw it with my own eyes. Your own eyes? Really?
• Instead of saying “First of All” or “Second of All”, why don’t you simply say, first or second?
• It’s absolutely free, as opposed to just free?
• I’m writing with an ink pen. Is there another kind of pen?
• The rear taillight is malfunctioning. Thanks for letting us know the taillight is located in the rear of the vehicle.
• Things which happen very often by accident, but you couldn’t duplicate it, no matter how hard you try. For example, I recently dropped a quarter on the kitchen floor. What happened? The quarter somehow rolled on it’s edge, right between the very narrow opening between the stove and refrigerator.
• I waked onto a room with my gym bag on my shoulder and was stopped in my tracks. Why? Because the shoulder strap somehow became wrapped around the doorknob. I repeatedly tried to do that on purpose and never succeeded.
• Here’s something a little different, which hopefully happens to everyone. You climb the stairs for a purpose, but when you reach the top step, you completely forgot why you came up the stairs.

Although Donald Trump is under assault from an array of civil and criminal court cases, and it’s very possible he may wind up in prison, Trumpism is here to stay. When Trump first became President, I asked myself how he managed to con so many rural Americans, who perceive themselves as honest, decent people. Why do they worship a pathological liar who insults people every day of the week, while surrounding himself with an array of convicted felons?

Donald Trump is also admired by millions of uneducated blue-collar workers. It took me awhile, but I finally figured out the dynamics of Donald Trump and why he became the cult leader for millions of Americans. Before I get into this subject and explain my theory, let me make it clear that I am not talking about all Trump voters. Many people voted for Trump because they liked the direction of the stock market, they thought he was good for business, they don’t like the Democrats and their policies, they didn’t like Joe Biden, or for whatever reason. That doesn’t make them all cult members. However, I believe the majority of Trump voters are in fact members of the cult. Therefore, Trump can do nothing wrong in their world and they will never hold him accountable for his pathological lying, horrible behavior, assaults on our democracy, and/or his policies.

Let’s get back to my theory. Trump didn’t con rural and blue-collar America into following his leadership. No, Trump is worshipped  because he represents them and how they think. Over the past 4 years, we learned how scary that is. They are people who are terrified by the demographic changes in America and will do anything they can to prevent that from happening. They perceive themselves as victims of the liberal elite. In their view of the world, the so-called liberal elite only cares about minorities, which makes liberals their mortal enemies. They are also people who never do research, do not read, and  believe one bizarre, radical right wing conspiracy theory after another. Facts and logic mean nothing in a cult.

Even if Trump goes to prison, loses hundreds of millions of dollars in civil court cases, or if his obese, Covid-19 health deteriorates, their view of the world isn’t going to change any time soon. We saw how they think on January 6th,  when Trump supporters assaulted the symbol of American democracy, the Capitol building in Washington, DC. The intent of many was to kill Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and VP Pence. And they didn’t allow the Capitol Police to stand in their way. So much for their love of law enforcement.

There’s no doubt in my mind those people are so stupid, they believe Trump won the election and it was stolen from him by massive fraud. Although there is zero evidence of significant fraud and Trump supporters lost over 62 cases in the court system (including Trump’s Supreme Court, plus cases decided by many judges he appointed), they still incredibly believe his massive lie reference the election. Back in November, surveys revealed about 2/3 of Republicans believed Trump won the election. Even though Sydney Powell, Trump’s attorney, told the judge in a court of law the systematic fraud allegations was a big LIE, it has no impact on what they believe happened. Remember, cult members never allow facts and/or logic to interfere with what they believe. I often wonder if they realize Trump is a pathological liar, because they believe everything he tells them.

Why would any rational, intelligent person believe this dynamic will change if Trump goes to prison or disappears because of failing health issues? They are people who easily fall prey to propaganda, conspiracy theories, and massive lies spread by Fox and social media. Even without Trump, none of that is going away. They will find another person to take over the leadership role, possibly even a white nationalist. Don’t believe that? Come on, the GOP just censored many of their own members in several different states because they followed their conscious and the evidence, by voting to impeach Trump.

What happened to thinking for yourself and doing what you believe is right? Recently, the Trump cult members in the GOP, who are dumb enough to believe there was massive election fraud, are trying to suppress voter’s rights in a large number of states.

Members of the party haven’t figured out that supporting Trump and Trumpism is a losing proposition because Trump’s base is only approximately 40% of America, possibly a little less, The majority of Americans are appalled by Trump, his behavior, and his policies.  In 4 years under Trump, the Republicans lost the House, the Senate, and the Presidency. But in a cult, they will never hold the leader accountable and/or responsible for negative results. They always come up with a scapegoat. In this case, Trump didn’t lose the election, it was stolen by the incompetent Democrats.

We really need two strong political parties to create balance, but they are unfortunately turning the Republican Party into a third world banana republic, authoritarian party. This is scary. Most people want to see members of Congress working together to do what’s right for our country. They do not want to see cult behavior, where everyone in the party must adhere to and follow the party line or they will be punished.  And right now, that party line is following whatever Trump says or does, instead of what’s best for America.