Page 568 - Demo

Fools%u2019 Journey562fair that if Lynn did all the cooking, the least I could do would be to clean up.While we continued to age, we didn%u2019t actually feel older %u2014 until we had something really strenuous to do. We didn%u2019t have children or grandchildren whose rapid growth would have emphasized the passage of time. Because we read so much, and kept up with the news through various on-line sources, our minds were active. Basically, we were quite content %u2014 even though the news was often depressing, particularly when it pertained to President Trump.%u2022%u2022%u2022%u2022%u2022In the weeks between Trump%u2019s second election in November of 2024 and his inauguration in January of 2025, a great deal of negative energy permeated the country, and Lynn and I found ourselves getting anxious and depressed when reading about his relentless antics. Lynn often described Trump%u2019s presidency as having the feel of a long-running Saturday Night Live skit. Because it was so unlike any other political era, it was like a parody of normality. And while the abnormality was mostly related to Trump and his Republican Party, late in his presidency Joe Biden contributed to the unsettling lowering of acceptable standards when he issued a pardon for his son Hunter. That action covered criminal charges Hunter hadn%u2019t even yet been convicted of %u2014 as well as any possible unnamed charges in the future. Biden claimed his son had been selectively and unfairly prosecuted by his own Department of Justice, but always maintained that that same department had been impartial in prosecuting Trump. Of course, Trump took the opposite point-of-view, claiming he had been unjustly hounded by various prosecutorial witch hunts, while Hunter%u2019s charges had been legitimate.As soon as he was elected for a second term, Trump began acting like he was already president, and he announced several bizarre plans that his fellow Republicans actually saw merit in. Such as purchasing the world%u2019s largest island, Greenland (which wasn%u2019t for sale), and taking over the Panama Canal (even suggesting that he might use of military force to do so). On several occasions he