Okay, I know this is shocking, shocking I tell you, but most Americans think Donald Trump is a doofus.

The good folks over at Gallup polls have done their duty and discovered that …

As Donald Trump prepares to take the presidential oath on Jan. 20, less than half of Americans are confident in his ability to handle an international crisis (46%), to use military force wisely (47%) or to prevent major scandals in his administration (44%). At least seven in 10 Americans were confident in Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton in these areas before they took office.

I gotta admit to you that I’m confused.  Since he got 46.1% of the vote in November, that means .1% of people have lost faith in him.  Where is their apology?

Compared to other Presidents?

So he’s starting in a hole.  Somebody let me know if he hits oil.

We’ve seen it before, so it’s easy to recognize for people who have studied history.  Yesterday, Robert Reich rang in the New Year on Facebook by posting the 15 warning signs of impending tyranny.  It sent cold chills up my spine.  Here it is in it’s entirety:

What are the 15 warning signs of impending tyranny? As tyrants take control of democracies, they typically:

1. Exaggerate their mandate to govern — claiming, for example, that they won an election by a landslide even after losing the popular vote.

2. Repeatedly claim massive voter fraud in the absence of any evidence, in order to restrict voting in subsequent elections.

3. Publicly criticize anyone who criticizes them, labeling them “enemies.”

4. Turn the public against journalists or media outlets that criticize them, calling them “deceitful” and “scum.”

5. Hold few if any press conferences, preferring to communicate with the public directly through mass rallies and unfiltered statements.

6. Tell the public big lies, causing them to doubt the truth and believe fictions that support the tyrants’ goals.

7. Blame economic stresses on immigrants or racial or religious minorities, and foment public bias and even violence against them.

8. Attribute acts of domestic violence to “enemies within,” and use such events as excuses to beef up internal security and limit civil liberties.

9. Threaten mass deportations, registries of religious minorities, and the banning of refugees.

10. Seek to eliminate or reduce the influence of competing centers of power, such as trade unions and opposition parties.

11. Appoint family members to high positions of authority.

12. Surround themselves with their own personal security force rather than a security detail accountable to the public.

13. Put generals and other military commanders into top civilian posts.

14. Make personal alliances with foreign dictators.

15. Draw no distinction between personal property and public property, profiteering from their public office.

Be warned. 20 days to go. And a Happy New Year.

About Republicans:

They approve of the American farmer — but they are willing to help him go broke.

They stand four-square for the American home — but not for housing.

They are strong for labor — but they are stronger for restricting labor’s rights.

They favor a minimum wage — the smaller the minimum the better.

They indorse educational opportunity for all — but they won’t spend money for teachers or for schools.

They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine — for people who can afford them.

They approve of Social Security benefits — so much so that they took them away from almost a million people.

They believe in international trade — so much so that they crippled our reciprocal trade program, and killed our International Wheat Agreement.

They favor the admission of displaced persons — but only within shameful racial and religious limitations.

They consider electric power a great blessing — but only when the private power companies get their rake-off.

They say TVA is wonderful — but we ought never to try it again.

They condemn “cruelly high prices” — but fight to the death every effort to bring them down.

They think the American standard of living is a fine thing — so long as it doesn’t spread to all the people.

And they admire the Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it.

Now, my friends, that is the Wall Street Republican way of life. But there is another way — there is another way — the Democratic way, the way of the Democratic Party.

Who said it?  Harry Truman, October 13, 1948.  So there.

So, I took a break from taking down the Christmas decorations and this comes to my mailbox …

Mando is a ten year veteran of the Texas House and is also a firefighter and paramedic.

He’s in stable condition and is texting people.  That’s a hard-headed man, Honey.

Get well soon, Mando.

(Right after I posted this I noticed that El Jefe wrote about the same thing. Great minds, y’all.)

Donald Trump is just a wealth of information about cybersecurity.  First off, expect his other son to be put in charge of it. “I have a boy who’s 10 years old. He can do anything with a computer.”

Asked about the Russians hacking us, Trump calmly explained it all.

And I know a lot about hacking. And hacking is a very hard thing to prove. So it could be somebody else.”

“I also know things that other people don’t know, and so they cannot be sure of the situation,” Trump responded when asked why he doubts intelligence reports of Russian hacking, according to a pool reporter.

When asked what Trump knows that other people don’t know, Trump responded, “You’ll find out on Tuesday or Wednesday.”

Or maybe Thursday, or …. hey, maybe it’s just like the secret stuff Trump said his investigators in Hawaii found about Obama’s birth certificate.  We’re still holding our breath for that one.

And then there’s his solution to cybersecurity:

“You want something to really go without detection, write it out and have it sent by courier.”

And there’s no way in hell that any courier, who makes maybe $20 an hour, can be corrupted.  You know, especially those riding bicycles.  Those are galvanized bicycles with rocket fuel engines, by gawd, and no damn Russian could steal that bicycle right from under a 400 pound guy that Trump knows.

To be extra secure, and if you really want to outfox the Russians, you can write your message like one of those origami fortune tellers we used to make a camp. The Russians could never figure that out!  Hell, it took Thelma all day to make one and she’s at least as smart as a Russian.

And think about it:  Twitter by Courier should be fun.  Slow, maybe, but fun. You just write something out a piece of paper and pass it around … to everybody. Or, you could use a courier, it’s up to you.

We’re entering Reality TeeVee World.  Now every national security or economic issue is going to be teased for days, just like Celebrity Apprentice.  Last night, Cheeto Jesus promised reporters a “revelation” on “Tuesday or Wednesday” about the hacking by the Russians of our elections.  This arrogant ass (sorry Momma) has decided he knows more than 17 intelligence agencies, using the false accusation that they got the WMD wrong in Iraq.  The fact is that the intelligence agencies didn’t get WMD wrong.  Cheney and his cronies cooked the intelligence to get the answer they wanted.  But we all know that.

“I just want them to be sure because it’s a pretty serious charge,” CJ said.  When asked how he knows more than US intelligence agencies, he said, “You’ll find out on Tuesday or Wednesday.” So, national security issues are teased like crappy television shows.  CJ’s nonsensical declarations last night harken back to the whole birther mess in 2011 and 2012.  Remember when he said, “I have people that have been studying [Obama’s birth certificate] and they cannot believe what they’re finding …”?  What they found was nada, zero, nothing.  So, the guy who made a career out of peddling BS as jewelry is now saying he knows more than 17 intelligence agencies.

One last thing that I left out – The stupidest thing he said?  Look at this:

“I don’t care what they say, no computer is safe,” he added. “I have a boy who’s 10 years old; he can do anything with a computer. You want something to really go without detection, write it out and have it sent by courier.”

“Send it by courier”?  This clown is so out of touch that he thinks the average American can afford a courier.  Jesus.  No, really.  Jesus.

This should be entertaining, if not infuriating.