Last night I came home from a meeting, hungry and hoping to relax before bed.\u00a0\u00a0So, I ate a bowl of Skyline Chili (after all, I am a born and bred Cincinnatian), and sat down to catch up on the world.\u00a0\u00a0First was an hour of political commentary. It explained how the Trump Administration nominated\u00a0\u00a0thirty year-old Paul Ingressia, a\u00a0\u00a0\u201cride or die\u201d Trumper, to head the Office of Special Counsel.\u00a0\u00a0What does the Office of Special Counsel do?\u00a0\u00a0Primarily, the job is to protect \u201cwhistleblowers\u201d, members of the Federal government who call out wrong-doing in their own agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Trump Administration is on a continual witch-hunt for the self-same \u201cwhistleblowers\u201d. They want to silence the consistently critical attacks of Trump\u2019s riding roughshod over Federal law and procedure.\u00a0\u00a0Appointing Ingressia isn\u2019t putting \u201cthe fox in the chicken coop\u201d:\u00a0\u00a0this is sending the chickens to the fox for protection.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So that wasn\u2019t particularly relaxing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, after all of our \u201cusual\u201d Thursday night shows were reruns, I decided to join a movie, \u201cin progress\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0I dropped into the second half of\u00a0Top Gun, Maverick<\/em>, the twenty years later sequel to the original blockbuster,\u00a0Top Gun<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a movie about redemption.\u00a0\u00a0Maverick, played by Tom Cruise, is a hot-shot test pilot whose program is cut.\u00a0\u00a0He faces retirement from the Navy, until he is saved by his friend and commander, Iceman.\u00a0\u00a0The nation needs a special assignment with a special leader, and Maverick is the only man to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The plot line is a variation on the original\u00a0Top Gun<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0But this time, there\u2019s a rogue nation, enriching uranium in a deep, underground facility.\u00a0\u00a0The only way to prevent this nation from gaining a nuclear weapon is to destroy the heavily guarded secret base.\u00a0\u00a0And the Navy is tasked with sending a squad of carrier launched F-18\u2019s to strategically place the bombs down a ventilation shaft. They have to fly an impossible corridor, then\u00a0hit a target about the size of a refrigerator. But that’s the only way to destroy the complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, the first attack opens the shaft, and the second attack drops bombs down the shaft to destroy the facility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a carefully planned assault. Additional cruise missiles are launched to take out as much of the opposition weaponry as possible.\u00a0\u00a0And it\u2019s a precision strike with special weapons.\u00a0\u00a0If you\u2019re into aircraft carriers, dog fights at supersonic speeds, and Tom Cruise \u201cmacho\u201d, it\u2019s a pretty good movie.\u00a0\u00a0But last night I watched it with a whole new perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you think President Trump watched the movie?\u00a0\u00a0How about Pete Hegseth, another \u201cBro\u201d (along with young Mr. Ingressia) who seems to be over his head as Defense Secretary?\u00a0\u00a0Because the attack on \u201cthe foe\u201d in\u00a0Top Gun, Maverick<\/em>, seems oddly in line with the US attack on Iran just a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even the terminology was similar:\u00a0\u00a0 size of a refrigerator, two bombs to open the door, two bombs to destroy the facility. The US and a highly organized precision attack.\u00a0\u00a0Sure, there wasn\u2019t the drama of Americans shot down over enemy territory. No one stole an old F-14 (just like in the original\u00a0Top Gun<\/em>).\u00a0\u00a0But is fiction mimicking fact, or did the Trump Administration take fiction and try to make it factual?<\/p>\n\n\n\n We know that Trump and his political handlers are all about \u201cthe drama\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0In fact, in my opinion, Donald Trump is the President of the United States because of their adept use of the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.\u00a0Before that attack, Trump and Biden were \u201ceven\u201d in the polling, despite Biden\u2019s poor showing in their only debate.\u00a0\u00a0But, after the drama, the raised fist over the blood-stained face, \u201cFight-Fight-Fight\u201d, and the carefully staged Trump \u201cresurrection\u201d at the Republican Convention (remember the Trump kiss of the fire helmet?); it was clear the entire Presidential race was altered.\u00a0\u00a0Biden dropped out a few days later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, the Trump folks were terribly annoyed after the attack, that the media attention turned to whether the enriched uranium was actually destroyed.\u00a0\u00a0I think they were looking for the celebration scene on the flight deck, this time with crowds raising the B-2 bomber crews after their thirty hour mission half-way around the world and back.\u00a0\u00a0Trump followed Director Joseph Kosinski\u2019s lead; from precision bombing (the refrigerator) to the cruise missile distractions, to the most advanced bombers in the real world,\u201cBat-Wing\u201d B-2.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n But they somehow didn\u2019t get the popular results they expected. It wasn\u2019t \u201cjust like\u201d the movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPrecision Bombing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Drama<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Awake<\/h3>\n\n\n\n