Waking with a headache and wondering if I really did watch the State of the Union, or was it just a whiskey-fueled bad dream?

                  I woke up this morning. I think.

                  Somewhere in the dim recesses of my brain, which was throbbing a bit, I recall sitting down with a bottle of whiskey and bucket of ice to watch the run-up to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. Then, against all common sense but in response to two glasses of whiskey, I actually watched the sideshow and all the fact-checking that came after it.

                  I don’t recall when I turned off the analysis and went back to bed, but I know midnight was growing smaller and smaller in my mind’s rear view mirror.

                  When got up this morning and got a couple of cups of coffee down me, along with some greasy sausage and eggs, I tried to recall what I had seen last night.

                  Somewhere in my mind I wondered if I had dreamed my way through a new version of the Rocky Horror Picture show written and directed by Donald Trump, who given his penchant for honors he has not deserved probably would have wanted to play Rocky, the perfect man, or even his creator Dr. Frank-N-Furter. Or maybe I stumbled into Mos Eisley Cantina and was really looking at Jabba the Hutt.

            But no, when I checked all the news sites this morning, I realized I really had watched a State of the Union speech, and a record-setting one for length at that.

            Lordy. What to say? I suppose I’d have to start with the lies. Between the fact-checkers doing real time last night and the more thorough ones this morning, you could almost say everything that came out the orange guy’s mouth was a lie. Not just run of the mill lies, but bald-faced big lies. Whoppers. 

            The rest of what he said was an ego on full display. Probably the most disgusting moment came when he said he wanted a Medal of Honor, after presenting one to a bona fide war hero. His supporters said it was a joke, but was it? The only health-care programs he cited carry the name “Trump,” though he insisted he didn’t want them named after him. His staff did it.

            I dialed into my memory bank of State of the Union speeches from presidents not named Trump and what I recalled was how they laid out an agenda that, agree or not, offered some kind of road map for what the administration was going to do for average folks.

            There was none of that. Instead, Trump doubled down on his intentions to rig elections through the SAVE Act and other voter suppression measures, he “I may or may not” threats to take the country to war.

            When I was teaching college I’d require students to watch things like the State of Union then we would dissect them in class discussions. If I were in a class this morning, I don’t think I’d know where to begin.

            The president of the United States is a pathological liar, a narcissist, a bully, a sexist, a bigot and very possibly entering early-onset dementia, if not worse. He has destroyed the economy for everyday folks while claiming it’s the hottest thing since Cajun crawdaddies. He has claimed to have halted countless wars while seeking to start others.

            Add in the news from the Epstein files which continues to dribble out. It’s looking like Trump may well be a pedophile or at least and aider and abettor for those who are.

            It’s cloudy out. The snow that has fallen is getting early-Spring ugly. I have a headache and a gut ache. Normally I’d blame the whiskey and the late night, but I think I will blame reality.

            What I saw was not a dream, not a horror picture show gone bad. It was a sorry excuse of blood and guts (but no soul) that has become president of the United States on full display.

            Mid-terms can’t come soon enough. November 2028 can’t come soon enough. There’s not enough whiskey in the liquor stores to get me past those dates if we don’t turn this thing around.

            I do know one thing for sure. Neither whiskey nor my researcher’s instincts will ever again lead me to watch that man defile the halls of Congress and crap on our nation’s heritage.

            I think I will take a walk out in the chill air and try to erase last night from my memory.