1. It’s Wednesday, November 8, 2017.

It’s the first anniversary of one of the darkest days in American history.

2. It’s the day after we started to undo it.

Actually, we is a little bit of an overstatement.

The good people of the commonwealth of Virginia started to undo it. They elected Ralph Northam governor by a pretty wide margin. One of the state’s legislative bodies is either going to be evenly split or very slightly Democratic.

The good people of New Jersey started to undo it. They ended the Chris Christie reign of petulance with a loud coda, electing Democrat Phil Murphy as governor and expanded Democratic majorities in the legislature.

The good people of Maine started to undo it. They told their blowhard minority-elected governor to stuff his five Medicaid expansion vetoes up his ample rear end. About 80,000 people in the state who didn’t have health care coverage can get it now.

Good people around the country started to undo it. In city, town, school board and state legislative elections, they went for the candidate who spoke a message aimed at trying to solve everyone’s problems. Women won all over the place. Transgendered people won. Religious minorities won. Asian-Americans won. African-Americans won. Latinos and Latinas won.

And, for the most part, the good people of my home of New York started to undo the darkness that descended a year ago.

Yeah, Democrats were going to pretty much sweep stuff in New York City. But a Democrat won the county executive’s race in Nassau County, a traditional Republican stronghold – a 1980 book by a former county exec compared the Nassau GOP machine to Chicago’s Mayor Richard J. Daley.

A Democrat captured the county executive’s seat in Westchester, where one of the state party’s great hopefuls had his eyes on challenging Gov. Andrew Cuomo next year. It wasn’t even close.

3. Notice, however, that three paragraphs up, I said “for the most part.”

I live in Rockland, across the Hudson from Westchester. Being on this side of the river, most myopic New York City types think I live in New Jersey.

In Rockland, the Democratic wave across the country failed to wash ashore. A really committed and talented woman, Maureen Porette, lost her race for county executive to the incumbent, a slug named Ed Day.

Day has been especially adept at playing the kind of identity politics that got Trump elected in the first place. And Rockland, which is somewhat isolated from the New York City area despite being only 25 miles away, falls for it like a toddler who thinks her uncle really has taken off her nose.

The big issue in Rockland is the impact of a surge of Hasidic Jews in the county. There are things that have happened, particularly the gutting of the East Ramapo school district, that scare the hell out of people here.

And so, there’s a line between trying to figure out a way to resolve the problem and just deciding that this is war. In Rockland, it’s war, and the hostility between the two sides is palpable.

Here’s the problem with that.

Rockland has other issues. The transportation system in this county is abysmal. The only reliable way to get to New York City is to drive – believe me, I’ve lived it – and the world knows how little New York City needs more automobiles.

This is no place for young people. Jobs here are mostly manufacturing, warehouse and retail – no tech companies are incubating here. There is little in the way of entertainment and activity except some sleazy bars in places like Nyack.

This county has some of the most beautiful public park land in the nation. It’s a plus – preserving it is essential to keep families here.

So a county executive should be focused on that stuff instead of identity politics.

And, like Trump a year ago, it plays into Ed Day’s hands. He manipulates that fear rather than address it. Add the orthodox Republican mantra that people who already have resources need tax cuts and you’ve got his formula for winning.

You might think that how to cut through that is Rockland’s problem. To some extent, that’s true – it’s clear that when people in Virginia, New Jersey and the rest of New York State focus on issues instead of fears, they make good choices.

But how do we get Rockland, how do we get the rest of the country, past being afraid of the challenges of the future? Whether they come from people of color, people with different gender orientations, people of different faiths and any other differences? Whether they come with environmental and technological complications?

Parts of the nation took a step toward breaking Trump last night. The trick will be to finally get places like Rockland to go along.

1. It’s Tuesday, November 7, 2017.

2. It’s believed to be the 109th anniversary of the demise of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in Bolivia.

No one seems completely sure. There aren’t bodies that have been identified in all these years.

Today is election day in many states.

3. First, and foremost, VOTE!

There’s a tendency to dismiss this particular election and the one two years from now. It’s usually some local politicians, the people who bother you with leaflets as you’re trying to get home from the supermarket on a Saturday.

You’re not even sure what some of them do.

One of the positions up for election today in my county is surrogate court judge. All he – and everyone running is male – does is rule on people’s wills and what assets an orphaned child has.

And, for many of us, the last election day experience still stings. Somehow, we wound up with a jackass as president.

That sick feeling – that elections lead to bad things – clouds our lives.

For a year, it’s been a living nightmare. The world moves closer to conflagration in Korea and the Middle East. The nation reels from unending gun violence and the impact of global warming. The rich try to rejigger the tax code so that they pay less and those with less pay more.

4. But elections bring bad results if we let them.

If we don’t take part. If we don’t encourage our friends and family to take part.

That’s what happened in 2016. Trump couldn’t possibly win, we thought, so we didn’t take the danger as seriously as we should have. Hillary Clinton was a flawed candidate, so the enthusiasm for her wasn’t universal.

These local elections determine life in the places where we live. How welcoming our communities will be. How willing they are to tackle the problems of the 21st century.

Voting is an act of commission. You are willing to be counted about the things that are important to you – and maybe some that aren’t.

But if you own a home or rent an apartment or live with your parents, what happens in your community – not to mention your city, county or state – means a lot to you.

Turnout for these elections is never great. If one-third of registered voters show up, it’s a big deal.

Be the one-third that counts. Vote. Get your family to vote. Get your friends to vote.

Fight the feeling you had a year ago. If your side loses, get ready to fight again a year from now.

But if your side wins, realize that we’ve taken a step toward getting rid of Trump and saving our country.

1. It’s Monday, November 6, 2017.

2. It’s the day before the off-year election.

About a week ago, I offered a litany of Trump sins, crimes and abuses against this country.

And I said that for some of us, there’s an opportunity to get back at him and the sewage that surrounds him.

It’s not going to be much. It’s not going to be enough.

But it is an opportunity we need to take. Or else we have no right to complain about the treachery around us.

3. That opportunity is your local or, in the cases of New Jersey and Virginia, state election.

You see, Trumpism didn’t show up on that escalator in June 2015.

It’s been building. It’s been the modus operandi of the Republican Party since at least the Nixon era.

This effort to divide and conquer. This idea that being an American is being white, male and older. The notion that people need to be ruled and not share in their government.

It crops up constantly. It’s an embarrassment to our democracy.

And it leads to the kind of crap that the past few days encapsulates.

A tax plan that’s so rigged toward the wealthy that it equates to making every working person take up a collection for needy billionaires.

An administration so corrupt that its Commerce Secretary is economically tied to Russians who are subject to American sanctions. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/05/world/wilbur-ross-russia.html

An escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula that’s moved the world closer to nuclear war.

And then, of course, yesterday’s demonstration that the sucking up to gun interests puts everyone in danger – another 26 people killed by someone who had no business carrying a weapon as lethal as an AR-15.

It makes you angry, doesn’t it?

4. So do something.

There are obvious targets.

In Virginia, a slimeball named Ed Gillespie is the Republican candidate for governor. Gillespie is prime, grade-A sleaze – he’s the former chairman of the Republican National Committee.

In his campaign against Democrat Ralph Northam, he’s pulled out so many dog whistles that he’s turning Virginia from a commonwealth to a kennel. Even the fact NFL players kneel for the anthem – as if that has anything to do with Virginia.

In New Jersey, Kim Guadagno is a reminder of Joe Louis’ great adage – she can try to run away from her record as Chris Christie’s lieutenant, but she can’t hide.

This is a twofer for Jerseyans – not only can they get at Trump by voting for Democrat Phil Murphy, they alsp can stick it to Christie, one of the worst governors in the state’s history.

5. But it’s not just the governors.

Any local politician who wears the Republican label embraces Trumpism and the miserable excuse for leadership we’ve seen in 2017.

So the Republican running for the town board or the school board or highway superintendent is complicit in the arrogance and incompetence.

Where I live is an example.

In most places, when you lift a rock, you find worms and pillbugs slithering about.

In Rockland County, N.Y., when you lift a rock, you find Ed Day.

He barely won election four years ago as Rockland’s county executive, relying on anti-Semitic dog whistles to defeat his Democratic opponent.

This year, he’s up against Maureen Porette, a very determined attorney.

In the process, Day has refused to show up to several debates. And, in a mailing, he released some of Porette’s personal records.

Day’s one of those Republican jokers whose only policy idea is cutting taxes. Working toward making the country more attractive and affordable to young people and families, improving a 19th century transportation system, and helping solve the rising problems of homelessness and poverty are clearly not his concern.

Because that tax cut thing is like the Sirens to Odyssus, Day has a good shot of winning. Young people abandon Rockland, leaving it to older people who fear their limited resources are getting whittled away.

Ed Day shouldn’t. He was Trump before Trump ran. He’ll wring his hands of Trump if it gets him a vote. But his county party actually hosted Roger Stone recently, so don’t worry about fealty to the traitor corps.

And that’s just one of them.

If a candidate – no matter how small the office – embraces the Republican label, he or she embraces Trump.

Make them pay for that. The more Republicans lose local office tomorrow, the more irritated Trump and his tame congressional henchmen will be.

That will be a start.

1. It’s Friday, November 3, 2017.

2. It’s Lulu’s 69th birthday.

Fifty years ago, she sang the year’s most popular song, “To Sir, with Love.” It was the title song of a film in which she co-starred with the “Sir” of the film, Sidney Poitier, who played a teacher at a London school.

By the way, she’s still at it. According to her Web site(!), she’s performing tonight in Northampton, England.

One thing really stuck out to me about the heinous Republican tax cut proposal unleashed yesterday.

3. Republicans really hate young people.

There are at least two ways in which the proposal these wannabe-archvillain-gangmembers-in- a-bad-superhero-movie stick it to people under 35.

First, as my former CNNMoney colleague Katie Lobosco reports, the plan eliminates a student loan interest tax deduction.

So many young people are in debt – some of them deeply – to pay for their college degrees. This deduction, while it’s about as modest as it gets, gives a little bit of help to about 12 million debtors.

At most, it’s $625 a student. But $625 could be one or two monthly payments a year.

And here’s the thing: We’re taking this away from young people who could use even a little help to lower the taxes of people who already have everything paid for – and then some.

4. The second shaft comes in the form of capping the mortgage interest deduction.

In general, people who are older own their homes already. My wife and I used that deduction for 30 years – and now our house is paid off.

We can’t use the deduction anymore. But we also don’t have any more mortgage payments, so it’s fine.

If you’re a young family trying to buy instead of rent, capping this deduction means is that you won’t be able to take advantage of it the same way we did. At some point, you can’t take the deduction anymore.

That might not be a problem in a place that’s cheap. But if you want to live in the New York area, or near Los Angeles, or Chicago, or Boston, where the cool jobs and the interesting people are, you’re out of luck.

At some point, more of the burden falls on you – probably right around the time when, if you’ve had kids, they’re thinking about going to college.

Young people didn’t vote for Trump. Dynamic parts of this country don’t vote Republican. The two have decided to stick it to them with this tax proposal.

5. As much as this clown is attuned to social media – except for 11 blissful minutes yesterday – Trump has never shown much interest in the problems and issues of young people in this country.

Neither does his base. I suspect it has a lot to do with the fact that most of them are over 40 and live in parts of the country young people flee because they hold so little opportunity.

And don’t think young people don’t resent it. Trump can’t show his puss on most campuses in this country. Even in states that went for him. Can you imagine Trump at Ann Arbor? Chapel Hill? Austin?

So as a Democrat, it’s essential to keep trying to mobilize voters between 18 and 35. Keep hammering the points I made above and others about such issues as women’s rights, social justice and opportunity.

We’re a country that has, until now, prided itself on its youth. On this picture of how young people drive change and make society better.

Now, with Trump and the Republicans, the emphasis is on shielding those who have from those who want. And to make it seem as though those who almost have need to be afraid of those who aren’t quite as close.

I teach, so I believe in the power of young people. I’m looking forward to the day when, again, our government does the same.

1. It’s Tuesday, October 31, 2017.

I’m not a Halloween fan. But if you are, enjoy the day.

2. The past nine months and 11 days have been frustrating if you want to believe in the promise of this country.

It seems as though every day that Trump is in office is either another crisis or indignity.

The Muslim bans.

The war on journalism.

The brink of nuclear war with North Korea.

Gutting health care for millions.

Denying the devastation of climate change.

Relegating women to second-class citizenship.

Giving tax cuts to people who have more than enough.

Forcing American citizens in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to suffer through the devastation from hurricanes.

Equating peaceful protests by professional athletes with being unpatriotic.

Giving comfort to white supremacists and anti-Semites.

Using Twitter to insult people.

I might have missed a dozen or so. You can add them if you’d like.

For these nine-plus months, there has been very little those of us bothered by this could do about it.

We’ve protested in various ways, of course, and some of that has proved modestly successful. The campaign to preserve Obamacare has done about as much as it can.

But a week from today, many – not all, but many – of us have a chance to get back at Trump. It’s small, but it’s hardly petty.

3. Vote.

The temptation in off-year elections is to stay home. “Who knows who most of these people are or what they do?” is the general feeling.

First off, that’s wrong. People in town halls and county governments and state legislatures shape the communities where you live. They can determine if they’re welcoming and thriving or self-interested pockets run for the benefit of those who can worm they way in.

Second, local government is like minor-league baseball. Yes, a lot of these people aren’t going anywhere. But some of them go on to state and national office.

Town halls are the class A farm teams of American politics.

So, especially in 2017, especially as Trump, his minions – like the tame general defending treason last night – and the lemmings following him into abyss, it’s important to get out next Tuesday and vote.

I’ll talk more about specific elections tomorrow.

1. It’s late on Monday, October 30, 2017.

2. It’s the 282nd birthday of John Adams – among many other things, our second President.

Any disturbance you saw in the ground around Quincy, Mass., today might have reflected his thoughts about his 43rd successor.

3. It’s nearing the end of what some Trump haters believed would be the political equivalent of Christmas – the day when Robert Mueller announced the first indictments in his investigation of the Trump campaign’s possible ties with Russia.

Much has been made about the court proceedings – the indictment of former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his buddy, Rick Gates. And the guilty plea of Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos.

Trumpistas tried to downplay the activity. Manafort and Gates were hit on charges related to activities before Trump even started running for president. And Trump’s latest fib fabricator, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, pooh poohed Papadopoulos as an unpaid aide.

Of course, most Trump foes cheered. Their theme song today is “This Could Be the Start of Something Big.”

So here’s my quick thought as we go on in this saga.

No doubt I’m with the Trump haters. No doubt.

But let’s say, for argument’s sake, that what we saw today was – as the Trump people fervently wish – the worst of what’s coming down. I don’t believe that. But let’s just say it.

How would you, if you’re on this side of the divide, feel?

Most of us would say “That’s it?” and scream. You’d go “What about Flynn and Kushner and Donald Jr.? What about Trump?”

Here’s why I’m at peace with where we are tonight.

The way this case is being pursued by Mueller gives me more and more confidence that whatever is uncovered is the truth.

It’s deliberate. It’s methodical. It’s thorough.

Here’s why I think that.

We had no idea about Papadopoulous, who is far more dangerous to Trump than Manafort and the charges he got hit with.

He was arrested in July. For more than two months, there wasn’t a hint of this anywhere. No leaks. No speculation. Nothing.

And the case against Papadopoulos, who brings the concept of collusion with the Russians directly into the campaign, was so solid that the guy pleaded guilty earlier this month.

And still it didn’t leak. For more than three weeks. Until Mueller could make his case against Manafort and Gates to the grand jury.

That might be good legal practice. But is that something you normally associate with what transpires in Washington?

Mueller didn’t trumpet anything. He didn’t hold a flashy news conference. He stayed as under the radar as could be for someone investigating whether or not Trump and/or his people finagled the 2016 election with Putin and the Russians.

There is nothing in this for Robert Mueller. He’s 73 years old. He has no political constituency. He could make a ton of money as a consultant. He could just sit at home and binge watch TV.

No. Instead, he has soberly taken on this terrible responsibility and done in a way that makes him an American hero.

Mueller will face the brickbats of Trumpistas. It’s thankless and it’s difficult.

They’ll, of course, sound different if his investigation doesn’t go much further. Which would exonerate Trump in the national eye.

If that happens, I’m prepared to accept it. The way he’s conducted this investigation so far speaks to an integrity that’s hard to find anymore.

At least someone has it in 2017.

But you know and I know and, best of all, Trump knows that Robert Mueller is far from done.

1. It’s Wednesday, October 25, 2017.

2. It’s the 257th anniversary of George III’s ascension to the British throne.

Even he’s looking pretty good right now next to Trump.

3. A lot’s being made of the “rebellion” of two Republican senators yesterday.

In the morning, Tennessee’s Bob Corker unburdened himself to CNN’s Manu Raju. Among the things Corker said was that Trump is “debasing” the nation and is “absolutely not” a role model for the nation’s children.

Later in the day, after Trump lunched with the GOP senators, Jeff Flake of Arizona weighed in. He announced on the Senate floor he won’t seek re-election next year and laid the blame on Trump.

“We must stop pretending that the degradation of our politics and the conduct of some in our executive branch are normal,” Flake said.

Corker, by the way, also isn’t running for re-election.

4. So the first reaction to this sense of outrage is “You think?”

I mean, it took these guys nine months of this eaf being in the Oval Office for them to realize what a creep he is?

Secondly, Flake rightfully is getting kudos for stating exactly what’s wrong with Trump and the Republican Party in 2017 – in fact, what’s been wrong with the Republican Party since Nixon.

It is a party of anger and grievance. It has no interest in governing. It’s interested in ruling.

As I’ve stated many times, there’s a big difference.

Democrats’ problem is always trying to find the perfect solution to a problem.

That’s why the party has failed to capitalize on what’s been an amazing success – Obamacare. A serious effort to tame one of the worst things facing most American families is foiled by critics who are upset that more wasn’t done.

Democrats ran away from the Affordable Care Act in 2010 and 2014. They paid for it. We’re still paying for it.

Republicans aren’t troubled by responsibility. They just want to be in charge. And they want to reap the benefit of that.

That was evident last night when they succeeded in gutting a measure that protected consumers from their moneybag friends, the bankers who gave us the financial crisis.

That will be evident as they push for tax cuts that no one needs but the donors they suck up to – the Kochs, the Mercers, et al. – crave.

If Republicans were serious about what they say they’re for – helping people by enabling private enterprise – they would have had a real proposal that they thought was better than Obamacare.

And the reason they didn’t – besides the fact that Obamacare was born out of a plan crafted by a Republican governor of Massachusetts in the first place – is that they didn’t care whether or not it helped people. They cared that Democrats passed it and Barack Obama signed it.

5. One other thing: Flake and Corker have reputations in their party for working with the other side.

In this Republican Party, that’s apostasy. Their attitude is: We rule. Period.

But Flake and Corker aren’t willing to fight for the idea that there’s a Republican way to govern. That there are ideas in both parties that could make life better for Americans. That there is an approach to the world that affirms America’s role as a leader without being a bully or scaring the whole damn planet.

Most of what Flake said is on target. But by stepping away, he’s conceding that the loons run the asylum. And that there’s little he can do about it.

Now, had Flake said he was voting to organize the Senate with the Democrats on his way out, there might have been something more than being pissed about Trump wanting a sycophant in his seat.

If Flake, Corker and one other of these supposedly ticked-off moderate Republicans chose to vote as Democrats and make Chuck Schumer majority leader, they would send a real message to Trump and the nut jobs in their party.

And it’s not as if they’d have to compromise their principles to do that. They wouldn’t have to support single-payer healthcare or immigration reform or gun control or anything else that Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and the like stand for.

They would just put themselves in a position to work with others of like mind – in both parties – to affect the change they say they want.

To change the tone in Washington. To accomplish things for people. To put Trump in his place.

Instead, Jeff Flake and Bob Corker are giving Trump, Bannon and the rest of the Putin Pal Brigade exactly what they want.

The GOP nominees for those seats next year will carry the Trump Seal of Approval. Or Bannon’s. They might even be disciples of his holiness, Roy Moore, the Alabama kook who’s running for Jeff Sessions’ vacant seat.

In the end, Flake and Corker have done nothing to advance what they believe is conservatism without the anger. They’ve given in.

They prove two things:

One is that Trump is right. The only reason they’re squawking is they can’t get elected. Maybe, as Trump says, even as dog catcher.

The other is that Republicans are not about governing. They’re about ruling. If Flake and Corker wanted to govern, if they wanted to work for the American people and not on them, there’s a path to it.

They’re running – as fast as they can – the other way.

1. It’s Tuesday, October 24, 2017.

2. It’s the 72nd anniversary of the United Nations. Despite occasional badmouthing by politicians throughout the world, it’s still around.

It’s a place where nations can talk and even make an occasional statement that carries moral weight.

When I was in elementary school in the 1960s, the UN was revered. October 24 was United Nations Day. We took a class field trip to the magnificent UN Building in New York in fourth grade. And the whole school was big on trick-or-treating for UNICEF, the organization designed to help children throughout the world.

Right now, the UN’s stature with the American government is pretty low.

It has a lot to do with the dolt in the White House, who embarrassed the nation last month with a pathetic speech to the General Assembly. The one in which he was flippant about a possible nuclear war with North Korea.

3. It’s been 34 days since Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico – a category 4 storm that devastated the whole island.

At this juncture, three-fourths of the territory remains powerless. A ridiculously large portion of the population doesn’t have running water. Businesses are operating sporadically.

If this were the case in any other part of America – especially in the areas where Trumpistas believe in their entitlement – there would be rioting. The people of Puerto Rico – Americans all – would get the ultimate award for patience if one was given.

All Trump seems to want to do is take credit for a recovery that hasn’t happened. A real president – a real human being – would be mortified by what’s transpired.

Make America great? What’s happening in Puerto Rico humiliates this nation before the world. We can’t even help our own people!

4. Today’s travesty in the Puerto Rico tragedy comes from a Washington Post story about how a small company from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s hometown of Whitefish, Mont., holds the contract to fix the island’s power grid. When Maria struck on Sept. 20, Whitefish Energy had two employees; it’s using 280 subcontractors to do the work.

When we lost power five years ago in Hurricane Sandy, this area was chockablock with trucks from Georgia Power and Alabama Power. Our utility, Orange & Rockland, was overmatched by the storm and called for help. It took eight long, cold, dark days to get things back to normal.

According to the Post, U.S. utility companies were prepared to offer assistance. But then this deal unfolded. And, after 34 days, it’s still pretty dark in Puerto Rico.

So, yes, it’s a little suspicious that this small company from the 700-people hometown of the Interior Secretary gets this huge job.

But will anyone other than the news media investigate this?

You’re kidding, right.

5. By the way, I love CNN’s new “Facts First” campaign.

I’m biased, of course. Today is the third anniversary of my retirement from CNNMoney, and I remain proud of the 16 years I worked for a news organization that continues to do great journalism.

And because I know how much integrity goes into what’s done in New York and all the other CNN quarters, and I know how much it stings having that integrity challenged by proven liars, I think this campaign is perfect.

One of the reasons I spout as much as I do these days is that I had no ability to do that in my CNN years. Company policy bars opinion stating or political activism by anyone who isn’t paid to state opinions.

So I didn’t. I had to hew to the facts of a story, and if they fell against the point of view I held, they still saw the light of a screen because they were the facts.

This morning, in response to this campaign, I saw the hashtag #ThingsITrustMoreThanCNN was trending on Twitter. The usual trolls are there, with the usual references to sexual predators or other bogeymen as being more trustworthy than a news organization whose people risk their lives at times to get at the truth.

They’re cowards, hiding behind their oh-so-clever Twitter handles, manipulated photos and Breitbart talking points. It’s just a sign that the CNN campaign hits home.

Because it deals with facts. Period.

1. It’s Tuesday, October 17, 2017.

2. Today is the 203rd anniversary of the London Beer Flood.

You read that right.

On this day in 1814, nine people died when vats containing more than 300,000 gallons of beer atop a brewery on Tottenham Court Road collapsed, swamping the adjacent neighborhood.

3. Sen. John McCain took a lot of folks in his own party to task last night when he accepted the Liberty Award in Philadelphia.

In his speech, the Arizona Republican said he worried the nation was abandoning the ideals it has advanced throughout its history “for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems.

McCain didn’t name any of those people. Apparently, he didn’t have to, because one of them chimed in this morning.

“People have to be careful because at some point I fight back,” Trump told a Washington radio interviewer. “I’m being very, very nice but at some point I fight back and it won’t be pretty.”

Now, I’m not the biggest John McCain fan. He’s been dissed by Trump before – remember the I-don’t-like-war-heroes-who-are-captured canard – and still supported much of his regressive agenda.

But it’s clear there’s no love lost between the two. And even though he’s 81 years old and battling the ravages of brain cancer, I’d put his mind and courage up against Trump’s every day and be sure he’d win.

4. If you’re not from New York, how we vote next month on whether or not to hold a constitutional convention probably doesn’t matter.

Actually, if you’re from New York, you normally wouldn’t care either.

But this year’s referendum is a curiosity.

The current constitution requires that New Yorkers vote every 20 years on whether or not to hold a constitutional convention to revise or rewrite the document. This year is the vote.

What campaigning is being done, at least where I live and travel, is very one-sided. All the signs say vote “No.”

Rarely do the signs go into substance about why you should vote “No.” One that I saw near my mom’s house on Long Island talked about how it would raise taxes, because the convention costs money.

But the “No” signs are everywhere. On lawns and billboards. On car bumpers and magnets.

I have yet to see any outdoor display favoring this convention. There are no “Yes” signs to be found.

So I was wondering who is actually is for this thing.

One group is Citizens Union, which advocates for government reform. And goodness knows, given the propensity of scandal in the state legislature, New York could probably use reform.

It’s been my experience to live and work in three states – New York, New Jersey and Illinois – noted for their corruptibility. New York would outpace the other two, except that Illinois has had about as many governors go to prison than didn’t in my lifetime.

Anyway, Citizens Union says a convention would erase some of the problems that lead to corruption. It talks about rules on campaign contributions and election reform.

But some of the wording on the group’s own site might not be their strongest selling point.

Some opponents have stated that opening up the constitution could lead to efforts to reduce some protections that go even beyond those in the U.S. Constitution. And here’s the group’s response:

“Though an unlimited Constitutional Convention does present some risk to currently codified protections, we believe that this risk is worth taking, as it provides the opportunity to construct governmental systems that improve representative democracy through increased accountability, transparency, effectiveness, and ethical conduct.”

Citizens Union says a “Yes” vote will empower them to campaign for the things it wants in the constitution. As far as the things it doesn’t want – like, say, a right-wing effort to curtail abortion rights which you can bet a billion bucks would occur – you can trust them, they’ll fight it.

That doesn’t inspire confidence.

And yet, despite all the “No” signs and banners and stickers, the last poll taken by Quinnipiac College shows a plurality favoring this thing.

That might tell you something about the state of disgust with government.

Or it might just be that something everybody seems to hate must have something redeeming about it.

I’m probably going to vote “No” because I don’t see Citizens Union standing like Horatius at the bridge holding off the Kochs, the Trumpistas and corporate money. 

But if “Yes” wins, some Democrat should hire its campaign manager. If there is one.

1. It’s Tuesday, October 10, 2017.

2. It’s the 60th anniversary of President Dwight Eisenhower’s apology to the finance minister of Ghana, Nobla Gbedemah.

While visiting Dover, Del., Gbedemah and a companion stopped at a Howard Johnson’s for an orange juice. They were given the juice in paper cups and told to take them outside, that the restaurant would not serve them.

Gbedemah complained. Eventually, Eisenhower and his vice president, Richard Nixon, invited Gbedemah to the White House for breakfast.

Now, there are indications that Gbedemah was a bit of a character. According to accounts, he had a falling out with Ghanian President Kwame Nkrumah, who suspected Gbedemah of plotting a coup. He won a parliamentary election in 1969, but was denied his seat by the nation’s highest court and quit politics.

But you can’t fault the man for raising a stink about how he was treated at Howard Johnson’s.

You can’t fault any man or woman for complaining about being denied service or fair access or any kind of justice on the basis of their race.

3. Here’s a reminder: The power of how the NFL players and others are protesting racial injustice is driving their opponents crazy.

If they really wanted to disrespect the flag, the national anthem or veterans – as Trump, Pence and others who have wet their pants over this thing scream – there are more graphic ways to do it. They could shout invective or sing some other song while the anthem is playing. They could desecrate the flag. They could shun veterans.

They have chosen a gesture, kneeling, that a normal world wouldn’t see as wrong. That a normal world would see as reflective on the anthem – rather than just standing there wondering what plays the offense is running on the first series of downs.

By being respectful, they have given more power to the point – that there is racial injustice in this country that needs to be addressed. That the solution to the flap over whether police conduct toward African-Americans isn’t some mindless demand for worship of cops by people losing their reason to trust them.

Pence has no desire to solve any problems. If he did, if he actually had the wherewithal to be a leader instead of a sanctimonious leech, he would have met the players in Indianapolis and discussed why they were doing what they were doing.

Instead, the miserable Trump puppy did what the owner told him to do, and walked out of Sunday’s game. It was a political stunt, pure and simple, and if it didn’t backfire on this joke of a human being then the joke is on those who fell for it.

There’s a grievance. That’s what these players and thousands of others in society are saying. It doesn’t go away like a head cold or a zit. Trying to browbeat it away – or, worse, questioning the Americanism of the people expressing it, only seeks division to exploit and make political capital.

There’s a lot of pressure on these athletes – who, let’s face it, would be in politics and not sports if that’s what they did best. Their ability to make a living on their skills is extremely limited – by both the degree of their talent and their age. So protesting civil injustice can’t be an easy choice, even for the most radical among them.

If Pence was a man and not a squealing Republican hamster, he’d apologize for what he did last Sunday. The NFL players are protesting, respectfully but sincerely. In the process of kissing the boss’ ass, he disrespected not just the players, but the flag and the anthem being presented.

I know. Fat chance.

But solving the nation’s problems requires teamwork, not a bludgeon. And certainly not stunts or insulting tweets.  Here’s to hoping.