With their tongues they have practiced deceit, the poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. - Rom. 3: 13- 14

"They were lies, plain and simple."

Relative to Mr. Trump's description of his dismissal, former FBI director, James Comey, the chief law enforcement officer of the United States, declared the preceding statement in last week’s hearing before the Senate.

Trump, of course, denies much of Comey's testimony, except the portion that favors him.

For supporters on either side, here is a point to ponder. Somebody is lying. In Comey's case, to regard him as a liar, you would have to assume that the former U. S. Attorney, the former head of the F.B. I. took an oath in Congress to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God and then proceeded to perjure himself--a criminal act. I suppose stranger things have happened.

In fact, on Monday, June 2 at approximately 8:30 a.m., John Robert Neumann, a 45-year-old fired employee of Fiamma in Orlando, Fl. walked into his former workplace and proceeded to murder five employees, then committed suicide.

Alongside the unwise outburst of Zachary Ailes at his father Roger's funeral, comes the comedic debacle of Kathy Griffin. This is after we have been subjected to the "metaphoric"(according to the speaker) diatribe of rocker Ted Nugent against former President Obama. We have watched the bluster of Sean Hannity and the Fox News hosts with their unyielding support of all things Republican and disdain for all liberals. We have listened to the typical Trump supporter and his/her vitriol against Hilary Clinton. We have read about the reactions to the election of “the Donald” from his detractors. And we have observed Ann Coulter, etc. tout the construction of the wall, the subsequent deportation of all illegals, and the denied entry of all future, undesirable aliens, especially those from developing countries.

They all share and have in common, this one undeniable trait -- ANGER.

Review many of the comments posted to any article written by a conservative or liberal author. You will see angry expressions like, "clueless, stupid, liberal snowflake" and idiotic, racist, Republican moron."

If one is not careful, you will soon find yourself expecting the victim of your verbal assaults to wilt, die and perish under the hail of your bombing insults. When, surprisingly, that does not occur, you descend into a dark cave of rage and despair from which there is no escape. Think about acts of terror anywhere in the world. They are motivated not of love for God, but anger at the infidels who do not respect the tenets that they hold dear, and that they revere as holy and inviolate.

Hence you never chastise a child when you are annoyed and frustrated, lest you do more harm than good.

Think for a moment about the catalyst for spousal abuse. You never ever should make any important decision under the cloud of anger.

Anger will always cause people to make rash, unreasonable, illogical choices.

Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.  - Ecclesiastes 7:9

The same principle applies to the voting booth.

Jared Kushner, who is also a senior adviser to the president, allegedly told a former editor of the newspaper he once owned that the billionaire real-estate mogul didn’t believe his own “birtherism” claims, and only made them to charge up Republicans because they are “stupid,” GQ reported.

“He doesn't really believe it, Elizabeth. He just knows Republicans are stupid and they'll buy it," he said.

The wall with Mexico underwriting the cost of its own construction is in the planning stages.

The tax law that would make it easier to conduct business is still being discussed.

Obamacare repeal, promised for more than 7 years, is proving to be an elusive corrective piece of legislation.

The law banning Muslim terrorists from some countries is still mired in the labyrinth of the judicial system.

What we have, according to Jeb Bush who recently crowed, "I told you so," is a chaos presidency.

No matter which side of the aisle you sit, you must admit it is certainly not a smooth running operation, but a show piece for disorganization and dysfunction, an example of how not to conduct yourself in the White House. The lack of political expertise and decorum are painfully evident.

On both sides of aisle, we shout: THIS IS NOT WHAT WE EXPECTED.

He was never a spellbinding orator like Martin Luther King, Jr. or Abraham Lincoln.

He was not the consummate politician in the mold of FDR and LBJ, able to shepherd life altering legislation like the New Deal, Medicare and the Voting Rights Act through congress in the midst of turmoil.

He was not a morally upright man like Billy Graham, Mike Pence or even Jimmy Carter. His 3 marriages, 4 bankruptcies and the reprehensible "Locker room" talk made that clear enough.

His only redeeming quality and virtue -- being a loud mouth, wealthy businessman who seemingly would take charge, and get things done in recalcitrant partisan Washington.

Never mind that this man had a lot of undesirable baggage and character flaws. People were dazzled by his brashness, bravado and motivated by their own frustrations.

The older, white, male evangelical, a typical Trump supporter, saw his influence waning, the country he had always known was slipping out of his grasp. He was being overrun by lazy brown-skinned, non-Christian hordes. People who would vote Democratic because of liberal government benefits. They would be left-leaning, hopelessly corrupt and would be automatic supporters of homosexuality and abortion. I refer you to the writings of Phyllis Schlafly, Pat Buchanan and Ann Coulter.

Something had to be done, a message had to be sent.

He would make America great again and return it to its glory days. Those heady days when the W A S P ruled everything and all others knew their places. Think supporters of Richard Spencer and David Duke.

The other Trump supporter envisioned a successful, no-nonsense, entrepreneur who would shake up paralyzed Washington, drain the debilitating, hampering political swamp and bring back their $35 an hour jobs.

The slimy politicians had forgotten about him, did not care how he was hurting and he would make them pay at the ballot box.

This bold candidate would raze the putrid landscape of Washington and show those worthless professional politicians the door. They imagined hearing all over the nation's capital, the sober rattling words, "you're fired."

THE HARD HAND OF REALITY

Well, life is not a scripted reality television show. It does not always follow the plot lines.

Trump is no longer a television program host nor is he C. E. O. of a company called America.

They have yet to experience this utopia and it is becoming increasingly unlikely to happen while we are dealing with the fallout from the Russia investigation, the firing of James Comey and the new inconvenient revelations daily.

The firebrand conservative Ann Coulter has declared, "Uhhhh. I’m not very happy with what has happened so far. I guess we have to try to push him to keep his promises. But this isn’t North Korea, and if he doesn’t keep his promises, I’m out. This is why we voted for him. I think everyone who voted for him knew his personality was grotesque, it was the issues."

Regrettably, the fulfillment of issues depends entirely on the character of the personality who has promised to fulfill them.

Invariably, what has gone wrong in the morning cannot come right in the evening. A bad decision does not become good because we wish, hope and pray for it.

We have to live, for better or worse, with the consequences of a faulty decision.

Life only goes forward not backward.

But here is some good news. Everything we do, except for one thing, is temporary, fleeting and will not matter in the long run.

You can recover from this decision. Repentance is always freely available and readily accessible.

But the next time you consider a decision that will impact your eternal life.

Cool down! Take a deep breath! Consider carefully before you cast your ballot.

Eternity is a long time to regret a decision.

You can never recover from that.

V. Knowles is a husband, father and prison minister with an interest in penning issues that serve to uplift mankind. He melds his love for Classic literature, The Bible and pop culture - as sordid as it may be - into highly relatable columns of truth, faith and justice. Hence the name: Just Thinking. If he's not buried in a book or penning his next column, you may find him pinned to his sectional watching a good old Country and Western flick.