Hinowa ga Yuku:

Akame ga Kill! Zero is ending in the next volume, but Akame's story doesn't end here.  There's still Hinowa ga Yuku, which continues Akame's adventures in a new land with a new cast of characters.  So long as that manga continues, this jewel among manga hasn't sung its last.

Plus, the English translation of Zero isn't caught up with the Japanese, so there's still plenty more Zero to come for us American readers.

College football season officially begins today, though it's just a bunch of minor teams playing.  Things really get started on the 30th.

Trump has fulfilled all of his campaign promises except the ones on immigration.  I think he tried to get Hillary locked up but his own justice department is in open rebellion and attempting a coup against him, so I'll give him a pass on that one.

He followed the same warmongering path as Rubio would have against Russia, Iran, ISIS, etc.  He cut the corporate tax rate just like Romney wanted.  He appointed the same supreme court nominees Jeb would have.  He got a huge increase in military spending just like George W. Bush did after Clinton.  He moved the embassy to Jerusalem, delighting evangelicals.  But the one thing that distinguished him from the generic Republicans who lost all their elections was immigration.  He said he would be tough on immigration, unlike everyone else, so he won where everyone else had lost.

But in reality, when it came to actions instead of rhetoric, he's actually worse on immigration than George W. Bush was.  After all, Bush actually passed the Secure Fences Act of 2006 and built a huge barrier across the southern border.

It annoys me that Trump's most passionate base has been ignored whereas all the Never Trumper republicans have gotten their way on everything.  We supported him while they didn't, so he goes and curries favor with all of his detractors and completely ignores the people who got him the presidency.  Where is the loyalty?  Weren't we in this together?  Weren't we going to usher in America's second revolution?

Obviously Trump is better than Hillary -- but then so would have been Cruz, Rubio, Jeb or anyone else.  That's meaningless.  Rubio could have easily beaten Hillary.  There wouldn't have been any scandals in Rubio's closet so he would have looked like a saint compared to Hillary's emails, and the entire election would have gone along 'character counts' lines.  If there's no difference between a Trump presidency and a Rubio presidency, then what's the point in sticking our necks out for Trump?  He causes all these unnecessary headaches for the Republican party through his sleaziness, and gets us nothing more in return than any generic Republican candidate would have.  What's the point?  How is this a reasonable return on investment?

It's true that Trump has torn up a bunch of free trade agreements and passed a lot of tariffs, no doubt pleasing workers in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, but I'm actually a proponent of free trade.  I don't think I should have to buy more expensive products at gunpoint just because it helps a loser who couldn't compete with the world get a job in Michigan.  This makes no sense to me.  What do I owe union workers in Michigan?  I'd rather just buy my stuff from China.

So Trump deviated from Republican orthodoxy on that point, but only in a way that makes things worse.  I was willing to put up with his awful trade policies in exchange for a complete halt to Muslim immigration.  But that trade never happened.  All we got was the bad stuff.

I guess you can make the argument that Trump was the only one who realized that we needed the electoral votes of Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania to win, and so he was the only one bright enough to bribe them to vote for the Republican party at the expense of the nation as a whole.  But I feel like Hillary was such an awful person that the voters of Ohio would have elected Rubio or Jeb just on conscience, without needing any bribes.  People hate Hillary.  Anyone would vote against that witch.

We'll never know, obviously, because we never got to see a Rubio vs. Hillary general election.  But here's the thing -- whatever utility Trump had as the slayer of the  Hillary dragon is now over.  He's already appointed the vacant Supreme Court seat.  Every possible benefit from Trump has already accrued.  From here on I have zero reason to support him.  There's no potential boon from Trump staying in office any longer.  Only downside.  Only endless more corruption and scandals which is dragging the reputation of the Republican party down with him.

In fact, Trump dying as a martyr, being unfairly impeached or assassinated, would be the best possible result for us at this point.  He's worth more to us as a talking point against liberals than as an actual living breathing president.  I hope he's impeached, because that will make liberals look like sore losers who won't respect the results of democracy.  I hope some loony liberal assassinates him, because that will reveal to Republicans that it's impossible to coexist with the other side.  But there's zero upside to him running out his full term -- or god help us getting reelected at age 74.  He's already senile as is.

Let's get a real immigration patriot to run for the presidency next time.  We know that immigration is a winning issue, Trump proved that.  Now we just need someone who actually believes the words coming out of his mouth.  Stephen Miller, Tom Cotton, Ann Coulter, Kris Kobach and others have proven their immigration bona fides.  None of them have long criminal histories like Trump.  Let's get a real immigration patriot, not a clown, to run on this issue and actually get something done.  There is no reason why we have to stand by a guy who cares more about grabbing porn stars by the pussy than saving America.