The Full Vermonty

Publisher: Green Writers Press

What were you thinking?  Donald Trump as our president?  You’re kidding, right? Vermont has withstood the Revolution, a New York invasion and the New Hampshire Land Grants and will assuredly survive the next few years under the Washington axis of evil, a.k.a. the Trump Administration, Congress and Supreme Court.

We are a small state with a history of making a large impact. We banned billboards and went to great lengths to protect our natural resources, as well as our natural beauty. We’ll be damned if we’re going to let a man who dyes his hair, cheats workers and has his products made in China dictate to us how life should be. Life in Vermont is already great. A man who lies as easily as the average Vermonter catches fish is not someone we’re going to spend much time listening to.

That said, we recognize that we can’t ignore him and his actions. Then again, he won’t be able to ignore us, either. We're little, but we're loud, and we’re not afraid to elect New Yorker, Bernie Sanders, to carry our message nationwide.  Mr. Trump may see himself as a western version of Vladimir Putin, but we don’t see him as such. He’s just a bully used to stiffing banks (Vermonters make their payments), stiffing his subcontractors (we pay them, because we’re related to most of them), and treating women poorly (we just know better).

Short of seceding from Union (we’ve already tried that to no avail), you can be sure that we’re not just going to sit back and be bullied, stiffed, railroaded, and abused. That’s not our style. Vermonters fight back; always have and always will. We love a good fight and those who challenge soon learn that Vermont generally wins. We’re tougher than the bully in the White House and he’s about to learn that first hand.

With the help of almost a score of  “guest appearances,” our literary duet has now become a chorus. We have assembled a first-rate “posse” of Vermont writers, cartoonists, and politicians to add their intelligence and wit to this momentous task. In addition, the book has quizzes, quotations, escape literature, a Vermont tool box, and more—all the things necessary to flesh out this thump to The Trump.

Bill Mares has been a backyard beekeeper for over 45 years. Raised in Texas, educated at Harvard, Mares is a former journalist, state representative and high school teacher. Mares has authored or co-authored 17 books on a range of topics, including "Bees Besieged." He been president of the Vermont Beekeepers Association and the Eastern Apicultural Association. He received the Devillbiss Award for from EAS in 2012 and was named Vermont Beekeeper of the Year in 2013. He lives in Burlington, Vermont, with his wife of 48 years, Chris Hadsel.