The year 2017. To mangle a line from writer Charles Dickens, it was the worst of years, it was the worst of years.
It was the year of extreme politics and extreme weather. It started with the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as president, a seismic and violent transformation in the way politics are conducted. Santa Barbarans reacted as they usually do. Thousands took to the streets. Some hunkered down for the long haul and organized.
But others jumped on board the Trump juggernaut or at least tried to, like Mike Stoker, who first got the “Lock ’er up” ball rolling; former assemblymember Abel Maldonado, a contender for Secretary of Agriculture; and former CKE executive and recent Montecitan Andy Puzder, whose nomination as Labor Secretary was derailed after it came out he’d hired an “illegal” immigrant as a nanny.