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4/25/24

4/25/2024

TRUMP BEHIND BARS
IT FEELS DIFFERENT. BUT IS IT?

DONALD TRUMP, as his criminal case continues in New York City, and the limits of his power are argued in Washington, seems caught and caged.
     I find the most symbolic photos are those in the hallway outside the Manhattan courtroom, where Trump gives his fact-challenged “analysis” of the day's proceedings.
     He stands in a small corral of fencing that seems designed protect him from his frenemies in the media. But to me, the barrier hints at jail.
    For the first time, Trump does not appear quite as exempt from the laws of man and the universe that apply to the rest of us, and that extended even to Trump’s peers in the political and corporate stratosphere.
     Looking also at the photos inside the courtroom, with Trump seated at the defense table before the formal hearings begin, we see a guy who seems a tad vulnerable.
     But how much should we read into the pictures?

     His face looks blotchy and unhealthy, which is to say, kind of normal for him.
     As for his expressions, those always have seemed rehearsed, just as what’s left of his hair is extensively engineered.
     And his courtroom scowls, those angry eyes, are not necessarily credible indicators what is going on inside the lizard brain.
     Because television cameras and microphones are banned from the formal courtroom proceedings, we are at the mercy of reporters – some of them America’s best – to tell us what’s up, if anything.
     Has the defendant really fallen asleep? Is he affecting boredom to show his contempt for the legal process? Is his dopiness a function of his long-reputed short attention span?
     “Donald Trump just gave a big yawn....” during a break in hearing, reported the Washington Post’s Hannah Knowles today as part of her paper’s minute-by-minute updates.
     Alternatively, “Trump is growing more animated,” said the New York Times’ Kate Christobek, as testimony focused on Stormy Daniels, the actress whose alleged one-night stand with Trump is at the core of the hush payments case. “He has motioned to both of the lawyers sitting next to him, adjusted his shoulders and crossed his arms over his chest.”
     What does it all mean?

FOR THE SMALL-MINDED – a large, but shameful group if Americans, of which I am a member in good standing – there is much to savor in the New York proceedings.
    It is rich in one quality lacking in the other, more important cases Trump faces: sleaze.
     Sleazy ethics. Sleazy sex. Sleazy money. Sleazy journalism. So much sleaze.
     Just the last name of the prosecution’s first witness proves the point.
    It’s a name that would cause any middle school classroom to erupt in hysterics, the same effect produced by mention of one of the solar system’s lesser planets, Uranus.
     Here we have a man who once presided over one of the tabloid press’s premier publications, with a last name that perfectly describes his role and perhaps his character.
     How fitting, but also cruel. Shouldn’t his family have changed its last name generations ago?
     Or should the witness be grateful that he ended up with a mediocre first name, whereas truly malevolent caretakers might have chosen “Big,” or, even more humiliating, “Little,” as a first name, instead of David.

MEANWHILE, IN WASHINGTON today, the putative grownups on the Supreme Court of the United States spent hours thrashing out arguments into Donald Trump’s claim that, as president, or a former one, he had/has immunity from prosecution for crimes like trying to overturn an election.
     Would the nation’s highest court hand Donald John a get-out-of-jail free card? Would the court carve out an exception to the most scared principle of American government, that no man is above the law?
     The Washington case was as monumental as the New York one was trivial, although either or both could eventually send him to the slammer.
     Justices whom Trump himself appointed seemed impressed by the stakes.
     “This case has huge implications for the presidency, for the future of the presidency, for the future of the country,” intoned Justice Neil M. Gorsuch.
     “We’re writing a rule for the ages,” said Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.
     For you and me, both cases – the sleaze one and the Constitutional one - ask the same question:
      Are we finally witnessing the beginning of the end of Donald Trump?
      Or has Trump merely been experiencing a few bad photo-ops as he continues his relentless crusade to destroy American democracy?

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4/5/24

4/5/2024

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Election countdown
7 MONTHS LEFT, BIDEN
STILL TRAILS TRUMP
So, there's lots to do before Nov. 5;
And some reasons to be upbeat

CREDIT: Illustration by Frank Gerardi

SEVEN MONTHS, that’s all that’s left until the most fateful election of our lifetime.
     In the blink of an eye, April 5 will turn into Nov. 5,
    And we’ll know whether the United States has a future as a democracy under President Joe Biden, or becomes a dictatorship under Donald Trump.
     A lot can happen between today and the first Tuesday of November.
     Joe Biden’s age can catch up with him. Donald Trump’s age can catch up with him. China can make a move on Taiwan. We could betray Ukraine and let Putin have his way with that brave country.
     Many good things can happen. The Israel-Hamas crisis may find resolution. The majority of Americans could decide this spring and summer that Biden is one of history’s the best presidents.

     As of today, however, the race seems stuck where's it's been for months: Donald is leading Joe in the average of polls tracked by the Real Clear Politics website, 46.9 percent to 45.8 percent – a 1.1 point advantage for the dictator-in-waiting.
     We are warned not to put too much faith in such “early” polling – can you imagine you or any other rational person actually answering a phone with an alleged pollster on the other end?
     What we can conclude from the polls is that Donald Trump has substantial support, despite the fact that he is a repulsive, unqualified, traitorous, criminal and cruel psychopath.
     What to do?
     Here are two positive suggestions:
     The first is to do the practical things within the reach of most of us. They might seem inconsequential, but when multiplied by thousands of people, they can produce thrilling results.
     The second is to stay positive, because there are reasons to be optimistic.

SEND A POSTCARD
     As to real actions: we can send postcards to folks in other states, people who may need a friendly nudge to do something they hadn’t considered: voting.
     Many groups have organized ways to do this. I’ll mention one: Activate America. The organization focuses on campaigns that can help Democrats control congress.
     Activate America has identified registered voters who might not be focusing on the election, but might be encouraged to vote, and vote Democratic. Volunteers sign up online, and Activate America emails a list of voters, and instruction of what to do.
     Volunteers supply their own postcards and stamps.

ACTIVATE AMERICA'S website. Click on the image to access the site

Yesterday, just to get started, I signed up for a list of 10 Arizona voters, who are to be asked to consider Ruben Gallego, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. One suggested message, to be written on the back of the postcard:

Dear (Voter’s name),
   MAGA Republicans support a national abortion ban. And that’s just the beginning. Republicans are also attacking birth control and fertility treatments.
   We all deserve freedom to make these personal decisions. Elect Democrat Ruben Gallego to the U.S. Senate to protect our rights.
Thanks,
     Brian, a volunteer

     Activate America says to print the message, because some people aren’t familiar with cursive handwriting. Also, sign your first name only, with no return address. Stick to the wording – a lot of thought has gone into it.
     Let’s be real. No one of us can sit at our dining room table and change the course of history.
     It takes millions and millions of postcards to move just a tiny fraction of voters. But many elections are close, and a relatively few postcards might make the difference.

AS FOR STAYING OPTIMISTIC
     A friend suggested looking at the website of Simon Rosenberg. It’s thankfully NOT titled “Simon Says,” but has a mischievous name “Hopium Chronicles."
     Rosenberg is a glass half-full kind of guy, and is crazy positive about Biden’s and the Democrats’ chances this fall.
     If Biden is behind in the Real Clear Politics average of polls, Rosenberg cites 14 polls that since February have Biden ahead.
     He says he should be taken seriously, because he’s been right about Democrats’ success in recent elections.
     Rosenberg is two-note messenger:

Worry less.
Work hard. Work really, really, really hard. Donate to candidates, help key candidates, going door-to-door, calling on the phone, texting (and sending millions of postcards). Wishing won’t do. Elections are won because people act on their hopes.

Rosenberg has a chant-like summary of his analysis, repeated over and over, including this version that appeared on yesterday’s website:

Joe Biden is a good President. The country is better off. The Democratic Party is strong, unified, and winning elections all across the country. And they have Trump - the ugliest political thing we’ve all ever seen.

Rosenberg is not a modest man, and he is obviously pleased - very pleased - that he’s recently been interviewed by the New York Times, and, with no hesitation or apology, he linked to the article on his own site.

     In their back and forth, Rosenberg and Adam Nagourney, the Times' interviewer, don't get into the whether or not the fairy godmother is coming to rescue us.
     Which I find refreshing.
     In a democracy, it comes down to us, actual little people, with our postcards and our ballpoint pens.

0 Comments

4/1/24

4/1/2024

1 Comment

NO-TRUMP TUESDAYS
A proposal for political and psychic sanity

ON NO-TRUMP TUESDAYS, visit a daffodil patch

I'M SICK OF IT.
      I’m sick of the sacrilege, the serial outrages, the lawlessness, the insults, the racism, the sneering, the double-speak, the analyses, both expert and amateur; he pointless, endless, useless polls; the fibs, the cheating, the innuendoes, the threats, violence, the jokes, the gutter-talk and most of all the fear, the stomach churning, sleep-robbing panic at the prospect of another Donald John Trump presidency.
      Going on nine years now, Trump has possessed our lives.
     Day after day, in and out of office, every day, all day, weekends, holidays, nights, mornings, it’s always all about Trump.
     In the month just passed, there were the golden sneakers, the debate about Trump’s mention of a “bloodbath” – was he talking just about the international car market or the terrible strife that would happen should he lose yet another election? These are subjects that must be examined, parsed and defined.
     And with Easter bunny limbering up, announcement of the God Bless the USA Bible, raising this question: Can you put a cost on God’s word? Donald Trump priced it at $59.99. Should he have charged extra on Easter? What did God think about sharing space in Her book with the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance?
     And what to do with the 10 Commandments?
     Should Trump have taken his famous Sharpie pen – which, as president, he used to doctor a weather map to show that he was right about the course of a hurricane – black out some if not all of the Commandments, the thou shall not steal and the thou shall not bear false witness sections? And while at it, maybe he should have redacted those pesky do-not-covets: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, not your neighbor’s manservant, not his maidservant, not his ox and not his ass?
     The point is that day after day, we are living in Donald Trump’s world.
     Did Donald Trump really say that? Did Donald Trump slither his way out of this or that gag order? Did that businessman, this politician, and those voters swear allegiance to Trump in violation of the admonition that thee shall have no other gods before me?
     And always, the question that begins every week: what will Trump get away with next? Which indictment? What impeachment? What report? Will he ever pay?
     As for the rest of us, will we ever be free of Donald Trump?
     I think there’s a chance. In fact, I’ve been thinking about a two-step plan.

STEP ONE: NO-TRUMP TUESDAYS.
     Every Tuesday, do not read about Trump. Do not watch TV if you suspect it will even mention, much less feature, Donald Trump. Do not listen to NPR news on the radio, or Morning Joe on TV or any political streaming podcasts. Thou shall not talk about Trump at breakfast, at lunch, or supper. As much as this pains me, avoid the “Dangerous Times” blog or its archives, which are 99.9 percent about Trump.
     Every Tuesday, wipe Donald Trump from your mind; cleanse your soul of Donald Trump.
    Do something else.
     It’s officially spring, so appreciate it.
     Seek out the daffodils. Review your St. Patrick’s Day parade snapshots. Look forward to summer.
     Go for a ride (you already know which routes to avoid because of certain yard signs). Read a book. Paint a picture. Work overtime. Take the afternoon off. Brush the dog. Give the cat a treat. Visit the sick. Play with the kids. Drop in on friends who used to be sick. If you live in New York, visit the Statue of Liberty for the first time. If you live near the Rhode Island seashore, take a walk on the beach before they start charging for parking. Mow the lawn. Better idea, forget the lawn.

ON NO-TRUMP TUESDAYS, review your St. Patrick's Day parade snapshots

If you are a political wonk, or simply a patriot, do the many things that a democracy demands of its citizens: have an argument about the best series to stream. Plant a tree. Stand up straight. Fall asleep and try not to dream about politics. Be nice. Muse about democracy’s blessings: fee speech, the rule of law, the positive possibilities of free enterprise.
     Our democracy has many deficits, so maybe use your free time on No-Trump Tuesdays to think about how promote voting, provide affordable housing and medical care for everyone. Take a minute to wonder how to rid ourselves and our country from racism and make sure our schools work.
     Don’t let the selfish, the greedy, the short-sighted and the stupid undermine our crusade to prevent the destruction of the planet because of climate change or nuclear war. Think about what government should do to ensure jetliners have enough bolts when they take off, and that bridges won’t collapse when container ships get too close.

HOLD ON, YOU SAY: Isn’t this No-Trump Tuesdays silliness just so much old fashioned head-in-the-sand, ostrich stuff, Neville Chamberlain-style approach to Hitlerian Armageddon? Just pretending that Trump’s gone won't make it happen.
     Quite the opposite. I’m suggesting that we remember what this political fight of our lifetimes is really about: What will it feel like if Donald Trump is out of our government, out of our lives and out of our minds for good?
     Instead of thinking about golden sneakers, make-America-pray again Bibles and Project 2025 - the Trump & Friends plan to end democracy as we know it - we need to dream, to imagine, to be inspired by the possibilities and privileges of living in a free society where citizens call the shots or try to.
     And certainly, on the other six days, we need to do everything possible to get rid of Donald Trump. On Wednesdays, we need to catch up on the news we missed on Tuesdays, and to follow the news closely the rest of the week. We need to give money to Joe Biden, to congressional Democrats and state and local officials. We need to argue, persuade, pray, anything within our ability to fashion a positive election outcome. To go door-to-door, bother people on the phone, find those organizations that will help us do all of those things and more.

STEP-TWO
     As I mentioned, I was thinking of a two-step plan.
    Step Two is to vote for president on or about Nov. 5.
     Nov. 5, you will remember, is a Tuesday.
     And if we try our best, that particular Tuesday will turn out to be the ultimate and final No-Trump Tuesday.

ON NO-TRUMP TUESDAYS, remember when a near-sighted moose beamed down to earth

1 Comment

4/25/24

TRUMP BEHIND BARSIT FEELS DIFFERENT. BUT IS IT?

4/5/24

Election countdown7 MONTHS LEFT, BIDENSTILL TRAILS TRUMPSo, there's lots to do before Nov. 5;And some reasons to be upbeat

4/1/24

NO-TRUMP TUESDAYSA proposal for political and psychic sanity

Categories

TRUMP BEHIND BARS
IT FEELS DIFFERENT. BUT IS IT?

Election countdown
7 MONTHS LEFT, BIDEN
STILL TRAILS TRUMP
So, there's lots to do before Nov. 5;
And some reasons to be upbeat

NO-TRUMP TUESDAYS
A proposal for political and psychic sanity