April 25, 2019--Jack: Running Scared

A number of friends have been asking about Jack. One wrote, "I'm rested and can take a few stories involving him."

So, after a restful nap of my own I sucked it up and called Jack to see what was on his mind.

"You're calling to gloat?" Jack, already edgy, said.

I was but said, "I'm just wanting to know what you thought about the Mueller report."

"No collusion, no obstruction."

"So, you're still drinking the Kool-Aid?"

"Quite the opposite, I'm reading the report carefully. So I can come to my own conclusions."

"With the no-collusion-no-obstruction spin it sounds to me as if you're still on page one."

His not responding confirmed that Jack is not famous for being much of a reader. Like his president.

"If nothing else," I said, "If you do read any of it I recommend looking at volume two, the section about all the things Trump did to, well, obstruct justice. Like demanding that the White House counsel, Don McGahn, fire Mueller. McGahn refused and offered to resign. If he followed those orders that would have been a very big deal and Trump would likely have been indicted."

"I thought a president can't be indicted?"

"This may or may not be true. That policy has never been tested in court. But I didn't call to get into a constitutional debate, which neither of us knows enough about to have."

"So then to what do I owe this call?"

"Just to get your general view of things. Particularly what it means politically." I deliberately didn't mention that quite a few of my friends were asking about him. Talking with him could be unpleasant enough that I didn't need to have to also deal with his vanity. But it is true that a lot of people I know like hearing about him. 

"I think he's running sacred."

"Trump? Really? That doesn't sound like him."

"So why did he send out 50 tweets in 24 hours while he was in Florida this past weekend? That sounds like running scared to me."

"But you said he's feeling exonerated. He even said he's never been happier. So I don't get how he can believe he received a clean bill of health and at the same time be scared. Scared of what?"

"First of all you need to understand how right-wingers experience and respond to reality. We are at our best when we feel victimized. When we think things are unfairly stacked against us even if they aren't. That makes us furious and we act accordingly. That's why if you listen to Fox at night, to the Sean Hannities, or the ultraconservative radio talk show people, they're always in a rage even when winning. One would think they'd sound triumphant with Trump in the White House and until last November having majorities in both houses of Congress. But, no, they still raged as if Hillary was president and Pelosi and Schumer were running Congress. It would also be as if there was no Fox news. Just fake news from the New York Times and Washington Post."

"Interesting."

"Trump talks about winning and even when he does still sounds aggrieved. This is our default mode--frustration, fear, anger, rage."

"This sounds right to me," I said.

"But Trump is no fool. He knows the truth--he can claim vindication by Mueller all he wants, but he saw his poll numbers plummet to all-time lows earlier this week. Down to 35, 37 percent who still claim he's doing a good job. This is the core of his core. He knows with numbers like this even Kirsten Gillibrand or John Hickenlooper could beat him in 2020. So the 50 tweets, so the mobilization of his clown lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and that horror show Kellyanne Conway."

"You too," I said, "are sounding pretty worked up. Who are you feeling good about?"

"At the moment, no one. This includes his son-in-law, who looks to me like a bloodless vampire. He said really stupid things over the weekend--that the Mueller investigation is more dangerous to the United States than the Russians' involvement in the 2016 campaign. That was even hard for someone like me to swallow."

"So, that's it? That's all you have to say?"

"Hardly. Since you were nice enough to call me, I'll let you in on a little inside baseball."

"Shoot."

"Trump has a strategy to get reelected that depends on the Democrats. Like ju jitsu it takes one's enemies' strength and turns it against them. That's what Trump is up to."

"What's the Democrats' strength that he's using to his benefit?"

"Your sense of righteousness and fairness. You aways want to feel you're doing the good and right thing, which doesn't always translate into winning strategies."

"Give me some examples."

"OK. Let's talk about impeachment."

"Do we have to?"

"Only if you want to learn how to be smart."

"Shoot." I was feeling exasperated.

"Trump knows that half the Democrat caucus is obsessed with impeaching him. But they're the ones who represent mainly secure blue districts and won't be punished in 2020 by voters who don't want to see Trump impeached. These politically safe Democrats want to see Trump impeached."

"I agree that that could be true."

"But then there are those Democrats who are not wanting to make impeachment a priority because they are in red or purple districts and could be vulnerable to Republicans in 2020. For them, if the Democrats proceed with impeachment they will likely lose their seats and Nancy maybe her majority and speakership."

"But what about the race for the presidency? How does impeaching Trump help him get reelected? Your ju jitsu analogy?"

"It takes the Dem's eye off the ball. It gets them so worked up about impeachment that they don't talk about things people really care about--health care, preexisting conditions, student debt, women's issues, jobs for working class people, all the things that make Democrats strong. Again, Trump plans to turn this against them. And by doing so--he wins. Keep an eye on how he'll move to bait Democrats into impeaching him. As counterintuitive as it may sound he actually wants to be impeached."

"What a nightmare," I said, "Why did I ever listen to my friends and call you?"

"Aha!" Jack said, "I knew someone put you up to this!"

Cackling, he rushed off the phone.

August 20, 2018--George Lindberg's Nightmare: The Donald J. Trump Presidential Library

I received this email from my good friend George Lindberg--

Dear Steven

When you get in a slump because of insomnia, remember you at least have control of how you spend your awake time.  You can change the channel or shut it off at whim.  I on the other hand have no trouble falling asleep or staying asleep.  My problem is what happens while I am asleep.  

The other day you and Rona set some wheels in motion.  It all started the evening following your musings about the numerous presidential libraries you two have visited.  I have never been to any so I can only wonder what would be on display.

As I drifted into slumberland, I made the mistake of wondering what the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library would be like.  Steven, I can’t shut him off . . .

The dream always starts the same way.  I'm driving down I-95, heading toward Queens, the birthplace of Donald, where from a sign I notice that the name of the Throgs Neck Bridge has been changed to the Thongs Neck Bridge. When I get to Jamaica Estates, his boyhood home, I find myself at the new Donald J. Trump Presidential Library. Built on an old swamp that wasn't drained but filled in.

There was some talk of locating it on the campus of Trump University, but no one could locate it and the Wharton School people said, “No way."

In keeping with Trump tradition, the library has been set in a hot-sheet motel. In my dream it is always a pay by the hour place.  I park in a new seven story parking garage.  Funny thing is mine is the only car there.  A welcome sign tells me the place was built on land that was cleared after evicting 5,000 immigrants. 

As I enter I am required to show proof of citizenship.  Lucky for me (it’s a dream remember) I have my birth certificate with me.  Stepping in the foyer a holograph of Ivanka appears, suggesting I genuflect as I pass the life size (both height and width) portrait of The Donald.   “But,” she says, “By no means should you take a knee.”

Behind me is a gentleman who is apparently of foreign decent.  When he apologetically states he has no identification, Poof, the holograph disappears and the booming voice of Donald descends from the heavens, proclaiming --“OUT, OUT, GET THE S.O.B. OUT.  YOU'RE FIRED.”

I had to move on as I was being charged by the hour.

My recollection is that all the walls were painted a brilliant lily white.  Ivanka is back suggesting I follow the main corridor and at the end not to miss what's at the far right. She also urges me to look around in the High Tariff gift shop and purchase an official DJT gift with the presidential seal made by our good friends in China. She adds, “Please be sure to buy something in the apparel closeout section."

As I walk down the main corridor a screeching sound is heard and a golf cart comes careening around the corner from the alt-right.  It has been customized to look like the original clown car from the 2016 campaign.  At the wheel is Steve Bannon.  Except his hair is combed and bleached blond.  He says, “Get in.  I’ll show you around."    

Room after room passes by but I’m able to read the name plates on each door.

There is the Insults room, with dozens of printed tweets posted on the walls. The first one I see is about Rosie O'Donnell.

The Fake News room has an old teletype machine clacking away.  Lots of stuff is coming in from Fox News.

The Immigration room. On quick glance there are several pictures of families being reunited.  Including dates showing reunions occurring some five years after separation.

The Military Parade room has photos of veterans groups taking a knee.  I notice as a veteran I was in one of the pictures.  Head bowed, fist in the air.

There is the crowded Wives room.

The Promises Made room includes an audio introduction by Jon Luvitz.

The Apprentice room has Meatloaf songs piped in.

In the Law Suits room where there is a life-sized portrait of Roy Cohn.

The Miss Universe room has a for sale sign on the door.

A Space Force room includes mock ups of the first space warriors Trump wants to send to the moon.

There is a wax museum of many of the most prominent players from Trump World --Giuliani, Sessions, Bannon, Kellyanne, Hope Hicks, Anthony Scaramucci, and many more.

Right next to it is the Robert Mueller room and next door to that the Pardon room.

There is the Ladies room with wax likenesses of Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal, a couple of Russian working girls, and even Rosie and Megyn.

The Putin room contains memorabilia from all their good times together.  With a newly-released video. I need to get back there to watch it.

I pass the Rocket Man room.

Steven, in my dream I asked Steve Bannon to show me the basement, but he said it was closed.  Something having to do with the base crumbling.

When we get to the end of the first floor hall, I see broom closets that are devoted to black people.  One is for NFL and NBA players, including LeBron James, and another for Maxie Waters and someone named Omarosa.  That name is crossed off and "Low Life Dog" is spray painted in its place.

Bannon tells me there is a wall half built around the library but contractors walked off the job when the residents in Queens refused to pay for it.

There are several floors just like this but the sun is coming up and so I rush to get out.

Sitting out front in a lawn chair I see former CIA director, John Brennan.  He told me they won’t let him in without a security clearance.

Driving home I can hear Tom Bodett saying, "Come back soon. We’ll leave the light on for ya”.

The road is smooth yet my car is rocking and bouncing.

A voice in my head says, "George, George wake up you’re having that nightmare again."

                                            *   *   *

I wrote back--"Somehow having 'library' and 'Donald Trump' in the same sentence is an oxymoron."

George said, "This is supposed to make me feel better?"

Site of the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library

March 15, 2017--Ministry of Fake News

A friend who keeps up with most things political and refers to the White House as the Ministry (so you know where he's coming from) is very smart, well informed, and through the months tracking the nomination, election, and early days of the Trump administration has generally, by my read, more often than not, got things right.

He is so indefatigable in his pursuit of information about what is going on that most days he even checks what's posted on the White House Website--1600 Daily.

By doing so, this is also evidence that he is willing to submit to self-flagellation in searching for the truth.

There's a section on the Webpage devoted to "News Reports" and my friend points out that it always includes links to a few so-called media outlets. I say "so-called" because, using yesterday as an example, there were a total of four links, two to Fox News and one to Breitbart.

So, if you can't wait to get your news from CNN or the New York Times--news such as how Trump Tower is being bugged via its TV sets and microwave ovens--you can have a peek at the sources Donald Trump himself checks out when his daily intelligence briefings get too boring.

March 1, 2017--A Day Without Trump

Since I noted some improvement earlier this week--mentioning Trump a regressive four times on Monday and then doing only a bit better yesterday, mentioning him "just" three times--perhaps, then, since I ams still disappointed with my progress, maybe I need to adjust tactics for a day to get to my goal sooner--to shake my yearlong addiction to all things Trump.

So today, midweek, I am taking a day off from blogging. I have an early doctor's appointment to see if my Lyme disease has abated and so I thought to take advantage of my busy schedule and not write anything.

That's one way to deal with my problem. Ignore it. Admittedly, not the most therapeutic way--taking it head on would be more beneficial--but perhaps it could still be helpful.

This of course means no comments about Trump's speech last night, no mocking allusions to his having just discovered that repealing and replacing Obamacare is "unbelievably complex" or, better for satire or snarkiness, that "nobody knew [it] . . . could be so complicated." Nobody?

This latter comment alone could under prior circumstances have been subject matter for at least two blogs.

Ignoring Trump I will have no public comments about his budget outline that sees a ten percent increase in military spending and offsetting cuts in domestic allocations, which means cutting back on food and healthcare for the poor to build more weapon systems. Cruel priorities. But I will have nothing to say about that.

I will also not comment on the attempts to plug leaks by the president and White House staff and how press secretary Sean Spicer forced those reporting to him to turn over their cell phones so they can be checked to find out who's been leaking to the New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN.  And I won't be writing about the White House banning reporters from these and other "fake news" outlets from attending the first Trump "gaggle" briefing for a select group of reporters,
including one from Breitbart News, Steven Bannon's old shop.

Though I am tempted, you will not hear anything from me about this.

And you will not hear a word here about what is my thus-far favorite flap of the week--the Twitter storm about how Kellyanne Conway took her shoes off and folded her legs under her while sitting on them on the Oval Office couch as President Trump met with a group of distinguished presidents of historically black colleges and universities.

What was she doing there anyway? But you won't see me asking or speculating about that.

When Kellyann's disrespectful behavior was brought to the attention of Trump and his senior staff they were quick to publish pictures of Barack Obama sitting with his feet on the presidential desk. The same president Trump accused earlier this week of being behind all the leaks and leaving a "mess" behind. But there will not be a word about me about that. No leaking here. For me it's still Trump cold turkey detoxification time.

As New York City Mayor Ed Koch used at ask, "How am I doing?"

December 7, 2016--Fake News: Pizzaagate

Recently, fake news has been much in the headlines. Fake news being entirely made up stuff masquerading as real news that gets posted and circulated on the Internet either to do harm to someone (like Hillary Clinton) of just as scurrilous or dangerous entertainment. Frequently, all three.

The Comet Ping Pong Pizzeria story is quite a case in point.

Back in October, a month before the election, a few Internet sites, including the Vigilant Citizen, that on the surface look like legitimate news sources, began to "report" that the Comet Ping Pong Pizzeria was really a front for child-trafficing activities. In the back room, John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's chief strategist, and Hillary herself, led a ring of child-abusers who kidnapped, molested, and then sold children to other child-abusers to serve as sex slaves.

If you haven't been following the story, yes, this is unbelievably true.

These posting went viral, literally globally, and the pizzeria has become the subject of an explosion of social media postings, most of them from conspiracy theorists. And on Sunday, someone showed up to rescue children from the notorious back room. Showed up with a pistol and an AR-15 assault rifle, which he fired just as police were arriving to arrest him.

As shocking and disturbing as this is, versions of fake news are not new.

What is new are the means through which this "news" is propagated. Now we have the Internet, specifically social media, to get the word out and circulated. In the past we had newspapers of different levels of repute that, usually for political purposes, would print the intentionally false news.

All the way back in 1828, during the presidential campaign that pitted Andrew Jackson against incumbent president John Quincy Adams, newspapers under Adams' control circulated stories asserting, via lurid stories, that his wife was a bigamist. In so doing, they pointed out that this would make Jackson an adulterer and Rachel, how to put this, a slut.

Rachel, Jackson's wife, may or may not have fully finalized her divorce from Captain Lewis Robards before marrying Jackson. The Adams people, of course insisted that she hadn't and launched invectives against Old Hickory that rivaled or surpassed the ones Donald Trump leveled against his opponents.

To complicate matters, in the Jackson situation, there is fake news within the fake news--a friend of Captain Robards in his own newspaper, in an attempt to take the heat off Jackson, knowingly published a fake story that the divorce had in fact been completed. It probably hadn't been.

Rachel died in 1828, months before Jackson, who won in a landslide, was inaugurated. It broke his heart.

More recently, well before the emergence of the social media, fake news to hurt political opponents has been commonplace. For example, in 2000, as George W. Bush vied with Joh McCain for the Republican nomination, it was agreed by most that whomever of them won the South Carolina primary would go on to secure the nomination. To defeat his rival--McCain was favored because of his military background--Bush people circulated the fake news that McCain had fathered an illegitimate black child.

This doomed his candidacy.

Bush won the SC primary, was nominated, and thanks to the Supreme Court, became our 43rd president.

This history is no comfort to the owner and employees of the pizzeria--it is a place to which the crazies have affixed crosshairs--but when we talk with concern about the proliferation of fake news, it's important to know that we have lived with versions of it for our entire history. And figured out a way to survive.

You don't want me to tell you the made-up stories about George Washington!

Rachel Jackson