Bon Voyage

Off to Europe and Africa.  Maybe we won't have to come back...

Sorry - Couldn't Resist

 "Boss says we can release the files."

                                                                                                              The New Yorker, today

Unfit to be the Ruler of a Free People

One of the awful consequences of the Trump Presidency is that he - and his fascist henchmen - will have complete control over the 250th anniversary celebration of the debating, writing, ratifying and approval of the Declaration of Independence.  

Very long story short, this document, its creation, its meaning and its consequences, is, and always has been, central to my lifelong interest in the American revolution in particular, and the great American Experiment in general.  There has always been something powerful - moving and inspiring - about the Founders wrestling with what it means to be free and independent, and then going and doing what needed to be done.  Thomas Jefferson - as conflicted and imperfect as any of the great names in American history  - remains a hero to me, mostly because he was able to wrap up what America meant at that time and articulate it so that, when it was read on village greens all across America, people cheered and church bells rang.  If I could transport myself through time to one historic event, I would probably choose to be on every village green in America, simultaneously, listening to the Declaration being read out loud to the assembled people of that place.  As it is, I have to content myself by listening to the NPR recording of the Declaration on July 4, as I have done since it first appeared in 1988.

And then came Donald Trump.  A great portion of my anger at him has to do with what he has done to this fundamental idea of America (and also what he has done to the world's longest-lasting set of founding principals, the US Constitution).  The Declaration, and the Constitution, define what is great about America, and he is eviscerated both.  

But this is not a post about politics - at least, not much.

Over the last few years, I've been 'taking' courses at Yale, from the comfort of my home.  Over the last 20 years or so, Yale has had video cameras in lecture halls, and put the videos online, and I'm the beneficiary.  Recently, I 'took' a course in the Revolutionary War, taught by Professor Joanne Freeman, and so was interested to see that she was one of the three lecturers who would be presenting Yale's America at 250.

During the third lecture in this series, on the Declaration, Dr. Freeman read four of the American grievances against King George III (the great bulk of the Declaration is actually the listing of these twenty seven grievances), as examples:

    

    - He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, 

    - He made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices.

    - He kept among us in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislatures.

    - He affected to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power.

I wonder why she chose those?  I could add some more:

    - For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

    - For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

    - For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments      

             

This section of the Declaration ends this way:

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Indeed. 

Obligatory

OK, OK.  A post about the Epstein files.  Let me start by saying that I stand by my predictions.

Next:  You know, of course, that Trump doesn't need an act of Congress - which is an increasingly likely development - to release the files.  He's the boss.  He can release them or interdict them, whenever he wants.

And, finally (for this post, anyway) Trump has said  "...the House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to..."

So when the House and Senate have finally finished their oh-so-serious deliberations, and the President has gotten around to signing the bill and releasing the files, the primary result will be (as is oh-so-often the case) a flurry of lawsuits - because the files will be incomplete, misleading, targeted, and definitely not what we expected.  The Administration will hide behind "legally entitled to" and "ongoing investigations" and "emergency powers," and it will take forever.

Do not hold your breath.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

The White House website, which you pay for, has a timeline, highlighting events and people in the history of The People's House.

The temporal parade of images include six Presidents:  William Howard Taft, Richard Nixon, and these three:

Yes, that's Monica Lewinsky.

Barak Obama engaging with the Muslim Brotherhood, which swept Egyptian elections after the Arab Spring (no mention of the ACA, which provided healthcare to millions of Americans).

I'll just leave you with the site's caption for this one:

The Biden/Harris administration hosts transexuals at the White House in 2023, and goes on to establish the "The Transgender Day of Visibility" on the same day as Easter Sunday in 2024.

Actually, Biden gets two pictures:

During Biden’s administration, a U.S. Secret Service agent discovered a small, zippered plastic bag containing cocaine in the West Wing entrance lobby. Speculation has pointed to Hunter Biden, an admitted drug user. Additional evidence includes a laptop, seized in 2019, which contains photos of frequent drug use alongside emails about foreign business dealings (Ukraine, China) involving his father, Joe, while he was Vice President.

Oh, and there's Melania's Tennis Pavilion, and a  picture of Donald in the Oval Office that he renovated, "...inspired by his Mar-A-Lago estate."  And an AI impression of the golden throne room that is replacing the East Wing.

Raise your hand if you want to be the one to pick the photos to include after Trump leaves office!  Will Stormy Daniels figure in any of them?  Jeffrey Epstein?  Bill Clinton (again)?  Ghislane Maxwell's horse?   Ooh ooh!  Pick me!

Stay tuned.

Long Live the President!

Most Americans disapprove of Donald Trump's presidency at this point.  At the same time, there's a very long Wikipedia page entitled "Age and Health Concerns About Donald Trump."  Erratic behavior and signs of worsening dementia are widely reported.  And he has been disappearing sporadically for periods of time, with no reasonable explanation, sparking concern about health issues in real time.

This is a man who, by almost any measure, should not be President.  There has been an almost constant undercurrent of talk about the 25th Amendment almost from the beginning of his first term.  He has been impeached twice, once for making an arms  deal with Ukraine dependent on action that benefited him politically, and once after the January 6th insurrection.  His extensive record of breaking the law during his second term will certainly lead to a third impeachment should the Democrats re-take the House next year.

He has caused irreparable damage to so much that so many hold dear, that there is a brisk trade in "big, beautiful obituary" memes and paraphernalia.  I've been part of many conversations that included this solution.  For so many, this seems the only route out of fascism and chaos and back into reason and democracy.  

But it won't be.  If Donald Trump is removed from the White House, by the Constitution or the coroner, JD Vance becomes the President of the United States.  If for some reason he can't serve, Mike Johnson is next in line, and next after him, God help us, is Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, president pro tempore of the Senate, who is 92 years old.  And then the line of succession leads us through the Fox News clown car which is Trump's Cabinet.  It's fascists all the way down.

JD Vance will be a much worse President than Trump, because he will be very efficient in the use of the power of the President, power that Trump has squandered in bursts of ignorance, pettiness, bizarre behavior and revenge.  The evil represented by Project 2025 will become institutionalized, because Vance, no matter what you think of him, is smarter than Trump and is much more  focused on policy - and on how to use available resources, including Steven Miller, Steve Bannon, and the whole Fox News team.  It will not be pretty, and there'll be no one to laugh at.

So, at least for now, here's to a long life for the President.  May he foil by bumbling the worst impulses of his henchmen and of his own disordered mind.  May he wander and drool all over the 2026 and 2028 elections, assuring an epic life of ignominious uselessness starting in January of 2027 - for him and the worst of his fascist colleagues.

True Things 16 - Thanksgiving Choices

In May, Donald Trump fired - by e-mail - all three Democratic Commissioners on the Consumer Product Safety Commission, leaving only Republican Commissioners to keep corporations from selling us unsafe products.

The other day, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission tweeted (or "Xed") 

Now is the time to prepare to not set your house on fire this Thanksgiving.

Good to know.  Are there any grownups left in Washington?  

Every. Single. Day

 

Loyalty

Laura Loomer has publicly described her role in the Trump administration as "loyalty enforcer."  Never in the entire history of the United States, through forty five other Presidents, has anyone felt the need to have a "loyalty enforcer."  Oh, sure, there are things that go on behind the scenes, but it's all part of the transactional nature of partisan politics.  No one felt they needed a "loyalty enforcer," at least publicly.  It makes you think of the kid who had to eat some of the king's food each meal to make sure it wasn't poisoned.

I'm reading a book about England's Henry VII, the father of the well-known Henry VIII.  He had a loyalty enforcer, Bishop Morton.  If you whispered in the Bishop's ear that someone was a secret Yorkist, that secret Yorkist either disappeared privately or was hung publicly.  That's what I think of when Laura Loomer calls herself a "loyalty enforcer."

Time for a loyalty check.  

True Things 15

On Sunday, Lindsay Graham, in a speech to a group of conservative Jewish Republicans in Las Vegas, said:

“I just want to say, I feel good about the Republican Party. I feel good about where we’re going as a nation.  We’re killing all the right people, and we’re cutting your taxes.  [Donald] Trump is my favorite president. We’ve run out of bombs, we didn’t run out of bombs in World War II.”

Lindsay Graham is a sitting US Senator.  He is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and chair of the Senate Budget Committee, among other assignments. 

True Things 14 - Beautiful Concepts

In January of 2017, a year after he had become President, Donald Trump said, about his healthcare insurance plan, "Everyone will be covered, it’ll be so easy."

During the 60 Minutes interview which aired tonight:

Q:  "So, will you put forward a health care plan?”

 A:  "No."

Later he amended his answer:  “I have concepts of a plan. Concepts. Beautiful concepts.”…

Another true thing:  This man is the President of the United States.

True Things 13 - Priorities

Every day since January 20, on average, Donald Trump has spent $215,248 of your money and mine playing golf.

Playing Through

Wondering where the debris from the destruction of the East Wing of the White House is being dumped?  Wondering if there is something unpleasantly ironic about the choice?  Wonder no longer.

The asbestos-laden debris from the East Wing (built 1902) demolition is being trucked three miles away to East Potomac Park, a part of the National Park system, which, among other things, features a public golf course.  The debris is being dumped on the golf course.

Ironic enough?  Just wait.  That particular golf course - East Potomac Golf Links - is part of the National Links Trust's "Nation's Capital Project."  The National Links Trust "is a non-profit organization dedicated to positively impacting our community and changing lives through affordable and accessible municipal golf." Here's what they have to say about the Nation's Capital Project:

Our first project - The Nation’s Capital Project -  is focused on the extraordinary opportunity to rehabilitate the municipal golf facilities in Washington, DC - Rock Creek Park Golf, Langston Golf Course, and East Potomac Golf Links. Each one of these sites has a rich and storied history, but none are currently achieving their full potential... With this investment, we can increase our impact in the community and change lives through golf by expanding the reach of our programs and providing better access to affordable recreation and greenspace.

"...better access to affordable recreation and greenspace."  "So why don't we dump hundreds of tons of toxic waste ?  It's just a municipal course for people who can't afford to play on private courses ("like mine").  No one important will care.  And if they do?  Who cares?  I'm the President and I can do whatever I want."

Of course, the President may have made contact with the National Links Trust, and they may be working together to rebuild the course using all that extra fill (notwithstanding its toxic components).  What do you think?