Thinking Out Loud

Category: Commentary

  • Trump is worse than a gangster; he’s flesh-eating bacteria

    Nobody in Donald Trump’s orbit has ever seen a gangster movie. Not The Godfather, not Goodfellas, not The Sopranos. If they had, they would know there’s nothing you can give to ever satisfy a gangster.

    Gangsters never demand something you are capable of giving; it’s always more than you can afford, and you are indebted for life. Trump expected former Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute his enemies, erase his personal culpability in the Jeffrey Epstein crimes, seize control of elections from the states, and on and on. All more than any one person could deliver, no matter how deeply they abased themselves, even if they were corrupt to begin with.

    Gangsters take and take and take until you have nothing left, and then if getting rid of you is advantageous to them, they will destroy you. In the movies, the sap gets violently whacked. In Trump’s world, you get “fired” in a publicly humiliating manner, like a contestant on the game show that fooled a large number of gullible Americans into thinking he was a savvy businessman.

    The lucky few in Trump’s wake may get lifelines as podcasters or unregistered foreign agents for Turkey, but for most, it’s a lifetime of ignominy, disgrace, and criminal liability. It will forever be baffling to me that anyone, no matter how craven, would willingly sign up for this inevitable public humiliation, on his game show or in this administration. Short-term profit for some, maybe, but almost all end up in the gutter.

    It may even be a slight against real-life gangsters to categorize Trump as one, because any goodfella that manages to survive and profit is probably very clever. Trump is more like a quick-burning virus, a fungal parasite, or flesh-eating bacteria that blindly consumes and destroys everything he touches: everything from his father’s fortune, casinos, a mail-order frozen steak company, the US Government, and the global economy.

  • Democracy dies in darkness, indeed

    Democracy dies in darkness, indeed

    I unsubscribed from The Washington Post today, immediately upon learning of its decision to join the Los Angeles Times in declining to endorse in the 2024 presidential campaign.

    Both papers have abandoned longstanding editorial policy conspicuously late in this historically critical election cycle, professing a sudden newfound impartiality. But this election is not a choice between a center-right elephant and a center-left donkey, and no newspaper’s editorial board should act like an uninformed, undecided swing voter.

    Kamala Harris is the only sensible option for the interests of the media, the economy, domestic and foreign policy, and I don’t believe it’s too melodramatic to add: democracy itself. Declining to make an endorsement is an implicit rejection of Harris.

    Both papers are owned by billionaires: The Post by Jeff Bezos, and The Times by Patrick Soon-Shiong. The Columbia Journalism Review confirmed that Bezos spiked a drafted piece endorsing Harris.

    I must infer these billionaires are cynically anticipating a second Trump administration, and fear reprisal for any truths spoken to power, now or in the past. They are making a bad bet. Any pretense of impartiality will not protect them from an emboldened fascist Trump administration.

    I remain a paid subscriber of The New York Times (The Only Patriotic Choice for President) and The New Yorker (Kamala Harris for President). I am also heartened to see the paper I grew up with, The Philadelphia Inquirer, emphatically endorse Harris today.

    In case there’s any confusion, this blog also endorses Kamala Harris for President.

  • Vote for Joe Biden & Kamala Harris

    Vote for Joe Biden & Kamala Harris

    I clearly remember the November day four years ago, waiting in a line stretching around the block to vote for what would/should have been the first woman President of the United States. Very late that evening, we sat at home weeping in front of the television.

    I know it amuses Trump supporters to picture “libs” being “triggered”, to use their lingo. U mad? Yes, I mad. But if Biden & Harris win this election, I do not wish for Trump supporters to weep. I hope against hope that as a competent, compassionate administration takes over and begins to undo the damage of the past several years, that Trump’s supporters will slowly notice their lives improving, and perhaps they may come to reflect on their mistake.

    My wife & I are of course among the most lucky and privileged. We wish we could visit family without fearing we will sicken them, but we have not been too directly affected by the Trump administration’s actions or inactions. We had no children taken from us, we did not get sick or lose our jobs during this mismanaged pandemic, we probably won’t immediately lose our healthcare if the corrupted Supreme Court overturns the Affordable Care Act, and we were not beaten or teargassed. But we could literally see and hear some of these things outside our windows, and it pains me to know that our friends and neighbors are hurting. It’s all the more appalling that this administration’s many crimes were cynically disguised in false patriotism and christianity.

    In my thoughts today are the state where I grew up, Pennsylvania, where the Trump campaign and administration (for they are the same thing) say they will sue to stop the vote count. The state where I went to school, North Carolina, where police teargassed voters on their way to the polls. And my now-home state of 24 years, New York, which created the disgusting parasitic charlatan that has destroyed our international standing, solicited bribes from his properties, orphaned migrant children, rejected science & expertise, mismanaged a pandemic, is a credibly accused rapist, and… I could go on but we all know who he is.

    Please vote for Joe Biden & Kamala Harris. Perhaps your life doesn’t depend on it, but many others do.