Let me tell you about Lana Marks. She is a fashionista who designs some of the most expensive handbags in the world. She is also a club member at Mar-A-Lago, Donald Trump’s exclusive resort. If you’re thinking to yourself “that sounds like basis for a political appointment!” then you and Donald Trump are on the same page, because he’s appointing her to be the next ambassador to South Africa. Among the previously listed qualifications, she also brings with her the keen ability to lie about her Tennis career, and a history of not paying lawyers, employees, accountants and landlords…which actually might be a qualification in Donald Trump’s eyes. She has no political or diplomatic experience at all, and she’s known to be an enthusiastic gossiper…so you know, I’m sure she’ll be fine. The lesson here is that if you want to get into politics, but avoid all the grassroots upstarting, just spend millions of dollars at Mar-A-Lago and just buy your way in!
Jamal Khashoggi, for those who aren’t familiar, was a Saudi Arabian journalist who was living in the US in self imposed exile. He was concerned about his safety and welfare in relation to his critical articles of the Saudi Royal Family, especially the prince, Mohammed bin Salman, aka MBS. On October 2, Khashoggi entered a Saudi consulate in Turkey and never walked out. The prevailing theory, is that he was murdered and dismembered at the behest of MBS. The Turkish government claims to have audio recordings of the event, and by all accounts, the allegations are credible. Not surprising to anyone was how quickly Donald Trump was to defend the Saudi Royal Family. It’s widely known that he admires them, their wealth, and their political foothold over Saudi Arabia. So when he was quick to take MBS at his word that he had nothing to do with the murder, no one batted an eye. But the problem is that when the President of the United States doesn’t take a firm action to this kind of grievous conduct, especially to a foreign pundit maintaining residence in our country, seeking safety in our borders, it sends a pretty loud message that the US doesn’t take care of it’s people when they step foot outside our borders. I mean what would it take for Trump to condemn the Saudi Royal Family? I think that’s the question we’re all sitting on at this point.
So, Donald Trump called himself a “Nationalist” on Monday night, and naturally, the left went nuts because of it. And I can see why. The word “nationalist” has connotations leading to racism, with many far right folks often identified as “White Nationalists”. But it’s important to note that it’s unfair to claim that Donald Trump is a racist simply because he self identifies as a nationalist. It is fair to claim that it makes him a Xenophobe and an isolationist, but being a nationalist DOES NOT mean he’s a racist. The way he treats people of color and his policies that show he only cares about White People is what make him a racist. Because he is still definitely a racist. The way he talks about people from predominantly non-white countries, his dog whistles towards White Supremacists during his campaign, and his reluctance to condemn the White Supremacists who give him support are the obvious examples. If you did research, you can find examples of him and his family’s racist tendencies in the way they treated black tenants in their properties as far back as the 1970s. Now, some might say “is the distinction between racist and nationalist REALLY that important?” and to that I have to argue YES. Yes it is. Because the fact that Donald Trump identifies as a nationalist is bad for reasons completely separate from his racism. His nationalism is already to leading to policies and actions that are damaging our relationships to the rest of the world, and with world that gets more interconnected by the day, having a leader who wants to focus only on our borders, and create an “us” versus “them” scenario, with “them” being 7.3 billion people…well nothing good comes of that.
Anybody who watched Donald Trump’s bonkers interview with 60 Minutes this weekend might have caught a glimpse of a new painting hanging up in the West Wing. It’s called “the Republican Club” by Andy Thomas, and it features a flattering portrait of Donald Trump having a diet coke with past Republican Presidents like Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. The thing about that portrait is that I can’t imagine Trump would have gotten along with some of those guys, Lincoln and Roosevelt pretty specifically. In terms of policy and general philosophy, they weren’t exactly on the same page as Donald Trump. Roosevelt was all about being hands on! A man’s man who was a true blue man of the people and hardcore soldier. He literally ran a company of men called the Rough Riders! Trump got a doctor’s note to avoid the Draft. And Lincoln? He hated war and was a man of great compromise. Oh, and he also freed the slaves. Trump is a petulant child and a racist. So…different strokes, you know? You can’t really put them in the same category of Republican, much less the same portrait. But I’ll give credit where credit is due, the artwork itself is well made…so there’s that I guess.
You know, I have to admit I’m not a terribly big fan of Taylor Swift. I don’t actively dislike her, or even hate her music. She makes perfectly decent pop music. But there is this sort of cult of personality that surrounds her that I admit I’m kind of wary of. Because it’s that same kind of cult of personality that made someone like Donald Trump possible. Not that I would put Trump and Taylor on the same playing field. I mean, at least Taylor Swift works very hard for everything the has. But she has a very real power to mobilize people, both her fans and her “squad” of celebrities. She’s more than just a tastemaker. She controls a narrative. She reminds me of the popular girl in High School, but on a MUCH grander scale. And the GOP is feeling the weight of that after she made a plea to her fans to register to vote, and to vote against Trump’s Republicanism. Seriously, if Tennessee sees the effect of a blue wave in the midterms, Taylor Swift will have had a very calculable effect on that. As it turns out, if Taylor Swift tells people to vote Democrat, they’ll do it. The Dems may have just found their 2020 candidate against Trump….
You know, it says an awful lot when someone has to let us know, not once, but twice in a single interview, that they are in fact, not a baby. Trump had to let poor Leslie Stahl know that, after bowling over her questions, and practically shouting in her face during the 60 Minutes interview on Sunday. He spent the whole interview acting indignant, ignoring inconvenient or unfavorable questions, and hammering on subjects that he wanted to talk about without letting Leslie move the whole process forward. I’m sure Trump’s supporters will look at his petulance and childish behavior as a show of strength and him having his way with the fake news. Personally, I see it has him being a big, dumb baby. And I know, Trump says, very specifically that he isn’t, but I don’t feel inclined to take his word for it.
Remember when Donald Trump pledged to donate a million dollars to a charity of Elizabeth Warren’t choice if she took a test to prove her Native American ancestry? Donald Trump doesn’t seem to remember. When confronted with that promise, he actually said “I didn’t say that. You better read it again.” Ok. Let’s all read it again.
“I will give you a million dollars to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you’re an Indian.”
Well…I just read it, again and again, and I’m pretty sure he said it. What’s worse (for him) is that the publicity and specificity, he might have just screwed himself out of a million bucks. According to the awesomely informative website Law and Crime, this ‘fits the textbook definition of an offer to enter into a unilateral contract.” And they suggest Warren’s lawyers might have a pretty strong case. Whether she’ll feel emboldened to take this to court is another matter, but it would be interesting to say the least if she did.
So there is a news story floating around that is really tickling me. And I have to say upfront that I have no idea how true the crux of it is. The gist of the story is that John Kelly, the White House Chief of Staff, has been on Donald Trump’s bad side, but Trump is just not sure how to fire him. Indeed, the article notes that at one point Trump did “try” to fire him, but for all in intents and purposes, it just didn’t take, with Kelly effectively ignoring Trump. Which is just hilarious. Now again, this is one of those stories where I couldn’t tell you how true to life it is. The story was broke by New York Magazine, and I have generally found them to be fairly reputable, but again, there is always a question of veracity when it comes to uncorroborated, nameless administration officials inside the West Wing. But the story has a wonderful kind of poetic irony, where the man who is so famous for firing people that he turned it into his catchphrase, can’t seem to fire an actual employee. Indeed, according to the story, Trump seems to be looking for a surrogate who can effectively give Kelly the boot. But true story or not, it’s certainly a fun story to think about.
Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the UN, has rather mysteriously resigned her post. While Donald Trump says this was an expected resignation, word out of the White House was that this was a total surprise, catching many of Trump’s inner circle off guard. And indeed, the reason behind her departure is something of a mystery, and one that lots of people are trying to deduce. Whether it has something to do with the recent Supreme Court confirmation or a cut and run to distance herself from the upcoming midterms, her leaving certainly seems like a concern. While she was undoubtedly a hard right conservative, her voice in the Trump Administration was at least a bit more moderate than some of the people in the inner circle, and she often appeared to be a voice of reason in his ear in regards to our foreign policy. When Trump decides to appoint someone new, it feels almost inevitable that they will be someone who enables his worst instincts, as with the case of appointing Mike Pompeo and John Bolton. One thing is for sure, this appointment will undoubtedly again show the world how much of a joke the idea of Trump “draining the swamp” really is.
Donald Trump tried his hand at journalism with his recent op-ed in USA Today. His article, an attempted rebuttal of Medicare-For-All, was his attempt to both take some of the shine off the concept of government provided healthcare, and (I believe) a forum to make people think he isn’t a big ol’ dumb dumb. You see, often enough, when Trump wants to let his opinion be known to the world, he’ll go on a Twitter tirade full of misspellings, grammatical errors, and misstatements. Or he’ll let his West Wing staff send out a press release that has something more thoughtful written down. And I truly believe he’s getting tired of people calling him a nitwit. But the problem is that he IS a nitwit. He doesn’t understand a lot of basic concepts, and as such, his attempt to show that he’s a clever writer, only reinforces that. Within hours of the article going live, every major news outlet, most prominently the Washington Post, took his article, almost sentence by sentence, and pointed out how every bit of it was wrong. And I don’t mean that in the partisan sense, but empirically wrong. He got exactly one fact right, and the rest of it, by literally all standards was incorrect. I can only imagine that Trump’s advisors made the attempt to get him to not write this article or have it published for this reason, and I have to believe Trump was certain, despite those protestations that people would think him a brilliant journalistic mind when they saw it. And this is without mentioning how much outside editing or what kind of ghostwriting took place in it’s creation. Suffice to say, Trump’s crusade against fake news takes an…interesting new turn now.
Mind the Exit 