Imagine

Imagine there's no Donald

No one to tell us lies

No tweets that blow up

No talk of Russian ties

Imagine all one people

We're immigrants,you and I

Imagine there's no Donald

No need our plaintive cry

No war is threatened

Health care if we try

Imagine all one people

Just think how it could  be... 

And I say we're all Dreamers

Yes each and everyone

A better life awaits us

When Donald's day is done

Imagine there's no Donald

No false as truth disguised

No rich just get richer

While others can't get by

Imagine all one people

As it was meant to be

And I say we're all Dreamers

Yes each and everyone

A better life awaits us

When Donald's day is done

An Unqualified Success

("Siding With the Enemy")

If we hoped that having Mr. Trump out of the country might provide temporary respite from the storm, we were mistaken. Calamity is his constant bedfellow and he is never more than a foot (in mouth) or a tweeting finger from the next self inflicted wound.

His pretzel twisting "I believe Putin, well I believe he believes",  and "I don't believe  our agencies, or maybe I do believe our agencies now but I didn't before" was a headache inducing, maybe I went too far Trump masterpiece of utter nonsense. But we expect nothing less (more) of this befuddled autocrat wannabe.

With each stop on this 12 day journey we hold our breath and hope that he doesn't do or say anything immensely stupid. We have yet to find the true floor of our expectations. Is not starting a war a good starting point?

As much as we despise Mr. Trump's presence, we fear his absence equally as he kisses up to Putin, cozies up to China, seeks solace in Saudi Arabia, dances with Duterte. There is the unmistakable odor of incompetence emanating from afar.

He is a man on a mission to destroy our credibility around the globe, one mistake at a time.

And in that quest he is clearly an unqualified success.

Of an Anniversary and a Fading Picture

Today would have been my parent's 72nd anniversary. It is the first where neither is alive.

Earlier this week there was a sale of a property that had been in our family for three generations, from grandparent to parent to my sister and myself. It was held in concert with two other families and had grown unruly in numbers, over 20 and increasing, who now claimed some ownership interest. Divergent needs and desires propelled this transaction. My voice was but one of many, my beliefs and wishes mostly muted.

When the deal had been concluded there were congratulations shared. But when I wrote to everyone I spoke of a sadness that both my sister and I felt keenly.

My mom always said, "whatever you do, don't sell" this property. But it was not failing to abide by my mom's orders that was painful. It was that one more piece of what bound my sister and myself to our parents had broken away. That we lost that irrefutable bond which remained as long as we could claim a stake in what now was no longer ours.

Today is our parent's anniversary. And we remember them for everything they were, not every possession they held or passed down to us. But now they appear a little more remote, a little less recognizable, a photo fading with age. One more piece gone with the inexorable passage of time.

A Deafening Silence

AN EDITED VERSION OF THIS POST IS SCHEDULED TO APPEAR IN LETTERS TO THE EDITOR IN THE NEW YORK TIMES

("A Conspiracy Of Inaction on Sexual Abuse") 

I was a student at Horace Mann from 1964 to 1970. It was then that the abuse was likely most prevalent and so many lives were irreparably altered.

But unlike Mr. Leonhardt some years later, I was not remotely aware of what was transpiring. It was a moment not only of institutional cover up, but cultural blindness, where we were not ready to consider, much less confront, the issue of sexual abuse. 

More than a half century later, men like Mr. Weinstein are the progeny of a  school and a society that looked the other way.

And for that we all share a collective blame and guilt.

The Odyssey Updated (Trump According to Homer)

Donald Trump has been on a journey unlike any other. Filled with low points and then lower ones. Stepping on toes, hell stepping on entire feet.

Giving new meaning to that 3 AM call. Putting this country on perpetual high alert, not in fear of enemy but our own President. Forcing the country to learn the particulars of the 25th Amendment.  Piling up mistakes, miscues, misstatements at a rate that staggered the imagination, boggled the mind and challenged our capacity to recall. The calamities myriad and the potential for catastrophe omnipresent.

From Pence to Putin, Perry to Papadopolous, Price to Priebus, Pruitt to Perdue, scary Bannon to Scaracmucci, Megyn Kelly to John McCain, Ben Carson to Betsy Devos, from the "hiring" of Kushner to the firing of Comey, from the injustice to Merrick Garland to the installation of Justice Gorsuch, from Ivanka with a little lust to immigrants with much hate, from Russia with love to North Korea with nukes, from shutting borders to closed minds, from grabbing pussy to grabbing attention, from the First Amendment to the Second, from the birther morass to the Mexican mess, from NATO to NAFTA, from both sides to blame in Charlottesville to warmest condolences in Vegas, from alternative facts to alternative energy, from destroying Obamacare to destroying the ozone, from attacks on the media to imagined attacks from most everywhere, from manufactured voter fraud to intended voter suppression, from fomenting fears to pandering to prejudices, from criticizing judges to castigating the FBI,from weekdays with Fox and Friends to weekends at Mar-A-Lago, from groveling sycophants to kneeling football players, from intimidation to insinuation, from twisted tweets to constant taunts, from broken pacts to broken promises, from small hands to large hysterics, from taxes to just plain taxing, from morning to night and siege to endless siege.

Always but a moment away from creating a self inflicted wound upon our nation. Lacking in attention, in diligence, in understanding, in empathy, in perspective, in the very words necessary to express himself. Self centered, obsessed, unbound by tradition, by regulation, by protocol or propriety. Willing to destroy our standing in the world and doing a wonderful job of it. Bitter, petty, divisive, petulant. Often  unmoored. Treating his office like a chew toy and peeing on the rug. From the first day he descended upon us like a plague to the latest tweet he left, like poo, on our front step. 

And all that does not come close to accurately describing the full extent of the damage this man has done and is capable of doing

And where can we turn for guidance  in our moment of deep distress if not to Homer? For nearly 3000 years past he wrote much on the travails that now lay before us. And much as we perceive Mr. Trump as unlike any other, Homer would remind us that everything new is old again:

"There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep."

" A hero is intelligent; his greatest weapon is his mind."

"And empty words are evil."

"Friend, that was not well spoken; you seem like one who is reckless; So it is that the gods do not bestow graces in all ways on men, neither in stature nor yet in brains or eloquence;less noted for beauty, but the gods puts comeliness on his words, and they who look toward him are filled with joy at the sight, and he speaks to them without faltering in winning modesty."

"Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth,nothing is bred weaker than man."

"Ah how shameless - the way these mortals blame the gods. From us alone they say comes all their miseries, yes but they themselves with their own reckless ways compound their pains beyond their proper share."

"Greed and folly double the suffering in the lot of man."

"For never, never wicked man was wise."

"Urge him with truth to frame his fair replies: And sure he will: for wisdom never lies."

"Skepticism is as much the result of knowledge, as knowledge is of skepticism."

"For a friend with an understanding heart is worth no less than a brother.'

"Of the many things hidden from knowledge of man, nothing is more unintelligible than the human heart."

"By hook or by crook this peril too shall be something that we remember."

 

Where this Odyssey ends is anyone's guess, as we watch, wonder and worry.

But one final thought from Homer may provide a measure of  solace:

"Take courage, my heart, you have been through worse than this. Be strong, saith my heart. I am a soldier; I have seen worse sights than this."

 

The Idiot and His Odyssey

His has been a journey unlike any other. Filled with low points and then lower ones. Stepping on toes, hell stepping on entire feet.

Giving new meaning to that 3 AM call. Putting this country on perpetual high alert, not in fear of enemy but our own President. Forcing the country to learn the particulars of the 25th Amendment.  Piling up mistakes, miscues, misstatements at a rate that staggered the imagination, boggled the mind and challenged our capacity to recall. The calamities myriad and the potential for catastrophe omnipresent.

From Pence to Putin, Perry to Papadopolous, Price to Priebus, Pruitt to Perdue, Mnuchin to Manafort, scary Bannon to Scaramucci, Megyn Kelly to John McCain, Ben Carson to Betsy Devos, from the "hiring" of Kushner to the firing of Comey, from the con jobs of Conway to the crimes of Flynn, from the injustice to Merrick Garland to the installation of Justice Gorsuch, from Ivanka with a little lust to immigrants with much hate, from Russia with love to North Korea with nukes, from big arsenals to a little rocket man, from continual shitstorms to one bloviating shithole, from can he possibly know less to absolutely no Moore, from Huckabee Sanders to Spicer, from Israel's one state two state to our red state blue state, from the vanishing net neutrality to vanquishing the social safety net, from shutting borders to closed minds, from Hillary bashing to master baiting, from grabbing pussy to grabbing attention, from the First Amendment to the Second, from Haiti to Hawaii, from the birther morass to the Mexican mess, from the alt-right to the always wrong, from NATO to NAFTA, from threatening DACA to thrashing CHIP, from both sides to blame in Charlottesville to warmest condolences in Vegas, from provoking Palestinians to pissing on (off) Puerto Rico, from alternative facts to alternative energy, from destroying Obamacare to destroying the ozone, from attacks on the media to imagined attacks from most everywhere, from manufactured voter fraud to intended voter suppression, from fomenting fears to pandering to prejudices, from won't he just shut up to will we now shut down, from criticizing judges to castigating the FBI, from weekdays with Fox and Friends to weekends at Mar-A-Lago, from groveling sycophants to kneeling football players, from intimidation to insinuation, from obstinancy to obstruction of justice, from twisted tweets to constant taunts, from broken pacts to broken promises, from small hands to large hysterics, from taxes to just plain taxing, from morning to night and siege to endless siege.

Always but a moment away from creating a self inflicted wound upon our nation. Lacking in attention, in diligence, in understanding, in empathy, in perspective, in the very words necessary to express himself. Self centered, obsessed, unbound by tradition, by regulation, by protocol or propriety. Full of bluster, easy to fluster. Willing to destroy our standing in the world and doing a wonderful job of it. Humbling our nation and haunting our dreams. Bitter, petty, divisive, petulant. Often  unmoored. Treating his office like a chew toy and peeing on the rug, from the first day he descended upon us like a plague to the last tweet he left, like poo, on our front step. 

Sound and fury signifying nothing. Or more precisely, fire and fury signifying a man, and a nation, on the brink.

Lin Manuel Miranda and Donald Trump

FROM THE KING TO MR. MUELLER

You say the price that I ask is much more than you can abide

You cry you need to indict all those men who stood by my side

What'd you think? 

Remember there is danger in the game that you play

I'll not sink

Remember that fiction is stronger than truth any day

You'll be gone

Soon I know

Just an asterisk in history

You'll be gone

From the show

Just a shadow in the light of me

Charges rise, charges fall

Did you think I'd let you make the call

You don't fit, hand in glove

I will tweet a fully loaded note to advise you that you're done

You say you'll drain the swamp well that's my line

You know when you are gone that I'll be fine

And no don't make me say it

Cause I would love to say it

And lord knows I will say it

You mangled, overplayed it

Forsaken, forever and ever and ever

You'll be gone

Shown the door

You have won a battle, lost the war

You were wrong

Sad to say

You'll regret this to your dying day

Soon you're gone, I will smile

Just remember I'm the one with guile

'Cause when push comes to shove

I will kill all the charges to show what can be done

Donald Trump in the Role of God

("When Politics Becomes Your Idol")

 "Trump Is Our Savior" reads the sign accompanying this op-ed online. And in these words lies an unshakable truth.

Donald Trump is a religion. Attachment to him is based on a blind faith that this man can deliver those who believe from evil. Question not his speech, wonder not his methods, worry not his often bizarre behavior. 

Make America Great Again relies not on destruction of Obamacare, not on environmental deregulation, not on a revised tax code, not on defeat of ISIS, not on the neutering of North Korea, not the deterioration of Iran, not the distance from Putin, not from rising of wages or stock prices, not even on building the Wall. It can not be defeated or deterred by logic, by reason, by loss on the floor of Congress or  battle on the fields, not by investigations or indictments.

For those of us who watch and wonder how, after all the insults, all the tweets, all the wrong twists and turns this man has taken from the moment he descended from above to announce he alone could save us, after so many reasons to abandon him so many still cling to him so fiercely, the answer is as plain as the words on that sign.

Donald Trump is not President. He is God.

Fire!

("How Twitter Killed the First Amendment")

We now reside in a time of a war of words, attacked internally and incessantly by Mr. Trump and his minions and externally by those who would misdirect and misinform. Speech used as a weapon to exploit rather than a tool to educate. 

And in these moments it is hard to discern wheat from chaff and harder still to draw the line between what is permitted and what is punishable. This is no longer yelling fire in a theatre. 

The danger lies in the level of restraint we impose in keeping foreign players and our own President from exercising untrammeled reign to manipulate and maneuver with distortions and distractions. Our democracy depends on protecting our rights as zealously as we protect our children. And if, in the process, we allow ourselves to place undue constraints on our press, on our dissent, on the very freedom that makes us the nation we are, then we have indeed incurred defeat at the hands of our oppressors.

So yes, we cannot be blind to attack and must be vigilant in our defense. But we must remain equally vigilant to guard against chipping away at the most fundamental of our freedoms. No, strike that. More vigilant. 

Me First, Last and Always

("Chris Coons: Why Jeff Flake's Exit Should Scare Democrats")

President Trump is not an advocate for "America First" but "Me First." For those who challenge his capacity to lead, his ability to comprehend, his very manhood, there is but castigation and contempt.

Among the ones most brutally treated are the Senators and Congressmen within the ranks of his own party who have not sworn an undying oath of fealty. And maybe none more so than the triumvirate who have engaged in a lengthy war of words with Mr. Trump.

It is not that Mr. Flake, Mr. Corker or Mr.McCain earned the enmity of the President for breaking with the Republican rank, continually and consistently voting against the stream. Their battles (apart from the critical votes by Mr. McCain on the issue of the demise of Obamacare) have been almost entirely of person, not party.

These have been "dead men walking" for some time as the President has taken direct aim at their continued careers. For Mr. McCain, it has been both the cancer within and the disease of the President he has been forced to endure. For Mr. Flake and Mr. Corker, thoughts of reelection in Arizona and Tennessee have grown as dim as the light in Mr. Trump's brain. And their recent most impassioned words have been in many ways but concession speeches.

Do I applaud Mr. Flake for his memorable plea this week? Of course.But it was ultimately nothing much greater than a death bed confession. Not sounds of revolution, but an announcement  that he could no longer stand the heat and was exiting the kitchen. That the Me First king had claimed another victim.