Biden Wants the Presidency - Trump NEEDS the Presidency

The Trump roadmap to his presidential reelection is now clear.  He doesn’t plan to win the popular vote.  He doesn’t even think he needs an electoral college majority of 270 votes.  He plans to win through chaos, much of which was on display during the September 29^th debate.  I use the term “debate” here loosely as it was more a sample of the chaos Trump wants and needs to invalidate the democratic election of the people and to declare himself the winner.

The Trump-Biden food fight, 9/29/2020

His failure to denounce the white-supremacist group Proud Boys typified his true feelings about racism.  He went so far as to suggest that they “stand-by” for a time when he would need their brand of anarchy.  For clarification of those only vaguely aware of the Proud Boys, just know that it is a far-right neo-fascist male-only organization that promotes and engages in political violence.  They are based in the US with branches in Australia, the UK, and Canada.  They welcome Klansmen, anti-Semites, Southern racists, and right-wing militias.  Donald Trump stands proudly by them.  They are his fanbase and an enthusiastic part of his steady 40% core support group.

ProudBoy, note the White Supremacist Hand Symbol

In his desperation Tuesday night, he refused to debate Joe Biden on the issues and resorted to the tactics of a desperate man.  He absolutely needs to stay in office, not to support the American people or to promote his non-existent healthcare plan, but to stay out of legal trouble.  The walls are closing in.  Bank loans are coming due, the IRS is completing audits, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s office is investigating bank fraud claims.  If he stays in office, he will be virtually untouchable for four more years.  If he loses, the sky is falling on Chicken Little.

Chicken Little spreads a little hysteria

Actually, the Chicken Little analogy is perhaps more poignant than I initially imagined.  In the original 1943 American version of this centuries-old tale, Chicken Little is convinced the sky is falling by Foxy Loxy who uses psychology he picked up by reading Mein Kampf.  Chicken Little then whips up mass hysteria among the other farmyard animals to the benefit of the fox.  In our more modern scenario, the fox is Vladimir Putin and Trump is his Chicken Little.  In any interpretation of this story, America loses.  There was a remake by Disney in 2005 where the sky was actually falling, it was a piece of camouflage disguising an alien spaceship, and before the aliens’ escape, they leave an orange alien child behind.  This new story was too spot-on, but we digress.

Disney's 2005 remake of Chicken Little

Where were we?  Oh yes, Trump is an asshole, possibly an orange alien, and he is desperate to stay in office through any means necessary.  Those last three words are scary.  Be afraid, be very afraid.  To Trump, unlike most politicians, laws and rules are for suckers and losers.  The year 2020 may go down in American history as a watershed moment.  It will either be a turn-around victory for our democracy or the continuation of its destruction by a sociopathic conman.

The Long Con

Confidence men, and women, have been around for centuries.  Ever since the first “thimblerigger” placed a pea under a tailor’s thimble and challenged his mark to bet which of three thimbles held the pea, we have had conmen.  The thimblerigger of old built confidence using a “shill” who would regularly win money by easily identifying the correct thimble.  The “mark” would sense some easy money in this simple game, greed would kick in, and the mark would always lose.

Thimblerigger, The Conjurer

We have long been amused by such schemes as they have been depicted in our movies.  We had The Sting in 1973 starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford as sneaky crooks who use streetwise double-crosses to swindle another, even bigger crook, Robert Shaw.  The movie won seven Academy Awards including best picture.  Other notable celluloid entertainments that depict confidence schemes with aplomb are The Grifters, The Usual Suspects, Catch Me If You Can, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Oceans 11, 12, & 13.  For TV watchers we had The Rockford Files with various short con and long con stories, usually involving Jim Rockford’s sidekick, Angel Martin (Stuart Margolin).

Redford and Newman in The Sting

The schemes even have colorful names like melon drop, badger game, Spanish prisoner, and the money-box scheme.  While each of these scams has certain unique characteristics to earn their moniker, almost all rely on some weakness or trait that is identified in the mark which can be exploited to benefit another.  Such weaknesses can be greed, love, hate, or fear.  They can also be certain normally good traits such as religion or patriotism.

The majority of cons are simple or so-called, short cons.  The more complex cons usually involve more characters and can have multiple victims.  These are known as long cons.  They are generally elaborate confidence games that develop in stages over an extended time where the swindler gains the victim's trust with small benefits before reaping larger awards at the expense of the mark.  If the long con is done expertly, the victim may never know they have been swindled.

The Conning of America

This brings us to the real subject here, Donald John Trump, perhaps the most proficient practitioner of the long con the world has ever seen.  Yes, “The Donald” may rank right up there with 20th-century greats like Charles Ponzi, Bernie Madoff, and Matt the Knife.  We could even throw in this group the fictional Keyser Söze, whose alter-ego “Verbal” was a petty con artist who spread Keyser Söze’s fame and mythical status with self-description.

Is Donald Trump a con artist?  Well, his good buddy and fellow Republican, Marco Rubio thinks so.  His actual quote on political talk shows was, “We’re on the verge of having someone take over the conservative movement and the Republican Party who’s a con artist.”  He went on to say about Trump, “he has made a career of sticking it to working Americans.”  These are not isolated ramblings of one Republican, but this same moniker has been used by Ted Cruz and Mitt Romney in describing Trump.

All politicians bend the truth, tell a little white lie, fabricate a tall-tale, fib, or otherwise embellish the truth to their benefit.  This does not a conman make.  No, there is a difference between even an egregious lying politician and a true conman.

According to David Maurer, historian of the con, “To figure out if someone is a con artist, one needs to ask two questions, first, is their deception knowing, malicious, and directed, ultimately, toward their own personal gain?  Second, is the con a means to an end unrelated to the substance of the scheme itself?”  Normally, the goal is profit but it can also be a desire for power and control over other people’s lives.  That power can be manifested in adulation, reputation, or just knowing that they control the lives of others.  This latter goal is to elevate themselves to god-like status.  Sound like someone you know?

Donald Trump exhibits another trait of the con artist, flattery.  Good conmen know that one of the best ways to gain confidence is to tell people what they want to hear rather than what might be true.  Sell someone on a vision of the world they desire.  Tell a white supremacist that you despise immigrants who are taking their jobs while you yourself are hiring undocumented immigrants to work in the demolition of the Bonwit Teller building and the construction of Trump Tower or to provide maintenance and housekeeping services at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump hires foreign workers at his properties.

Donald Trump also uses emotion, which he lacks, to appeal to others to gain support.  Patriotism is claimed by hugging a podium American flag while secretly calling fallen soldiers, “losers.”  Adherence to Christian values is espoused while openly violating most of the Ten Commandments, specifically 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.  I might even be able to make a case for a violation of the first commandment about having no other gods when he believes he is a god, but I’ll let that one pass.  If you believe that Donald Trump is a patriot in any other sense in that it benefits him politically, you have been conned.  If you think Donald Trump is a fine example of a good Christian, you have been conned.

The president understands the con and declares that he will not be a victim as he understands the true art of the conman.  His use of the term to describe the activities of others is a classic projection.  It takes one to know one.  His Trump University was a confidence scheme that defrauded thousands of unwitting students who fell for the hype.  There was also Trump Network (a pyramid scheme) and Trump Institute (victims paid thousands to listen to tapes to hear lectures on wealth-creating secrets endorsed by Trump).  Michael Bloomberg in talking about Trump famously stated, “I’m a New Yorker, and New Yorkers know a con when we see one!”

Whether they want to admit it or not, it’s becoming increasingly clear that MAGA Hatters are victims of a con game. A scam. A grift. A long end. In the old days, these gullible souls were referred to by the Roper as “Marks”, “Stooges”, “Mugus”, and “Rubes”.  And they’ve been Bamboozled! Hornswoggled! Scammed by a fast-talking Flim-Flam Man! Hoodwinked by a self-aggrandizing, ignorant Buffoon! - Aundra Willis Carrasco, Trump: The Greatest Con Job In American History.

During Trump’s 2016 campaign he regaled his followers with a reading of a song called The Snake where a woman is begged by a snake to take him home and when she does so, he bites her.  The age-old lesson is that she knew he was a snake when she took him in.  The wink-wink, nudge-nudge here is that we knew who he (Trump, not the snake, easily confused) was when we allowed his election.  I say allowed here because we either voted for him, didn’t vote at all, or didn’t vote in sufficient numbers to prevent his election.  Both the song of The Snake and the old frog and scorpion parable are fitting analogies as to why he can commit otherwise unforgivable transgressions and still have a following.

Entire books have been written about Trump's Grifting

Trump is a conman and grifter who surrounds himself with like individuals.  We have his Secretary of Commerce, Wilber Ross who lied about his net worth for at least a decade; was accused of financial crisis-era insider trading by European lawmakers; concealed his investments in a Russian shipping company with ties to Vladimir Putin, and allegedly bilked colleagues out of millions.  We also have Kris Kobach, Trump’s voter suppression guru who was hired to investigate voter fraud who bilked small towns in a clever scheme where he would convince them to pass anti-immigration laws and then he would be hired to defend them when the inevitable lawsuits materialized.  Towns went bankrupt and Kobach made hundreds of thousands of dollars.  We all know of Paul Manafort’s credentials for tax fraud and money laundering.

For those of you who still think Trump is a patriot and a supporter of the military, you might want to know of the antics of Trump appointed Mick Mulvaney. He is the White House budget director, who is working to suspend routine exams of lenders for violations of the Military Lending Act that protects service members and their families from fraud, predatory loans, and credit card gouging.  This makes it easier for wealthy businesses to run scams on service members.

Then, the former owner of Trump University that was fined over $25M for deceptive practices, appointed Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education with a mandate to roll back regulations that would protect students from abuses from other for-profit schools and colleges.  She also announced another rule change that would make it more difficult for students to get debt relief if defrauded.

I didn’t know much about Trump before his election in 2016 but didn’t take long to get a read on this huckster.  At first, I figured he was a not-too-bright buffoon who stumbled into the presidency during a perfect storm.  That perfect storm materialized when he was to follow our first African American president who may have saved General Motors but didn’t force the company to preserve American jobs.  Farmers, truckers, factory workers, coal miners, steelworkers, small-town business owners, and an entire blue-collar swath of middle America were not better off than they had been.  At least they were an easy sell.  Many had a healthcare that they didn't have before but, how quickly people forget.  If you blame the government for your plight, what better solution than an outsider and “successful” businessman.  His opponent would be the first woman president and a government insider.  

Trump, was also supported by the evil geniuses of Stephen Miller and Paul Manafort who assisted with the long con on America.  I still don’t give Trump more credit in this diabolical scheme than him being an excellent conman and grifter of much repute, but he needed the spirit guides of Miller and Manafort.  I believe it was this team that used the blighted blue-collar economy, racism, and the zeal of the evangelical community in the most diabolical long con in our nation’s history.  They conned blue-collar workers into believing a wealthy TV reality star would improve their lot.  They conned evangelicals into believing this womanizing philanderer, fraudster, and crook was the second coming of Christ.  Convincing the white supremacists and neo-Nazis that he was a racist at heart and would further their belief system was not a con but merely an easy validation process. Trump squeaked to a narrow electoral college victory and became the 45th president of the United States.

You’ve been conned.  We’ve been conned.  A nation has been conned.  Not all of us, but surely just enough in the right states to pull this off.  It’s time to wake up and smell the “napalm in the morning” because this nation is literally burning from neglect and mismanagement.  To quote Judge Judy Sheindlin, “Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.”  This president has been about shady business practices for decades and now that he is beyond the law, he plans to stay where he is through any and all means necessary.  Lying, cheating, stealing, defrauding, and monetizing the presidency for personal gain, are not just tools of his trade, they are a lifestyle.

Collection of Memes

While this nation will probably survive another four years of Trump, our democracy may never recover.  Our standing in the world has been diminished and that status will be difficult to regain.  Trump took the reins of this presidency with a rising economy and, Coronavirus aside, the fundamentals are still there.  It will take the first two or three years of a Biden presidency before we may see a turn-around.  It could take longer if he needs to fight a McConnell run Senate.  

Top Trump Aides Who Now Support Joe Biden

A number of Republicans have seen the light and now openly support Biden.  Six senior White House officials have denounced Trump and now support Biden.  The Lincoln Project is an American political action committee formed in late 2019 by several current and former Republicans. The goal of the committee is to prevent the reelection of Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election and defeat his supporters in the United States Senate.

 

Birds of a Feather

My Cuban friends are mostly registered Republicans and many support, Donald Trump.  Their own history may provide some insight into their logic, but it should also raise a few literal red flags.  Cuba has long been ruled by dictators.  Jose Miguel Gomez, Mario Garcia Menocal, and Alfredo Zayas to name a few.  In 1925, they (probably my friends’ grandfathers or great-grandfathers) elected Gerardo Machado who was constitutionally barred from reelection but decided not to leave and officially became a dictator with the support of an oligarchic state.  Eventually, Cuba was ruled by Fulgencio Batista, another despot, and dictator.  He was supported by Eisenhower (Republican) and criticized by John Kennedy (Democrat).

In 1959 United States companies owned about 40 percent of the Cuban sugar land, almost all the cattle ranches, 90 percent of the mines and mineral concessions, 80 percent of the utilities, and practically all the oil industry.  The US-based mafia ran the casinos, prostitution, and other illicit enterprises in Cuba. Enter the Cuban savior, one Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, who would rule from 1959 until 2008.  This Cuban dictator would renounce the US ties with Cuba and realign Cuba's fate with Russia.  As a Marxist-Leninist, El Caballo, as was his nickname, would move Cuba into an era of communistic socialism as could only be administered by a dictator.

It is here I believe my Cuban friends get confused.  They now brand anything that hints of “socialism” with the life they saw under Castro.  With his version of socialism, he nationalized private property and industry and began a one-party socialist state under Communist Party rule.  He initially set up a puppet government that he declared had been selected by popular election.  This, of course, was a lie.  He lied a lot.  He killed his opponents, controlled the press, and aligned himself with other dictators.  He then sided with Russia and developed them as a trading partner.  He was greatly influenced by China’s Great Leap Forward and he instituted a similar plan, that he called a Great Revolutionary Offensive.  He easily resorted to name-calling and used terms like “scum” and “lumpen” when referring to adversaries.  Castro is described as a “bad loser” and vindictive and unforgiving with a ferocious rage.  He could throw tantrums and he was intolerant of anyone who did not share his views.

Stop me if any of this sounds vaguely familiar in 2020 America.  Can you think of anyone who has embraced Russia and China in recent years?  Is there anyone who regularly lies, despises, and tries to control the media?  Does Castro sound and act like anyone in current memory?

Birds of a feather

Cuba has “elected,” selected, or allowed dictatorial strongmen to rule that island nation for over a century.  After Castro nationalized much of their industry, Cubans fled.  Of those who fled, most ended up in the United States.  As immigrants, they were treated better than almost any in history.  They were certainly treated better than Asians who were brought here to build our railroads.  They were certainly treated better than the Irish who worked as indentured servants, or in our factories and mines.  No, for the most part, Cubans enjoyed the assistance of the American government and its people.  They came by planes, boats, and literally anything that would float.  I personally worked on secret flights from the naval base at Guantanamo Bay to Opa-Locka, Florida in northwest Miami that were disguised as produce flights.  We would bring “fence jumpers” who either jumped the fence onto the base or swam or floated down the Guantanamo River.  We flew them to Miami for processing after an initial vetting on the base to identify potential Castro spies.  We would return to the base with milk, eggs, dairy, and fresh produce.  It was a poorly kept "secret."  We brought ten to twenty refugees every month to Miami.

Once in Miami and other cities across America, Cubans were provided food, clothing, and shelter.  They became Cuban Americans who were industrious, hard-working citizens.  Many would become successful in business and politics.  It is this immigrant background that I find puzzling when it comes to their supporting a president who is loathsome of immigrants and other refugees from similar backgrounds.  We now see a president who is intolerant of these Spanish-speaking people of color who seek refuge from oppression in their own countries.  A president who has literally torn families apart, many who may never find their loved ones again.

Not all Cuban Americans are supportive of Trump.  Some see the hypocrisy in that support.  Like all the Democrats that I know, they do not support open borders but a meaningful and well-managed immigration system.  Some see the similarities between Castro and Trump.  Those similarities are easy to spot if you are not so blinded by your hatred of “communistic-socialism” that you can’t see the difference between that form of dictatorial government and one that advantages citizens in a democracy.  Even the most extreme among the currently branded socialists, do not support the nationalization of our businesses and industry.  What they do support, is a way those businesses are taxed in a fair manner.  They support a tax-code that disallows an avoidance of taxes through legal maneuvering.

These same few Cuban Americans also see that a president who ignores the rule of law and uses his power to line his own pockets at the expense of its citizens is reminiscent of a deceased bearded tyrant that they uniformly despise.  Donald Trump, Fidel Castro, birds of a feather.  I challenge my Cuban American friends who now support Donald Trump to take a long hard look at what he stands for.  Many Republicans who know this president very well have made the decision to vote for Joe Biden.  Several of Trump’s top aides who worked closely with him in the past three years have seen the light and have now come out in support of Joe Biden.  If you are conservative in your thinking I know it will be a tough pill to swallow but you have to see where this presidency is headed.  You have seen it all before.

In November of this year, we all get another bite at the apple to select a leader for this great country.  It would be wise if we avoid that part of the apple that contains the worm.

Trump's Report Card

Donald Trump has claimed to be a genius but refuses to allow anyone to see his grades under threat of a lawsuit.  I felt it therefore appropriate to provide a Report Card for the most serious subject he has undertaken in his presidency, the Coronavirus.

Report Card for Donald J. Trump

Subject:  Coronavirus 101

Preparation: F

Comments: This president-in-training failed to heed the warnings of his predecessor that a devastating and hard-to-control virus could eviscerate our economy, impact our very way of life, and kill hundreds of thousands of our citizens.  He dismantled the emergency response team that was set up to deal with such a crisis.  He disassociated the US from the World Health Organization.

Initial Response: D-

Comments:  When faced with the facts that the novel Coronavirus coming out of China was airborne, highly infectious, and potentially deadly, he announced that it was the simple flu and that it would quickly disappear.  To his credit, he imposed a partial ban on travel from China but still allowed hundreds of thousands of citizens to travel to and from China.  He placed his political well-being ahead of the health and safety of his nation.

Crisis Management: C+

Comments:  The appointment of Dr. Anthony Fauci to head the NIH was a positive step.  The subsequent appointment of vice-president Mike Pence to oversee all operations, however, has been compared to throwing a freshly caught trout on a hot dock.  He was quite active and flopped around a bit but was obviously out of his depth and didn't accomplish much.

Team Building: F

Comments:  The appointment of Michael Caputo to monitor and oversee the CDC was a disaster.  He had no medical experience and was selected for his conspiracy theories, his support of Vladimir Putin and Carl Paladino, and for his ties with fellow genius Roger Stone.  Lacking the medical expertise needed to handle those responsible for our main disease management, he found an out-of-work former part-time professor at a Canadian university, Paul Alexander.  Mr. Caputo quickly began to monitor and place a political spin on outgoing medical documents.  The pressure of that activity caused him to suffer a mental breakdown evidenced in a rant about seeing shadows on the ceiling and predicting armed insurrection and recommending that citizens buy more ammo.  He will not be missed.  Paul Alexander is also packing his bags and leaving the CDC.

Communications: F

Comments:  Mr. Trump’s inability to articulate the seriousness of a disease that is destined to kill hundreds of thousands of American citizens is exacerbated by his need to avoid any news that would negatively impact his reelection bid.  He doesn’t seem to understand even rudimentary science or medicine even after it has been explained to him.  He even has difficulty reading the words from a teleprompter.

Logistics:  D-

Comments:  Mr. Trump gets credit for streamlining the process for quickly developing a vaccine to treat the disease and for his placing the military in a position to build much needed hospital facilities that were about to be overrun.  This is, however, offset by his total inaction at getting PPE and testing supplies out to the states when he told them they were on their own.

Subject Knowledge:  F

Comments:  Even with expert advice from knowledgable science and medical professionals Mr. Trump seems to ignore any information from those closest to the field of concern.  He defers to a certain fringe element, especially when they reaffirm his political requirements to stay in office.  Most recently he has contradicted the advice of Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, in deference to Dr. Scott Atlas, a Fox News contributor with a background in radiology but not epidemiology or infectious diseases.  It would appear that Dr. Atlas is promoting a theory that herd immunity will cure this disease.  Dr. Atlas believes that allowing a critical mass of Americans to contract the disease will be its demise.  Based on that premise, 75% of 328 million Americans would need to get sick.  That would be 246 million people needed to contract the disease to achieve herd immunity.  There are only two problems with the theory promoted by Dr. Atlas.  First, it is unknown if a previous infection will provide immunity.  Second, this plan would mean that, with a conservative death rate of 3%, over 7 million Americans would need to die.  While Donald Trump may think this a cheap price to pay for his political longevity, there would be at least 7 million folks who would disagree.

Conclusion

We do not recommend that Mr. Trump make a second attempt to successfully complete this course of study.  We believe that it is beyond his grasp.  His suggestion that using disinfectant inside the human body or somehow getting light to shine inside humans shows a basic misunderstanding of anything remotely related to basic science or medicine.  We do recommend that he join Michael Caputo in seeking assistance with his mental health issues.

Donald John Trump has failed the American people and has been indirectly responsible for the countless death and suffering of hundreds of thousands of its citizens.  Donald Trump is the Takata Air Bag of presidents.  He has blown up in the faces of far too many people and needs to be recalled.

Trump MAGA Airbag

Penny Wise and Pound Foolish

My Georgia-born mother was never at a loss for colloquial expressions to make a point.  One such admonition was to not be “penny wise and pound foolish.”  As a young kid, I eventually understood the connotation but why the expression compared money with weight was beyond my comprehension.  It was not until I became more familiar with British culture that it became clear that this saying was referencing English pound notes and not an American unit of weight.

The expression came to mind while I was considering how foolish it is that some citizens become enamored with this president because of some small portion of his overall agenda that they feel brings him into their good graces.  His claimed stance on abortion.  His claimed position in support of the “little guy.”  His well-documented xenophobic and racist attitude regarding America’s future.  These people are willing to forgive all indiscretions for some singular point of agreement.  I can’t argue that Donald Trump “walks the walk” when it comes to fighting abortion, particularly through judicial appointments.  I can’t honestly say that I have ever heard that he paid for a woman’s abortion, but, given his lifestyle and attitude toward women, it wouldn’t surprise me if it came out that he did.

If white supremacy is your bag, Trump is your guy.  His racism is a family tradition.  Likewise, if the term socialism makes you break out in a sweat, you need not look any further than Donald Trump.  Hell, he is even trying to eliminate Social Security and affordable healthcare.  If that doesn’t ring true with the strict capitalists among us, nothing will.

If you know anything about The Donald it is that you can predict what he will do; not what he will say mind you.  You have to ignore what he says because most of it is nonsensical blather.  “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,” to quote Macbeth.  He will do whatever is in his best interest.  I don’t think he gives a hoot about abortion, one way or the other.  He just knows that fighting against abortion will bring him a block of voters who will take that one “penny” of considered good and ignore the “pounds” of otherwise abhorrent behavior.

For Donald Trump, perception is reality.  Truth is without real meaning.  If a lie is repeated often enough and with the conviction of an unfeeling sociopath, it becomes the perceived truth.  Not the actual truth but, first the lie crawls around a bit in its larval stage, and then the chrysalis forms to eventually become a colorful adult lie.  A thing of beauty.  A lie disguised as truth.  Rudy was right, the truth is not the truth.

Often described as cognitive dissonance, even those individuals who have the intelligence and wherewithal to discern the truth are predisposed to ignore it when it is contrary to their goals and objectives.  The very wealthy love Trump because he panders to their goal of greater wealth acquisition.  The racists love Trump for embracing their hate.  The evangelicals love Trump for his conservative judicial appointments.  Each group may have nothing in common with the other save their support for Donald Trump and his perceived support for their singular cause.  They are all closely watching the minutia within their own narrow perception and will ignore the larger picture.

Another of my mother’s sayings comes to mind.  Hers was a bit more abbreviated than the original that dates to the 13^th century.  The original is, “For want of a nail the kingdom was lost.”  The basis for this was the quote, “The wise tell us that a nail keeps a shoe, a shoe keeps a horse, a horse keeps a knight, a knight, who can fight, keeps a castle.”  In my mother’s version, we stop at the nail and shoe and find “for want of a nail the shoe was lost.”  The message was that we need to be vigilant and not postpone needed maintenance.  For our purpose here I will paraphrase and say, “for want of a single vote, a nation was lost.”

In 2016, about four in ten registered voters failed to vote.  Voter apathy goes beyond my perception, but it does exist and is more of a problem than gerrymandering or voter suppression.  While all are serious problems, voter apathy remains to me to be the most critical.  Currently, the right is the right and the left is the left and crossovers will be of minor importance.  It is the 40% of American adults eligible to vote who don’t think their vote matters that need to be motivated.  I am reminded of a recent on-camera interview with a late 20s (early 30s?) heavily tattooed woman who owned a hair salon.  She told the interviewer that she despised what Trump did and said but was uncertain and unconvinced about Biden.  She then went on to say that she had never voted in any election.  Perhaps we can convince like individuals to leave their beauty salons and tattoo parlors for a few hours on one day to save our nation.

I’ll leave you with another perhaps poignant message from the Bard courtesy of Macbeth.

 

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

To the last syllable of recorded time.

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle.

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more.

Oh, if only he could be heard no more.

UNITED

I grew up in the UNITED States of America.  I now fear that the “united” qualifier is being threatened. Race is being used as a wedge and it is being driven into the heart of America to split it asunder.  Following the epic disaster that befell America on 9-11, nationalistic pride and anger emerged that was initially directed against the Arab based perpetrators.  For the next nineteen years, this hatred has expanded to include anyone who is “different.”  Any identifiable group is at risk.  Mexicans are taking your jobs and coming to rape your women.  The Chinese and anyone with Asian features are spreaders of pandemic disease.  These admonishments of hate are not just whispers in the streets, they are part of the national dialogue as promulgated at the highest levels of our government

Our president is a major cheerleader of this group of hatemongers.  Sadly, he has an audience.  Much as our Continental Divide separates the flow of water between the Atlantic and Pacific, nationalistic white supremacy and xenophobia have separated a nation founded on immigration and unity.  Donald Trump may or may not be a racist in his heart but even that assumes he has one.  At the very least he has used racial division as a tool for his own ego aggrandizement in a conscious effort to expand his power and wealth.

Last night as part of our concert series during our self-imposed COVID shut-in, we [Sue and I] watched Neil Diamond in concert.  For our concert nights, we sit at our kitchen bar, have a cocktail and/or glass of wine, and watch a DVD or YouTube concert on the large TV in the adjacent family room.  We have surround sound and nightclub lighting to go with the entertainment.  The segue this night was interesting as I found our DVD copy of The Jazz Singer for our follow up movie.

There are of course two versions of this movie.  There is the 1927 Al Jolson version and the Neil Diamond 1980 film.  I refer here to the 1980 film while referencing Al Jolson as an auspicious comparison.  You see, a significant part of the division of our United States today is racial in nature.  As a white male it is hard to have a totally unbiased perspective, but I feel an obligation to have an opinion.  In the Neil Diamond movie, he performs in blackface on stage.  His motivation is to blend in while performing with his Black friends in a Black nightclub.  In the Al Jolson movie, he performs in blackface in the tradition of the minstrel form of entertainment popular in the 19^th century.  While Al Jolson was not by any stretch considered a racist, the minstrel blackface was a form of racial entertainment now despised by most.

While it is hard to judge one period in history through the lens of another, there are rays of hope and refreshing outlook.  Anecdotally, we have the story of Al Jolson who, upon hearing of two Black entertainers, Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake being refused entry to a popular restaurant, he then invited both to join him at that restaurant for dinner.  All were seated as nobody was going to refuse the wishes of The World’s Greatest Entertainer.  This says nothing in support of the times but does say something about the man, Al Jolson.  It is the motive behind any act that bears significance.

Moving forward half a century we come to the Neil Diamond movie.  His use of blackface was hardly the efforts of a racist, but it would probably not make it past the politically correct police censors of modern entertainment moguls.  This is being presented here as an interesting aside using a moving piece of film that has resonance today.  In the movie, a Cantor in the Jewish faith must decide between family tradition and following his heart.  He must risk it all if he is to break away from the path that had been laid before him since childhood.

I find this story has relevance today in that our nationalistic xenophobia is not a natural turn of events but more of a family tradition handed down for generations.  Many of us start life in an environment of racial distrust.  As we grow older, we may associate with others of like mind in a vicious cycle.  This attitude may be made more volatile when it is reinforced by figures of authority.  While Donald Trump didn’t convince unwilling participants, he certainly has emboldened a contingency of like-minded individuals.  The results of that attitude are now evident in the racial unrest that has boiled over on our streets.

It is only through education and meaningful observation that we may break with this unhealthy attitude. As we on this September 11^th remember that tragic event, we should also take stock of what else we have lost in conjunction with that attack.  Our knee-jerk shift toward nationalistic pride has perhaps had unwelcome consequences.  That nationalism is not inherently evil but when it is used to further divide our nation into warring camps we need to reflect on how we got here and how all that we have was made possible through responsible immigration.  We also need to continue our fight for racial equality as it is quite evident that we still have a long way to go.