100 Words: A Final Trump Reminder: He’s No Nixon (NY Times)

The 50th anniversary of the Kent State massacre passed with little notice. Now Nixon era echoes are heard as Trump deliberately invokes Tricky Dick’s legacy, tweeting on “law and order” to exploit white backlash for political gain. But Trump isn’t Nixon — he’s much, much worse. Nixon was cynical and ruthless, but also smart and hard-working. Trump spends his days tweeting and watching Fox News. Trump on Covid-19 threat: denial, then frantic efforts to shift the blame to others for his own sham ineffective policies. So, Trump is no Nixon.” (Paul Krugman, NYT). My question: How different is the country Trump’s trying to “dominate?”

100 Words: A Trump Reminder for This Fall (as reported by USA Today)

The upcoming presidential election “continues to be largely a referendum on the incumbent. The initial reaction to ongoing racial unrest in the country suggests that most voters feel Trump is not handling the situation all that well” -- Monmouth U. poll. George Floyd’s death has made Americans more pessimistic about the state of race relations. 61% say race relations in the USA are “generally bad” while 57% of Republicans believe race relations are generally “good.” --CBS News survey. Monmouth says if the fall election, still five months away, were held now, Biden wins over Trump by 56% to 41%.

100 Words: A Trump Reminder for Now (as reported by USA Today)

“President Donald Trump is now one of only three presidents to be impeached, and the only one impeached in his first term. Why Trump? On Inauguration Day, he had already confessed to grabbing women’s genitalia, stoked bigotry against Mexicans and Muslims, encouraged fans to “knock the crap” out of protesters, bilked Americans with his fraudulent “Trump University,” mocked a disabled reporter and lied in a way that appeared pathological. Now Americans are unhappy with Trump’s response to George Floyd’s death, his handling of ensuing protests, and his handling of race relations in general, according to four polls released this week.

100 Words: A Trump Reminder (as reported by USA Today in Dec. 2019)

“Trump has never lived the life he deserved. In the 1970s, the Justice Department sued him for refusing to rent apartments to African Americans. Still, he became a billionaire real estate developer. He bragged about sexually assaulting women, reduced presidential politics to name-calling, and invited a foreign adversary to hack his 2016 rival’s emails. Still, he was elected president. He stocked his administration with crooks and cronies, used the presidency to further his financial interests, bribed a foreign ally for personal gain and hired a morally bankrupt attorney general. Still, he has good odds of winning reelection.”

100 Words: Who’s to Blame for Our Failure?

There’s been enough international success dealing with the plague to leave a clear sense of how to beat it: impose strict social distancing long enough to reduce those infected to small fraction of population. Then test, trace, and isolate--quickly identifying outbreaks, finding and quarantining everyone exposed until danger passes. It worked in South Korea and New Zealand, but  must be strict and patient, staying the course, not giving in to temptation to return to normal life with virus still widespread. Alas, America’s impatience and unwillingness to do so runs much deeper than any one man.—Paul Krugman, NY Times

100 Words: Living in history

“Just because it was historical, I don’t treat the characters as any different from characters in a contemporary setting. That’s important or it will feel stilted rather than real and naturalistic. These characters aren’t aware they are living in history, to them it is what their life is. Walking around with ironware and swords was the norm for them, they are living in the now. And they were very similar to us in terms of love, friendships, relationships, laughter. Humor is really important to me. It brings you into their world.” --Writer Stephen Butchard, “The Last Kingdom” (seasons 1-3).

100 Words: How’s This for Crazy?

One definition of insanity: keep doing the same thing while expecting a different outcome. How’s this for crazy? Four in five registered voters in a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll feel “things in the country are out of control” as the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic approaches 110,000, unemployment remains at a level not seen since the Great Depression and protests continue across the U.S. Just 15% of voters think matters in the USA are under control. The sense of chaos and economic pessimism did not have much effect on the job approval rating for President Donald Trump.

100 Words: It’s the people in the car chase

“It’s the characters who make it relatable…. If people can’t buy into the characters, then it just becomes a series of events. I always use the example of a car chase – if you don’t care about the people in the car then it means nothing. You only care about the outcome if you care about the people.” --Stephen Butchard, screenwriter (“The Last Kingdom” seasons 1-3). Incidentally, when Martha Hillier replaced Butchard for season 4, plotting suffered and Uhtred became impulsive rather than brilliant. Another factor: Netflix took over production from the BBC and Carnival Films (“Downton Abbey”) season 4.

100 Words: Tracking Inspiration … for a change

England remains a seafaring nation and loves its nautical traditions. I, too, love the great seafaring historical novels by C.S. Forester, Patrick O’Brian, and Bernard Cornwell (50 or so novels altogether). “The Last Kingdom” author says his own ancestral roots gave him the idea for Uhtred, the half-Dane warrior who helps King Alfred unite Britain. Cornwell grew up loving Forester’s Napoleonic War novels featuring Horatio Hornblower, and later revered the Jack Aubrey-Stephen Maturin series. Forester inspired Cornwell to write his own series about the Napoleonic wars, only on land, featuring fictional rifleman Richard Sharp. Sometimes, inspiration is easy to track.

100 Words More: How About A Change of Pace?

Internet down, no classic rock tv channel to watch while working out, so I switch on FM radio--a country music station sans commercials. One song writer says he’s no good at anything else, but he sure is good at drinking beer. Brad Paisley supposedly laments the plague with the refrain, “There ain’t no ‘I’ in beer.” He mentions the beer by name. Bud Lite. Is he being paid to? That’s not even an American beer anymore. I like beer and Willie Nelson, too. But ye gods, is this really what passes for clever lyrics down in Nashville these days?

100 Words: Kentucky’s Shame

100 Words:  Kentucky’s Shame

The Emmett Till Antilynching Act passes the U.S. House 410-4 (with Ky. Rep. Thomas Massie in opposition). Now Ky. Sen. Rand Paul ties up the federal antilynching bill for the flimsiest of reasons. “I will be excoriated by simpleminded people on the internet,” Paul says. Possibly by some not so simpleminded, as well, Rand. Newspaper columnist Joe Gerth calls Paul a laughingstock for preventing the lynching of an African American from becoming a hate crime. He’s right, but it’s worse. Paul, Massie, and Ky. Senate czar Mitch McConnell (“Medicare for All will never happen on my watch!”) shame all Kentuckians.

100 Words: Kennedy’s 1968 Speech On ML King Assassination

Recently a NYTimes writer recalled Robert F. Kennedy’s speech announcing the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I watched the video and found that

RFK’s speech remains as tremendously moving and powerful today as it did the first time I heard it on TV back in 1968. Not hatred, division, and violence but love, wisdom, and unity. Yes, it would be wonderful. Perhaps even possible, if we had such a person in the White House today. Of course, we don’t. But there’s a remedy for that in November and at the moment Trump is falling, falling in the polls.

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