My Amazon Review of Mark Leibovich's "Thank you for Your Servitude"

 It’s a Miracle we Survived

 

Former New York Times reporter and current Atlantic writer Mark Leibovich has offered up a readable, humorous, and a downright scary account of the Trump years, which are unfortunately still with us. He spends most of his time not on Trump, but rather on his bootlicking lackeys in the Republican Party and a coterie of sycophantic hangers on in search of lucre. It is a miracle the country survived Trump’s four years in office.

 

What becomes very clear is that the Republican Party has become a party of moral eunuchs. With the few honorable exceptions of the late John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Liz Cheney the party luminaries cowered before the great orange one. It makes you want to puke just to think about all of these grifters at the seat of power living large and paying tribute at the Trump International Hotel.

 

I met Donald Trump at a business breakfast at the Plaza Hotel in 1992. It was obvious to me that he was a complete slime and what boggles the mind is how he conned the Republican electorate which then forced his acceptance on the grand poohbahs of the party, who were in on the joke all along. Yet, they did nothing. It was all about power.

 

What is most troubling is thus far from there has been no real explanation how this spoiled child of privilege has such a hold a large chunk of low-income white Americans. Trump doesn’t have a clue about the lives they live, and he really can’t stand them. The standard explanation on the Left is racism, but that does not account for Trump’s and the Republican Party’s growing support in the Latino community.

 

My explanation is that Trump channels their disgust with America’s cultural elite who constantly look down on their folkways by thinking of them as, using Hilary Clinton’s word, “deplorables.”  Afterall it is hard to support a Democratic Party that foists pronouns and the ill-conceived term Latinx down the throats of the general public. Thus, it pains me to say it, a Trumpy Republican can win again.

For the full Amazon URL see: It's a Miracle we Survived (amazon.com)

 

 

A Funeral in Washington

We buried John McCain yesterday and most of our Nation mourned and many watched on live television the four days of services celebrating his life. We won’t know for a while whether his passing represents the end of a once noble era that has been trampled under the ever-increasing weight of tribal politics shamelessly lead on by our President or a renewal of the American spirit. The realist in me suggests the former while the romantic in me hopes for the latter.

Sometimes funerals signal major change such as those of Julius Caesar of Shakespearian fame and Edward VII’s in 1910 which heralded the end of the European Century, although few realized it at the time. In contrast Ted Kennedy’s funeral in 2009, whose memorial was also held in the Capitol Rotunda, left nary a mark on our politics. In fact in his absence the political discourse continued to worsen.

While watching McCain’s memorial service in the Capitol is was difficult not to notice the supreme hypocrisy of Paul Ryan, Mike Pence and Mitch McConnell. Their conduct stood in complete contrast to McCain’s. All three are, what I have characterized before, moral eunuchs. Similarly John McCain’s great friend Lindsey Graham has become a Trump toady. I just wonder what McCain thought of Graham’s new relationship with Trump.

Nevertheless because I still have faith in our better angels, perhaps the motley crew mentioned above might have been moved just the slightest by the example of John McCain’s life. One can only hope. A harbinger will be who Arizona governor Doug Ducey appoints to fill McCain’s shoes. Will he/she be a McTrump or will he pick someone in the style of Meghan McCain?

In the Jewish religion we are now entering the season of repentance.  There is still time for Ryan, Pence, McConnell and Graham to see the error of their ways and repent. Otherwise in their faiths they will learn that the cost of a tax cut or Supreme Court Justice will be their immortal souls.

John McCain, May His Memory be a Blessing

I first met John McCain at a primary campaign rally in New Jersey in 2000. A photograph of him and my wife memorializing that event looks down at me as I write this blog.  I later met him two more times in more private surroundings. We talked about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the growing problem of Iran. He candidly admitted that he had no real solution for the Iran of a decade ago. I spoke on his behalf at a Baruch College forum during his 2008 presidential campaign.

In those conversations he was authentic. Unlike other politicians I have known, what you saw on television is what I witnessed in person. Even in a very serious conversation his sense of humor came through and above all else I knew I was in the presence of an American patriot. At a time when America is being threatened from within and without his counsel and leadership will be sorely missed.

There are far more eloquent things being written about John McCain today. I only knew him causally and for that I will be eternally grateful. His family has our prayers.