Wall Him Up: If the Commission on Presidential Debates is serious about wrangling in Donald Trump’s tendencies to assert alpha male superiority during the next debates in Miami and Nashville it will have to build what Trump has been demanding for four years—a wall.
Trump showed during his town hall debate with Hillary Clinton in 2016 that he doesn’t respect personal boundaries. So, to prevent the wanderer-in-chief from invading Joe Biden’s turf, a glass wall should be built separating the combatants. If necessary, the entire stage could be built on a turntable enabling the candidates to be rotated to face their questioners.
A glass wall would not stop Trump from gallumping around like a caged animal while Biden talks, but it would prevent any attempt to inject physical dominance.
Of course, Trump might choose to channel The Graduate, Benjamin Braddock, banging on the glass window of a church screaming, “Elaine, Elaine.” Er, “Melania, Melania.” Ever the boob tube aficionado, Trump would know such an action would be great theater gobbled up by his adoring fans who would claim he was just fighting hard for America.
Naturally, for the debates to come off as planned, the patient-in-chief would have to have sufficiently recovered from the coronavirus he has said would magically disappear from our midst.
I wonder if Trump will take any out-of-the-box remedies. Apparently, the hydroxychloroquine he took isn’t all he cracked it up to be as a COVID-19 preventive. Will he take a shot of bleach? Will he ask Dr. Anthony Fauci for treatment advice or will he stick to his medical Rasputin, Dr. Scott Atlas?
Ah, as if the next four weeks leading up the election didn’t have enough drama …
Let’s Not Forget Taxes: First thing Gilda asked me the morning after The New York Times exposed Trump’s federal tax payment history was, “Is Trump still president?”
“No,” I responded. “He’s taken up a new position as a tax avoidance advisor.”
Who knew, after all those years of making sure I looked well-coiffed in my public role as an editor and publisher, that my haircutting bills were tax deductible? Now, I didn’t spend $70,000 a year like Trump did, but I am pleased to say I have as much natural hair, or more, with almost no grey, than he does.
Will it matter to Trumpsters that their fearful leader paid just $750 in federal taxes in 2016 and 2017, according to The Times?
Will it matter that they’ve been taken for chumps, conned by the orange-faced political wonder?
Will it change any votes?
Why would it when they’ve stuck by him despite his culpability in 205,000 COVID-19 deaths, in the loss of tens of millions of jobs and millions of businesses?
Sadly, Trumpsters are forever. But for the rest of us who have not swallowed the Kool-Aid, The Times confirmed what we already suspected. We didn’t really need the validation.
So, bottom line—nice job, Times. Hope it didn’t cost too much. I’m sure historians will appreciate the expose.
A Charitable Fellow?: An email exchanger (can’t call her a friend or even an acquaintance as the most I know about her is her email address and we share friendship with a third party) recently sent out stories of five instances of an unidentified patron bestowing thousands of dollars to grieving or troubled people made known to him only through press reports. He was no Secret Santa handing out $100 bills. In one case he dispatched as much as $77,000. The benefactor in each case was the same person. Donald Trump.
I was not too surprised. I wrote back, “What these stories of generosity reveal is that everyone may be moved by individual stories of tragedy and despair. But the true measure of a human being may be seen in how they treat whole classes of humanity—immigrants, asylum seekers, minorities, women who stand up to him, women in general, tradesmen seeking full payment for services rendered.
“Perhaps a compassionate word or two for the families of the 200,000 dead from coronavirus and the 26 million unemployed would show he has some emotion besides glee at the stock market level when 50% of the country is not invested and millions wonder how they will pay their rent/mortgage and put food on their tables.
“Yes, Donald Trump can have individual moments. But then even a broken clock is right twice a day. But don’t rely on that clock or Trump to be there when you need them.”
