[The original version of this blog can be found here.]
I am Jewish, so I support Donald Trump’s still existing Department of Education for its investigations of 60 universities for antisemitic discrimination and harassment. In the meantime, in a show of fierce determination, the Trump administration has frozen more than $1 billion in funding for Cornell and $790 million for Northwestern as the investigations proceed.
I am over 65 years old, so I’m relieved that Trump decided to not restrict Medicare reimbursement for skin-substitute bandages. He made the decision decisively after meeting at Mar-a-Lago with the head of the biotech company that produces the bandages donated $5 million to MAGA Inc.
I live outside Chicago, our kids live in the city, we visit often, hear music, go to plays, eat out and the other day we walked along the 606 trail in the middle of town, so I’m comforted that Trump is intent on summoning the National Guard to take Chicago out of its hell hole while he continues to defund hundreds of organizations across the country haplessly directed at reducing crime and promoting public safety.
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| “Chicago is a hell hole right now” - NBC News |
I am the son of an immigrant who entered the U.S. on a false Polish passport after living in hiding during the Holocaust and preserved the lie for the rest of her life because she feared being deported, so I am impressed at how effective instilling fear in immigrants can be.
I studied history in college, where exposure to slavery, reconstruction, segregation, and redlining left me feeling that American exceptionalism isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, so I’m looking forward to Trump making sure that museums like the Smithsonian eliminate exhibits that have me feeling inferior.
I was a college professor who taught diverse students from all over the world, so I rally behind Trump’s efforts to limit student visas so we can return to classrooms with more recognizable cultural homogeneity.
I am male, and I realize I’m behind the curve. By last count, 149 of the 155 mass (and school) shootings since 1982 have been perpetrated by men; 43% of men and only 22% of women report owning guns, so I have ground to make up. I don’t own a gun. In the aftermath of the recent Minneapolis Catholic church shooting, an attack that police say was carried out by a 23-year-old transgender woman, I’m relieved that the Trump Justice Department is looking into ways to get to the root of the mayhem by banning transgender Americans from owning weapons.
I can get tongue tied. I lose track. I forget words. I am encouraged that when Trump speaks, prepared or not, his “very good brain” seeps out in erratic, incomprehensible bursts. And millions of people lap it up. Oh, to have that secret sauce.
I am a writer. Brevity matters. I am inspired by the terse ways he expresses essence: “Washington DC is a totally safe zone; it’s called a safe zone…What they’re doing with the Epstein hoax, I think it’s enough….“I ended seven wars.” All separate thoughts spoken to leave a lasting impression.
I finally have family money, thanks to 35+ years of employee-based savings, so I’m counting on that One, Big, Beautiful Bill giveaway to cut my taxes and reduce my estate taxes so I can be rich, wealthy, yahoo!!
I never served in the military or fought in a war. In I971, I had a draft lottery number of 335. Now that I’m too old to serve, I’m relieved that a president who avoided the draft by having a doctor attest he had bone spurs, and who called soldiers losers and suckers, in particular GOP Arizona Senator John McCain, still has enough warrior in him to change the name of the Defense Dept to the Department of War in time to get people to fear he’s going to invade Chicago with napalm before it was pulled from social media under a cover of darkness:
The kidder.
I love music, feature a music trivia site, Lines n’ Lyrix, so I’m atwitter that Trump is taking such an active interest in the Kennedy Center that he’s chosen his headlining cultural alterego to host the Kennedy Center Music Awards, which is likely to attract the largest combined viewing and boycotting audience in its history.
My family has taken many trips to national parks. My anticipation is mounting that there will a be a new park and monument as soon as the Trump selection committee chooses from among the finalists in an illustrious list- Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, Xi Jinping, Bashar al Assad, Nicolás Maduro, Jair Bolsonaro, and Benjamin Netanyahu. Whom to honor in stone just lower than Trump? Construction on Mount Dictators can begin any time. Those nominated need not be deceased no matter how many people wish it were so.
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