“Women are young at politics, but they are old at suffering; soon they will learn that through politics they can prevent some kinds of suffering.”
– Constance Markiewicz (1868-1927)
“Women are young at politics, but they are old at suffering; soon they will learn that through politics they can prevent some kinds of suffering.”
– Constance Markiewicz (1868-1927)
I was struck by two items from today’s internet reading. The first was an essay by Michael D’Antonio entitled “Trumpism is Winning.” If you’re feeling a bit buoyant, read this essay and it will bring you right down. The second piece was a report of the rape and murder of investigative journalist Victoria Malinova in Bulgaria. My linking these two items is idiosyncratic, I suppose, but it struck me that what happened to Ms Malinova is where we are heading under Trump and a militant male chauvinism. The Kavanaugh business has been a truth serum for Trump. In the course of it he has again and again and in more and more ways manifested his sniveling hatred for women. Someone should slap him silly. But no one even bothers to denounce him. Trumpian obscenities have become accepted, even embraced in our society and he is enabling and inviting the rest of the patriarchal cohort to crawl out of the shadows and come to the rally.
So now we have a perjurer on the Supreme Court, a compulsive liar in the White House, and a gang of con-men in the Senate. I guess this is the Devil’s Triangle.
Trump was ready, I’m told, to pay Dr. Ford $160,000 for her silence, but since the senators are on a retainer there was no need for Trump’s money. So the taxpayers have been boofed and must pay the bill. This is enough to make me want to ralph. And the show is just beginning, as Trump rouses up the misogyny and expansive ignorance of his base, many of whom like beer too.
A. Is Kavanaugh showing off what he has learned in Trump 101, namely: Lie whenever you can, about everything you can, to whomever you can, or is he simply following his own instincts? Nurture or nature??
B. At his latest “rally,” Trump’s abusive treatment of Dr. Ford revealed a lot about his wildly applauding base. Commentators talk about Trump’s having taken control of the Republican Party, and that is true enough. But his real party is the MCP, Male Chauvinist Pigs Party. Gynophobia and attendant misogyny, transcending age and class, are the ties that bind Trump’s disparate base together. Nor does this include his male followers alone, for the MCP Party has a large number of female members, some of them more frightened and angry than men.
I believe that what Trump said to the reporter Cecelia Vega at Monday’s press conference was not “I know you’re not thinking. You never do,” but “I know you’re not thinking, I never do.”
I don’t know whether Judge Kavanaugh was a member of a fraternity, but his attitude and demeanor are surely those of a filthy-rich, hyper-entitled, self-centered little frat boy. He has probably bluffed or bought himself out of any number of scrapes he doesn’t remember, maintaining all the while the pretense of easy-going wholesomeness.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò apparently feels neglected, so he’s had to post another bit of “testimony” to keep his smear campaign alive. He should learn from another shifty character, President Trump, and use Twitter to spread disinformation.
The Republican senators indulged in a operatic snit fit today, with Sen Graham as the prima donna. All these boys want is to increase diversity on the Supreme Court. It already has a black molester and they feel that balance requires that the court have a white one.
When Trump was elected, I immediately started wondering if the University of Notre Dame would be giving him an honorary degree at commencement. Well, this year the honoree was not Trump, but Mike Pence. So I’m now wondering: If giving an honorary degree to Trump would be a mortal sin, is giving an honorary degree to Pence a venial sin, or is it too a mortal sin?
In a recent press conference, Trump informed the world that Michael Avenatti is a “lowlife,” and that the matter of Christine Ford et al. is a “con game.” This gives me pause, for I had no bad opinion of Michael Avenatti nor of Christine Ford et al. But when Trump, who usually does not know what he’s talking about talks about lowlife and con game, I have to listen, for his own life has been lowlife and con game little else.