#58 - Blinded by the Light

“I am blinded by the light,

Of God and Truth and Right,

And I wander in the night without direction”

Some might disagree with me, but I believe these lyrics are an apt metaphor for this man's entire life.

__________________________

In the aftermath of  yesterday’s remarkable solar eclipse, I have seen multiple references to Bruce Springsteen’s “Blinded by the Light” from his first album (and still one of personal favorites), “Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ”, but when I saw this picture of Mr. Trump blindly staring up at the sun, the specific lyrics above came jumping back in to my mind.

They are from “Flowers Never Bend After the Rainfall” (1966) by Simon & Garfunkel off of their “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme” album, another personal favorite (yes, I am dating myself) .

The full lyrics follow below:

READ ALL OF THEM, and tell me, they don’t shout ‘Donald Trump’

Flowers Never Bend After The Rainfall

Through the corridors of sleep
Past shadows, dark and deep
My mind dances and leaps in confusion
I don’t know what is real
I can’t touch what I feel
And I hide behind the shield of my illusion

So I’ll continue to continue to pretend
My life will never end
And flowers never bend
With the rainfall

The mirror on my wall
Casts an image dark and small
But I’m not sure at all it’s my reflection
I am blinded by the light
Of God and truth and right
And I wander in the night without direction

So I’ll continue to continue to pretend
My life will never end
And flowers never bend
With the rainfall

No matter if you’re born
To play the king or pawn
For the line is thinly drawn ‘tween joy and sorrow
So my fantasy
Becomes reality
And I must be what I must be and face tomorrow

_______________________________________

Always loved Simon & Garfunkel, but never really appreciated they were visionaries...

#57 - Miltary Principals In An Imperfect Democracy

You have to feel good that our military leaders get it. 

The associated comfort reassures us, that while we may have our disagreements on different issues, through it all the military seamlessly holds true to its principals.  It is a sign that despite the level of angry discourse which only seems to increase by the day, and despite the clear imperfections in our wonderful democracy, we did get something right in the creation of our new nation more than 240 years ago.  This is no small fete, and it should be acknowledged and celebrated.

My father served in Africa and Italy in WWII and several of my uncles were in both the European and Pacific theaters.  But there is no way I could say that I was from a military family.   In those days, everybody served, everybody was equal and everyone did their part.  One might observe that they were forced to do so, forced to put their petty differences aside, and come together to fight for their way of life.  It's hard to argue this was not a uniting cause, still, it could have gone the other way, but it didn't.  It's why Tom Brokaw referred to them all as the Greatest Generation.

The descendents of that generation live on today, and while their numbers are sadly much smaller now, their individual and collective resolution is much greater.   Along with their families, they represent approximately one percent or our country who have chosen to serve.    They would tell you they are serving our country, and the principles upon which it was built.  But in the process, they are serving the rest of us, the other 99% who go about their daily lives content with letting others do all the heavy lifting.  On any given day,  they might ask why don't others step up and make similar sacrifices, or any sacrifices for that matter?  While this would be a justifiable request on their part, we never hear it.  It is not how they lead.  Their principles require them to serve, to sacrifice and to lead by example, but deep down, they must hold out hope that their actions will inspire others to find a better path.

They know instinctively why they fight, why they serve, they don't have to stop to contemplate their actions.  Their principles  are reinforced by their shared sacrifices and commitment, and most importantly, by their desire to not let their brothers down, all of their equal brothers.

So it was not shocking to see that  America's top-ranking military officers spoke out against racial bigotry and extremism in the immediate aftermath of President Trump’s bizarre and controversial press conference on Tuesday, which was supposed to be about infrastructure, but turned into the latest of many examples of the Trump Train jumping off the tracks yet again.

[From the LATimes] The members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- the senior uniformed brass of the Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Air Force -- all posted messages on their official Twitter accounts to denounce the far-right extremists behind Saturday's violence in Charlottesville, Va.   The messages did not mention Trump, who is the commander in chief, by name. But the rebuke seemed clear in several posts given the bipartisan furor over Trump's insistence Tuesday that "both sides" were at fault for the violence.

“The Army doesn't tolerate racism, extremism, or hatred in our ranks,” Gen. Mark Milley, chief of staff of the Army, tweeted Wednesday. “It's against our Values and everything we've stood for since 1775.”

For the military, this represented a rare public foray into domestic politics, that revealed growing concerns about the judgement of our current President.  And they speed and consistency with which they ALL responded was just another example of their principles on display.  While it lacked the visual of a military parade, it was still a show of force, reinforced by a heritage of shared sacrifice and commitment.

Yet as rare as this response was, it was not the first time the US Military delivered a message to the country that their values would not be compromised by the man sitting in the Oval Office.  Back on the morning of July 25, seemingly out of the blue President Trump tweeted out that “the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military”. (See post 54 - Transgender Transgression”

Clearly blindsided by the President’s lack of comprehension of the impact of his tweet, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford quickly responded in a statement. "There will be no modifications to the current policy until the President's direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary has issued guidance."

It both responses, our military leaders were reinforcing that shared principal of fighting for the man next to them against all enemies, be they domestic or foreign.

In both responses, our military leaders were stepping in to fill the void of leadership created when the executive branch of our government went off the rails, again.

In both response, our military leaders were providing comfort to all of us that there is still hope for our imperfect democracy.

You just have to feel good that our country still has a few good men who get it.

I do, and I am just so grateful. 

#56 - Freedom of Speech on Display in Charlottesville, Virginia

The First Amendment to the Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law …. prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging THE FREEDOM of SPEECH, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble”.  Along with the rest of the Bill of Rights, the amendment was adopted on December 15, 1791.  Fifteen years earlier, in 1776, the second year of the American Revolutionary War, the precursor of this Right is seen in the action of the Virginia colonial legislature when this body passed its Declaration of Rights.

Fast forward to the events of yesterday when the right of free speech was on display again in Virginia, this time in the city of Charlottesville.   A planned rally was organized to protest the removal of a statute of Robert E. Lee and promoted as “Unite the Right”.   The organizers and the critics both said it was expected to be one of the largest gatherings of white supremacists in recent times attracting the KKK and Neo-Nazis, with movement leaders such as David Duke and Richard Spencer.  Duke told reporters Saturday that the protesters were going to “fulfill the promises of Donald Trump” and “take our country back”.  Chanting Nazi-era slogan and waving Confederate Flags, the protesters began chanting “You will not replace us” and “Jews will not replace us”.

In response, counter-protesters made up of religious leaders and Black Lives Matter activists and antifascist groups known as Antifa surrounded the park singing spiritual songs, chanting and carrying their own flags.

When the dust cleared, Freedom of Speech had sadly claimed several innocent victims, led by some whack job who decided to try some ISIS inspired tactic and drive in to a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring others.  In addition, two policemen were killed in helicopter crash, the unfortunate victims of the unintended consequences of the day.

For the record, I want to observe that the Far Right does not have a monopoly on whack jobs, for we only have to look to the shooting of Republican Congressman Steve Scalise and three other individuals shot back in June as Republican lawmakers and aids conducted baseball practice in preparation for an upcoming game against their Democratic counterparts.

I make that point so you understand that the purpose of this post is not to focus on the perverted driver who drove into the crowd of counter-protesters, no, I wish to save my commentary for our President’s failure to specifically call out the actions of these white supremacist nut jobs.  So let’s look at what the President had to say when he spoke briefly on the protests from his private golf club in New Jersey.

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides It has been going on for a long time in our country -- not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. It has been going on for a long, long time. It has no place in America."

With the events of the day being what they were, it was hard to comprehend the President’s reference to condemn hatred “on many sides, many sides’.   For in this case, on this day, there were the White Supremacists on one side and, well, everyone else on the other side, i.e. the good guys

.

The President did not mention white nationalists and the alt-right movement in his remarks, and later called for a "study" of the "situation.

So while our commander in chief, struggles to decide what to do about one of the biggest zits on the face of America, other Republicans, who already understand our history, are ready to lead on the matter. Listen to some of their commentary.

·    Timothy Naftali, Presidential Historian and Former Director, Nixon Presidential Library observed that the four confederate statutes in dispute were not erected in Charlottesville during the civil war or shortly thereafter, but were erected in the 1920s during a time of great social change in the US and during the second coming of the KKK and white supremacists were worried about losing their country

·     Bill Crystal, Republican Strategist was asked why Trump didn’t call out White Supremacists and just acknowledged that “he said what he meant, and he meant what he said”

·     Republican Senator Orin Hatch of Utah tweeted that “We should call evil by its name. My brother didn't give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home.”

·     Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida tweeted "Very important for the nation to hear @potus describe events in #Charlottesville for what they are, a terror attack by #whitesupremacists."

·    Republican Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado tweeted “Mr. President - we must call evil by its name.  These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism."

·    Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona stated that "White supremacists and neo-Nazis are, by definition, opposed to American patriotism and the ideals that define us as a people and make our nation special.  As we mourn the tragedy that has occurred in Charlottesville, American patriots of all colors and creeds must come together to defy those who raise the flag of hatred and bigotry."

President Trump was extremely critical throughout the election of President Obama for not calling out Terrorists as Radical Islamic Terrorists.   Conversely, President Trump seems unable to utter the words “White Supremacist” or “Neo-Nazi”. 

So, why the disconnect with everyone else? Why ?  His fellow Republicans know what’s right and wrong, but still our President fails to grasp the basic concept

A.     Is he just playing to his base, and doesn’t want to lose any votes in the next election cycle?

B.     Does he secretly sympathize with the thinking and ideology of these groups?

C.     Does he think he won’t appear to be a strong leader if he caves late, after receiving stinging criticism from so many members of his Republican Party?

D.     Does he want to avoid giving in to the desires of the Left Leaning Press, because that would make him a loser?

or

E.      Is it all of the above?

Obama never used the term Radical Islamic Terrorists, because he didn’t want to alienate a few billion moderate Muslims.  Now I admit, I don’t get out much, and so I have never heard of one, but I guess President Trump must be worried about insulting all the moderate Neo-Nazis out there.  Most of them are just homebodies, who play bridge, watch Wheel of Fortune, tend their gardens…. And vote Republican.

Like all Americans, the First Amendment guarantees the right of our President to say what he wants, or conversely, ignore topics of his choosing, but the bully pulpit which he commands magnifies both his comments and his silences, and so when he fails in his role to be the moral authority for our nation, the echo is loud and long. 

#55 - Midwestern Values

The very first time your child teaches you something new, something you didn't know, may not seem like a momentous occasion, like their graduation or their wedding or the start of their first real job, but it stays with you.  It is a private moment and occurs with no advance warning, one day it just happens.   It is not recognized or acknowledged, and your child will be oblivious to it.  You may not even realize it when it happens, until you stop and look back and it hits you.  All you can hope for is that you don't miss it, for it will come with a lasting sense of satisfaction. 

My son went to a small college in Ohio to study Equine Business Management; it’s only noteworthy to point out that his education was much more outside the classroom as he traveled around the Midwest competing on his college’s equestrian team. In the process, he was interacting with all kinds of people, all outside the academic environment.  In his senior year, my wife and I went to visit him and watch one of his competitions.  During the visit he and I ran an errand together to pick up his riding jacket at the dry cleaners he used.  He got out of car while I waited, returned with the jacket, and began to talk about how nice the owners were, how beyond the good service they provided, he always enjoyed seeing them.  And then it happened.   He said “You know dad, I never gave it much thought, I guess I thought it was just one of those stereotypes, but it's true, the people out here in the Midwest are really, really friendly.  They are good, genuine people, honest, and down to earth”,   And he added, “It’s a really nice place to live”.

I of course had heard the stereotype of the friendly Midwesterner before, but in all honestly, I had never given it much thought.  But on this day for the first time ever, I did.   I smiled to myself, and the moment passed.

Over the years, I have silently gone back to this moment reflecting on the statement itself, and re-living the satisfaction that came with it.  More recently, I went back to it in the days following the Presidential election on November 8, 2016, when Donald Trump upended the world and surprisingly became our 45th president.

Many of my left-leaning friends were sure Hillary Clinton was going to pull it off.  I was much less certain, and despite the fact that some of Trump’s positions were acceptable to me (I say some), I thought he was a horrible human being, and I thought he would be an absolutely terrible president.  So on the night of the Election Day, I sat glued to my chair with the worry of a nervous parent watching their child act in a play or perform in their sport. The nervousness turned to worry, the worry turned to sadness.  I cursed at the TV as the results came in from Ohio and Michigan and Wisconsin, all of them, in the Midwest.  All of them had been in the Democratic column in recent elections, and they all went for Trump.

It would be easier to say, that it didn't happen, that the swing of just 77,000 votes in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio hadn’t won the Presidency for Donald Trump, despite the fact that Hillary Clinton had won the popular vote by almost 3 million votes.  But it did happen, I knew it was real, and that hurt even more.

I have since reflected on the words of my son, words that I believed were true, but I couldn't reconcile how the kind, friendly folks of the Midwest, who had in recent years been leaning left, all of a sudden leaned right, and more disturbingly had chosen Donald Trump to be the leader of our country.  I asked myself, what did they see in him?  Didn’t they see the constant stream of falsehoods he promotes?  Why did they fall for it?  Did they despise Hillary that much?Did they want change so badly that they will tolerate his miserable behavior?

I wanted change too, but I was worried the host of Celebrity Apprentice and the owner of the Miss Universe pageant did not have the skills, the smarts and the morals to morph into a leader for all the people.   While he might be the leader we deserved, but he was not the leader we needed.

Then I remembered the words spoken by Michael Bloomberg at the Democratic National Convention in the summer of 2016.

“I’m a New Yorker, and New Yorkers know a con when they see one”.

With that perspective, I could now rationalize, at least for myself, how the pieces had fallen into place.  Of course, the folks from the Midwest are NOT from New York.  They have not seen the Donald close-up.  More importantly they are kind and caring, and they repay a stranger’s kindness with more kindness. They give strangers the benefit of the doubt.   They don't question a stranger’s authenticity, certainly not the way New Yorkers do.  They don't look at them with cautious eye. And they had to be impressed by the number of times that the Donald came out to visit them during the campaign, and they had to be equally unimpressed with the number of visits Hillary didn't make.  For them, actions speak than words. 

They didn't realize it at the time, but they were falling victim to the con.  They came to believe Donald Trump was their friend.  He would be their voice.  The victims of Bernie Madoff’s scam were his friends too, and while the newly minted Trump supporters were not as personally abused as Madoff’s victims were, they should feel no less aggrieved, no less appalled when they finally came to grips with the fact that they had been used, they had been fooled, they had been taken. 

Their vote counted.  As it turned out their votes were by far the most important votes in the entire country.  39,000 people in the Midwest pulled the lever for Donald instead of Hillary, and here we are. 

New Yorkers, on the other hand had seen this movie before.   They had endured 40+ years of the escapades of the Donald, well documented in the New York Post and other local rags.  They had seen successes earned in New York real estate and the building of Trump’s brand, but they had also witnessed firsthand the failures of Trump Shuttle and the New Jersey Generals and Trump’s Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.  They endured Donald’s affair with Marla Maples, his first divorce, his second divorce, his third marriage and the Donald’s disco days, and they were not impressed.   Despite the fact that Donald was born and raised in their city, that he was one of them, he was not the favorite son.  Donald received 36.8% of the vote in New York State in 2016, pretty much on par with the 36.03%  Mitt Romney received four years earlier.   New Yorkers knew what to expect from Donald, and so the needle never moved. 

A lot has passed since the election results were affirmed the night in November and I haven't spoken to any mid-westerners who voted for Trump since, so I offer no tangible proof or even anecdotal evidence of what I am about to say, but I do believe that in the next presidential cycle, provided that the Democrats put up a half-way decent candidate that the Midwest will swing against President Trump.

I say that because after four years, they will have been forced to bear witness to the actions of President Trump and they will conclude that he is not like them, that his service to others takes a back seat to his personal addiction to the service of his own ego, that his general animosity to those who don't bow down to him does not fit with their own Midwestern values.  I say this because they are genuine and because they are part of the best our country has to offer.

And I know this, because my son taught me it was so, so many years ago.

I’m from New York.

#54 - Transgender Transgression

A funny thing happened after President Trump’s tweet on the morning of July 26, announcing his new policy on Transgender individuals in the military…

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing…..Nothing happened,

I don't mean to suggest there wasn’t any news or blow back on the topic. There was plenty of both.  First, everyone was trying to figure out what the clown in Oval Office was up too this time.   On top of that, the LGBTQ community now had the proof that many of them had warned about, that many of them had believed.  They could now shout out to the world that President Trump was a Class A Number One liar when he said he would be a better friend to them than anyone and certainly better than Hillary Clinton.

No, lots of activity emanated directly from that early morning tweet, but the funny thing was.….nothing was happening in the military.

The President’s tweet read “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow......Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming.....victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.”

The tweet was then followed by a press briefing later that day, where White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the White House and the Pentagon would work together to implement the policy, with the Defense Department taking "the lead."

The very next day, the nation's highest-ranking military officer said that the Defense Department was making "no modifications" to current policy regarding transgender service members until President Trump gives more direction.  "I know there are questions about yesterday's announcement on the transgender policy by the President," Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford said in a statement. "There will be no modifications to the current policy until the President's direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary has issued implementation guidance”.

It was now clear that Trump’s tweet about consulting with “MY generals and military advisors”” was just another one of his everyday, bold-face lies.   

And sooooo… we have an interesting dynamic in play here.  The President announces his new policy, his new edict, some might say, then his press secretary says the Defense Department will take “the lead” on implementation, but, but, but, that's not how the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman sees it.  Dunford says that there will be no modifications to the policy until the President's direction had been received.

Now both parties are pointing to the other, to take the lead.  I am no military expert, but this is not how I recall the military is supposed to act when they receive an order from their Commander-in-Chief. 

I am not saying they this is a mutiny by the military, because it doesn't come close to that standard,  but it appears to me, that Dunford’s quick response was meant to send an important message to the White House that “We are not your pawns sir, we will not permit you to include us in your vile decision to vilify one group, and we will not permit you to mess with heads of our service men and women for your own political, self-serving gains.  No sir, we will not permit it”.

Something similar occurred back in1993 when President Bill Clinton pushed to open the services to gays and lesbians. Colin Powell, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pushed back, resulting in the implementation of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, which lasted until 2011 when Obama tanked it after a full review and with the full support of the Joint Chiefs

I could be accused of reading too much into it, but I do believe Dunford was, ever-so-politely, ever-so-subtly, delivering the message, that it took our armed forces 20+ years to morph into an open, and integrated organization, and we are not going backwards now.

It wasn’t quite a middle finger salute to the Commander in Chief, but I have to believe it's what Dunford was thinking.

 

The issue was in the news again today, when Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina and a member of the Armed Services Committee in the Senate was asked about it, and he told CNN that "we're not going to change transgender policy based on a tweet."

Don't you just love it when (some of) the leaders of our country actually stand on principal and show a little backbone?  

It's like a breath of fresh air.