The art of the ‘no deal’

May 10, 2018

So, President Donald J. Trumpet has gone and done what he said he would do, what many feared he would do, and backed out of the Iran nuclear agreement. There were sunset clauses, Iran could still produce ballistic missiles that could reach Israel, blah, blah, blah. Then, too, President Barack Obama was an architect of the deal and we all know of the obsessive psychodrama that is Trumpet’s hatred of Obama. So, the Iran nuclear agreement was nuked the moment The Donald became president.

But if it were so terrible, why not go to our allies – alias Emmanuel Macron, who’s left to pick up the pieces – and work with them to strengthen the deal, revamp it or put a new one in place?…

Don Rodolfo Giuliani de la Mancha, a tragicomedy in two acts

May 8, 2018

Tragedy, they say, returns as farce and so it is with Rudolph Giuliani – former New York City prosecutor and “America’s mayor” – who in defending his new client President Donald J. Trumpet to “Fox News’” Sean Hannity contradicted him on the Stormy Daniels matter, perhaps putting him in legal jeopardy. More tellingly, Rudy Two Shoes told Hannity he might have “to get on my charger and go into (Robert Mueller’s) offices with a lance” to defend his damsel in distress, his Dulcinea – Ivanka Trump. (I think I speak for women everywhere when I say Ivanka can take care of herself.) …

Trump’s ‘he said, he said’ moment

May 7, 2018

Let me make one thing perfectly clear: Trump did not have sex with that women, Miss Lewinsky, er, Daniels.

Until he did.

But he didn’t pay her. No, sirree, his lawyer Michael Cohen did. But Trump reimbursed him.

Then again, maybe not.

Folks, you might as well go to your local ballpark and buy a scorecard, because you’re going to need it to sort out this one. …

Modern Medusas: From Barbara Bush to Barbra Streisand

April 21, 2018

Barbara Bush – who died Tuesday at age 92 and was scheduled to be buried today in the presence of four former presidents – has been the subject of many remembrances and reactions this week, most of them admiring of a woman who turned a sharp gaze and an even sharper wit on herself as much as others. So, she no doubt would’ve been amused by The New York Times’ official reflection, whose undercurrent was a motif she often addressed – her appearance. …

He’s Henry VIII, he is

April 12, 2018

Tuesday, Thirteen-WNET, PBS’ New York flagship, offered a fascinating juxtaposition – “Inside the Court of Henry VIII” and, on “Frontline,” “Trump’s Takeover,” – about the president’s takeover of the Republican Party, a documentary that looks chillingly prescient airing as it did a day before House Speaker Paul “Paulie PowerPoint” Ryan announced that he would not seek reelection and instead intended to spend more time with his family. (I love the poster on The New York Times who wrote, “What makes him think his family wants to spend more time with him?” ...

Of Amazon – and Amazons

April 1, 2018

In the through-the-looking-glass world of Trumpian lunacy, it was perhaps inevitable that President Donald J. Trumpet should tilt his lance at one of the corporations that he was supposedly trying to help with his tax cuts and defend a business that has been laying off the very kinds of workers he swore to protect.

But then, little makes sense about Donnie Two Scoops’ attack on behemoth Amazon. ...

Trump’s crisis of leadership

March 17, 2018

The continuing Revolving Door Policy of the Trump Administration has thrown the systemic failure of Alexandrian leadership – leadership from the front – into sharp relief.

President Donald J. Trumpet has surrounded himself with Trumpettes – yes-men and, to a lesser extent, yes-women – and distanced himself from the No, No, Nanettes. Which is odd, considering his professed love of chaos. Wouldn’t you want some tension, some conflict? ...