Add President Vladimir “Vlad the Lad,” “Rootin’ Tootin’” Putin and (now former) Communications Director Anthony “the Mooch” Scaramucci to the long list of those who banked on President Donald J. Trump to be something other than he is.
What he is is a narcissist, and the first rule of dealing with a narcissist is that you cannot bank on anything. That’s because the narcissist must always be right. But no one is always right. So in order to maintain perfection, the context has to change. The circumstances and others must be wrong. ...
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Read MoreOne of the many complexities that has come to light in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus that is the Trump White House is the supposed New Yorkification of Washington D.C. The two cities have always had an uneasy relationship ever since Alexander Hamilton, perhaps the ultimate New Yorker, and Thomas Jefferson, perhaps the ultimate non-New Yorker, struck a deal that would make Washington the political capital of the country and New York, the financial one.
Even today, this remains an unusual arrangement but one that has worked for the United States. As Ric Burns notes in his superb “New York: A Documentary Film," ...
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Read MoreHow bad have things gotten?
So bad that people are now feeling sorry for Jeff Sessions.
The attorney general is the new President Donald J. Trump whipping boy. If only Sesh hadn’t recused himself from the Russia investigation, Trumpet wouldn’t be in the fix he’s in – so the twisted thinking of the president goes. In the world of the narcissist, the context has to keep changing to ensure that the narcissist is always right. Trump’s feeling the heat of Russkiegate but can’t blame himself for it and so has to find a vehicle, and a diversion, for his anger. Thus, Sessions is suddenly no good. I’m no fan of his, but how was he supposed to know when he recused himself that the Trump Administration would be investigated for its Russian ties? ...
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Read MoreI am a collector of “Hamlets.”
My first stage experience of Shakespeare’s best play occurred when I was 15 and saw the now-defunct American Shakespeare Festival’s production with Brian Bedford in the title role. It was striped tights, codpieces and an emphasis on Hamlet’s friendship with Horatio. I can still see Bedford, whom I would later interview about the part, being carried off the stage at the end – his head thrown back, his long, dark hair cascading. I loved it, though that may not have been my first “Hamlet” experience. ...
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Read MoreWith apologies to Mark Twain, reports of the Senate Health Care Bill’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
It’s like one of those horror movies in which you think the evil guy is dead, but then a hand rises from the grave or you hear a chainsaw.
They’re ba-ack. Those rascally Republicans – told to mush by President Trumpet – are going to try again with a vote on repeal or replace or repeal and replace, something with an r. They have to do something, anything, because, let’s face it, they’ve done nothing. Apart from Neil Gorsuch and a partial travel ban, Trump’s come up short. ...
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Read MoreToday, July 20, marks the birth anniversary of Alexander the Great, who was born in 356 B.C. in Pella in what is northern Greece and conquered the Persian Empire in 331 B.C., ushering in the age of Hellenistic culture. Much has been written about him. I’ve written much about him – so much so that people are sick of hearing me talk about him.
Why does he haunt me?
I’m an amateur cultural historian. Before Alexander, culture flowed East to West. After Alexander, culture flowed West to East. And that tension between East and West, to which Alexander contributed, is still with us, particularly in the Middle East. We’re still living in Alexander’s world. American troops walk in his footsteps in Iraq and Afghanistan. ...
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Read MoreFor more than eight years, Republicans have tried to obliterate the influence of President Barack Obama and the singular domestic achievement that bears his name still – Obamacare.
That effort came to the end today as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell – who always looks as if he has a pencil stuck up his nose – admitted that he did not have the Republican votes to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Or, as he put it, he was not successful in repealing and replacing the failed Obamacare. ...
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