Nihilistic Pablum

I wonder if we have always been garbage or evolved slowly into fear-mongering meanies and Trump-electing idiots or if we had a sudden breakdown and cultural nervous collapse.

My investigations argue for evolution. At the time I thought to myself that disco heralded the end of civilization​ but not really. I was exaggerating​ for the effect. But now I think it did.

Something seems to me to have happened about then, that we opted out of authenticity and chose lies over the truth as a result of our early Puritanism and religious fundamentalism.

Otherworldliness is destructive when it rejects the validity of biological being. Believing that the world and physical reality are shit makes them self-fulfillingly shit. Someone tell Trump.

The world--creation--is wonderful. I think that the sixties somehow degenerated into a blind rejection of values--cynicism and a mediocrity quest, lowest-common-denominator effects.

Look at TV and it's pervasiveness and influence. It's nihilistic pablum. Don Johnson's mullet says it all. We don't want a functional leader but a national hood-ornament. Such is Trump.

We don't want to be inconvenienced by being expected to live up to any standard or ethos. There is no better man for that than Trump. He is a complete moral and ethical nonentity.

His Satanic Majesty Requests

In our traditions there are related intellectual and character-driven standards, the abilities to discern the truth and to act to promote human welfare. Goodness, the emotional or character-related component, is more important. Without it we end up with chaos and barbarism--that is, Donald Trump.

Executive Disorder

Donald Trump has reinvigorated his evaporating mojo in the issuing of executive orders. These make Donald feel effective and like a big man. He can assert his authority and draw attention to himself but the consequences are secondary or irrelevant and therefore chaotic, not being the point. But disorder is the point for a lot of the government-despising forces behind Trump, including Mr. Bannon. They must be loving it.

Another Day Another Truth

In the past most of the Republican lies have had an obvious connection to their rape and pillage agenda but not any longer. With Trump we see the value of lies as lies and independently of their avowed or unavowed goals, such as bankrupting the government and destroying the middle class.

It's about power. Lies without an apparent purpose are in fact greater manifestations of power because they are more arbitrary and less connected to reality. Lies with an obvious, if despicable and irrational, purpose are a concession to the limitations of their power. Trump is having none of that. 

The truth is whatever he says it is and for as long as he says it. There will be another truth another day, sowing the seeds of cynicism, confusion and despair.  

Expect a Debacle

I keep a couple of conservative sources on my newsfeed to keep an eye on them. These are reliable, mainstream sources, by conservative standards, such that it makes sense to apply the standard I learned in college--is this rational and valid?--so it's not Limbaugh level stuff or "alt-right" rot. 

Most of these writers were opposed to Trump but they're realizing now that it's feeding time. They are losing their minds as they comprehend the opportunity they have to do the craziest shit they've ever dreamed of because Trump has bombed the intellectual landscape into oatmeal. 

A representative guy wants to obliterate everything Obama has done--the "pompous, liberal agenda" he "crammed down the throats of the American people during his first two years in office" and the rest. Now, do you detect contempt there and an unscholarly attitude and a certain animus? 

Tell me, is it possible that any conservative so-called think-tank or authority would ever come out and say that tax cuts for the rich aren't the cure for everything? The lefties I know are assuredly open minded about policy and really want to find answers that work. We are so screwed.

That's what it means. The American right-wing is completely entrenched and motivated and convinced that they are the keepers of the American flame no matter that the opposite is obviously true. They bankrupted the government and destroyed the economy and the middle class, to start.

Aw, shucks. But God is on their side so it's all okay and none of it matters and, by the way way, fuck all liberals to hell. We are so incredibly screwed. Despite all of their assaults our society endures but they are really gunning for it now. With the coming of Trump I think the end is near. 

Dough-Boys

It's striking how doughy the entire Trump team looks, all white and pasty and soft. Trump's people, like all his presidential provisions so far, appear to be half-baked and under-done.

Chummy Thug Chumps

My impression of the inevitable jockeying for influence going on in the White House and other inner circles is that it is as different under Trump as everything else has been. JFK and Obama provide interesting contrasts, probably because they were personally secure and could handle dissent.

Donald must be the head of a gang of chump chums and acolytes, an unchallenged and unhinged leader in a narcissistic cult of power dependent on going lower than anyone else. They must win no matter what. There were elements of this with Bush--loyalty is assured by implication in the crimes.

General Trumpendorf

I was just reviewing the history of WW I and who should come to mind but our boy Donald. At the Somme there was a German and a Scot locked in battle, together comprising the genetic makeup of a new president, the two sects known for the stupid love of slaughter, mindless carnage ensuing. The cunning and clever German blamed his country's left wing for the consequences of his failure. 

He wanted to distract from his own stunning strategic incompetence and the resulting mind-numbing loss of life. That unloading of responsibility would result in a psychology of betrayal among the Germans and racist resentment and the renewal of festivities two decades later in another world war. Donald Trump has a similar disregard for the welfare of others and the consequences of his actions. 

I'm Beginning To Like It

I abhor Trump but he's a huge look in the mirror for our selfish, bigoted society. 

Prorectionism

Trump's protectionism is about machismo. Castles must have moats and defenses. His America is envisioned as a tower or gated community--highly dependent, cut-off and vulnerable operations.

Is there intelligent protectionism? At the end of the last ice age the Black Sea, a heavily settled area, was separate from the Mediterranean and lower. The Mediterranean​ flowed in as sea levels rose.

Similarly with China historical barriers were suddenly removed. It's possible to relocate the affected peoples or wall them off individually or reduce the flow at its origin and let the communities move themselves.

Only one of the options still makes sense but Trump is considering the others because they are the more macho, show-off alternatives and because, again, it's all about him. Donald is trying to find his hard-on.

Buffalo Hunting

The model for bigger businesses in America is to reduce the risk to nothing. They want to hunt buffalo from a railway car, risk-free harvesting of our natural resources and inheritance--that is, printing money. Our role is to stay stupid and clean up after them. 

A Play-Date With Destiny

Our man-baby president has the psychological makeup of a three year old. He can only function in an environment where he is coddled and cleaned up after. And he's always exploring boundaries, for his own development and curiosity. Only the coddlers are real to him. Not even them but only the coddling. No other life is real to him. This is our playdate with destiny, with a baby with nuclear arms--and one prone to throw tantrums.

Gong Show

Amateur Hour is in effect at the White House and Donald is already trying to compensate for his incompetence by being loud, brash and careless. Please, somebody ring the gong and get him out of there.

Trump's Trumpet Blows (Retreat)

Trump's clarion call of an inaugural speech came off as harsh. He revels in his ignorance and sees it as the strength of his assumed insight--the ability to cut through to the essence like his behavioral predecessor, Bush--but it's just ignorance and someone more educated should teach him about trumpets and traditions. Trumpets were sounded at Jericho to defeat an enemy, Donald's to needlessly stir up fear.

And Gideon's trumpets ensured victory to the lesser guy and that justice can't be exclusive to those who can afford it. Donald disagrees. And he trumpets raising--not razing--walls, to keep capital in and Mexicans out. The forward movement of justice and civilization has always been the point, however messily and incompletely, but not for Donald. He challenges even that. He wants to take us backwards.

The Dark Soul of Republicanism

It is worse than I feared and thought possible. The dark soul of Republicanism is now overtly manifest in Donald Trump. By late in the day of his inauguration Trump has already shown his contempt for America and the world. His self-centeredness is unfathomable. His recklessness is unleashed.

And he is hedging his bets. Apparently the White House is now a satellite of the Heritage Foundation, a hangout for ideologues, demagogues, Islamaphobes, rabid deregulators, religious antirationalists, states' rights nutballs, Obama-haters and closeted oligarchists passing as libertarians.

The unifying point of it is to increase the concentration of money and power in the hands of private individuals who are already so wealthy they constitute pseudo-states. Accordingly the destruction of the federal government, the only entity capable of counteracting them, is their most important end.

For Donald Trump all that matters is the experience and the feeling of potency. The rest of it and us are not important. That right-wing think tank is a very bad sign. It means that Donald is fixing it so he has someone to blame if it blows up in his face, so he will be even more aggressively insane.

Greetings:

As we head down an unspeakably dark road to an unknown end I want to wish everyone well. No matter how great the inhumanity around us it doesn't accomplish anything to abandon our decency. Granting that, I still hope to hell that Donald Trump has a heart attack.

Free Fall Democracy

What an interesting experiment. Republicans are intent to learn the terminal velocity of a democracy in free-fall. The resistance is less than expected and the acceleration continues. It will also be experimentally determined where the floor is--when we hit the ground.

Make Room for Daddy

I don't know how the Trump kids aren't slobs and wastrels at the court of their capitalist kingdom and that is surprising. Somehow the money-warmth emanating from their admittedly engaged daddy has nurtured them. Donald is nothing if not a tribalist and family is the inescapable tribe. 

Donald probably came and went as a parent and so was lionized by his kids and sought after for attention and perceived as both an authority and as a comrade--both a provider and a playmate in the biggest candy store ever. The kids don't appear to be gluttons but after the good stuff. 

How did this happen?--whatever, but I suspect that they adopted adult traits early-on to make up for their father's arrestedness and juvenile antics. It has worked out remarkably well for all of them but daddy's cluelessness could now have horrible consequences and on a immense scale. 

Innocent people will live or die because of it and still Donald is nothing but a self-serving oaf and an opportunist. All of America is supposed to be the president's tribe now. Republicans abandoned this attitude long ago but--whoa--make room for Donald, our new sofa buddy and national daddy. 

Hillary for President

Mike Pence is as scary as Trump. I can imagine Trump vetoing some of the crazy stuff coming down the pike from Paul Ryan but not Pence. He would rubber-stamp anything, the crazier the better.

On the other hand, Trump is more likely to explode the world. No, we must not impeach Trump, thereby empowering Pence and Ryan, but have the election invalidated and install Hillary instead.

Who Needs Food

Paul Ryan is about to see his vision for America realized: more hungry people in a country that throws away forty percent of its food and fewer people with health-care in a country that spends twice as much on it as anyone else. Brilliant, Paul. Brilliant.

Mourning Becomes Ivanka

There isn't a conscience anywhere to be seen in that family but I'm pinning my hopes on Ivanka. At least she doesn't hunt big game--or I don't think she does. In between the lines in much of what I encounter treating of Trumps, and with the inauguration from hell impending, there is enormous sadness and mourning and a vast sense of loss. 

On the surface there may be anger or criticism or election forensics or whatever but among caring and intelligent people the sadness and disappointment are overwhelming. This really can't be us--but it is. Strange noises of confliction seem to be emanating from people's heads. Is there a hint of remorse amid the triumphalism in Trumpland?

If so it's with Ivanka, the only member of the house who appears to have any breadth of vision. Occasionally I think I detect sadness in those eyes. And, consider this, that I bet she looks good in black and the Tower is close to Tiffany's and she could reenact the opening scene of the breakfast there in a little black dress like Audrey's.

Mourning may become her. It sure as hell becomes us. The failing aspirations of individuals are one thing. The failing aspirations of an entire society are another.

Mr. President-Elect:

You vehemently deny Russian involvement in any critical aspect of the election and any direct contact between your "team" and the Russians. If such contact or influence is proven will you retreat from those assertions and resign?

Twist and Pout

The image arising in my head of the inaugural parties is of Donald Trump doing The Twist with a pouty and put-upon look or a scowl because he is finally realizing that he is in a job where he will have to take criticism.

He will be evaluated and criticized and he can't stand it. Also, I think he may wear a girdle to control his middle, making it somewhat immobilized, so he would probably look funny and ridiculous doing the The Twist.

Social Media as Ritual

Technology first enabled the separation of the communication from its source--the missive wasn't physically delivered in the usual sense but independently of transportation. Then technology enabled the separation of the communication from its content, being interactive in real-time. The point of the communication is not to relay content but to feel connected and so communication becomes an end in itself and the content a vehicle. 

It is not ritual communication but communication as ritual. Anyone looking for content in this context will be frustrated. There is content but the content is not the point. Nothing original is going on and what is conveyed is mostly independent of the content since the content is only a signifier, a key or code opening a door based on shared experience and values which are then reinforced, just as Jews enter a temple or Catholics a church.

Again, looking for content in this context is beating you head against a wall. The content, the signifier, is arbitrary and though it may contain symbols or symbolic language these are oftentimes encoded and unrelated to the apparent meaning since none of it is relevant anyway. All that needs to be conveyed is conveyed in the act if showing up, not that there aren't trolls whose exception proves the rule of the irrelevancy of the content. 

Grim Tweeter

America's enemies will be working overtime to execute another terror attack of any kind. They know that Trump, as did Bush, will play right into their hands. They know that only America can take itself down and that they have found their opportunity in Trump.

A Place To Call Rome

We are heading for a Roman Empire model in America. All Hail, Trump-Nero! The inevitable end to it is societal collapse from internal corruption. 

America is Trump. Trump is America.

Citizens, be not concerned. Donald is melding his mind and spirit and being with America. The process will be completed by the appointed day. At that time the identification will be fully realized. Trump and America will be one and indistinct. Away with your silly rules! 

This goes beyond whatever you have previously known in the process or content of leadership. Don't worry your puny intelligences with it or protest. The election is over. The results are in. The state will be incomprehensibly enhanced by its association with Trump.

A Climate Like Nuns

I have always thought that Catholic schoolkids got along relatively well with one another because of the common adversary of the nuns. They were the commies in our cold war.

Now I wonder if Scandinavians aren't relatively civilized because of the adversity of the cold weather and the long winter nights and attendant ass-freezing. Theirs really is a cold war.

Sadly, I think the only thing that can unite Americans again is real, non-invented adversity--not the silly, made-up stuff of the Republicans, spats with this-and-that and whomever. 

Damned Catholics

Mostly I try to avoid the awareness of the number of Catholics in prominent positions at Fox News because of a shared heritage. I won't defend them but I will explain. There are two elements to their rise at Fox, a desire for order, authority and hierarchy above all else and an understanding of human weakness and susceptibility.

Catholics understand and believe in human weakness more so than Protestants and especially Evangelicals. It feels improper, presumptuous and like an affront to Catholics to approach God outside of an ecclesiastical, sacramental context. Fundamentalists approach Jesus directly, personally and in a familiar way.

Obedience to authority is natural to Catholics. It resonates with their relationship to God, which occurs in an organizational, hierarchical context, so they are instinctively submissive. And through their indoctrination they understand the irrational side of submission and how to use subliminal tools in order to ensure compliance, degradation and conformity. 

Such tools are racist code-talk and the dog-whistle marketing of ideas. Catholics associate real freedom with chaos and so flee from it. The lesson they learned from their own suppression and persecution, especially the Irish Catholics, is not that it's bad but that you want to be on top. They fail to reject the model of dominance and submission. 

But the rejection of that is what Americanism and Christianity are supposed to be about. These authoritarians are therefore in a hopeless place of hypocrisy and denial. Fear of this compliance with (papal) authority once made Protestants think that Catholics were unfit for democracy, human dignity and even salvation. Some of them clearly are.

Presidential Goon II: Gladiatorial Success

Much was accomplished in the reign of George I, the first fully-fomented goon president, but he had to be watched carefully. As an agent and administrator of goonism he was unpracticed and untested, young in his experience and commitment, but he proved, under care, to be perfect as a vehicle for the primary tenet of the sect, that dominance and submission are the inescapable facts of reality.

Under goon rule it is recognized that the healthy, primal drives to dominate and be victorious must be respected and actualized in social and economic structures for the system to be stable. Religion and similar delusions are tolerated to ensure the submission of the weak-willed but are, of course, openly acknowledged as fabrications by enfranchised goons. Now a true goon champion has emerged. 

We have a president-elect who is entirely one of us, not a mere adherent because, of course, the internal goon heirarchy is a reflection of our beliefs--perfectly stratified by power. He has, among us gladiatorial status, a high rank, and it can be seen in every action and utterance. He will not submit to any oath, creed, constitution or rule--the tools of fools. It is our way. Long live this ruler!

Trump the Crook

We know who the crook is. We know who needs to be investigated and jailed. He's always been a charlatan and a liar and now he's stolen the presidency. I hope he pays.

The Wrath of Donald

Donald Trump's defensiveness and reactivity are incredible. You have to wonder if his son, Barron, doesn't have control of his Twitter account.

An Open Letter to the Leaders of the Republican Party

(And their shills, henchmen, lobbyist-owners and purveyors.)

My Dear Republicans:

Please disregard and forgive everything I've said about your worthlessness, inadequacy, cowardice and degeneracy. We need for you to come to the aid of your country.

It is clear that any hope we've had that Donald Trump would rise to the occasion and behave like an adult and try run the country responsibly has to be forsaken and forgotten.

He must be stopped. We have seen already how you salivate at the prospects for right-wing rule and hegemony under Trump but resist that urge. Only you can stop him now.

Sincerely,

Your Friends, the Democrats

Keeping Up with the Klingons

Here's a question for all you Trekkies out there: are Republicans more like Romulans, Klingons or the Borg? They are unified like the Borg, warlike like Klingons, and Trump acts a lot like a Romulan--fierce, self-absorbed and unpredictable.

Donald Rates a Dys-

I like the word prefix dys-, indicating as it does abnormality and mal-function with undercurrents of repugnance, moral degradation and the potential for harm--as opposed to mis-, which has connotations of inaccuracy and error. The presidency of the mis-creant, Bush, was a catastrophic mis-take.

Trump promises dys-function and pernicious, societal disease--both resulting from and ensuring America's continuing decline into a dys-topian nightmare of a sort never before beheld because of its industrial, post-industrial and technological, info-age aspects. It's a mal-formation of democracy.

And then there's mal-. Agrarian societies have an unavoidably decentralized element and character. Not so, in a technological context. The potential for centralization and the concentration of power and resources is immense--and therefore, in keeping, so is the degree of the possibility of contagious mal-ignity.

Trump promises us a monstrous America. One mis-step, a self-propagating error, and we could find ourselves in a pit of shit not as bad as some, but nobody likes to go backwards and Americans have more room for that than anyone ever before. Think of the harm Trump could do at home and elsewhere and shudder.

High Plains Grifter

The view Republicans have of themselves--as outsiders and as the brave, ethical, reluctantly renegade and brutal enforcers of a true moral code in the face of a corrupt system--is laughable and tragically unconnected to the truth. They are the insiders, the owners of the corrupt system, and criminals, cowards, thugs and crooks.

The con-artist Trump rides into town on a wave of bullshit. He's the righteous rebel with a few, forgivable rough edges, like an occasional sexual assault, but he will set things right and make America great again. Woe to those who get in his way. Unconstitutional and extrajudicial means are now normal and justified by the crisis.

It's a delusion. The rest of us might as well go to the movies--to escape not from but into reality, if we choose our movies well. But stay away from Clint Eastwood, another rich Republican with a romantic view of himself and his head up his ass. He conveniently forgets how lucky he's been and how much he owes to the system.

Long Day's Journey Into Trump

It's midnight in America. All indications are that Donald Trump, who is about to become probably the most powerful man in the world, still thinks it's all about him. He hasn't made a decision so far showing any awareness of the well-being of anyone but himself. 

He is a continual news feed of aggression, retribution, triumphalism and other behaviors intended only to demonstrate his independence and strength and make him feel like a big man. But Trump is a mobile disaster area of familial dysfunction and narcissism.

Trump Trouble

I was taking the advent of Trump pretty well but I think I'm losing it. I'm really scared. I think he will not only give full rein to the Wrecking Crew but he may do some wrecking himself. 

Literalism

I visit some conservative Catholic websites just to clear my head. I actually agree with most of what they say when it comes to the Church but disagree about the social implications many of the writers make. I think they end up in a conundrum where they need to betray autonomous civil authority to be true Catholics. That is, they seem to want our country to embody Catholic teaching which is not what it is there for and they fail to see, even in a rampantly conservative context, how greatly the modern Church is implicated in the societal changes they decry, most tragically in the Catholic Mass itself, which is so foundational and central to everything.

Catholic Masses are an aesthetic trainwreck. The old Mass embodied many things--most importantly, for me, human frailty and inadequacy, implicit in the use of a rite which was both immersive and elevating, and a view of the world centered on something other than humanity which you would think people get enough of outside of church. Anyway, the Catholics blew it and never fixed it. I heard it said that JFK was offering Americans a better shot at a decent life but that Americans actually wanted to be like him, handsome and smart and accomplished and rich. Presumably God is offering congregants the same thing, a shot at a better but non-material life.

Elevation is an excellent tool to get you there, whatever misunderstandings may occur as to the limitations of the thing. God may love you and care about you but your life is still likely to be shit, let alone resemble the grandeur and opulence of God's Church. Anyway, the Mass is now banal and an indescribable mess and insipid and infected with literalism, a horrible and--egad--Protestant infiltration. I am against literalism because it is the enemy of truth on every front and now the biblical, literalist, fundamentalist Christians have brought that mindset to our government with all the attendant perversity. And with the aid of the Catholics, the dumbasses.

Fortunate Cookie

Donald Trump has been one fortunate cookie, more so as the result of luck and aggression than innate ability. He isn't thankful for anything and isn't convinced yet that he has been properly rewarded for his greatness, it being so inconceivably vast and forward-moving.

If there's a soft center...

to Donald Trump we better find it, and fast. I think that means we have to cut through the crustiness of this clown...

The New Gnostics and their Crystal Balls

Republicanism has become a haven for gnostics--insight-based cadres and believers in esotericism, with ties to pseudo-science, divination and ball-gazing. It used to be accepted that you can't argue from conclusions but, what the hell, you evidently can if you have the right attitude. That attitude is "screw you--and we're not afraid to blow everything up if we don't get our way." 

Okay, they win. Their claim on the truth is that they have it and we don't because it's experiential and based on inside information beamed into their heads by Jesus or rogue traders, evidencing their innate superiority and "chosen" status, all of which is irreversible and was irresistible, preordained and inevitable so we should shut up and stay the fuck out of their way, praise God.

Evangelicals have unique, personal relationships with Jesus, having been "born-again" in His grace. The rich are their own justification by divine agency and the Catholics are only following orders. The gun-nutters also believe in authority independently of anything other than the power to exert it. There is no place for reason in this scenario. There's no place for progress and decency. 

There's no place for moderation, evolution, intelligence, flexibility and improvisation--except arbitrarily and to maintain positions of influence, theirs and not ours by dispensation and inalienable right. We can go nowhere from here but there's a new guy in town, an obvious if unavowed apostate, Donald Trump, anointed de facto and known to have in his possession crystal balls.

The New Gnostics are gazing at them now. 

Cycles of Immunity

My father had the Spanish Flu in 1918, at age three, and survived. That flu, for reasons having to do with exposures, resistance and cycles of immunity, took the healthy middle and left higher percentages of older people and infants. I had hoped that America's bout of political insanity was somehow similar and that resistance would assert itself but I no longer think that because it's no longer a natural process. 

There's too much interference and pressure from forces I want to call Republicanism and the political right but it's gone beyond even that, having been around long enough to work its way into the system and to be chronic and structural. The last election proves it and brings it to a point of concentration. I'll admit that Trump might inadvertently do some good but Trumpism is toxic to our principles and it will end poorly. 

No level of insult and abuse is inappropriately directed at Trump. He's dished it out himself so he's asked for it but he's as thin-skinned as he is offensive and the electorate is accustomed to standards on an inverted sliding scale--less is expected of those with the most, a victory-lap alternative to normal social attitudes resulting in deference and obeisance. But the criticism must not stop and it needn't be pretty.

And it may be petty as long as it's reasonably justified and everything is justified by the existential horror of Trump. In any case there is abundant ammunition left to us by Trump's track record of gratuitous aggression and sketchy practices. Ridicule and satire are the most appropriate tools, in the vein of Stewart and Colbert. The situation is too far progressed in its absurdity and potential for harm for anything else.

Send in the Drones

Donald Trump isn't a strategist he's a tactician--a bit of a drone--and the goal for him was a given, to make as much money as possible and be the center of attention and have a great sexual frolic--before, between and during marriages. Good for him. But will he be able to rise above it in his new role?

Krotona

I stumbled onto some Moorish Revival architecture online and I'm tempted to go look before Trump decides to destroy it, when it's classed as terroristic and subversive under his administration. But he may be too busy blowing things up elsewhere or engaging in reciprocal kowtowing or petty position-jockeying with the rich folks. Let's be thankful we aren't Spain. Granada and Seville would be under his rule.

Vlad the Inhaler

I don't know Putin but I wonder if he's licking his lips at the thought of dealing with Trump. Putin knows that Donald has never faced real competition. They are both highly vulnerable to criticism on ethical grounds so they will be less likely to attack one another, an interpersonal version of mutually assured destruction. What a little club they will have. 

Only Trump's unpredictability and recklessness can even things up with Putin tactically, if they have a spat. It may not work because Putin is a badass and has probably never faked anything and inhaled everything, using deceit as necessary. I'm sure he's done real dirty work including stuff Trump, a little rich kid and mama's boy, can hardly imagine.

My Generation

I'll talk to you about my generation, the irresponsible child of decent, if vain and unsophisticated, parents. My generation has burned through an immense inheritance and can be pictured as a pale, fat baby in a dirty diaper sitting on the floor and bawling for more. We were spoiled, and so we are hugely sensitive about being deserving and the claims of others on our society's resources. Someday they will look back at us with contempt. Oh, and never trust anyone over 70--or under 50.

Ego-Surfing With Donald

Trump's branding behavior is his narcissistic search for himself. Plastering his name all over is his way of trying to find or encounter himself but there's nothing there. At the core of his personality there is nothing. I suspect it's why he's so good at tailoring himself for the audience and the occasion, as he is reputed to be.