Trump: spinning too many plates

 If you are old enough to remember the Ed Sullivan Show you may also recall the guy, Erich Brenn, who spun many plates simultaneously. The novelty act gained traction. The man moving rapidly to keep plates spinning atop wooden poles seemed to capture something beyond simple entertainment. We watched Erich moving rapidly from plate to plate and we saw a microcosm of life itself. 

Donald Trump’s recent expansion into multiple issues has a spinning plates quality. He seems to be multi-tasking, working to attract voters and clouding the issues all at the same time. Trump is a man who much prefers campaigning to governing. He is a perpetual campaigner.

These issues include:

1)  Criss-crossing the country on Air Force One, like a newsboy proud of his new bicycle. His big rallies on behalf of Republican candidates for the House and Senate are impressive and oppressive.

2)  He calls the press “The Enemy of the People” at his rallies, even though media is his secret mistress.

3)  Trump depicts the caravan of Central Americans as “invaders” walking across Mexico on their way to the U.S. border.

4)  Claims he can sidestep the Constitution and declare babies born to illegal immigrants as non-citizens.

5)  Creating a massive tax break for the wealthy and adding massively to the national debt. Makes believe he is interested in a “middle class” tax break.

6)  Uses coded language to insult women and minority Democratic candidates—like Andrew Gillum—the African-American man running for Governor of Florida. Trump claims Gillum will turn Florida into Venezeula if elected over Trump acolyte ( read ass-kisser) Ron DeSantis.

7)  Trump declares himself a “Nationalist”—despite the anti-Semitic rally in South Carolina where a white nationalist ran over an innocent from the other side.

8)   Taking a “pass” on the opportunity to of call Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton after they received pipe bombs in the mail from a Trump supporter.

9)  Bringing Kanye West to the Oval Office in a show of support. Kanye has since begged off of politics.

10)              Traveling to Pittsburgh for the funerals, despite requests that he delay his visit.

11)               Refusing to take on the role of national healer in chief even in the wake of the murder of 12 Jewish members of the Tree of Life synagogue.

I’ll stop there at 11. That’s enough spinning plates.

A conservative, right-wing friend of mine showed me a bit of cellphone video shot in the Pittsburgh hospital where survivors of the mass killing recovered. Donald, Melanie, Jared and Ivanka were there to visit the injured. 

The Trump foursome and their retinue of bodyguards walked down a polished, clean corridor of the hospital and came across a group of ardent supporters. The small group of supporters began repeating the phrase “Thank you! Thank you!” Trump realized the compliments were directed his way.

The simplicity of the phrase “thank-you” proved irresistible. Donald approached the well-wishers. He had a blue tie, not the usual red. Maybe this was a bi-partisan fashion choice? The president, on his visit to a city hurting with the pain of anti-Semitism and horrible murder, might actually have softened in some microscopically tiny way.

Donald seemed moved. He relaxed and greeted the folks. He even extended his hand for a handshake. I hear he’s germ-phobic and this was a concession. Melanie stepped forward. “Thank-you First Lady,” said one of the fans. Melanie extended a hand. Jared and Ivanka hung back in the hallway but beamed their contentment. “We love you Ivanka,” said another. That got a laugh and more smiles.

The Trumps need love on a personal level like the rest of us. Donald savors the campaign stops and the adoring cheers and laughter of his supporters. The greetings and love in that hallway spoke volumes about the chance for humanity in every human being.

Melania Trump: what she wore

She wore an itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini

For the first time that day…

(Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, 1960)

Of course, Melania Trump did not wear a bikini to visit the border country between Texas and Mexico. She did not hide in the locker room rather than step out and face the gawkers. But she did the next worse thing… Melania wore a Zara jacket priced around $45 with an angry message on the back: “I don’t really care do U”

The T-shirt message tells us what you the wearer really thinks. Melania’s message reflects her thinking-- but why is she so alienated? My guess is that refugee children and their fate hardly crosses Melania’s mind. Certainly not enough to run off and get a Zara jacket.

Zara, Melania’s choice may provide clues to her thinking. Zara began in Galicia, Spain—the most northwest province of Spain. A woman, Rosalia Mera, co-founded the company with her husband and became the richest self-made female entrepreneur in the world. Zara’s secret to success was bringing new designs to market with incredible speed and cost efficiency.

Melania may know nothing of Rosalia's story. The casual-green jacket with the modest price tag may remind her of you youth, the days when she had to pinch pennies as a struggling model. We all long for the carefree days of our youth, and Melania may miss those exciting early days on the runway.

Melania’s life changed suddenly and took a quantum leap with the marriage to Trump. He got elected President. Talk about a game changer! Melania became a FLOTUS, the First Lady of the United States. Even the name sounds uptight and boxed-in. 

Melania showed a lapse in judgement. Possibly she gambled too riskily by shouting to the heavens, asking for a life intervention from the Higher Powers. 

As the Princess chained to the top of Trump Tower, Melania has no easy way off the island. She may be eligible for a break—the jacket actually had a free-flowing, casual quality— reminding us of the relaxed world Melania seeks while no one listens. 

Donald got promoted, possibly to the job he cannot do, and Melania may be suffering the same fate. She wants a fashion line of her own. Anything other than the First Lady’s stuffy uniform. 

Melania has to look a certain way and act a certain way. She’s tired of the whole fishbowl existence and, just like the immigrants plight captured by the Emma Lazarus poem at the Statue of Liberty... Melania yearns to breath free.

The New Colossus 

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Trump as King Midas: chops off the head of James Comey

The Donald Trump era has the feel of tremendous hedonism. Donald Trump always struck me as a Midas-like figure, a man who craved gold. He gave his Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan a golden sheen for gold was clearly his favorite color. Maybe he dislikes the White House because of its pale tones-- so bland and pedestrian. Even his hair has a gold luster.

Then there is fame. Trump lusts after fame even more than gold. And he combined the two. He used his fame, branding the Trump name to get loans to build casinos and hotels create more wealth.Trump built hotels and golf courses, not exactly a Steve Jobs like achievement. His money never resulted from innovation, only from fame and branding. And he brags about his wealth, a sin rarely indulged in by the truly wealthy. What's the point? Rich people know you only create envy in others by reminding them of your superior wealth.

Trump's willingness to talk about his riches convinced me he does not really care that much about money. Attention gets him off, more than wealth. That's why he could handle the bankruptcies and bounce back, still ticking like a Timex watch. He measured the success of his wedding to Melania based mostly on celebrity stats-- pointing out that more than 250 celebrities showed up to the reception. He was eager to have Bill and Hillary Clinton show up for the festivities-- and they did. Trump loves famous people.

Trump cannot get too much attention; he craves more; and we crave more of him. Trump's love of all  manner of fame and notoriety reminds me of King Midas, the king who turned everything he touched into gold. The talent seemed wonderful until Midas found his fingers turning his food and drink into the solid yellow metal.

Trump may have overdone it on the fame front. Like gorging on too much food, the news cycle has been gorging on too much Trump. James Comey, the recently fired FBI director tried to join the fame orgy. He clumsily inserted himself into the election news. He couldn't wait to do it again and went back at Hillary a second time. Now, with these Russian hacker accusations, and possible Trump team collusion, things got dicier and Sean Spicier, and Comey found himself on the ropes.

Trump liked Comey's pre-election high jinks, inserting himself into the 2016 election needlessly, and thereby improving Trump's chance at victory. Comey seemed like a high school kid forcing his way on to the prom committee as he strived to impress his Republican friends. Forgot he was in charge of a police agency known at onetime for its discretion in these matters.

Comey got in over his head-- and now his heads been chopped off. Trump couldn't restrain himself.

Nowadays the news seems to arrive too quickly. Mike Flynn hired, shamed and then quickly fired. Comey remained in office, briefly, surviving momentarily despite the election controversy-- but Trump quickly dumped the guy. Comey seemed like a loose cannon. Trump only likes one loose cannon on the scene-- and guess who that is?!

From Russia With Love

“President John F. Kennedy had named Fleming's novel From Russia with Love among his ten favorite books of all time in Life magazine,^[4] producers Broccoli and Saltzman chose this as the follow-up to (James) Bond's cinematic debut in Dr. No. From Russia with Love was the last film President Kennedy saw at the White House on 20 November 1963 before going to Dallas.”

(Wikipedia)

The film From Russia With Love (1963) came out at the height of the Cold War. I didn’t know about the John Kennedy connection until today while reading the Wikipedia article. But the movie is an indication of where the average American stood on the subject of Russian culture. The Cold War propaganda fed to American kids at the time was best exemplified by the character Rosa Klebb, the ugly Russian spy who attempts to kill James Bond with a poisoned toe-spike.

The image of Russia offered to us featured a vast, colorless, inhumane Communist gulag filled with unattractive women and brutal men and totally lacking in consumer goods—except shoes with spikes in the toes.

And now we have learned that Russian women are hot—the beneficiaries of a fantastic make-over, historically speaking.

Vladimir Putin is depicted as something akin to the harsh Communist bureaucrats, very utilitarian and single-minded in his quest for world domination. We are always reminded he began adult life as a KGB agent. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The new twist is Donald Trump, the American president, having a pro-Putin stance. This twists America’s psyche into knots. The ugly women are now the pretty women? The bad guys are now the good guys? Or, are Russians still the bad guys—only now they may have been clever enough to have influenced an American election.

If a bunch of Russian hackers had the skill to get Donald Trump elected American president—everyone should be hiring them for their next project. Trump may have been the biggest underdog in Presidential history. Now he’s President. He’s keeping everybody engaged with his unpredictability, his erratic tweeting and his disregard to proper Presidential behavior. And added to his unpredictability, he refuses to say negative things about Putin and the Russians. Does that mean he colluded with the Russians? Not so sure about that. I can’t picture Trump cooperating with anybody.

But here’s a twist—two of Trump’s wives have been of Slovak-style background. Ivana Trump married Donald way back in 1977, long before the fall of the Berlin Wall. She must be celebrated by Trump for her contribution of their daughter Ivanka, the light of Donald’s life. Mother Ivana was born in Czechoslovakia and attended University in Prague. She’s really Czech! What a Czech… check her out!

Melania Trump, Trump’s present wife and First Lady of the United States, was born in Slovenia, part of Yugoslavia at the time. She went to school in Ljubljana and that’s not in Kansas. Melania speaks 6 languages--English, French, Italian, German, Serbo-Croatian, and her native Slovene. She loves fancy clothes, no doubt, as a former model.

So, Donald Trump showed some open-minded freedom in his choice of mates and has a carnal connection to the part of world once firmly in the embrace of Soviet Russia, as part of the Iron Curtain countries. Trump’s women have been Russian—esque, maybe not actual Russian but certainly from the Soviet suburbs, and that part of the world has been good to him. The American press (media) never considers a man’s basic drives, sex and procreation, when understanding Donald’s Trump’s fondness for people from the cooler climes, just east of Europe.

And Ivanka will sell you all kinds of fancy shoes, but none with spikes coming out of the toes.