Just when you think that Trump could not sound any crazier, any dumber, any more asinine , particularly in light of a tragedy, he manages to rise to the occasion. I guess asinine will be the word of the day. an asinine stunt: stupid, foolish, brainless, mindless, senseless, idiotic, imbecilic, ridiculous, ludicrous, absurd, nonsensical, fatuous, silly, inane, witless, empty-headed; informal halfwitted, dimwitted, dumb, moronic. ANTONYMS intelligent, sensible.
A morning email from a friend focused me upon his most recent moronic, fatuous, mindless uttering.
She: “They should have had armed guards” statement about the shooting in Pittsburgh is disgusting and insensitive even for Trump – I am baffled by what almost seems to be ingrained anti-Semitism.
Me: Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League calls anti-semitism the ‘oldest hatred’. But what is troubling is that incidents of anti-semitism has risen in the USA by 57% in the last year the largest increase since statistics were complied. This is due to two factors according to his expert opinion: 1) political rhetoric 2)social media.
Of course political rhetoric is President Trump who has no sense of history at all. Goodness gracious! The founding fathers of the USA promised freedom of religion, it was one of its very founding principles. The framers of the constitution were not thinking about armed guards sitting outside of churches, for God’s sake. But no one seems to be reacting with any horror at those words. Now some leaders are not jumping on Air Force One to go with Trump to ‘pay his condolences’ to those in Pittsburgh but where is the outcry? Where is the sense of outrage and irony? Most probably on comedy shows which seem to be where Trump gets his comeuppance. So another word I guess, comeuppance, a noun. noun informal the bad guys always get their comeuppance in the final scene: just deserts, just punishment, due, retribution, requital, what’s coming to one. I suppose that is just, as Trump is just a laughing matter. Except for the fact that he is tearing the country apart. But it is not my country, I have no country. I am neither a Canadian nor an American. The fate of someone who switched sides at the age of 24 and went to live in San Francisco, with flowers in my hair. Then returning in 2017, painting my face like the Canadian flag for Canada Day 2017 but then becoming increasingly disillusioned.
The solution to the problem of Trump would be a ‘if only” the man could take this as his own and repeat it to himself constantly: :To thine own self be true and you shall not be false to any man.” Perhaps I should be hired as a Trump advisor. Over a year and a half ago I said to a man who personally knew Trump that the man needed someone to sass him. I am Queen of Sass. The man who knew Trump slowly and reluctantly agreed with me. He wrote: “What is the value of sass?” I did explain. I suppose I could find it amongst my emails. But, I fear, it is too late.
I do find small condolence from some fellow Americans. I do so love it when there appears, in a well respected journal, a review that agrees with statements formerly made on alexismcbride.com. The October 21, 2018 New York Times Book Review contains a review of Sean Wilentz’s No Property in Man. Wilentz strongly asserts: “It is impossible to comprehend American history without understanding slavery’s role in every aspect of its early development. He reminds us that “Ten of America’s first 12 president’s were slaveholders, as were two of the nation’s chief justices.” (Slightly worse than Kavanaugh’s abuse). However, slavery is one of the “the least understood and distorted subjects in American history”, with the net result of of high school students being virtually illiterate on the subject and therefore it has severe consequences on the national life of the USA.
“Sometimes in plain view and often just beneath the surface, slavery rests uncomfortably in the middle of national debates about monuments, white nationalism, kneeling athletes, Donald Trump’s election policing, immigrant family separation, racial wealth disparities and so on.Its meaning and legacy are, in many ways, as fiercely contested today as was the case when the framers first debated how to make America great.”
Sven Beckert, a Harvard historian wrote”Slave plantations, not railroads, were in fact America’s first ‘big business’.”
But where does that leave me with my my ‘dual citizenship’? I had to go lo London to learn that Canada did ‘practice’ slavery. I did not learn about Canadian’s slavery in school, all of my early schooling including high school graduation and an undergraduate degree. Sure there was the Underground Railroad but that was not the whole story. Then there are Canadians sins – their treatment of native peoples. Sure there are a lot of “Sorry” and Truth and Reconciliation Commissions but is that really anything more than lip service? The huge statistics confirming missing and dead aboriginal women is living proof of the fact that racism is alive and well here in Canada.
So if you came to this blog hoping to be cheered – so sorry. Perhaps you should follow me on Instagram, where I am much cheerier. I do not understand Instagram at all but the number of views on my posts are rather mind boggling. The one of me sitting on the steps of Equinox gym, where I introduce Hottie to the world, and talk about my quest for mobility, (not necessarily ‘fitness’ ) earned 458 visits. My walking up and down the stairs accompanied by weights (an accomplishment) won 495 views. But my numbers may even grow larger because two videos of last week. The Eggs Benedict served by Vadim has had 153 views and the video at Le Soleil where I am revealed to be Kooky Bear won 153 views. All of those videos are cheerful, so if you need cheer – alexismctwit on Instagram.
I fear I have become a numbers junkie.
