On Clinton and Trump; America and nukes; transgenderism and sports; the terror of tipping; and more
In recent weeks, I have flashed back to Lewinsky days — the late 1990s. We Republicans and conservatives (I was a Republican at the time) generally said something like this: “You can argue about the legal ins and outs: perjury, subornation of perjury, witness tampering, etc. But what about the underlying behavior? Don’t forget that. President Clinton has shown himself unfit for the office. His behavior is disqualifying.”
Today, I see lots of articles about Donald Trump’s trial — the legal ins and outs. Well and good. But what about the underlying behavior? What about paying hush money to a porn star? Why should the Republican Party, and the conservative movement, want such a man as president?
I never hear that.
• Yesterday, Chris Stirewalt had a wonderful article about his family and politics. His mother, like lots of other Americans, had a sneaking admiration for John Dillinger, the bank robber.
I’ve thought often of my mother’s soft spot for Dillinger as I watched Republicans close ranks around Trump. These are mostly people who wouldn’t tolerate Trump’s conduct in an employee or neighbor. They would be deeply ashamed if a member of their own family was on trial for hiding hush money payments to a pornographic performer or was caught lying about stolen documents — to say nothing of his efforts to steal a second term in office. Yet with Trump they have found a way not just to excuse the bad behavior, but to turn it into a mark of honor.
• Peggy Noonan had a column headed, and subheaded, as follows: “Bad Leadership Is a National-Security Threat: The American porn-star trial, the tawdry British memoirs — all signal weakness and decadence.”
For years, I heard, “The president sets the tone in this country.” I thought, “Oh, come on. We’re a big, continental nation — from sea to shining sea. Hundreds of millions of people. We’re a ‘bottom-up society.’ A society of individuals. ‘The president sets the tone’ — gimme a break!”
Leadership, particularly presidential leadership, matters more than I once knew.
• From an editorial by the Wall Street Journal: “While Mr. Biden has scrapped nearly every Trump policy, he has maintained most of his predecessor’s tariffs despite their economic harm.” Populists often complains of a “uniparty.” In this respect, they’re right.
• “Senator Rubio (R-FL) has laid out an extensive plan that gives the federal government widespread influence over major US manufacturing.” (Go here.) I hope that, one day, people will rediscover American exceptionalism. It is a magnificent thing.
• A headline from the Associated Press: “The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping?” (Article here.) I have a different view of what “devastated Black and other minority communities”: drugs. They are a destroyer, a great destroyer. Of minds, bodies, families, hope, life.
• By Phillips Payson O’Brien, a very interesting article: “The Growing Incentive to Go Nuclear: Biden has inadvertently encouraged vulnerable nations to seek the ultimate shield.” In 2017, I talked with Ash Carter, in a podcast. He was a physicist who held several positions in the U.S. Defense Department, including secretary. He passed away in 2022. I would like to quote from my appreciation of him:
Carter knew a lot — a lot — about nuclear weapons, and other matters nuclear. As of now, there are nine nuclear states — only nine. I regard this as astonishing, given that the relevant technology dates from the 1940s. There are almost 200 nations in the world. And only nine are nuclear? How did we get so lucky?
“It’s a miracle,” said Carter, “and one that we should not take for granted.” Any country, he said, is capable of making an A-bomb once it gets the materials. It doesn’t matter how backward the country is: Just look at North Korea.
We have to be ever vigilant, Carter emphasized. And U.S. leadership is critical. We have alliances with Germany, Japan, others — and they are not nuclear because we are. But if our leadership in the world sagged . . .
One can imagine a free-for-all.
Yes.
• Behold Trump’s daughter-in-law, who is the co-chairman of the Republican National Committee (of course):
Lara Trump: “It’s 4 years of scorched earth when Donald Trump retakes the White House.” pic.twitter.com/be0oFuDwH2
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) April 18, 2024
I believe her.
• A news story begins,
A top leader of the national conservative group Turning Point Action, which has amplified false claims of election fraud by former president Donald Trump and others, resigned Thursday after being accused of forging voter signatures on official paperwork so that he could run for reelection in the Arizona House.
You know what this country needs? “Election integrity.”
• A-wheelin’ and a-dealin’: “Trump campaign asks for cut of candidates’ fundraising when they use his name and likeness.” (Article here.)
• Saw this yesterday: “Today in History: April 23, first YouTube clip is uploaded.” I sometimes think: YouTube is the greatest invention since the wheel.
• But let me go on my rant about sports videos . . .
I once heard Bill Buckley say, “All I want in life is for my printer to work.” He had taken a portable printer on a trip. It was not working — which was frustrating the hell out of him.
All I want in life is for there not to be pounding music in sports videos. Every video is a music video. You can’t hear the sounds of sports: the dribble of a ball; the crack of a bat; the whoosh of a golf club. You can’t hear anything — except the bad, loud music.
I sometimes think that the videomakers dislike sports.
• Let me recommend a sports article, from NBC: “Simone Biles overcame tears, fears, for a no-regrets gymnastics comeback.” It is fascinating, and inspiring. In 2021, at the Tokyo Olympics, Biles was afflicted with “the twisties,” whereby a gymnast loses orientation. This can be very dangerous.
Said Biles, “You have no control over your body. You’ve been doing something for so long, and you now no longer have control. It’s terrifying.”
From the article, a couple of paragraphs:
The U.S. began the team final in Tokyo on vault. Biles got lost in the air on her vault and did one and a half twists rather than the planned two and a half.
“As soon as I landed, I was like, ‘Oh, America hates me. The world is going to hate me, and I can only see what they’re saying on Twitter right now,’” she said.
Yes, we are like that. Charlie Kirk, the young Republican leader, called Biles a “selfish sociopath” and a “shame to the country.” He said, “We are raising a generation of weak people like Simone Biles.”
She is so very strong, and so very admirable.
• Transgenderism is a big, big issue. It includes layer upon layer — and great room for disagreement. Honestly, I think everyone should agree on one thing: no biological males in girls’ or women’s sports. It is a matter of elementary fairness, and common sense.
An AP story begins,
South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley said Saturday that she believes transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in women’s sports.
I have to wonder: Does she really believe that? Or is she just being PC?
• The subheading of an article by Niall Ferguson reads, “Anyone who has a naive belief in the power of higher education to instill morality has not studied the history of German universities in the Third Reich.”
I thought of Bill Buckley. He would sometimes quote the chestnut from H. G. Wells: “Civilization is in a race between education and catastrophe.” Bill would point out that the generation that came to power in Germany during the 1930s was possibly the best educated ever.
• A social issue, if you will: tipping. Tipping is terrifying, or can be. A lot of us live in perpetual fear of undertipping. And we may resent this perpetual fear.
I knew a kid who played on the University of Michigan football team. He was embarrassed by the tips his dad left at restaurants. He (the son) would contrive to leave a little more — maybe when the dad wasn’t looking. (This was in the days when we used cash.)
In a New York taxi cab, the screen allows you to tip by percentage: 20 percent, 25 percent, or 30 percent. Yes, 20 percent is the lowest. I have noticed this on restaurant bills, too.
Does that seem right to you? That 20 percent is the lowest, the floor?
Tipping can be terrifying. (I think I’ve said that already.)
• Was talking to a friend about post-milkshake tristesse. He said, “I am so sad when I finish a milkshake, I would almost rather not get the milkshake.”
Later on, Impromptus-ites. Appreciate you. Talk soon.
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