“The crooked timber of humanity,” Isaiah Berlin called one of his books.
It's what I think of when I consider the tinder-box of the Middle East. How can it ever be better there?
And how could it get worse?
Well, Donald Trump could be elected president again.
It is utterly ludicrous, unfathomably stupid, that this unstable, reckless, and profoundly undisciplined man could again be entrusted with foreign policy.
Nothing gets better with him.
We have his four-year presidential record to prove it. We have his words, especially since January of 2021.
The Republican Party is about to do something – re-nominating him – of almost unparalleled irresponsibility. Its leaders had a duty, and failed.
So, I should rejoice at Mr. Trump finally being brought to book. Right?
At last this careless, narcissistic demagogue will have to answer for his actions.
It's not so simple.
The hush money trial is dangerous – and part of the path of total stupidity.
If Mr. Trump paid hush money to a minor porn star, and I don’t doubt that he did, it is not a threat to the republic.
And if he is the kind of human being who would have an affair just after his wife gave birth to his son, it is a matter for his family, not the courts.
Unless it is divorce court.
I know the case will hinge on the contention that the hush money was paid, not to avoid personal embarrassment, but to affect the outcome of the 2016 election. But how can this be proven?
I have a question for the media myna birds now cackling with glee: Have you considered that this trial may help Mr. Trump politically?
So far, his legal difficulties have done just that.
Suppose he is acquitted?
This is not the hill to prosecute Mr. Trump on.
(The E. Jean Carroll cases were legitimate, because assault is different from being a cad, a bad husband or a vulgarian.)
The right hill is January 6th: Fomenting a mass riot and attack on the Capitol and those in it and attempting to overturn a fair election with the phony electors scheme. Plus, pressuring Vice President Pence to refuse to certify the election.
All that is the constitutional crime, and the thing Mr. Trump should have been, and still should be, tried for.
And that crime is worth the risk of acquittal.
Even Mitch McConnell laid January 6 at the door of Donald Trump.
But this trial has been delayed by the games of the Supreme Court and it was unnecessarily and unforgivably delayed by the night sweats of Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The January 6 case should have been brought after the House select committee finished its work in December of 2022.
Waiting so long to bring the one case that mattered was a major stop on the path of total stupidity.
As was the failure of our “originalist,” Supreme Court to admit the clear meaning of Section 3, of the 14th Amendment – it should disqualify Mr. Trump from returning to the White House.
As was the decision of Fani Willis to try Mr. Trump in a Georgia court. That was dumb – southern fried hubris.
And I don’t care who Ms. Willis had an affair with. Do you? Irrelevant to the country. Same as Donald Trump.
But all of the checkpoints on the path to total stupidity – we might add the failure of impeachment due to Mr. McConnell and the idiot judge in Florida who seeks to shield Mr. Trump from prosecution in the federal documents case – involve hubris, which one could define as stupidity, plus ego.
And the result has been distraction upon distraction.
One thing matters with regard to Mr. Trump and the courts: His contempt, as a constitutionally oath-bound office holder, for the constitution and the rule of law.
As for hubris, it is, alas, part of our crooked timber.
Consider Joe Biden. He is a good man and has been a good president. He cares about the country and actually knows where the Middle East is. But running for president at 81, when the alternative is Donald Trump – that’s dumb. Stupid.
Mr. Biden may be right that he is the best qualified person to be president. He may be right that he has earned a second term. He may even be right that only he can beat Mr. Trump.
He is certainly right that the press has trivialized itself with its obsession with Mr. Biden’s fragility and its non-interest in Mr. Trump’s increasing madness.
But hanging on, and failing to pass the baton, as Ruth Bader Ginsburg showed, can be lethal hubris.
There is no point in saying we must learn from our stupidities. We will not learn.
And don’t count on The Donald getting his comeuppance.
But democracy, the rule of law, and the common good actually matter, and are worth our attention and rededication.
Joseph Bentivegna, you seem to have a faulty memory of the Trump years, especially vs. the Biden years. Below you will find just a short comparison.
Trump in 4 years:
1. created chaos at NATO
2. added almost $ 8 trillion to the National Debt after inheriting a booming economy from the Obama administration, when he should have been paying down the debt, LIKE HE PROMISED!
3. mishandled the pandemic to the point where he has proved to be responsible for the death of more than half a million Americans
4. caused the loss of millions of jobs
5. left the USA in a deep recession, just as the previous republican administration did
6. incited an insurrection in an attempt to overturn an election and overthrow the rule of law and our great democratic republic
7. refused to concede and allow the peaceful transition of power one of the basic tenets of our republic.
Biden in less than 4 years has:
1. Returned sanity, expertise, ethics and honesty to the White House plus he has:
2. Replaced the daily Lies and tweets of the previous administration with daily press briefings;
3. Brought in a Cabinet and staff of seasoned experts with experience and expertise;
4. Implemented an effective vaccination program.
5. Has begun mending our relationship with NATO and other allies around the world that Trump worked to destroy.
6. Caused the creation of over 14 million jobs
7. Instituted policies that have caused an over 25% growth in the US economy.
So STOP with your alt-right, MAGA inspired lies and BS!
Bashing of Trump a little too strong here. He did give us four years of peace and posterity and started no wars. Biden has given us four and counting. His dementia has progressed to the point where he just said his uncle was shot down in WWII and eaten by cannibals. If he wins, he will almost certainly have to resign for medical reasons and Kamala Harris will be our president
Both party's voters have given us this unpleasant choice.