Re Our Addiction to Trump

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Jonathan Levine <jonathan.canuck.levine () gmail com>
> Subject: Re: [IP] Our Addiction to Trump
> Date: May 9, 2018 at 4:54:42 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Cc: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
>
> Dave:
>
> Far be it for me, an outside (Canadian) observer, to criticize a piece
> written by a real combatant in the trenches in this war, but I would
> like to point out some shortcomings in his allegory.
>
> Everything Mr. Kristof says is true, but rare is the junkie who doesn't
> *want* to get off the needle, knowing how much better his (or her) life
> would be without feeding the addiction.  Further, with this drug's
> demonstrated inability hit a vein (exhibit any degree of competence or
> get anything substantial done), the possibility of a lethal overdose is
> vanishingly small - and getting smaller by the day with the increasing
> likelihood of the premature removal of the needle.
>
> Finally - and all else failing - this narcotic, unlike any others, has an
> absolute, final, non-extendable expiry date, after which it will vanish
> permanently from all our lives.  For this mercy we give thanks.
>
> Jonathan
>
> On 5/8/18, Dave Farber <farber () gmail com> wrote:
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > > From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> > > Date: May 8, 2018 at 11:04:03 AM EDT
> > > To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> > > Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Our Addiction to Trump
> > > Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
> > >
> > > Our Addiction to Trump
> > > By Nicholas Kristof
> > > May 5 2018
> > > <https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/05/opinion/sunday/trump-obsession.html>
> > >
> > > We in the commentariat complain about President Trump, but we’re locked in
> > > a symbiotic relationship with him.
> > >
> > > News organizations, especially cable television channels, feed off Trump —
> > > like oxpeckers on a rhino’s back — for he is part of our business model in
> > > 2018. As long as our focus is on Trump, audiences follow.
> > >
> > > It’s not optimal to have as president an authoritarian who denounces
> > > journalists as enemies of the people, but he has given us a sense of
> > > mission and a “Trump bump.” Every time he denounces us we get more
> > > subscriptions.
> > >
> > > (If you’re reading this, President Trump, I’d appreciate a good,
> > > thunderous excoriation. You’ve gone after Maggie Haberman, Don Lemon and
> > > Chuck Todd, but you’ve publicly denounced me only once — and so
> > > incoherently that I couldn’t print out a quote to impress my kids. Next
> > > time you’re on Twitter, how about firing off something concise like:
> > > “Crackpot Krisitofff is the WORST lying reporter at the FAILING NYTimes
> > > EVER!!!”)
> > >
> > > Yet I worry that our national nonstop focus on Trump is helping to usher
> > > America into a hole: a Trump obsession. The danger is that Trump sucks up
> > > all the oxygen, so that other issues don’t get adequate attention.
> > >
> > > In America today, it’s all Trump, all the time. We’re collectively
> > > addicted to him. The nonstop scandals and outrages suck us in; they amount
> > > to Trump porn.
> > >
> > > As president, Trump is enormously important, but there’s so much else
> > > happening as well. Some 65,000 Americans will die this year of drug
> > > overdoses, American life expectancy has fallen for two years in a row,
> > > guns claim a life every 15 minutes and the number of uninsured is rising
> > > again even as a child in the U.S. is 70 percent more likely to die before
> > > adulthood than one in other advanced nations. Those issues are rather more
> > > important than the question of whether Stormy Daniels slept with Trump.
> > >
> > > Or look abroad. In Myanmar, the government is engaging in what many
> > > believe to be a genocide against the Rohingya minority. Gaza is erupting,
> > > and there’s heightened threat of a new war in the Middle East. The U.S.
> > > has been complicit in Saudi Arabian war crimes in Yemen. The carnage in
> > > Syria continues.
> > >
> > > The world’s progress against malaria, which kills almost one person a
> > > minute, has stalled. A fifth of children under 5 worldwide are stunted
> > > from malnutrition. Bill Gates and others warn that one of our top risks is
> > > a pandemic for which we are ill prepared.
> > >
> > > Progressive snobs like me bemoan Trump’s inattention to these global
> > > issues, but the truth is that we don’t pay attention, either. At cocktail
> > > parties, on cable television, at the dinner table, at the water cooler,
> > > all we talk about these days is Trump. So we complain about Trump being
> > > insular and parochial — but we’ve become insular and parochial as well.
> > > We’ve caught the contagion that we mock.
> > >
> > > I’m addicted myself, which is why I write so much about Trump — or catch
> > > myself on a date night with my wife engaging in horrified conversation
> > > about Trump.
> > >
> > > In fairness, there’s good reason we’re all Trump addicts: President Trump
> > > truly is THE story in America today. He is systematically undermining
> > > American institutions and norms that underlie democratic government:
> > > courts, law enforcement, journalism, the intelligence community, truth. He
> > > is also being investigated for possibly obstructing justice and colluding
> > > with a foreign power’s attack on our electoral system. Epic battles will
> > > follow.
> > >
> > > Two thousand years from now, historians may be lecturing on Trump the way
> > > they now discuss, say, the challenge to Roman institutions from Caligula.
> > >
> > > [snip]
> > >
> > > Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/
> > > Twitter: https://twitter.com/wa8dzp



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