The Clock Tik Toks Toward an Election
President Donald Trump said Saturday he approved the deal
The art-of-the-deal man is arm-pit deep in something that is a normal function of government oversite and it simply makes me nuts that we no longer have a recognizable president of our country. The fate of Tik Tok is not a presidential matter. In fact (as what used to be understood as facts) even so much as a presidential comment on a commercial deal would be judged out of line. But not in this man’s Oval Office.
What in the hell is he doing on our national behalf, other than getting his direction from Fox News and his Big Macs from McDonalds? Today’s tweets are directly connected to last night’s Fox News and other right-wing commentators. The CIA, Pentagon and other intelligence agency reports are no longer even presented to our president because he ‘knows better’ than his generals and agency officials. Donald has a ‘gut’ and it’s not the one that interferes with his golf swing. It demeans Angela Merkel and most of Europe, while praising Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin.
McDonald Trump runs the office of the president like a Mafia Don. And what he has taught us to call the media—fake news—treats this latest Tik Tok transgression as normal. Three of the headlines above the fold on today’s digital New York Times are about Trump.
During President Obama’s 2nd term, he featured in one out of ten articles in major media and that was a very high percentage. In Trump’s first term he garnered attention in one out of four. The media simply cannot leave him alone and he revels in it, promoting the good, the bad and the different in the proven belief that any mention supports the brand.
Trump is the story
A justice of the Supreme Court dies and Trump is the message. Wildfires burn down the West, cities are overcome by protesters, a pandemic rages across the country and in all cases, Trump is the story. I happen to live in Europe and it’s the same here. Nations and individuals are outraged by his contempt for the world, but his name is on everyone’s lips.
Now and forever, Chicago means Al Capone
I’m from Chicago and any time I mention that I get the simulated machine gun and “oh yeah, Al Capone.” Trump may be re-elected and, if the Senate goes Democratic, likely impeached. If not, we will survive another four years because we are a survivor nation. Out of office, he may be held accountable for a number of crimes against the nation over which he presided and may well find himself behind bars. Al Capone didn’t go to Alcatraz for his murders or mayhem, he went for tax evasion. Justice isn’t always tied to the proper crime and it may be a long time coming, but it usually prevails.
A drowning media grabs anything that floats
With more bullet-holes than Bonnie and Clyde, print and broadcast media has yet to fall out of the saddle. The gunfight yet to come is over eyeballs, clicks and the diminishing national patience for investigative journalism. Digging for truth is so old-timey when what is left of the public taste runs to exposé and salacious content.
Our man McDonald has all those bases covered. 25,000 lies and each of them a magnet, a dozen lurid offenses toward the women he encounters and each of them a story-line. Wild statements by the bunch, like radishes and then the denial he said them (no matter the video), every one a double hit. News media and late-night talk shows have never had it so good and likely will never enjoy it again, so they’re all on the bus. If you want to know what runs most of the world, simply follow the money and McDonald is currently the name that pays.
The Apprentice floated the boat
A failure in all the businesses he most boasts about, with six bankruptcies on that long, lonely trail, McDonald retreated to selling his name. The Trump brand now adorns buildings in which he holds no financial interest. He is the hat with no cattle, but knows how to brand the cattle. That and The Apprentice, a ‘reality’ tv show that ran for fifteen years, making him a national name and a whole lot of money.
Everything McDonald needed to know to win the presidency he learned on that show—that lies, hyperbole, bluster and outrage brought both viewers and money. The show was in decline, not through any basic fault, but fifteen years is a long time for anyone other than Johnny Carson. Where to take it?
Why not on a road tour for the presidency?
He wouldn’t have to win. Winning wasn’t the point. Running was the point and a run at the biggest prize in America would serve the brand. That idea had tickled his mind for a decade anyway and now the tickle was an itch. He’d scratch that itch and have some fun.
And so he did. And so he will again. And he may win again, who knows? The rise of one brand and demise of another. Two brands can hardly share the same space and, what the hell, it’s only America.