Donald Trump, America's Savior?

Last November, President Donald J. Trump tweeted: "I am the candidate of...hard-working, law-abiding patriots of every race, religion and creed!"

How law-abiding and patriotic were those who stormed the Capitol building in D.C. on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 when the Congress was in the process of counting and finalizing the Electoral College votes?

The right-wing, Pro-Trump, Edmond,Oklahoma-based religious magazine The Philadelphia Trumpet declared, in a January 2021 article by Stephen Flurry ("The Radical Left's Ongoing Coup"), that "The radical left is making a coordinated, sustained, powerful, illegal, immoral effort to seize power over the United States!"

That description more accurately fits those thousands of white nationalists who terrorized and threatened elected officials and vandalized government property. All of this happened because they were unhappy with the 2020 presidential victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and felt that the election was stolen from Trump.

"Donald Trump," writes Gerald Flurry, the editor-in-chief of The Philadelphia Trumpet and writer Stephen Flurry's father, "certainly has his problems, and God sees those--but He chose him as a SAVIOR, temporarily, for America!" (Cover story, "Why Donald Trump Will Remain America's President," The Philadelphia Trumpet, January 2021.)

Mary Trump, Donald Trump's niece, would scoff at that idea. In her book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man (Simon & Schuster, 2020), she describes her uncle's mindset--"the person with the power...got to decide what was right and wrong. Anything that helped you maintain power was by definition right, even if it wasn't always fair." Also, she writes,Trump believes that you must "be tough at all costs, lying is okay, admitting you're wrong or apologizing is weakness."

Does any of that make you feel that Donald Trump is America's savior?

Mary Trump's Book About Her Uncle, POTUS Donald Trump

About two weeks ago, Mary Trump, Donald Trump's niece and the author of Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man (Simon & Schuster, 2020), appeared on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross in an hour-long interview.

Whereas Michael Wolff in his book on Trump, Fire and Fury, briefly mentioned that Trump's older brother Freddy (and Mary's father) drank himself to death, Mary Trump revealed why that happened. He had not met the high expectations of his real estate mogul father and became an outcast and a family embarrassment. "His father's approval," wrote Mary Trump, "...mattered more than anything."

Mary Trump is a psychologist with a Ph.D so her insights into her uncle's psyche should help readers--and voters--understand why he behaves as he does.

I just started reading the book which I am thoroughly enjoying. Too Much and Never Enough is sure to remain on the bestseller list for a very long time. (Unfortunately, the book contains no family photos.)

In the radio interview, Mary Trump revealed she is a lesbian. That's probably near the end of the book. If it is, I hope she will provide readers with more details about her experience coming out.

Note: This blog post has been slightly altered and originally appeared on my Facebook page on July 26, 2020.

Inside The Trump White House

I recently finished reading Bob Woodward's Fear: Trump in the White House (Simon & Schuster). I had a hard time putting it down. Woodward's reporting highlighted the turmoil in the White House since Trump's occupancy: the backstabbing and backbiting among members of his administration; Trump's profanity-laced rants; Trump's flip-flopping on issues; the seemingly endless personnel changes, etc. The reader's impression would be that the Trump administration is something out of a movie written and directed by Mel Brooks.

Inspiring Words From FDR

"With your help and your patience and your generous goodwill, we will do what we can to mend the torn fabric of our common life."--President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Poughkeepsie, New York, November 1932. (Quoted in Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady by Susan Quinn (Penguin Press, 2016), page 30.)

Can anyone imagine Donald Trump uttering those inspiring words? I can't.

Trump, A Crazy Rich Caucasian?

Someone (Michael Moore? Spike Lee?) will probably make a documentary about Trump and call it Crazy Rich Caucasian.


Note: Today is National Cat Day. According to Wikipedia, it "was founded as a way to bring awareness to the number of homeless cats."

Barack Obama Quotes Ernest Hemingway At John McCain's Memorial Service

I love the following quote:

"Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other days that ever come can depend on what you do today."--Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Former U.S. president Barack Obama quoted the above passage in the eloquent eulogy he delivered at U.S. senator John McCain's memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral, Saturday, September 1, 2018.

Can you imagine Donald Trump, a man who doesn't read, quoting Hemingway or any other writer, American or otherwise?

Dumb Donald And King James

There is an old saying, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Well, Donald Trump, our 45th president, decided to throw stones at basketball star LeBron James (called King James by his fans) via Twitter.

James, a staunch critic of Trump and his policies, said, in an interview with CNN's Don Lemon, "We are in a position in America where this race thing has taken over. ...I believe our president is trying to divide us."

The Tweeter-in-Chief responded by saying that "Lebron [sic] James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn't easy to do."

Trump has received much criticism in the media for again attacking the intelligence of African-Americans.

However, according to journalist Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, there have been several  people inside the Trump Administration who've questioned Trump's intelligence.

"There was now a fair amount of back-of-the-classroom giggling about who had called Trump what," reported Wolff. "For [Treasury secretary] Steve Mnuchin and [former Chief of Staff] Reince Priebus, he was an 'idiot.' For [Chief Economics Advisor] Gary Cohn, he was 'dumb as shit.' For [National Security Advisor] H. R. McMaster, he was a 'dope.' The list went on." (See page 304.)

Those attitudes among people in the Trump White House should make LeBron James smile and say to himself, "Look who's calling me and others dumb."

JFK The Reader And Donald Trump The Non-Reader

Examining the reading habits of the president of the United States, the most powerful man in the free world, gives us some insight into the quality of his thinking, his comfort level with complex ideas, and the depth of his curiosity about the world around him.

"Send me a man who reads," was the slogan for a print ad for the company International Paper in the 1960s that I remember seeing in Reader's Digest, underscoring the need for literate, thoughtful, and broad-minded individuals in the business world as well as in politics and the arts.

Reading about the reading habits of John F. Kennedy and Donald Trump in two recently published books, I became aware of the sharp contrast between the two men.

In Schlesinger: The Imperial Historian by Richard Aldous (Norton, 2017), JFK is described by Aldous as a man who "maintained a keen interest in history throughout his life." His wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, is quoted as saying that Kennedy"would read walking, he'd read at the table, at meals, he read after dinner, he'd read in the bathtub."

"Jacqueline," writes Aldous," [recalled] how Kennedy each Sunday would circle the new books in the New York Times Sunday Book Review that he wanted to read."

Contrast that image of Kennedy with that of Trump, who, writes Michael Wolff in his book,Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House (Holt, 2018),  "didn't read. He didn't really even skim. If it was print, it might as well not exist...Some thought him dyslexic;certainly his comprehension was limited. Others concluded that he didn't read because he just didn't have to, and that in fact this was one of his key attributes as a populist. He was postliterate--total television."

His lack of interest in reading may explain the numerous spelling and grammar errors found in a letter he sent to a former South Carolina English teacher, Yvonne Mason, who posted it on Facebook, which went viral, and sent it back to the White House with corrections in purple ink. "If it had been written in middle school," said Ms. Mason, in a news report (Metro New York, May 30, 2018), "I'd give it a C or C-plus. If it had been written in high school, I'd give it a D."

In summation, a tale of two presidents: one who immersed himself in books and one who doesn't.

Saving New York From Rising Sea Water

Donald Trump, our 45th president, is more concerned about building a wall along the southern border than he is building a sea wall in New York harbor to keep rising sea water from flooding lower Manhattan and other low-lying areas of the city. The wrath of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 should have been a wake-up call.

Note: I posted the above comment on Facebook on April 7, 2018.

Tomorrow is Earth Day.

Books By Authors From Countries Disparaged By Trump

As a response to President Trump's recent labeling of Haiti and African nations  as "shithole countries," Book Culture, a book store on 112th Street near Broadway in Manhattan, created a window display featuring twenty-eight books from some of the countries disparaged by Trump.

On one of the windows was posted a message, printed in all capital letters, that said:
"WE HAPPILY SELL BOOKS BY AUTHORS FROM 'S***HOLE COUNTRIES.'"

Some of the books and authors in the window display included In the House of the Interpreter: A Memoir by Ngugi wa Thiong'o, The Art of Death: Writing the Final Story by Edwidge Danticat, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah, Homecoming: A Novel by Yaa Gyasi, Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,  Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue, Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf by Helene Cooper, and A Moonless, Starless Sky: Ordinary Women and Men Fighting Extremism in Africa by Alexis Okeowo.

My Presidential To-Do List

On the editorial page of the New York Times (November 8, 2016), readers were asked "to list three things the new president should do in the first 100 days in office," in 150 words or less.

Here is my presidential to-do list:

1. Nominate a Supreme Court justice so the court can get back to being fully functional with nine justices.

2. Improve the nation's transportation and infrastructure systems.

3. Promote programs that encourage the use of renewable energy sources like wind and solar and thereby minimize the effects of climate change.

Recipe For A Trump Sandwich

This message was handwritten on a sidewalk sandwich board located outside Amigos, a Mexican cuisine restaurant on Broadway, near 113th Street, in Manhattan:

"Trump Sandwich--White Bread, Full of Baloney, w/ Russian Dressing and a  Small Pickle. Plus No Tax Included."

Barack Obama Is NOT From Kenya

For Black History Month in 1991, St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser beer, published Black Facts Booklet which was small enough to fit into a shirt pocket or purse.

Among a handful of glaring errors was a factual one that would have delighted today's conservative pundits: "Barack Obama," noted the booklet, "the twenty-eight-year-old law student from Kenya [emphasis mine] became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review." (And later the first black president of the United States.) First of all, Obama would have been closer to thirty years old in 1991 and secondly, he was born in the state of Hawaii, not Kenya, which would make him an American citizen and eligible to run for president. His father, on the other hand, was the one born in Kenya. He met Obama's mother when he was an exchange student in Hawaii.

So the Black Facts Booklet was not as factual as the title would have readers believe.

Bill Clinton, Gentrifier?

In Edward Klein's riveting nonfiction book, The Feud: The Clintons vs. the Obamas (Regnery Publishing, 2014), he wrote that when Obama campaign advisors David Axelrod and Jim Messina visited Clinton's Harlem office to get his support in reelecting Obama, Clinton "pointed out that Harlem had experienced a renaissance since he moved his post-presidential office there, and that he was largely responsible for Harlem's revived economy and gentrification."

The truth of the matter is that gentrification in Harlem was happening long before Clinton set foot there or in the White House.

New York magazine, in its July 23, 1979 issue, ran a story by James Mannion called "Who Will Inhabit Harlem?" The article stated that "as middle-class blacks have come to Harlem, so too have whites. Bankers and realtors report that over the past three years, young white families have begun buying homes in Harlem."

Furthermore, "Harlemites are asking themselves how many more whites are going to move in and what that will mean for the most visible black community in America."

For Bill Clinton to puff out his chest and claim that his presence in Harlem brought about its economic prosperity and gentrification is nothing more than hubris.

Book Rescue On 116th Street

Walking up 7th Avenue toward 116th Street in Harlem, in front of the First Corinthian Baptist Church (its pastor, Michael Walrond, unsuccessfully ran against congressman Charles Rangel this year), I found, face down, a copy of a paperback immigrant novel. The book, If Today Be Sweet, was written by a novelist and professor of creative writing and journalism, Thrity Umrigar, originally from India. She is now living in the United States.

I picked the book up and tucked it between two church pillars thinking that the book had been left behind after a recent book fair at the church and that someone would find it. Twenty-four hours later, the book was still where I had placed it. So I decided to keep it.

Browsing through it, I found on the inside back cover, an inscription, handwritten in ink and dated
"1/18/08 09!"

"Barack Obama

'Our arts, our culture, our sciences are part of what make [sic] America special. And I plan to invite those things into the White House.'--Meet the Press, 2008."


If I never get around to reading this novel, that inscription alone was worth the effort to rescue this book from some landfill.

Obama, Savior Of American Newspapers?

Voice of the People
New York Daily News
November 10, 2008

To The Editor:

The day following Barack Obama's historic victory, it was hard to find a newspaper. Maybe Obama will be a godsend for the ailing newspaper business.

Sincerely yours,
Charles Michael Smith


This letter-to-the-editor was submitted via e-mail and was published November 14, 2008.

A Tale Of Two Presidents

The following is a letter I wrote to Bayard Rustin on December 7, 1977.

Bayard Rustin, Executive Director
A. Philip Randolph Institute
260 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10010

Dear Mr. Rustin:

Shortly after LBJ's death, you and A. Philip Randolph issued a joint statement to the press linking the late 36th president's name with that of the 16th president's.

I quote: "With the exception of Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves, no single President contributed as much to the cause of racial equality as Lyndon Johnson." Then both of you enumerated some of Johnson's contributions: "...the civil rights act of 1964, the voting rights act, open housing, and innumerable pieces of liberal legislation that were a part of the Great Society."

I agree that the emancipation of the slaves by Lincoln was a monumental and praiseworthy act, however, if we compare the overall contributions each made to the civil rights cause, Johnson's record glows like an incandescent light bulb. Lincoln freed the slaves, but he did not work diligently to see that they were provided with education, jobs, and housing. According to the noted historian John Hope Franklin, "Lincoln hoped that the Proclamation would provide the basis for a new attitude and policy for Negroes." In other words, Lincoln was relying on the state governments to be benevolent enough to take care of these newly-emancipated individuals, who had not been prepared for freedom. I think Lyndon Johnson said it best when he said, "You do not take a man who for years has been hobbled by chains, liberate him, bring him to the starting line of a race, saying  'you are free to compete with all the others,' and still justly believe you have been completely fair."

John Hope Franklin points out in his essay on the Emancipation Proclamation that "...he had come to the conclusion that in order to save the Union he must emancipate some of the slaves." Also, "There was no emancipation in the border states, with which the abolitionists had so little patience. Parts of states under Union control were excepted...." But slaves in these areas refused to recognize the exceptions. The Emancipation Proclamation was not all that it appeared to be.

Can you imagine Lyndon Johnson, a champion of the underdog all his life, saying as did  Abraham Lincoln in 1858 (a short time before he became president): "I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races...." He added, "...and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race." To me, this is nothing more than racist demagoguery and tarnishes Lincoln's image as the Great Emancipator. To say Lincoln, by virtue of the fact that he freed the slaves, is the greatest civil rights president in American history is as wrong as a left shoe on a right foot. That title belongs to Lyndon Baines Johnson, our 36th president from the Lone Star State of Texas.

I would be very happy to hear what comments you and/or Mr. Randolph have regarding this letter.

Sincerely yours,
Charles Michael Smith

Note: No response was received from Bayard Rustin or A. Philip Randolph.

A Few Words From Joseph Lowery

I love this quote: "Lord, in the memory of all the saints, who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right."--Rev. Joseph Lowery, at Barack Obama's presidential inauguration, 2009. (Quoted in The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama by David Remnick (Knopf, 2010.)

Gay Porn Star For President

"If I could choose any one single job, I would definitely go the presidential route. I wouldn't mind being President of the United States. Absolutely."--Junior Stellano, gay escort/porn star, from Q & A interview, Time Out New York magazine, August 5-11, 2010 (Issue 775)

Here's an idea for a "reality" show that would be worth watching every week, a gay escort/porn star campaigning for the presidency. It would be so outrageous and over-the-top , it would probably be a hit show. Junior Stellano could be made the star of the show.

The chance of such a candidate winning the election is as likely as me landing on the moon in a homemade rocket ship. But it would be humorous and highly entertaining, especially the reaction of people on the campaign trail.

Since the forthcoming Oprah Winfrey Network is having some trouble filling its schedule with enough new programs, here is an idea they should take into consideration for their 2012 season.

A Haiku for the Obamas

It is with pleasure that I accept Charles Michael Smith's invitation to publish one of my poems, a haiku for the Obamas , on his blog. Velma Jean Reeb.

Amabo, but Firmly

Rising before dawn,
Barack the lad sat with Mom
reviewing lessons.

"Obama" reversed,
means, in Latin, "I will love,"
but he's tough--no dove!

He wasted no time:
Columbia in '79--
Harvard by '83.

Then as President
Elect, he heard his daughters
laugh with glee to hear

Dad's long-awaited:
"Sasha and Malia...you
have earned the puppy..."

And so, First Dog Bo
has come home to the White House:
Amamus te, Bo!

c2009 Velma Jean Reeb

Velma Jean Reeb is an alumna of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Classics, at Columbia University. She is a proud Upper West Side/Morningside Heights progressive Democrat.