SOUNDTRACK: Right-wing lies about the Insurrection (2021).
[READ: November 2021] Small Blows Against Encroaching Totalitarianisms: Volume Two
Two years into the previous administration, McSweeney’s published two small books which railed against everything the Criminal in Chief stood for and had done.
Reading these books in 2021 after he had been soundly trounced in the election and with the possibility of jail time (for any of multitude of the illegal things that he did) is somewhat calming. I think if I had read this in 2018 it would have been thoroughly dispiriting. Because even though these essays provide hope, they are just full of recounting of the horrors that that [fill in the blank] and his crew of reprobates did.
It has been a year since the brainwashed masses tries to overthrow our government. And still nothing has happened. Our country is broken. These essays don’t really fix it, but it’s nice to know you’re not alone in thinking this way.
Each of these essays is quite short (about four pages).
JONATHAN LETHEM-“Testimony of the Senses”
Lethem’s senses tell him that trump is a creature of rage and vengeance who radiates a message of danger and wariness. If one only knew him because he was a loner in your neighborhood, you would tell kids to stay away from him.
SLOANE CROSLEY-“Good Authority”
The cutoff to be on the show Kids Say the Darndest Things was eight. So not long ago our culture agreed that eight was the age at which ignorance stopped being cute. She relates a story from grade school when a classmate convinced the rest of the kids that a two-dollar bill was worth like a hundred dollars. Sloane knew that was wrong but didn’t say anything because she assumed that the system would fix the lie. It didn’t. Nor did it take care of trump.
CHEN CHEN-“A Tired Sadness, a Fresh Rage”
A brief but powerful list of why trump needed to go, including that his America allows for only two feelings: obedient patriotism or numbness.
JASWINDER BOLINA-“An Oath to Us All”
Jaswinder commits to take action against the administration for various powerful reasons. Including that the presidency is not about the President’s best interests. And the author doesn’t know that this President could do any better.
JOSHUA FERRIS-“Poor Fiction!”
Ferris commits to take action because trump doesn’t just lie, he attacks reality, shuns science, denies evidence and uses conspiracy to corrupt truth. As a writer of fiction Ferris feels that trump is better at fiction than he is.
RIANE KONC-“She is New Here”
trump reviles women. Konc’s baby daughter does not the words Slob. Disgusting. Ugly. Bitch. (although she knows dog and pig). Her daughter learned to walk during this administration. Soon she will run.
JAMES CARROLL-“For My Granddaughters”
His young granddaughters have extended his hope for the future and trump undercuts their future. trump reverses the Obama Nuclear Posture Review from one of disarmament to one of proliferation. And the momentum of this will destroy the world
KEVIN KILLIAN-“Imagine If You Can the Death of the Prison House”
People often asked how Hitler could have been elected and he thinks it was likely the same way trump was: to help a tiny slice of super-wealthy people/corporations slide their money to the top.
We should get rid of trump because of all the acts of sedition he has committed, and continues to commit daily. Every syllable he speaks, every round of golf he plays, every combover is an action to bring down the system of government we once thought we understood. Let’s dispose of him by any means necessary, like he was some kind of word virus.
JANE WONG-“Poison”
In the first grade, Jane brought in wonton soup for her family’s Chinese restaurant. The class enjoyed it until a bully said “I feel sick. I’ve been poisoned.” Kids sided with the bully or not. But lines were drawn. We must dismantle bullying and white supremacy to protect the future.
Much like me, she doesn’t like to hear or se trump’s name.
LEWIS HYDE-“Self-Interest Deposed”
He says he is committed to getting trump out of office by voting him out or by impeachment (obviously that didn’t help). But the simple truth is the trump has violated the emoluments clause and according to the Constitution, he should be impeached.
RICHARD HOWARD & DAVID ALEXANDER-“Destroy, He Said”
These authors rebel against trump’s cultural vandalism. trump destroyed two works of art in 1980. He acquired the Bonwit Teller building and turned it into a tacky tower with his name on it. The building was not protected but it could have been–an art deco style with beautiful sculptures. The Met estimated that they were worth $200,000. But trump didn’t care and had them destroyed (by underpaid, undocumented illegal immigrants). This was all public knowledge when he ran for office.
VU TRAN-“On Human Decency”
Too many decent people have turned a blind eye to indecency. Perhaps they care more about the agenda than the behavior of a candidate. One need not be a saint to be decent. It is simple: be kind to people; help them if you can; do unto other as you would have them do unto you. Has trump done this? Like hell.
NALINI JONES-“A Certain Grasping Quality”
trump disdains women. The “grab them by the pussy” is enough to show how he feels. And his work in office has shown this callous disregard. Men of decency are appalled; Women are mobilizing in powerful number–including daughters.
KAVEH AKBAR-“It’s Simple”
Akbar writes one paragraph because it is so simple: trump is an abuser of women.
SAMUEL G. FREEDMAN-“What a Bully Understands”
The only thing a bully understands is a punch in the mouth. D. was a bully in his school. He bullied everyone and no one stopped him. He regularly bullied H. and made him time D’s shoes. One day, a pothead who played bass in a garage band, R., had had enough. He walloped R. in the face. He was still a scary person (even at the 40th reunion), but he stopped bullying people. The punch to trump will be symbolic–impeachment or a staggering defeat. [Turns out neither of them were enough.]
SHANE McCRAE-“The Same Reality”
Everyone knows trump lies–that should have been enough to keep him out of office. A narcissist is a person who has a private understanding of the world. A Narcissist with authority can impose their private views on others. When you say truth is fake, we never share the same reality.
HILLARY JORDAN-“For the Girls”
Jordan doesn’t want her nieces to have trump as a teacher. It seemed likely that they would grow up (being born in 2016) when the President was always a woman. Instead, they will learn that white supremacy is good, and that women should be pretty, big-chested and submissive. When they ask how he became president we can only say “Because we let him.” The only decent response to that will be “And then we got rid of him.” [Actually it will be, “And then we threw his ass in jail”].
JAY CANTOR-“Travesty”
trump’s so called nationalism is nothing but old fashioned racism. And a travestied, clownish version of fascism is still fascism.
POROCHISTA KHAKPOUR-“What is Better”
Khakpour came here as a refugee from Iran and the election of trump is the worst thing that has happened to him. The man is not fit to lead. He is not fit to be an American. He is not fit to be human. After trump’s first year Khakpour wrote that he was sure that not only would he not be impeached but that he would get a second term. Fortunately he was wrong.
SCOTT TUROW-“More Bad Than Good”
Turow uses the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to show why trump is more than a “complete asshole,” he is a dangerous, unstable man.
SARAH GERARD-“He Builds Walls”
Gerard says that there is no greater offense to her as a writer than the abuse of language, which is exactly what trump does. She has a paragraph which is just a list of all of the things that trump is from dishonest to racist to flatulent to repulsive, to petty to jealous.
LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI-“Trump’s Trojan Horse”
He ends the book with a poem. trump’s Trojan Horse holds men that burst out to destroy democracy.
And install corporations
As absolute rulers of the world
Ever more powerful than nations
And it’s happening as we sleep
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