My Dear Friends:
David Remnick, The New Yorker, April 27:
...Now we know that Donald Trump’s first term, his initial attempt at authoritarian primacy, was amateur hour, a fitful rehearsal...
Day One Promises
police boats
meander through slabs of ice
atop the river ...
thousands of tons of steel
encircle the National Mall
the downward tilt
of his chin and forehead
and the knitted eyebrows ...
Convicted Felon's official portrait
[l]awfully like his mug shot
the greatest
political movement of all time ...
to the cameras
he proclaims with his meaty smile
as the night turns icy cold
a dictator
on his "first day only" ...
in misty dark
the ghost of tomorrow whispers
Trump Forever, Trump Forever
...The record of failure after a hundred days is, at once, astonishing and predictable. With no evident purpose, Trump has alienated Europe, Japan, Mexico, and Canada, further undermined nato, and made even more plain his affection for Vladimir Putin. He has sanctioned his benefactor Elon Musk to hoist a chainsaw and commit mayhem against government agencies that save countless human lives. With evident pleasure, Trump has deported more than two hundred people (nearly all of whom have no criminal record) to a Salvadoran gulag. With his tariff proposals, he managed to destabilize the global economy in a flash, perhaps the worst own goal in history. As part of his revenge campaign, he has waged a war of intimidation against dozens of scholarly, commercial, and legal institutions. Some, like Columbia University, Amazon, and Paul, Weiss, have caved, choosing the path of obedience over principle. Shari Redstone, of Paramount, would rather trash the independence of “60 Minutes,” the most respected investigative outlet on television, than resist the absurd attacks of Trump and his lawyers...
the people of Trump
by the people of Musk
for the people of the SuperRich ...
sun-bleached stars and stripes
atop the Capitol fencing
detention camp in shadow ...
between the guard and holding cells
dialects of silence
King Trump's meaty smile ...
phalanx after phalanx
of red-hatted men
chanting, tariffs are a tax cut
Make America Great Again
The enduring emblem of this Administration and its duplicity is undoubtedly $trump, a meme-coin scheme that has brought many millions of dollars in profits to the President and his fellow-investors. Few seem to mind. Trump has normalized Presidential corruption...
raindrops stream
down Lady Liberty's face ...
in my mind's eye
atop the White House roof
the stars & stripes upside-down
Huffpost, April 25: Magazine Cover Puts A World Of Hurt On Trump's First 100 Days
Trump Empire, Inc., XXIV
the White House's shadow
darkens the Convicted Felon's face ...
bloodied and bandaged
bald eagle under the headline
1,361 days left
And The Guardian, April 29: Trump warns ‘nothing will stop me’ at rally to celebrate 100 days in office
Donald Trump has celebrated his 100th day in office with a campaign-style rally in Michigan and an attack on “communist radical left judges” for trying to seize his power, warning: “Nothing will stop me.”
Hands Off Rally:
chant after chant of fried truth
eggflation
scrambled justice, poached rights,
cracked democracy... Trump, Fuck Off
The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.
-- Frederick Douglass (February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895), who escaped from slavery in Maryland in 1838 and became a national leader of the abolitionist movement.
Resist Trumpocracy like it's 1938 Germany
To conclude today's Special Feature post, I would like to share with you "First They Came" below, the poetic form of a 1946 post-war confessional prose piece by the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984), who first backed and then opposed the Nazis and ended up in a concentration camp:
First They Came
First they came for the Communists (see above: Trump's attack on “communist radical left judges”)
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
Chen-ou
Added: Trump Empire, Inc., XXV
one store shelf
after another, another ...
red MAGA hats
$50, Made in USA 😂
FYI: The Guardian, April 30: US economy shrinks in first quarter of Trump 2.0 amid sweeping tariffs
Drop comes amid a huge fall in consumer sentiment, which in April dropped 32% to lowest level since 1990 recession
Added: Trump Empire, Inc., XXVI
the Convicted Felon
in the White House's window
the north lawn
littered with the mugshots
of "illegal aliens"
Daily Beast, April 28: Trump Turns White House Into Stunt Central—With More on the Way
Political stunts at the White House have become a hallmark of MAGA 2.0, with no sign of them slowing down.
Added: Trump Empire, Inc., XXVII
one travel warning
after another for US ...
few foreigners
make America great again
the Convicted Felon mutters
FYI: UPI, May 11: U.S. added to int'l human rights watchlist over Trump attacks on democratic norms
The United States was added to an international human rights watchlist on Sunday over Trump administration attacks targeting civic freedoms.
CIVICUS, an international human rights monitor, said it added the United States due to "the Trump administration's assault on democratic norms and global cooperation."
No comments:
Post a Comment