Many psychologists, and many ordinary citizens, agree that something is wrong with Donald Trump, and that whatever it is has something to do with his lack of empathy. Perhaps it’s time to take a page from the classic 1960s James Coburn movie “The President’s Analyst” and send Trump for a few sessions so he can at least pretend to care about people not named Donald Trump.
The head of a division of a Washington think tank owned by Google was called on the carpet and fired after he praised a European Union sanction of Google under their antitrust rules. This raised concerns about tech company ownership of supposedly independent institutions and tech CEOs’ refusal to permit any deviation from their official party lines.
This cartoon came about when I was thinking of ideas related to things Trump has done and said. I thought to myself, why bother? Anything I draw about will be forgotten about in a day or two because of whatever Trump will say or do between now and then. Whether the frenetic pace of activity and outrage is Trump’s personality or the result of a clever strategem, it seems to be working for now. Who can keep up with this guy?
Trump deployed the hoary Friday-night “media dump” tactic to minimize the blowback from his pardon of racist Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio. Why can’t progressives work around such transparent foolishness?
Though it has been around for years the “antifa” (anti-fascist) movement gained national prominence following its actions opposing neo-Nazis and KKK members at the Unite the Right alt-right rally in Charlottesville, which left a woman dead. As the specter of officially-sanctioned far-right activity rises in the age of Trump, leftists are debating the proper role of violence, if any, in opposition to right-wing extremism.
Millennial-splaining is the practice by some young adults of explaining in a pompous way how things used to be when their older listeners were around and they were not.
Donald Trump has one thing right: the United States is losing its longest war, the occupation of Afghanistan that began nearly 16 years ago. But his strategy is nothing new and certainly can’t succeed where Bush and Obama failed: sending in a few thousand additional troops. And the justification for the war: unless we throw more good lives after bad, all the fallen so far will have died for naught. Which, of course, they did.
After President Trump defended white nationalists who rioted in Charlottesville, Americans marveled at the lack of accountability. The White House staff was unable to muzzle an out-of-control president. Republican legislators refused to distance themselves, much less criticize him. The media seemed to be spinning uselessly, and showed no signs of a willingness to follow up. As for us, what are we supposed to do, attend another useless rally?
President Trump fended off criticism of his tepid reaction to the violence in Charlottesville that left a women dead and others injured. What no one seems to care about is the routine systemic violence over which Trump presides every day.
On August 21, 2017 the United States will be plunged into the darkness of a solar eclipse. How will this affect the science denialist-in-chief?
