Inquiring minds

 

The Guardian has a fascinating article about lanternfish irresistibly titled "In the ocean's twilight zone, a fish that could feed the world -- or destroy it."  But simply everyone is agog at the excerpts from Maggie Haberman's Confidence Man:  The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, so let's start there.  Lanternfish can wait.

First of all, you don't need to buy it or even go to the library, because bits of the book are already online at Rolling Stone, the Atlantic, Wonkette, Vanity Fair, most newspaper sites and probably Women's Wear Daily.  Send your $32 to World Central Kitchen instead and help them serve hot meals from Florida to Pakistan.  If you're at all familiar with Trump you probably know he's racist, homophobic, cowardly, crude and stunningly stupid.  Haberman fills in a few details she gleaned because Trump was flattered by her New York Times articles and opened up ("I love being with her; she's like my psychiatrist").  He's probably preparing to sue her for violating doctor-patient privilege.  Why not?  According to Haberman he wanted to sue Congress for impeaching him.  If I were reading this where gossipy books are read I might very well smite my head on the hair dryer at that point, but the rest is just detail.  For instance, he really hates his son-in-law, who he thought spent too much time on religious things ("Fucking shabbat") and was too effete to go camping.  "It'd be like something out of Deliverance," he chortled, imagining Kushner being raped like the Ned Beatty character.   

Trump not only insisted that his private bathroom be remodeled, he boasted about not using the same toilet as Barack Obama ("You understand what I'm talking about").  But most of his disdain was reserved for women, like the ghoulish satisfaction he took in the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  He asked Theresa May, "Imagine if some animals with tattoos raped your daughter and she got pregnant."  (This really needs context -- why was he discussing rape and/or pregnancy with the British prime minister, who in any case is childless?)  He also tactfully asked, "Why isn't Boris Johnson prime minister?  Didn't he want the job?"  He entertained a dinner party with a discourse on how much "pussy hair" Brazilian women have.  Angela Merkel was "that bitch."  He wanted to fire Ivanka (and Jared of course) with a tweet, lacking the cojones to do it in person.  Of Nikki Haley he complained, "Can't we do better lighting or give her better makeup?"

The story of the White House reception with staff members of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer being asked to serve the food is getting a lot of traction, but it's really just Racism 101 with a dash of senility.  Ronald Reagan at a meeting of mayors once asked his HUD Secretary Samuel Pierce, "How are things in your town, Mr. Mayor?"  At least he didn't ask Pierce to get him a drink.  Trump was famously being briefed on Afghanistan by a staffer when he interrupted to ask where she was from.  "California, sir."  "No, I mean originally."  "My family is from Korea."  Then he began asking her about Korea.  Racists see only race.  Tell us more about how Trump told fag jokes and panicked that he might have shaken hands with someone who had AIDS.  Someone besides Roy Cohn, whose calls he apparently refused to take as Joe McCarthy's henchman lay dying.  

Probably fake but you never can tell.  In short, no redeeming features and a complete absence of humanity, possibly best conveyed through the medium of gossip.  I don't see Robert Caro devoting three volumes to this twice-impeached loser.  Let's go for a walk.