Trump's Legacy
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George Schiro
Jan 21, 2021, 9:29:07 PM1/21/21
to gg
While I have no doubt his name will be remembered in the same vein as
Benedict Arnold and/or Typhoid Mary, I think there will also be much more to
the word "trump" in the long-term (BTW, perhaps it's time for the game of
bridge to change its term for "no special suit" - see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_bridge ).
Here's a case in point.
After seeing his sister's inspired performance in "Lovecraft Country", I
recently wondered whatever happened to Jussie Smollett? He was the actor
whose life and career crashed and burned after he perpetrated an
unsuccessful hate crime hoax in 2019 (see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jussie_Smollett ).
Then it occurred to me. This is just one more strangely sad story
epitomizing the (hopefully) brief Trump era.
Here's a man who was arrested in 2007 for DUI. He then gave police a false
name and signed his brother's name on the summons promising to appear in
court - a kind of foreshadowing of things to come. Then, a decade later -
apparently to increase his public visibility, he concocted an elaborate
scheme to garner sympathy by staging an attack on himself by fake MAGA thugs
(see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_America_Great_Again ).
Jussie Smollett was "trumpian" to the core. Being black didn't matter. Being
gay didn't matter. Anyone can be trumpian in a variety of ways. Smollett was
so self-absorbed that he risked destroying himself and any reputation he was
trying to foster - just for one last ditch publicity stunt. Now he will be
remembered as the lying idiot actor who threw it all away for a few more
minutes of fame.
The great irony of this story is that Smollett chose to incorporate Donald
Trump into his extravagant lie by having his fantasy assailants proclaim
"This is MAGA country!"
Likewise, Donald Trump threw it all away for a last ditch cling to power -
all to remain in the limelight for just a little longer. He was willing to
tell the now American version of the "big lie" over and over again - that a
landslide election victory was stolen from him. He only paused telling the
big lie (temporarily - to influence the impeachment trial) after his
deranged followers turned his lie into violent action (see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie ).
Besides enabling a likely economic depression, besides allowing hundreds of
thousands of needless American deaths, besides earning the - no longer
hyperbolic - appellation "Worst President in U.S. History", the name "Trump"
will be the ongoing butt of derision worldwide.
Trump's name will forever be used not only as a symbol of hate, but also as
various epithets (similar to how "Benedict Arnold" is forever known as the
embodiment of "traitor") but with so many more negative connotations begging
to be listed:
Trumpean
as in "Trumpean Christianity - Bad for Business"
https://tinyurl.com/yybpmyx8 (Charlie Hadjiev blog)
Trumpesque
as in "Alec Baldwin Slammed for Trumpesque
'Black People Love Me' Comment"
https://tinyurl.com/y4xm8xt5 (The Daily Beast)
Trumpian
as in "used by critics to characterize his
language, conduct, and policies"
https://tinyurl.com/y4937r99 (Dictionary.com)
as in "Is Trumpian Destined to Become the
Greatest Adjective in the Land?"
https://tinyurl.com/y4zy937u (Slate)
as in "Glimmers of Light Drive Out Trumpian Darkness"
https://tinyurl.com/yyvxhsnw (The Hollywood Reporter)
Trumpian Chaos
as in "The president's COVID-19 diagnosis and
hospitalization last weekend are a perfect
distillation of Trumpian chaos"
https://tinyurl.com/y2ozkt25 (The Atlantic)
Trumpian Dystopia
as in "Why Jews Should Remain Vigilant
in a Trumpian Dystopia"
https://tinyurl.com/y2fkhlvq (Forward)
as in "We've Reached Peak Trumpian Dystopia"
https://tinyurl.com/y6bzhezg (The Nation)
as in "Atlantic City - Trumpian Dystopia"
https://tinyurl.com/y4q7e2ye (Daily Kos)
Trumpianized
as in "new Trumpianized 'conservatives' are
perfectly happy to expand state power"
https://tinyurl.com/y4bherha (The Nation)
Trumpianity
as in "A layman's guide to Trumpianity"
https://tinyurl.com/y4rpq4b3 (Portland Press Herald)
as in "Trumpianity is a Weird Religion"
https://tinyurl.com/y65k3aqu (One Peter 5)
as is "Church Of Trumpianity"
https://tinyurl.com/y6ped5qb (The American Conservative)
Trumpie
as in "Announcing the Trumpies!!" (from 2011)
https://tinyurl.com/y4cywrm2 (ForeignPolicy.com)
as in "And the Trumpie goes to ..."
https://tinyurl.com/y27hqt9a (The Washington Post)
as in "Young Trumpies Hit D.C."
https://tinyurl.com/y7q725hj (Politico)
Trumpish
as in "A Trumpish Tweet in Georgia's
GOP runoff for governor"
https://tinyurl.com/y4d64akb
(The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
as in "What connects Trumpish
figures around the world?"
https://tinyurl.com/y6mnljgp (The Washington Post)
as in "Woz: Aspects of Steve Jobs'
personality were 'very Trumpish'"
https://tinyurl.com/y6o7ggs3 (Cult of Mac)
as in "Can Germany Learn to Understand Trumpish?"
https://tinyurl.com/y29urmll (The New York Times)
Trumpism
as in "provided an immediate preview of Trumpism's
sticking power and how it might manifest itself
-- with more diplomatic language, but no less
authoritarian tendencies -- in the coming years"
https://tinyurl.com/ycf93eb4 (CNN)
as in "Trumpism wreaked destruction in the US"
https://tinyurl.com/y3fatx92 (The Guardian)
as in "The Arizona G.O.P. Is Sticking With Trumpism"
https://tinyurl.com/yylq4b4y (The New York Times)
as in "The Deep Story of Trumpism"
https://tinyurl.com/ya9prylr (The Atlantic)
Trumpite
as in "One last dumb Trumpite stunt"
https://tinyurl.com/y2mzmmth (New York Daily News)
Trumpkin
as in "Make Halloween horrifying
again by carving Trumpkins"
https://tinyurl.com/hen73cf (CNet.com)
Trump-like
as in "How can we prevent Trump-like
presidents in the future?"
https://tinyurl.com/y4z6vmmt
(The Brookings Institution)
Trumplash
as in "He's triggered a 'Trumplash'
against his own policies"
https://tinyurl.com/yy6ar9np (CNN)
as in "Trumplash: GOP Sours on The Donald" (from 2011)
https://tinyurl.com/y6fkfxok (The Atlantic)
Trump Taint
as in "Property Owners Fight to
Expunge the Trump Taint"
https://tinyurl.com/yxr8ylgr (Vanity Fair)
as in "That Trump Taint Won't Wash Out Any Time Soon"
https://tinyurl.com/y4gvxu4f (The Daily Beast)
"Trump's stench will cling to Republicans
long after he's gone"
https://tinyurl.com/y2qn7xax (The Washington Post)
Did anyone imagine the impact that such a seriously defective person could
have on our world?
Did anyone imagine tens of millions of Americans would vote - again - for
such a proven defective?
Did anyone really imagine all of this would end in violent chaos?
Someone did.
From "A Song of Ice and Fire":
Tyrion cocked his head sideways. "Did you mean to
answer your damned riddle, or only to make my head
ache worse?" Varys smiled. "Here, then. Power resides
where men believe it resides. No more and no less."
"So power is a mummer's trick?" "A shadow on the wall,"
Varys murmured, "yet shadows can kill. And ofttimes
a very small man can cast a very large shadow."
Benedict Arnold and/or Typhoid Mary, I think there will also be much more to
the word "trump" in the long-term (BTW, perhaps it's time for the game of
bridge to change its term for "no special suit" - see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_bridge ).
Here's a case in point.
After seeing his sister's inspired performance in "Lovecraft Country", I
recently wondered whatever happened to Jussie Smollett? He was the actor
whose life and career crashed and burned after he perpetrated an
unsuccessful hate crime hoax in 2019 (see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jussie_Smollett ).
Then it occurred to me. This is just one more strangely sad story
epitomizing the (hopefully) brief Trump era.
Here's a man who was arrested in 2007 for DUI. He then gave police a false
name and signed his brother's name on the summons promising to appear in
court - a kind of foreshadowing of things to come. Then, a decade later -
apparently to increase his public visibility, he concocted an elaborate
scheme to garner sympathy by staging an attack on himself by fake MAGA thugs
(see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_America_Great_Again ).
Jussie Smollett was "trumpian" to the core. Being black didn't matter. Being
gay didn't matter. Anyone can be trumpian in a variety of ways. Smollett was
so self-absorbed that he risked destroying himself and any reputation he was
trying to foster - just for one last ditch publicity stunt. Now he will be
remembered as the lying idiot actor who threw it all away for a few more
minutes of fame.
The great irony of this story is that Smollett chose to incorporate Donald
Trump into his extravagant lie by having his fantasy assailants proclaim
"This is MAGA country!"
Likewise, Donald Trump threw it all away for a last ditch cling to power -
all to remain in the limelight for just a little longer. He was willing to
tell the now American version of the "big lie" over and over again - that a
landslide election victory was stolen from him. He only paused telling the
big lie (temporarily - to influence the impeachment trial) after his
deranged followers turned his lie into violent action (see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie ).
Besides enabling a likely economic depression, besides allowing hundreds of
thousands of needless American deaths, besides earning the - no longer
hyperbolic - appellation "Worst President in U.S. History", the name "Trump"
will be the ongoing butt of derision worldwide.
Trump's name will forever be used not only as a symbol of hate, but also as
various epithets (similar to how "Benedict Arnold" is forever known as the
embodiment of "traitor") but with so many more negative connotations begging
to be listed:
Trumpean
as in "Trumpean Christianity - Bad for Business"
https://tinyurl.com/yybpmyx8 (Charlie Hadjiev blog)
Trumpesque
as in "Alec Baldwin Slammed for Trumpesque
'Black People Love Me' Comment"
https://tinyurl.com/y4xm8xt5 (The Daily Beast)
Trumpian
as in "used by critics to characterize his
language, conduct, and policies"
https://tinyurl.com/y4937r99 (Dictionary.com)
as in "Is Trumpian Destined to Become the
Greatest Adjective in the Land?"
https://tinyurl.com/y4zy937u (Slate)
as in "Glimmers of Light Drive Out Trumpian Darkness"
https://tinyurl.com/yyvxhsnw (The Hollywood Reporter)
Trumpian Chaos
as in "The president's COVID-19 diagnosis and
hospitalization last weekend are a perfect
distillation of Trumpian chaos"
https://tinyurl.com/y2ozkt25 (The Atlantic)
Trumpian Dystopia
as in "Why Jews Should Remain Vigilant
in a Trumpian Dystopia"
https://tinyurl.com/y2fkhlvq (Forward)
as in "We've Reached Peak Trumpian Dystopia"
https://tinyurl.com/y6bzhezg (The Nation)
as in "Atlantic City - Trumpian Dystopia"
https://tinyurl.com/y4q7e2ye (Daily Kos)
Trumpianized
as in "new Trumpianized 'conservatives' are
perfectly happy to expand state power"
https://tinyurl.com/y4bherha (The Nation)
Trumpianity
as in "A layman's guide to Trumpianity"
https://tinyurl.com/y4rpq4b3 (Portland Press Herald)
as in "Trumpianity is a Weird Religion"
https://tinyurl.com/y65k3aqu (One Peter 5)
as is "Church Of Trumpianity"
https://tinyurl.com/y6ped5qb (The American Conservative)
Trumpie
as in "Announcing the Trumpies!!" (from 2011)
https://tinyurl.com/y4cywrm2 (ForeignPolicy.com)
as in "And the Trumpie goes to ..."
https://tinyurl.com/y27hqt9a (The Washington Post)
as in "Young Trumpies Hit D.C."
https://tinyurl.com/y7q725hj (Politico)
Trumpish
as in "A Trumpish Tweet in Georgia's
GOP runoff for governor"
https://tinyurl.com/y4d64akb
(The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
as in "What connects Trumpish
figures around the world?"
https://tinyurl.com/y6mnljgp (The Washington Post)
as in "Woz: Aspects of Steve Jobs'
personality were 'very Trumpish'"
https://tinyurl.com/y6o7ggs3 (Cult of Mac)
as in "Can Germany Learn to Understand Trumpish?"
https://tinyurl.com/y29urmll (The New York Times)
Trumpism
as in "provided an immediate preview of Trumpism's
sticking power and how it might manifest itself
-- with more diplomatic language, but no less
authoritarian tendencies -- in the coming years"
https://tinyurl.com/ycf93eb4 (CNN)
as in "Trumpism wreaked destruction in the US"
https://tinyurl.com/y3fatx92 (The Guardian)
as in "The Arizona G.O.P. Is Sticking With Trumpism"
https://tinyurl.com/yylq4b4y (The New York Times)
as in "The Deep Story of Trumpism"
https://tinyurl.com/ya9prylr (The Atlantic)
Trumpite
as in "One last dumb Trumpite stunt"
https://tinyurl.com/y2mzmmth (New York Daily News)
Trumpkin
as in "Make Halloween horrifying
again by carving Trumpkins"
https://tinyurl.com/hen73cf (CNet.com)
Trump-like
as in "How can we prevent Trump-like
presidents in the future?"
https://tinyurl.com/y4z6vmmt
(The Brookings Institution)
Trumplash
as in "He's triggered a 'Trumplash'
against his own policies"
https://tinyurl.com/yy6ar9np (CNN)
as in "Trumplash: GOP Sours on The Donald" (from 2011)
https://tinyurl.com/y6fkfxok (The Atlantic)
Trump Taint
as in "Property Owners Fight to
Expunge the Trump Taint"
https://tinyurl.com/yxr8ylgr (Vanity Fair)
as in "That Trump Taint Won't Wash Out Any Time Soon"
https://tinyurl.com/y4gvxu4f (The Daily Beast)
"Trump's stench will cling to Republicans
long after he's gone"
https://tinyurl.com/y2qn7xax (The Washington Post)
Did anyone imagine the impact that such a seriously defective person could
have on our world?
Did anyone imagine tens of millions of Americans would vote - again - for
such a proven defective?
Did anyone really imagine all of this would end in violent chaos?
Someone did.
From "A Song of Ice and Fire":
Tyrion cocked his head sideways. "Did you mean to
answer your damned riddle, or only to make my head
ache worse?" Varys smiled. "Here, then. Power resides
where men believe it resides. No more and no less."
"So power is a mummer's trick?" "A shadow on the wall,"
Varys murmured, "yet shadows can kill. And ofttimes
a very small man can cast a very large shadow."
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