Why, why, why can’t the Repubs stand up against this tyrant-he is but one man??? Our Constitution and Justice system are now the backbone of our govt and We the People need to push and shove it above this orange king and his vile cretins. Our Congress has proved itself useless. Strike Thomas and Alito, they are traitors, Roberts and Barrett need a good shaking to snap out of their ‘well, maybe’ f’ng attitude and Roberts needs to start leading our Justice system down our Constitutional path to overcome the plot to destroy America. Begin by reversing his dumbf ruling that our president, orange PINO at the moment, does NOT HAVE FULL IMMUNITY. Invoke US Marshalls to remove him, his f’d up Cabinet, full of mushy brainless sycophants, his ass-kissing administration and that vile unelected official wielding a chainsaw.
Easter is a time of renewal, a new beginning, start TODAY-we want more tomorrows in the land that our forefathers FOUGHT like hell to rid this country of tyrannical rule and have protected it for 250 years-REMOVE THEM NOW SCOTUS.
They can holler and scream it’s unlawful, while behind bars! They haven’t followed the rule of law, since J6!
I am so glad you wrote about the tacky gold additions to the once beautiful and dignified Oval Office. I couldn’t believe my eyes the first time I noticed it.
I am a dignified little old lady living in Pasadena, CA but all I can say is WTF!
Thank you again Greg for the wonderful column, I always hated Fragonard and I am glad others did too!
This reminds me of mine and Mrs Old Man's visit to Catherine the Great's Summer Palace. As we were amazed at all the gold our excellent guide Aleksandr quietly told us a story. The palace was in tremendous disrepair due to WWII. Stalin decided that restoring it to its original grandeur would help restore people's pride in the Motherland. Problem, Mother Russia was so poor after the war that it had no gold to replace the original gold leaf and gold plate, instead gold paint was used, this not to be discussed. Ironically restoring people's pride, then the Great Purge of Bolshevics and others is the great oxymoron.
This brings us to the orange imbecile. Somehow he thinks gold makes him look invincible, people, in his parlance his subjects will bow in front of him, kiss the shit covered ring on his finger. Like Stalin we now find ourselves living through his version of The Great Purge, El Salvador style. The question, Russia survived Stalin, albeit to end up with Putin, will We the People survive the imbecile, if so hopefully with no reincarnation of the great evil?
BTW, my vote for Madame de Pompadour, the one and only Lauren Loomer. Today's Madame Boucher goes to the space cadet, Laura Sanchez Bezos, aka Ms T&A.
Hee Hee. My Stanford in Italy Group back in the early sixties, as we dutifully trekked around on field trips to assorted museums, dubbed Rococo "neo ugly." (We WERE living in Florence and had something to compare it with).
We could refer to trump as DAT man--Donald Apulius Trump.
The theme of this piece, if I may impose my impressions on it, is The Blurring of Lines. The blurring of lines between goddesses and prostitutes, between art and pornography, between power and force, between the beautiful and the tacky, between the divine and the profane. Perhaps the Universe is trying to say to us in this nightmare period we’re living through, Wake up and get clear on what you stand for.
Yes, Earl, and the blurring of these lines is all Trump needs in order to slip in a little doubt. I think of when he tried to crowbar Volodymyr Zelenskyy into opening an investigation into Hunter Biden in order to simply blur the lines. Then Trump would “take it from there”.
The only picture I've seen of the "New" Oval Office is the one where Gretchen Whitmer is holding a notebook in front of her face -- not sure what she was doing in there in the first place -- and all I noticed in the picture was all the ticky-tacky "gold" frames on the pictures and portraits behind her. Will he also replace the famed Oval Office draperies with gold lamé? Ooooo, SHINY!!
Trump WISHES he EVER had the legs of Louis XV! It is not the 19th Century anymore, and gold-leaf, gold filagree, golden castings, and golden almost anything except wedding rings and Oscars, are passé, and mostly seen as a presentation of ostentatious pretension, in addition to REALLY bad taste. Even wedding rings are changing. Now, you'll see onyx rings, rings made of other precious metals, or (gods-forbid!) ceramic. But there's Trump, since the 1970s, surrounding himself with gold plated bullshit as far as the eye can see, and thinking it means what he thinks it means to most of the outside world. Frau Trump obviously never sat her son down and explained how, in the end, like poor Carrie White, "They're all gonna laugh at you, Donald! They're all gonna laugh at you!"
Trump is a ridiculous troll, and since Friday, I haven't been able to get your Morning Rambling out of my head. Intellectually, I knew that we were all being trolled before your posting, but with all the trolling to cover up other trolling, it was not something that was top of mind. Now, it is, and to drive home the point, I was compelled to at least set up my own Substack called, "The Trolling of America," a working title. I'm not sure I'll ever make a post, but it's there, waiting, and there is PLENTY of recent history from which to draw content. I'm probably not disciplined enough to actually write a Substack column, but who knows? It could HAPPEN! LOL
Governor Whitmer was at the White House for a private meeting with His Majesty to request and secure emergency funds for our devastating Michigan ice storm. She was tricked into walking into a group political "statement." Hence, she covered her face to ruin the picture.
The excesses of the last of the French monarchs went out of style for a reason. When it became apparent that there was a real risk in ostentatious displays the most sensible of the ruling classes toned things down a bit. Such sensibilities are scant in this administration; no one needs a degree in history to see where this might be headed.
Greg, I keep thinking of “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times” as I read your wonderfully poignant piece. Which then lead me to ponder…who is Madame Therese Defarge in the Mump Oligarchy?
This one is tough for me. I did seven years of art history classes. But I went to RISD - "art school" -we're all whacky. My best friend did fine art - painting - at U. Penn - Ivy League. The same friend who rages if I speak ill of the Golden One. Education isn't the entire solution.
But I left the arts to fly as an airline pilot, to see the world. Is travel the answer? Wings clipped by legal age discrimination, I miss living in a suitcase, out in the world. Sometimes, I resort to watching Rick Steves. The section entitled "Script" from his show on the rise of fascism in Europe becomes more chilling by the day. This is travel's lesson: https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show/nazi-germany But my enthralled friends have been to Germany. They think it's tragic but would recognize no similarity. Travel isn't the whole answer.
Is the problem self-centeredness? If I set out two pieces of cake, one large and one small, one of my believer friends will always take the larger. Me first. But the other one, no. He's very generous. So that's not the entire problem.
But all of my believer friends and acquaintances believe in supplements and RFK, not mainstream medicine. They're gullible and don't trust authority - like the angry Germans whom Steves describes; who believed Hitler's empty promises.
Then once they believe, no fact seems to shake their certainty. They hold onto security rather than continue to question and revisit decisions. The perpetrators and supporters have other issues -- ego, blackmail, greed, power hunger. But among followers, are there clear thinkers who knowingly choose MAGA? How many armies did it take to undo Hitler? Can we count on that? Or maybe we need platoons of brainwashing deprogrammers. All paths I follow keep leading back to that. But rereading Steves' script, I don't seen any obstacles between now and the worst.
The "clear thinkers" I know who inexplicably chose MAGA, have 2 commonalities: They drink from the Faux radio news fountain on their hour long commutes to work, and from the Faux News TV spigot at night.
Meet the new American Royalty in full costume. See who's really in charge!
https://thedemlabs.org/2024/12/20/new-american-royalty-musk-johnson-u-s-government-shutdown/
Why, why, why can’t the Repubs stand up against this tyrant-he is but one man??? Our Constitution and Justice system are now the backbone of our govt and We the People need to push and shove it above this orange king and his vile cretins. Our Congress has proved itself useless. Strike Thomas and Alito, they are traitors, Roberts and Barrett need a good shaking to snap out of their ‘well, maybe’ f’ng attitude and Roberts needs to start leading our Justice system down our Constitutional path to overcome the plot to destroy America. Begin by reversing his dumbf ruling that our president, orange PINO at the moment, does NOT HAVE FULL IMMUNITY. Invoke US Marshalls to remove him, his f’d up Cabinet, full of mushy brainless sycophants, his ass-kissing administration and that vile unelected official wielding a chainsaw.
Easter is a time of renewal, a new beginning, start TODAY-we want more tomorrows in the land that our forefathers FOUGHT like hell to rid this country of tyrannical rule and have protected it for 250 years-REMOVE THEM NOW SCOTUS.
They can holler and scream it’s unlawful, while behind bars! They haven’t followed the rule of law, since J6!
Posted to LinkedIn with a link to subscribe to Prevail. Thank you!
Happy Easter
I am so glad you wrote about the tacky gold additions to the once beautiful and dignified Oval Office. I couldn’t believe my eyes the first time I noticed it.
I am a dignified little old lady living in Pasadena, CA but all I can say is WTF!
Thank you again Greg for the wonderful column, I always hated Fragonard and I am glad others did too!
Incautious pornography says so much. Explains the Republican view of the female sex in two words
Absolusment genial!
This reminds me of mine and Mrs Old Man's visit to Catherine the Great's Summer Palace. As we were amazed at all the gold our excellent guide Aleksandr quietly told us a story. The palace was in tremendous disrepair due to WWII. Stalin decided that restoring it to its original grandeur would help restore people's pride in the Motherland. Problem, Mother Russia was so poor after the war that it had no gold to replace the original gold leaf and gold plate, instead gold paint was used, this not to be discussed. Ironically restoring people's pride, then the Great Purge of Bolshevics and others is the great oxymoron.
This brings us to the orange imbecile. Somehow he thinks gold makes him look invincible, people, in his parlance his subjects will bow in front of him, kiss the shit covered ring on his finger. Like Stalin we now find ourselves living through his version of The Great Purge, El Salvador style. The question, Russia survived Stalin, albeit to end up with Putin, will We the People survive the imbecile, if so hopefully with no reincarnation of the great evil?
BTW, my vote for Madame de Pompadour, the one and only Lauren Loomer. Today's Madame Boucher goes to the space cadet, Laura Sanchez Bezos, aka Ms T&A.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Vance is scarier.
Agree.
While Vance advocates for a Christian Nation,
Modi's undercover agent brings Hinduism. So much for the other 4000 cults.
Me too everyone. I’ll be looking closely at the oval O’s decor. Thanks for the heads-up. billserle.com
Hee Hee. My Stanford in Italy Group back in the early sixties, as we dutifully trekked around on field trips to assorted museums, dubbed Rococo "neo ugly." (We WERE living in Florence and had something to compare it with).
We could refer to trump as DAT man--Donald Apulius Trump.
The theme of this piece, if I may impose my impressions on it, is The Blurring of Lines. The blurring of lines between goddesses and prostitutes, between art and pornography, between power and force, between the beautiful and the tacky, between the divine and the profane. Perhaps the Universe is trying to say to us in this nightmare period we’re living through, Wake up and get clear on what you stand for.
Yes, Earl, and the blurring of these lines is all Trump needs in order to slip in a little doubt. I think of when he tried to crowbar Volodymyr Zelenskyy into opening an investigation into Hunter Biden in order to simply blur the lines. Then Trump would “take it from there”.
The only picture I've seen of the "New" Oval Office is the one where Gretchen Whitmer is holding a notebook in front of her face -- not sure what she was doing in there in the first place -- and all I noticed in the picture was all the ticky-tacky "gold" frames on the pictures and portraits behind her. Will he also replace the famed Oval Office draperies with gold lamé? Ooooo, SHINY!!
Trump WISHES he EVER had the legs of Louis XV! It is not the 19th Century anymore, and gold-leaf, gold filagree, golden castings, and golden almost anything except wedding rings and Oscars, are passé, and mostly seen as a presentation of ostentatious pretension, in addition to REALLY bad taste. Even wedding rings are changing. Now, you'll see onyx rings, rings made of other precious metals, or (gods-forbid!) ceramic. But there's Trump, since the 1970s, surrounding himself with gold plated bullshit as far as the eye can see, and thinking it means what he thinks it means to most of the outside world. Frau Trump obviously never sat her son down and explained how, in the end, like poor Carrie White, "They're all gonna laugh at you, Donald! They're all gonna laugh at you!"
Trump is a ridiculous troll, and since Friday, I haven't been able to get your Morning Rambling out of my head. Intellectually, I knew that we were all being trolled before your posting, but with all the trolling to cover up other trolling, it was not something that was top of mind. Now, it is, and to drive home the point, I was compelled to at least set up my own Substack called, "The Trolling of America," a working title. I'm not sure I'll ever make a post, but it's there, waiting, and there is PLENTY of recent history from which to draw content. I'm probably not disciplined enough to actually write a Substack column, but who knows? It could HAPPEN! LOL
Art emerges if you allow it space.
Governor Whitmer was at the White House for a private meeting with His Majesty to request and secure emergency funds for our devastating Michigan ice storm. She was tricked into walking into a group political "statement." Hence, she covered her face to ruin the picture.
I mean, she IS Venus. Gotta be a bit over-the-top.
I can’t decide if chump is the emptiest nothing or the ugliest phony.
“Dictator Chic” is one way to describe T💩p’s penchant for tacky gilt.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/trump-style-dictator-autocrats-design-214877/
The excesses of the last of the French monarchs went out of style for a reason. When it became apparent that there was a real risk in ostentatious displays the most sensible of the ruling classes toned things down a bit. Such sensibilities are scant in this administration; no one needs a degree in history to see where this might be headed.
"...be headed"?
Context is everything 😉
Greg, I keep thinking of “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times” as I read your wonderfully poignant piece. Which then lead me to ponder…who is Madame Therese Defarge in the Mump Oligarchy?
This one is tough for me. I did seven years of art history classes. But I went to RISD - "art school" -we're all whacky. My best friend did fine art - painting - at U. Penn - Ivy League. The same friend who rages if I speak ill of the Golden One. Education isn't the entire solution.
But I left the arts to fly as an airline pilot, to see the world. Is travel the answer? Wings clipped by legal age discrimination, I miss living in a suitcase, out in the world. Sometimes, I resort to watching Rick Steves. The section entitled "Script" from his show on the rise of fascism in Europe becomes more chilling by the day. This is travel's lesson: https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show/nazi-germany But my enthralled friends have been to Germany. They think it's tragic but would recognize no similarity. Travel isn't the whole answer.
Is the problem self-centeredness? If I set out two pieces of cake, one large and one small, one of my believer friends will always take the larger. Me first. But the other one, no. He's very generous. So that's not the entire problem.
But all of my believer friends and acquaintances believe in supplements and RFK, not mainstream medicine. They're gullible and don't trust authority - like the angry Germans whom Steves describes; who believed Hitler's empty promises.
Then once they believe, no fact seems to shake their certainty. They hold onto security rather than continue to question and revisit decisions. The perpetrators and supporters have other issues -- ego, blackmail, greed, power hunger. But among followers, are there clear thinkers who knowingly choose MAGA? How many armies did it take to undo Hitler? Can we count on that? Or maybe we need platoons of brainwashing deprogrammers. All paths I follow keep leading back to that. But rereading Steves' script, I don't seen any obstacles between now and the worst.
The "clear thinkers" I know who inexplicably chose MAGA, have 2 commonalities: They drink from the Faux radio news fountain on their hour long commutes to work, and from the Faux News TV spigot at night.