To me, this before-and-after photo of the White House and grounds this week perfectly symbolizes the destruction of our country by Trump and his MAGA minions, a destruction aided and abetted by tens of millions of “christians”— 81% of evangelicals and more than 60% of white Catholics. The second photo was taken just a few days ago. You can see glimpses of the East Wing corridor in the left-side photo through the trees in the first photo. The construction of a CAGE for an MMA fight on the White House lawn on trump's birthday, is even more of a travesty than the "military" parade he put on last year, which few attended. This year he's degraded himself and our country and the White House itself by using taxpayer money to put on one of the most violent "sports" around-- to "celebrate" the nation's 250th anniversary. This year trump co-opted the planning from the official planning organization ( non- partisan) to impose his own partisan stamp on it - to honor himself, and not the country. The "prayer rally" on the Mall cost a million of taxpayers' dollars. It was an evangelical form of christianity, and non-evangelicals were barely visible. Of course, Barron was there along with evangelical ministers who refer to the Pope as "satan" and Catholicism as a "satantic cult". Hegseth's "pastor" (invited to speak to military staff at the Pentagon) was there. This article in The Atlantic "Holy Warrior" by Missy Ryan) reveals what a fine person he is. https://tinyurl.com/43e5sc7h
It was also a MAGA rally. The national "country fair" may be cancelled completely because so many of the expected performers pulled out when they realized it was a trump celebration and not the one planned by the official 250th anniversary commission. He wants a $250 bill with his glowering face and his signature in gold on it. He is having 250th anniversary passports issued with his face superimposed over the barely readable Declaration of Independence--fortunately a limited edition for people who apply in person in the DC passport agency. Everyone else is safe. No president has ever put his own face on currency while living, and never on passports, or national park passes.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/28/politics/us-trump-passport. Robert Reich notes
The 250th anniversary events were supposed to be planned by a nonpartisan, nonprofit group created by Congress in 2016 called “America 250.” Honorary National Co-Chairs are GW Bush, Barack Obama, Laura Bush & Michelle Obama. Its ex-officio members include present & former government officials from both parties. But “America 250” is not planning this year’s 250th anniversary events on the mall or in DC. Trump & his MAGA allies circumvented Congress & created their own planning committee,
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-truth-about-trumps-birthday-bash
He destroyed the Kennedy Center with his ego. But it will be back when trump's defacing is removed. The judge also blocked trump's order to shut it down, which he did because too many globally notable performers cancelled (ticket sales tanked when he added his name) and he had one of his temper tantrums. He wants to destroy the graceful contours of the city's beautiful monuments like the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, and the Washington Monument by constructing a gilded arch that is way too big for the space, will block the sight-line between the Lincoln Memorial and the Arlington National Cemetery, and dwarfing the Lincoln Memorial because it will be bigger than any other arch in the world (ego?). He's ruining the look of the Reflecting Pool with a bad color of blue paint that will probably not reflect very well. We will see. He's taking over a beautiful park that is on the Potomac near the Mall, ripping out the current not-luxury golf course that is affordable and replacing it with a "luxury" golf course. It's extremely close to the White House, but not to his luxury standards, so taxpayers pay millions almost every weekend (literally) to fly him and his whole entourage to his golf courses in Florida (winter) and New Jersey (summer), booking Secret Service, the escort plane pilots, and his whole entourage into his own properties and pocketing the money into his own bank account from that.
In the meantime, when not trying to build his (now) billion dollar ballroom and hideous arch, he has become bored with trying to figure out how to extricate us from the disastrous incursion into Iran, and dismisses the people’s concern about inflation, referring to rising gasoline prices as "mere peanuts."
Our Constitutional freedoms have been severely eroded, and the DOJ has become his personal law firm, seeking vengeance on the many people he hates. Meantime he has turned our national security over to a man who has no knowledge, experience, or expertise, but a big donor because of his inherited a fortune from his family's company - a company that built both our home here 53 years ago and our son's home in San Jose 25 years ago. Like trump, he knows real estate and has no ethics. Why has he been given the most important National Security post in the country (DNI)? In his current job in a federal mortgage agency, he agreed to go after trump's enemies by alleging mortgage fraud, including Letitia James (a black woman) who prosecuted trump in NY, and Lisa Cook, the black woman governor on the Federal Reserve Board. Meanwhile Hegseth chopped mostly black and female officers from the most recent promotion list. Racism on steroids in this administration.
Not a time to celebrate, but a time to mourn.
The contrast between those two photos is just awful. And the idea of a "fight" to celebrate our 250th is beyond disgusting. All I can say is, maybe getting Trump and MAGA good and hard will shake the ones who voted for it back to their senses.
ReplyDeleteMy sister and I were talking about our memories of the celebrations in 1976, and how the mood was joyful and celebratory. And there's nothing much to celebrate now.
Geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar calls Trump neo-Caligula. Is Trump the anomaly or is he just the Dorian Gray portrait of the USA finally taken from the closet and exposed to daylight? I knew we had a violent history but, at one time, I thought we were evolving toward something better. I no longer think that. What has existed for 250 years is now imploding. At some point, I hope we can salvage what’s good and invent the rest. But the thing that was cobbled together 250 years ago by rich Enlightenment white men has run its course. Also, the global domination by white Europeans is coming to an end.
ReplyDeleteThis country is still greater than Donald Trump. We don't need him to direct our celebrating it. We have the freedom to turn the channel or turn off the television when his propaganda shows come on. We can have parades in our towns or neighborhoods, gather in local parks and have fireworks, have community concerts, or get together with the folks on our blocks or in our buildings to celebrate our country.
ReplyDeleteJim, you are right that we don't need to let Trump live in our heads. We can still celebrate Independence Day like we always have.
DeleteI think part of it is that I am in a different stage of life than I was at the bicentennial. At that time we had a two year old kid, and the sister I was referring to in the previous comment was only seven. Things are different seen through the eyes of a child. I was 25, which was way different than being 75! (Not that I am not grateful for health and length of years, life is also good in the present.)
FWIW, I remember a lot of complaints about previous celebrations, including the bicentennial (although I was a teenager then, not really paying much attention to the world around me). There was a centennial celebration of the Statue of Liberty that reportedly had 200 Elvis impersonators, I think.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember the Elvis impersonators. I do remember a celebration in our hometown, where everyone dressed up in old fashioned outfits. Some of the men grew beards or mustaches. My dad grew a mustache, which he hadn't previosly done. He kept it the rest of his life. He and Mom rode in a horse and buggy for the parade. (I don't know where the buggy came from, it wasn't ours)
DeleteJim, Washington DC IS my hometown. Some of us can’t escape what is happening here, and the country actually can’t either. We just have regular visual reminders of our wannabe dictators plans, starting with armed military haunting the streets, with most Americans spared this sight in their comfy ( white, middle- class) hometowns and churches. . So it’s VERY hard to celebrate when he’s destroying the country we once loved. We don’t celebrate because tens of millions of Americans, including a majority of self- identified Christians and a majority of white Catholics, support him. Look at that right hand photo - he’s doing to the country and the world what he’s done to the east wing. Destroying it to build a massive monument to his ego. (Apparently his Mar a Gaza plans have been put on hold but I’m sure the plans are designed and ready to go). We are in this mess because too many Americans looked away, turned off the TV and watched a gruesome, uber violent cage match instead of educating themselves on the Project 2025 agenda. Or educating themselves on the Constitution. Or educating themselves on the realities of racism in our country. Or educating themselves on the reasons that desperate people risk everything to try to get here. Or educate themselves about the thousands of the global poor - including thousands of children—who have already died because the richest country in the world cut off all humanitarian aid. The “ pro- lifers” who care only about forcing the continued embryonic development into being actual human beings of blueberry sized sized embryos, but nothing for the lives of the already born poor in our country, much less of the poor who suffer in other countries, . A worse scenario — millions actually love what he offers, and cheer his cruelty, with his love of MMA being representative of exactly who he is, and what he’s turning America into. It’s not something I can celebrate. A day of mourning seems more appropriate. Elvis impersonators do not symbolize the glorification of an aspiring dictator nor the glorification of cruelty.
ReplyDeleteA couple of glimmers of hope - the judge ordering his name removed from the Kennedy Center and reversing his order to shut it down. Apparently he hasn’t figured out a way around the order legally but I’m sure he will think of something. The judge gave us a small but symbolic victory, especially for those of us who live in the very dark swamp ( literally and metaphorically) he has created in Washington DC, our hometown. But four republicans voted against him on the war powers issue. At least one is a lame duck, but it’s a small glimmer of light. Overwhelmed though, because the Supreme Court continues to kiss his feet— a very bad sign. More rulings coming up that will really tell the tale.
I’d be happy to put his name back on the Kennedy Center if he’d just stop bombing everybody. The idea that some kid in the US is suffering from lack of medical care so some kid in Lebanon can be made an amputee is driving me fn crazy.
DeleteWell, he’s filing an appeal to keep his name on the Kennedy Center—of course.
Delete“ The idea that some kid in the US is suffering from lack of medical care so some kid in Lebanon can be made an amputee is driving me fn crazy.” A perfect summation of trump policies, just as the photos above perfectly symbolize the appalling destructiveness of this administration.
Before Trump’s second term, I saw a video of one of Trump’s casinos being explosively demolished. I posted it in FB with the text “If Trump has a second term, this is the US.” That one stirred my MAGA relatives up a bit. Well, it looks like the US IS being demolished. The WH stuff is so representative.
DeleteStanley, you called it. I did too before he was elected the first time. I come from a very conservative Catholic Republican family, and most of our friends shared these views. Trump horrified me from before his first term. I sent articles and opinions to friends and families warning of his dangerous narcissism, his lying, cheating, and racism. All known when he started his campaign. David French was writing for National Review then and was sounding the alarms. National Review initially opposed trump but later jumped on the bandwagon to support some of his policies after being given the cold shoulder by the RNC. I sent NR articles to family members who subscribed but it didn’t sway them. To friends who said “ We need a good businessman” to run the country I sent information about his multiple bankruptcies, and rescues by his father, including illegal rescues. Articles about how most Wall Street banks stopped lending to him ( except Deutsche Bank— which later paid a steep price) and the rumors that he was deeply in debt to Russian oligarchs. ( they often but condos in his buildings in NYC and Florida but nobody lives in them. Mid- east governments booked blocks of rooms in his DC hotel that remained empty. Etc) They voted for him anyway and twisted themselves into pretzels trying to justify the lying, cheating, and. racism. These “ good” Christians, who were horrified by Clinton and said Clinton should be removed from office for his sexual adventures before and during his time in the WH, turned 180 degrees to excuse trump’s serial infidelities and his disgusting attitude that women are to be used as toys by men— just grab them you know where.
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