Trump and company call to mind those lines from the Indigo Girls' song, Closer to Fine:
"Well, darkness has a hunger that's insatiable/
And lightness has a call that's hard to hear."
Trump is very dark, indeed, and his hunger for power, wealth, and adulation are insatiable. Thus far, the forces of goodness and light have been all too hard to hear. I believe that is changing.
Six days ago, those of us who lived in or around New York City "celebrated" the 36th anniversary of a travesty. On April 19, 1989, a young woman named Trisha Meili was assaulted and raped in Central Park. What was known as the Central Park Jogger case quickly became known as the Central Park Five case, as five teenagers were arrested and promptly convicted. Black and brown, these five were coerced into confessions and served sentences ranging from seven to thirteen years. More than a decade after the attack, a serial rapist named Matias Reyes confessed to the rape/assault (along with five other women) and said he was the only participant. DNA confirmed his guilt and exonerated all six of the teens. At the time of their arrest, Donald Trump took out full-page ads in New York newspapers demanding their execution. He continued to call for their execution even after the charges were vacated in July 2022. During both his 2016 and 2024 campaigns, Trump called for their re-arrest and conviction. Like a dog with a bone, Trump will never let go of his conviction about someone or something. Like the proverbial elephant, he never forgets a slight, and these law firms are lucky he hasn't called for executions. Madame DeFarge, are you listening?
Think Herbert Hoover and the run of Republican Presidents who returned us to "normalcy" after World War I. Since the turn of the 20th century, the once progressive Republican Party changed gears, direction, and its primary constituency. Its vision of "normalcy" inevitably has led to social and economic disaster. MAGA is simply a pleasant-sounding rephrasing of the return to normalcy mantra, enhanced with an embrace of the openly fascist America First movement in the first quarter of the 20th century.
Somehow, this country recovered from the Civil War (sort of) and then the rise of Robber Barons and a Gilded Age ... both of which involved massive (and often bloody) resistance from family farmers and/or laborers ... but it was just as hard to tell in the middle of those disasters whether we would come out on the other side as it is today.
How would you fill this space but for trying to criticize the great 47th president. You could write about other things going on in the world. It just isn't interesting unless it's about the bad trump. I say thank God for trump. MAGA is alive and well😁
Lynn, I write about Trump because his effort to remake the constitutional order is both profound and laregly successful. I wrote that he is turning out to be the most consequential president in my lifetime. So I write about him.
You are a very useful commenter. You are first person evidence for what I wrote today, that his MAGA fans will follow him anywhere. You faithfully represented whichever troubled divorce client approached you. You were a function of the system. You understand that each side can be represented. You understood the value of the law. And yet, today, you vigorously support a man who attempts to blackball from access to federal courts a litigation law firm, Susman, which dared to represent a client -- Dominion -- which dared to challenge Fox News. And it won a giant settlement. A president who would then punish Susman and attempt to chill other firms from doing similar work taking on a client Trump might personally dislike is utterly antithetical to your career. It enies everything you did as an attorney. You testify against attorney's who injure the profession by thie practice. And et to support Trump for doing this.
I don't call it hypocrisy, allthough some would. I call it blindness. You willfully blind yourself to the shocking betrayal of your own career. Did Susman misbehave? No. Would you tolerate this if Biden or Obama did a similar thing? No. But when Trump does it you are blind to its corrosive effect on your own life work.
But please write a guest jpost defending Trump's action sanctioning Susman and tell my readers why it is OK. It would be a useful way for readers to understand you and the thinking of people in the Trump MAGA mindset.
Thanks Peter. I was only asking for your and your colleagues great writings on other topics. I know nothing about sussman but you seem to indie ate the court system is resolving those issues.
Please don't tell me "I know nothing" about Trump's attacks on Big Law, essentially criminalizing having represented a client Trump doesn't like. You are making my case: willful blindness. You KNOW Trmp is doing that, but you cannot ethically integrate that knowledge with the belief that Trump is wonderful. So: ""I know nothing." A stronger advocate would either 1. Make the case that Trump is right and justified in an executive order that punished law firms for representing the "wrong" side, or, 2. Admit that it is deeply wrong and dangerous but that ou overlook it and ustif it as a mistake because he is doing things you think more important like rounding up immigrants, cutting Medicaid, attacking DEI or whatever it is that you think is so good that it justifies open flouting of the justice system.
You are too smart to play stupid. I am astonished that you played the "I know nothing" card. I am reminded of the TV show Hogan's Heroes.
This is what Trump does when he is presented with the truth. When he is shown photos of himself with people who have been arrested or charged with crimes, he says, "I don't know them". When he was asked about Project 2025 he said, "I don't know very much about it". Erich points out a perfect example of him not being able to recognize/accept the truth. It appears that once someone is so far gone into the alternate universe they have created, they are unable to absorb the truth. It is as though there is a force-field around them that rejects anything that might interfere with their own personal "reality". I think this is true for most Trump supporters. We need an intervention. Maybe if things crash bad enough, as you pointed out, that will be our intervention.
Trump and company call to mind those lines from the Indigo Girls' song, Closer to Fine:
"Well, darkness has a hunger that's insatiable/
And lightness has a call that's hard to hear."
Trump is very dark, indeed, and his hunger for power, wealth, and adulation are insatiable. Thus far, the forces of goodness and light have been all too hard to hear. I believe that is changing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HWV5hq4Bh8
Six days ago, those of us who lived in or around New York City "celebrated" the 36th anniversary of a travesty. On April 19, 1989, a young woman named Trisha Meili was assaulted and raped in Central Park. What was known as the Central Park Jogger case quickly became known as the Central Park Five case, as five teenagers were arrested and promptly convicted. Black and brown, these five were coerced into confessions and served sentences ranging from seven to thirteen years. More than a decade after the attack, a serial rapist named Matias Reyes confessed to the rape/assault (along with five other women) and said he was the only participant. DNA confirmed his guilt and exonerated all six of the teens. At the time of their arrest, Donald Trump took out full-page ads in New York newspapers demanding their execution. He continued to call for their execution even after the charges were vacated in July 2022. During both his 2016 and 2024 campaigns, Trump called for their re-arrest and conviction. Like a dog with a bone, Trump will never let go of his conviction about someone or something. Like the proverbial elephant, he never forgets a slight, and these law firms are lucky he hasn't called for executions. Madame DeFarge, are you listening?
Erich, there was a nice article in the NYT yesterday in re Central Park, that touches on what you've written:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/arts/design/central-park-pool-harlem.html?searchResultPosition=2
Thanks Joe. I hadn't seen this.
Peter, you are doing a great job with this blog. Lots of interesting things but keeping watch on the current White House insanity is most important.
Think Herbert Hoover and the run of Republican Presidents who returned us to "normalcy" after World War I. Since the turn of the 20th century, the once progressive Republican Party changed gears, direction, and its primary constituency. Its vision of "normalcy" inevitably has led to social and economic disaster. MAGA is simply a pleasant-sounding rephrasing of the return to normalcy mantra, enhanced with an embrace of the openly fascist America First movement in the first quarter of the 20th century.
Somehow, this country recovered from the Civil War (sort of) and then the rise of Robber Barons and a Gilded Age ... both of which involved massive (and often bloody) resistance from family farmers and/or laborers ... but it was just as hard to tell in the middle of those disasters whether we would come out on the other side as it is today.
How would you fill this space but for trying to criticize the great 47th president. You could write about other things going on in the world. It just isn't interesting unless it's about the bad trump. I say thank God for trump. MAGA is alive and well😁
Lynn, I write about Trump because his effort to remake the constitutional order is both profound and laregly successful. I wrote that he is turning out to be the most consequential president in my lifetime. So I write about him.
You are a very useful commenter. You are first person evidence for what I wrote today, that his MAGA fans will follow him anywhere. You faithfully represented whichever troubled divorce client approached you. You were a function of the system. You understand that each side can be represented. You understood the value of the law. And yet, today, you vigorously support a man who attempts to blackball from access to federal courts a litigation law firm, Susman, which dared to represent a client -- Dominion -- which dared to challenge Fox News. And it won a giant settlement. A president who would then punish Susman and attempt to chill other firms from doing similar work taking on a client Trump might personally dislike is utterly antithetical to your career. It enies everything you did as an attorney. You testify against attorney's who injure the profession by thie practice. And et to support Trump for doing this.
I don't call it hypocrisy, allthough some would. I call it blindness. You willfully blind yourself to the shocking betrayal of your own career. Did Susman misbehave? No. Would you tolerate this if Biden or Obama did a similar thing? No. But when Trump does it you are blind to its corrosive effect on your own life work.
But please write a guest jpost defending Trump's action sanctioning Susman and tell my readers why it is OK. It would be a useful way for readers to understand you and the thinking of people in the Trump MAGA mindset.
Peter Sage
Thanks Peter. I was only asking for your and your colleagues great writings on other topics. I know nothing about sussman but you seem to indie ate the court system is resolving those issues.
Please don't tell me "I know nothing" about Trump's attacks on Big Law, essentially criminalizing having represented a client Trump doesn't like. You are making my case: willful blindness. You KNOW Trmp is doing that, but you cannot ethically integrate that knowledge with the belief that Trump is wonderful. So: ""I know nothing." A stronger advocate would either 1. Make the case that Trump is right and justified in an executive order that punished law firms for representing the "wrong" side, or, 2. Admit that it is deeply wrong and dangerous but that ou overlook it and ustif it as a mistake because he is doing things you think more important like rounding up immigrants, cutting Medicaid, attacking DEI or whatever it is that you think is so good that it justifies open flouting of the justice system.
You are too smart to play stupid. I am astonished that you played the "I know nothing" card. I am reminded of the TV show Hogan's Heroes.
This is what Trump does when he is presented with the truth. When he is shown photos of himself with people who have been arrested or charged with crimes, he says, "I don't know them". When he was asked about Project 2025 he said, "I don't know very much about it". Erich points out a perfect example of him not being able to recognize/accept the truth. It appears that once someone is so far gone into the alternate universe they have created, they are unable to absorb the truth. It is as though there is a force-field around them that rejects anything that might interfere with their own personal "reality". I think this is true for most Trump supporters. We need an intervention. Maybe if things crash bad enough, as you pointed out, that will be our intervention.