This might be the “after” picture, from “that handsome Maverick” in the picture below…
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It’s hard to know where to begin. (Other than with the word “implode.”)
Not that long ago, Donald Trump was in a virtual tie with Hillary Clinton. And – just as an aside – I was perfectly willing to accept the judgment of the American people, should they choose him as president. (Based on the Bible command of Exodus 22:28, as explored in Dissin’ the Prez.)
But since then there seems to have been a “collapse inwards in a violent manner as a result of external pressure.” But you have to hand it to “the Donald:” He’s not going down without a fight.
Thus the title: “No More Mr. Nice Guy.”
See for example: 1) Trump Threatens to Sue The New York Times Over Article, 2) Donald Trump threatens to jail Hillary Clinton, and/or 3) Trump Threatens To Sue His Female Accusers | Huffington Post. Then too see Melania Trump [Donald’s wife] threatens to sue People Magazine.
Or you could just Google “trump threatens.” I did that and got 4.310,00 results.
On the other hand, you may have to narrow the field. (Under “trump threatens” you’ll see: trump threatens violence, trump threatens Cruz, trump threatens Hillary, trump threatens Ford, trump threatens Obama, trump threatens Mexico, trump threatens riots, “etc.”)
In turn, as a metaphor for Donald Trump’s apparent fall from grace – otherwise known as his “implosion” – you might compare the picture above left and at the top of the page – of “Alice Cooper” – with the handsome, debonair Maverick shown at the bottom of this page.
Which is another way of saying that I’ve been writing about the fascinating Mr. Trump for months now. For example, I first mentioned “The Donald” last March 10, in a post titled, That OTHER “Teflon Don.” In that post I made this observation:
It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if Donald Trump is really trying to help Hillary get elected. In other words, it wouldn’t surprise me a bit to learn that Master Showman Donald Trump is actually playing those far-right conservatives like a piano.
Then on April 4 came On Reagan, Kennedy – and “Dick the Butcher.” Which included the photo at right. (And which – I’m assuming – “the Donald” wanted taken that way…)
And BTW: Any resemblance between Donald Trump and Alice Cooper – above left – is purely coincidental. (To keep “Alice” from suing me for slander; comparing him to Trump.)
Also in That OTHER “Teflon Don,” I compared Trump to P.T. Barnum, and noted that “Barnum turned out to be an effective elected official.” But we seem to be past that possibility. (That is, it seems apparent to everyone except Trump and his camp followers.)
Which brings us to the post I did last April 27, “Is there a new ‘Maverick’ in town?”
That post was about a candidate for president who showed “a malignant understanding of how angry words, more than real ideas, can be deployed as weapons of power:”
He knows that repetition – invoking the same foul claims over and over – can transform outrageous lies into popular understandings. He blithely changes his facts, positions and personae because he is making it up as he goes along and assumes no one will catch up with the contradictions. Beneath the mask of conservative idealogue is an amoral pragmatist.
But as it turned out, that “angry” presidential candidate wasn’t Donald Trump!
As it turned out, the angry candidate in question was Newt Gingrich.
As in “The Real Scandal in Washington is Newt Gingrich,” an article in the November 1998 Rolling Stone magazine. That’s what I noted in the May 9 follow-up post, Is this “deja vu all over again?”
Rolling Stone noted that Newt – in 1998 – “will become anything and ruin anybody else in order to achieve his goals.” Then came this: “Sure it’s difficult to imagine the nation electing someone disliked by two-thirds of the electorate. But it’s easy to imagine Gingrich scoring well in Republican primaries, where right-wingers can crowd out moderates.”
All of which sounded chillingly familiar.
And all of which led to the question: “Can you say prescient?” And that could be another way of saying the current political situation for Republicans has been a long time coming.
Then came my post on July 12, “The Coming Fury?” The title came from first book of Bruce Catton‘s Civil War Trilogy. Catton began that first book – on the “coming fury” – by describing the “first of two 1860 Democratic National Conventions.” It seems that in the first Democratic convention there were certain “fire-eaters” who didn’t care if they caused a split convention.
As it turned out, there was a split convention, and one result was a revolt. That revolt split the Democratic Party, and that split virtually guaranteed th election of the opposition candidate.
In 1860 the candidate opposing the Democrats was Abraham Lincoln. In 2016, the candidate opposing the Republicans is Hillary Clinton. And to be blunt, you could say Republican “fire-eaters” at the 2016 convention virtually guaranteed the election of their most hated enemy.
Which brings up today’s Bible readings from the Daily Office. Those readings included this, from Ecclesiasticus 1:22: “Unrighteous anger cannot be justified, for a man’s anger tips the scale to his ruin.” The King James Version seems even more on the mark: “A furious man cannot be justified; for the sway of his fury shall be his destruction.”
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Back on April 27 I asked, “Is there a new ‘Maverick’ in town?” Apparently not…
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The upper image is courtesy of No More Mr. Nice Guy by Red-Szajn on DeviantArts-anita-rium.deviantart.com. (With apologies to Alice Cooper. But see also Alice Cooper feeds off Clinton-Trump election battle for an interesting take, and perhaps a bit of karma…)
See the full Daily Office for the week of October 9-15, 2016, at NRSV. The full readings for Friday, October 14 are: “AM Psalm 20, 21:1-7(8-14); PM Psalm 110:1-5(6-7), 116, 117
Ecclus. [Ecclesiasticus] 3:17-31; Acts 28:17-31; Luke 9:37-50.”
Re: Ecclesiasticus. Also called Wisdom of Sirach, it is not to be confused with the Book of Ecclesiastes, generally attributed to the “son of David, king in Jerusalem” (i.e., Solomon).”
The lower image was borrowed from the post, “Is there a new ‘Maverick’ in town?” Which asked – in essence – if Donald Trump was that “new Maverick in town?” The post also compared the tactics of Newt Gingrich in 1998 to those of Donald Trump in 2016.
In turn the lower image is courtesy of Maverick (TV series) – Wikipedia.