I have a list of things I want from Santa, and this urgent request is at the top of it. That’s at least a revamped president.
Maybe a Ronald Reagan type. I’m not talking about ideology or policy here. Just common sense,
I know, forget it. It’s out of Santa’s reach. That would require a miracle. And that’s unlikely to happen with President Trump, who is increasingly likely to audition for The Devil’s Disciple.
But as we approach our nation’s 250th anniversary, you’d think America could at least be led by a president who isn’t.
Someone who follows the basic rules of good behavior and respect for others that our mothers taught us.
For Trump, the golden rule seems to be simply to cheapen the historic Oval Office with bland gold decor and turn it into an extension of his Mar-a-Lago resort. That’s what you’d expect from someone paving a beautiful rose garden.
But I have strayed from the point. It’s a despicable way that our unfree president treats people he considers enemies because they criticize him, but it’s something we all have the right, and often the obligation, to do in a democratic America.
Here’s what our president said about actor, director, and producer Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, after he and his wife, Michele, were brutally murdered by their son Nick in their Brentwood home.
After all, the Navy pilot who was shot down over North Vietnam, tortured, wounded and held captive for five years was “not a war hero…I like people who weren’t taken prisoner.”
He also once said at a campaign rally, “Poor guy, you should meet this guy.” Trump then waved his arms wildly, imitating a paralyzed person.
.
“Trash. … We don’t want trash in our country,” he said recently of Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, a former Somali refugee. “She’s trash. Her friends are trash, too.”
But even given Trump’s sordid history of insults and insensitivity, his disrespectful remarks about Reiner were surprising. He suggested that the Hollywood legend was murdered by someone angry at Reiner’s criticism of Trump. Again, in this selfish president’s head, it’s all about himself.
President Trump said the Reiners’ deaths “reportedly resulted from angering others as they suffered from a serious, indomitable, and incurable mentally paralyzing disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
And the next day, he doubled down, telling reporters that Reiner was “a crazy person. … I thought he was a very bad person for our country.”
Trump capped off his holiday season by orchestrating the renaming of Washington’s elegant John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after himself. It will now be known as the Trump Kennedy Center.
What’s next? Washington National Cathedral?
Now, next on my Santa wish list is the Governor. In the last year of the governor’s term, he’s focused on improving California more than his presidential potential. In fact, he was able to accomplish the latter by doing the former. His goal was to make the state a better place to live and prove his ability to govern wisely.
Too many of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s projects have failed, collapsed, or been a waste of energy and money.
One of Newsom’s recently announced ventures is particularly questionable. Rather than helping Californians with their daily lives, he appears to be using state resources and tax dollars to expand his overreaching war with Trump.
The governor released a catalog of major criminal convictions that led to President Trump’s pardons, from the Jan. 6 rioters to former politicians and businessmen.
Yeah, so what? Maybe some people are interested. But at the taxpayer’s expense? Will this information lower gas prices? How can it make it easier to buy a house? Pay childcare fees?
Here’s an example of a Newsom program that failed miserably.
Early in his administration, the governor made a big announcement that he would increase phone service rates to pay for upgrades to California’s 911 emergency communications system. The state spent $450 million but was unable to make the new one work and abandoned the project. Now they’re apparently going to start all over again.
Maybe it would be helpful if the governor provided a little more hands-on supervision next time.
It’s also on my wish list. It’s a Congress that doesn’t hibernate over the winter and waits until late spring to begin passing legislation.
They would need to change the legislative rules. But with a supermajority, Democrats could do virtually anything they wanted — even work hard in cold weather.
Either that or stay home.
Gift packages include: The law focuses on quality, not quantity. This year, Congress passed 917 bills. My guess is that 100 specific measures would be enough.
There’s one more item on my Santa list that all of America needs. It’s a new casual greeting that replaces “How are you?”
No one really wants to hear how most people are spending their time, and they probably don’t want to say it outright anyway, not in the elevator, on the sidewalk, or in a restaurant.
“I have a bad case of gastroenteritis,” I might answer honestly. You want to listen to it while munching on a hamburger.
So what should we replace it with?
Perhaps you might simply say, “Good morning.” Or “Go Dodgers.”
Or “Go Trump” – far out of earshot.
What else should I read?
Must read:
TK:
LA Times Special:
Until next week,
George Skelton
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