Breaking News: Trump Dies of Covid-19*

Year-end is always about fresh starts, reflection and speculation. Since I’m writing a novel, my imagination is probably more active than at other times and less grounded in reality.

The novel’s plot features a number of ghosts who return to advise and haunt the living characters. One of the ghosts is Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States who, in my creative rendering of the past, present and future dies of Covid-19 in the White House residence on October 10, 2020.

In real life, he reported that he and Melania had tested positive for the virus on October 2nd, and later that day he was airlifted to Walter Reed Hospital. On October 4th he left the hospital briefly to wave to supporters before returning to WR for further treatment. On the 5th, against the advice of his doctors, he returned to the White House, struggled up the steps of the South Portico and dramatically ripped the surgical mask from his face, telling the crowd below not to be afraid of the virus.

In my fictional replay of events, he dies in the residence within days though details of the date, time and circumstances were not available.

Following the news release of his passing crowds surged in violent mobs across the country. Martial law was invoked, and a nationwide curfew imposed. Within hours,Vice-President Pence was sworn in as the 46th president and within a month most of the nation had accepted the truth–the virus was real, and Trump was dead. No amount of jaw-boning, posturing or horse medicine could change the facts.

President Pence performed the duties of president in his characteristically inoffensive, wooden puppet manner, but in 2020 the electorate overwhelmingly chose Joseph Robinette Biden the 47th President of the United States and a peaceful transition of power took place on January 20, 2021.

Following Trump’s sudden and surprising death:

  • More than 90% of the population came forward to receive the Covid-19 vaccine and two booster shots.
  • Democrats retained control of both houses of Congress and significant legislation was enacted to restore infrastructure, control inflation, impose universal background checks for firearm purchases, prohibit high capacity magazines and military-style weapons, and grant citizenship to DACA status immigrants.
  • Mitch McConnell failed to force confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court, and when Democrats regained control of the Senate in 2021 Merrick Garland was confirmed as its newest Justice.
  • In 2023 with more revelations by ProPublica of ethical and financial impropriety, Clarence Thomas resigned from the Supreme Court, and he and Ginny are now gracefully enjoying the RV life he so admired.
  • The anti-vax community and its leader Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lost all credibility, diminished in size and was unable to exercise political clout or influence on healthcare policy. 
  • In 2024 Judge Arthur Engoron found the Trump Organization guilty of defrauding investors and the State of New York, assessed a fine of $250 million and revoked its business licenses leading to a collapse of the organization and its eventual bankruptcy.
  • Before filing for bankruptcy the family donated Mar a Lago to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library and Theme Park whose main attraction is the open casket of the former president. For $25 visitors may view him, perfectly embalmed, and restored by the same Russian team that annually restores Ho Chi Minh. Visitors may also purchase T-shirts, NFTs and other memorabilia with likenesses of the former president as Superman and The Terminator in the dining room, now gift shop, managed by Kimberly Guilfoyle and Lara Trump.
  • Jared and Ivanka after being shunned in Miami now reside in the penthouse of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai with a summer cottage next to Mohammed Bin Salman’s palace on the Red Sea.

Yes, this is a fever dream–pure fantasy. 

Happy New Year!

*This is pure fiction. Donald J. Trump is still alive and living his fantasy life in Florida with Rapunzel in the tower and the seven dwarfs – Jason, Stephen, Walt, Johnny, etc. – reading classified documents in the Mar a Lago loo.

My Belief in Cycles…

With everything that’s happening on the planet these days I’m paying increased attention to all its cycles–cosmic, solar, historical, political, business, gestational and creative. Some, like cosmic, solar and gestational are immutable. The others are at the mercy of humans and human events.

In the fifth century B.C. the Greek historian and geographer Herodotus was the first to categorize and investigate ethnographical, geographical, and historical events and come up with a theory regarding their origins. It was the first systematic theory of history. Over the 2600 years since other theories have been propounded–Thomas Carlyle’s Great Forces or Great Man theory, Arnold Toynbee’s Challenge and Response theory, and Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. The “random” theory,” currently in favor, holds the interaction of billions of humans and their choices along with all the other natural and unnatural factors in the world creates history with no discernible flow or path.

In college I had the good fortune to study with the remarkable Giovanni Costigan. For 41 years he captivated University of Washington history students. I went to his classes even when I wasn’t enrolled. Costigan subscribed to Oswald Spengler’s philosophy of history as articulated in his two volume treatise The Decline of the West.  The German historian believed that each civilization has a life cycle that includes childhood, youth, manhood and old age, and at the end of its cycle a civilization becomes “a petrified body characterized in the modern age by technology, imperialism, and mass society which he expected to fossilize and decline from the 2000s onward.” He published the theory in 1918 but 100 years later his forecast is turning out to be as timely as it was uncanny.

I wanted to believe otherwise, but recent events, natural and political, have moved me closer to Spengler’s view. In the past I described myself as a short term pessimist and long term optimist. Today I see myself as an existentialist watching the world unravel.

I’ve lived a life of privilege–born white, born in 20th century America, born healthy, born into a middle-class family. I was the beneficiary of a free public education from kindergarten through law school, became a Marine Corps fighter pilot during peacetime and a Pan Am pilot during the glory days of commercial aviation. For the past 25 years I’ve lived with my fifth-grade girlfriend. All good fortune.

Despite that good fortune, seven years ago I began to doubt my positive view of our civilization. It was jolting. It’s clear that we haven’t lived up to our potential or honored those who gave us our system of government. We ignored both nature and our “better angels.” We didn’t learn the lessons of our own Civil War or those of WWI or WWII. We never accepted the equality of races, genders or religions. We didn’t listen to what science was telling us about climate change and the effect it has on our planet.

And while we have elected some visionary leaders, we are also electing ignorant, greedy, ambitious demagogues–Putin, Xi, Orban, Bolsonaro, Milei, Modi, Netanyahu, Trump, and the unelected military juntas in Afghanistan, Myanmar. We celebrate and reward the wealth of ego maniacs like Elon Musk and largely ignore the grace and generosity of Melinda French Gates and MacKenzie Bezos.

My steadfast belief in America’s aspirational values has cracks and dents. It’s existential now. We were flawed but I believed in our system. Even after Trump’s defeat I believed we could recover. But Biden has squandered whatever good will America gained in uniting NATO in support of Ukraine. His handling of our departure from Afghanistan and his tone deaf full-throated support for Netanyahu and Israel’s destruction of Gaza are unforgiveable. The last straw was Friday’s American veto of a UN resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease fire.

The score today is 1200 violent Israeli deaths on October 7th in contrast to the 18,000 violent Palestinian deaths and untold thousands of maimed, displaced, homeless, and starving Gazans at the hands of the IDF (Israeli Defense Force). Unconscionable.

I still believe in cycles. My granddaughter, Georgia, and her wife, Lisa, hope to have a child next year. My grandsons, Will and Charlie, are in college. Eamon is planning to become an apprentice electrician, and Matt Jr. is in a bank training program. Ben and Lucie, are excellent student athletes, and the youngest, Leevi, is in elementary school. I hope the world takes care of them. They don’t deserve less.

There must be a degree of optimism baked into our DNA, because even I, at some level, remain aspirational. In September I was accepted for a two-year online novel writing program at Stanford. There are 60 of us in the program, and I’m encouraged when I see the talent and positive energy the others generate. Keep me, and them, in your thoughts this holiday season. I will keep you in mine. Be well.

Biden, Gaza and 2024…

The 2024 presidential race is already underway, and I am deeply concerned. Ron DeSantis, Nicky Haley, Tim Scott, Robert Kennedy Jr., Cornel West, Joe Biden… and Trump. The list sounds like the next round of Dancing with the Stars hopefuls.

Where is the candidate to inspire us? Where is the one with real leadership skills who might be able pull the divided country together?

I’m emotionally torn these days, the way so many are — feeling strong affection and appreciation for Joe Biden and yet feeling gripped simultaneously by a pounding fear that a Biden-led party will lose next year and lead to a Trumpian Götterdämmerung. Like many Americans, I’ve found myself having The Conversation over and over again, with friends, sources and people who work in Democratic politics: whether Biden is the best candidate to defeat Trump, his chances of winning, if there’s some better course.David Brooks, (New York Times)

In addition to Brooks, David Ignatius (Washington Post), Frank Bruni and Ezra Klein (New York Times) Robert Reich (The Guardian), Steve Inskeep (NPR) and Mike Allen (Axios)–all Democrats–have written columns suggesting it might be better if he dropped out.

It will be hard, but if no one else steps up, I will hold my nose and vote for Biden. None of the others has what it takes to repair what ails the country or even patch the leaking ship of state? It’s not that I don’t trust Biden or his policies. I believe in his inherent goodness, but recent actions have shown me he’s well past his pull date–as the list of political columnists above has eloquently and persuasively written.

I can’t overstate my disappointment with “Scranton Joe.” I think he did a creditable job as Obama’s wingman and liaison to a dysfunctional Congress, and early in his presidency he pushed through some remarkable legislation on infrastructure. But recently he’s shown how clueless and tone deaf he is. Inviting his criminally charged son Hunter and wife to a White House state dinner awash in photographers was a ridiculous gaffe. Then, he does nothing about his German Shepherd, Commander, until after he’s bitten ten of the White House staff, mostly Secret Service. Finally, last week, after number eleven he was sent back to Delaware. But that’s minor compared to his owner’s recent lapses of judgment.

His decision to visit Israel following the slaughter of Israelis by Hamas vigilantes was the last straw for me. It wasn’t a diplomatic move–to broker a settlement or show solace for the victims. He was there to show America’s whole-hearted support for Israel, including gifts of military equipment and $14 Billion. Standing beside Benjamin Netanyahu, the far-right, corrupt, under indictment Prime Minister, he pledged 100% American support for the PM’s determination to level Gaza as retribution for the Hamas attack. It eerily reminded me of Trump standing next to Putin in Helsinki where he said “I don’t see why it would have been Russia.

It’s true, Israel is a long time American ally, but Netanyahu is shifty. He needs a win here in order to shore up his fragile political coalition, and the Middle East is a powder keg. The PM and Israel’s quickly assembled War Council are behaving like bullies. Palestinians, including those in Gaza and on the West Bank, were dealt an unplayable hand in 1948. Nobody should be treated as they have been.

In the early 60s I admired Israel’s grit and achievements. I’m not even Jewish but I naively wrote and asked about becoming an Israeli Air Force pilot, because I thought it was the best in the world at the time.

But in 1965 I saw my first Palestinian refugee camp–in Beirut–and knew the situation was untenable. Seven thousand Palestinians were still living in tin shacks 17 years after they were displaced by the founders of Israel. It was only a matter of time. I knew there was a violent confrontation coming.

For the first 50 years, PMs like Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres made good faith efforts to find a solution to the Palestinian problem, but for the last 27 years, since Netanyahu’s first term, Israel has turned his back on peaceful resolution by refusing to negotiate, encouraging Jewish settlements on the West Bank and rebuffing outside diplomatic efforts to find a two state solution.

The US couldn’t stop what happened on October 7th. Neither could Israel. Their flawed intelligence failed them. And the Hamas incursion, two years in the planning, was executed with stunning force and bloody success.

I believe Biden should have acknowledged its depravity and given Israel words of support but stayed away. Instead, he pledged America’s full throated support while pledging arms and money to support the wealthiest and most advanced military in the Middle East. Israel doesn’t need our money–Ukraine does. In fact, the biggest loser in the Israel/Hamas conflict is probably Ukraine.

Over the weekend, Israel launched its long anticipated ground assault on Gaza. Hamas killed 1400 Israelis in their surprise cross border attack on October 7th. Since then, 8300 Gazan civilians have died, roughly 70% of them women and children, from constant, continuing Israeli air attacks–even before the current ground invasion. Israel vs. Gaza will never be fair fight. War is never a solution. Israel is a rich, powerful, military and nuclear power. Gaza is a tiny, disorganized patch of land with two million inhabitants governed by a terrorist organization. But Gazan civilians are not Hamas. They deserve better than what they’re getting from either side at this point. They are as much hostages as the 222 Israelis being held prisoner.

America should do everything it can to find a diplomatic solution, but Joe Biden needs to step back from his 1960 view of Israel and let the diplomats have a chance to resolve the Israel-Gaza conflict. The United Nations has called for a ceasefire. So has the European Union. Even prominent Jewish leaders in America have. Criticism of Israel is not antisemitic. They shouldn’t be conflated. When friends make mistakes it’s important to call them out.

I’m looking for an inspiring leader to vote for in 2024–one with fresh ideas. I don’t see him or her yet, but things could change. If they don’t I’ll cast what may be my final presidential vote for Joe Biden. The others are third tier wannabes and a twice-impeached, four times indicted, mob boss-like former president.

Living and Dying in 3/4 Time…

It’s not hard to explain my devotion to Jimmy Buffett. Everything about him is sheer exuberant joy. I jumped on his bandwagon in ’73. My first album was A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean album and it was followed in ’74 with AIA. When he released his album “A Pirate Looks at Forty I was 37. I wasn’t thinking mortality, but the album and the title song struck a note with me, and they’ve long been favorites of mine.

His death, on Friday, from Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and aggressive form of skin cancer, reminds me that no matter how good life looks at any moment it’s never guaranteed. As the survivor of six melanomas I know that. I’m sure he had the best medical care money can buy. He had plenty, but that doesn’t matter when those insidious cells slip in under the radar. I’ve just been luckier.

For that I’m deeply indebted to Dr. Don Kern. He discovered my first melanoma in 1999 and managed to keep me cancer free for more than 20 years. Don was a wine collector, a serious academic–not the kind of person likely to be a Jimmy Buffett fan. But our joke, and Jimmy would have approved, was that if he kept me melanoma free I would keep his upscale wine cellar stocked. We kept both sides of the bargain until his retirement two years ago. I’m just sorry Jimmy didn’t have a Don Kern.

But, my affection and connection to Buffett was more than skin deep. I never met him, but we shared a number of interests. We both loved the sun (dangerous it turned out), Key West, tropical waters, sailing, flying, playing “Gulf and Western” style guitar, and Mount Gay rum.

Since his death on Friday I’ve read all the obituaries and tributes, but nothing quite captures his magic. I saw him in concert twice. The first time in 1981 when I was living in Miami and the second in 2012 when he played Seattle where we joined thousands of gray- haired, Hawaiian shirt wearing sing-along Parrot Heads. Marilynn was astonished. I knew the words to every song.

We came close to seeing him a third time in Key West when he gave an unannounced surprise sold out concert for a bunch of Parrot Heads. It was a private gig limited to fan club members. It would have been great – small venue and a devoted Key West audience – but as Mick Jagger says, “You can’t always get what you want.” Instead we paid tribute by spending the night drinking painkillers at Captain Tony’s.

So many of the tributes have focused on Margaritaville, the song and the empire, but that doesn’t begin to scratch the surface. His success as a businessman was ancillary. He was a true entertainer and delivered that sheer in person joy to millions.

It would be a stretch to compare him to Nobel Prize winning Bob Dylan, but he was no slacker in the serious lyrics department. He wrote about love, death, immigration, and war–but primarily about living life to the fullest and sharing his own sense of joy.

One of my favorite songs is One Particular Harbor and I thought of it when I learned that he died at his home in Sag Harbor on Long Island. It seemed to fit, not with his Caribbean persona but with his seriousness as a writer. Sag Harbor was also where two of my other favorite artists, James Salter and Peter Matthiessen lived and died. Good company for a jolly mon.

When I first heard He Went to Paris I imagined he was writing his own eulogy:

Now he lives in the islands, fishes the pilin’s
And drinks his green label each day
He’s writing his memoirs and losing his hearing
But he don’t care what most people say
Through 86 years of perpetual motion
If he likes you he’ll smile then he’ll say
Jimmy, some of it’s magic, some of it’s tragic
But I had a good life all the way

And he went to Paris looking for answers
To questions that bother him so

Reading departure signs in some big airport reminds me of the places I’ve been.

Visions of good time that brought so much pleasure makes me want to go back again.

If it suddenly ended tomorrow I could somehow adjust to the fall.

Good time and riches and son-of-a-bitches I’ve seen more than I can recall

RIP Jolly Mon 

Why Can’t I Embrace Biden?

It looks like the post-pandemic economy is on its way to a soft landing. Inflation is cooling. Unemployment is at historic lows. The cost of prescription drugs is lower. NATO is stronger. The Infrastructure Bill is creating jobs. Crumbling roads, bridges and rail lines are being repaired.

So why can’t I be enthusiastic about Joe Biden. He’s the architect of these positive changes, and I applaud them. Why can’t I embrace the persona? Why does it feel like he’s stalled out? With these accomplishments, how is it that he finds himself in a dead heat with a disgraced, twice-impeached, thrice-indicted, grifting criminal in the 2024 race for the presidency? It’s a mystery.

I hate what I’m writing but it seems important.

I wish we had another viable choice. Biden is too old–but so is his opponent–and given their stark differences I believe he’s the only one we can trust to protect and preserve American democracy. His opponent has shown his complete disdain for it.

I sincerely believe he’s a good man and has the country’s best interests at heart. Should it matter that he’s boring? Should I care that he’s out of touch with popular culture? Is it important that he walks like a toy soldier, falls off his bike, stutters and seems as fragile as a porcelain doll? No! And it doesn’t matter that he’s stuck in a time-warp when “malarky” was in common usage and “Man” was the way adult men addressed one another. But…

On a more substantive note, I want to know why he can’t stand by his avowed democratic principles? Who’s advising him when these principles are at stake? What does it say when he gives anti-democratic leaders like Indian Prime Minister Modi and Israel’s Netanyahu a platform and credibility by inviting them to the White House? And how could he so insensitive and tone deaf as to meet with Mohammed bin Salman, the man who authorized the killing and dismemberment of a Saudi critic and long-term resident of the U.S?

And why can’t he keep his own grifting, drug-addicted, womanizing son in the background? What purpose is served by inviting him to a state dinner at the White House when he knows the son is a target for far right nutcases who want to link him to corrupt practices in Ukraine and China. With all the photographers in Washington present for the Indian Premier’s official state dinner, Joe pitches a softball to his critics by making the event about Hunter not peace in South Asia. Hunter is the gift that keeps on giving. If Joe wants to support him he needs to keep him in the background and help with his treatment–not parade him around the White House.

The mystery is that I can’t seem to overlook these things and I’m concerned that other voters will feel the same in the upcoming election. He’s accomplished all the things I listed in the first paragraph and his opponent is an arch-criminal willing to sell us to the highest bidder when it benefits him personally. How do we energize the electorate to do the right thing?

I’ve never been a big Biden fan. He was a reliable wingman and Congressional go-between for Barack Obama’s eight years, but I also hold him responsible, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991, for the confirmation of Clarence Thomas, the least competent and most corrupt Supreme Court justice in memory.

Well, he’s not a rock star. He’s a politician–making promises and glad handing. I like Kamala Harris and thought she was an OK choice for VP, but she hasn’t risen to the occasion and proven herself a viable presidential candidate. That leaves a big hole on the Democrats’ bench in the future.

Another lapse in judgment was his “promise” to appoint a black woman to the Supreme Court before there was an open seat to fill. Blatently political. He should have promised to appoint the best person for the job even if he intended to appoint a black woman. He wanted a black woman on the Court to show diversity. But the Supremes are anything but diverse. Five Catholics, three Jews and an Episcopalian are not what America looks like. So why pretend?

Ketanji Brown Jackson may be the most thoughtful Supreme appointment since RBG and I’m glad she’s there, but I wish Biden had kept his mouth shut about appointing a black woman. Today, she is seen as a black woman first and jurist second.

I’ve resisted writing about politics lately. I’m writing fiction instead. It’s more fun and less controversial, but the prospect of a Trump victory in the presidential race is ominous. I need to swallow my reservations.

I know this is not a ringing endorsement but I plan to suck it up and cast my vote for Joe. Trump is being arraigned today on charges related to his attempt to steal the 2020 election. We need to prevent him from repeating in 2024 and beyond.  

I’m casting my vote to preserve what’s left of our democracy.