Three Columns (Gerson, Friedman and Parker), a Letter, Why "They" Stick with Trump and a Great Painter, Pablo Picasso

“Inherent Dignity” and “Equal and Inalienable Rights”

are what Michael Gerson writes about in his recent Washington Post column.  Sadly, I believe that Gerson’s words are far too deep for those Republicans who still support our President to understand.  (He is a strong conservative, but probably no longer a Republican.)  Hopefully, they will at least make it through the first paragraph, the crux of his message.  If you read nothing else on this posting, at least CLICK RIGHT HERE to read his column.  And read it twice if the impact of his message doesn’t initially sink in.  I did.

Jack Lippman

Why "They" Support Trump

The most popular news channel on TV is Fox News.  More people watch Fox than any other news outlet.  Fox’s Sean Hannity is the most popular news person on the tube!  The President even gets his news from Sean, which consists of a nightly regurgitation of Trump’s own positions, which serves to reinforce his belief in them when he hears Hannity preach them.  

Hannity

Frequently, Trump uses phrases like "everybody's saying this or that," when what he is talking about are his own thoughts fed back to him by "everybody" which translates as "Fox."  But it gets him off the hook.  He never say it.  "Everybody" did.

The gullible Americans who have enabled the White House to be occupied by this scoundrel are led down the trail by Fox, a Pied Piper whose destination is a place where democracy is replaced by expediency.  Trump himself is too ignorant to understand that he is being used by those whose dark and undemocratic economic and social goals have been opposed throughout history by true Americans of all political parties.  Sadly, this pathetic man does not even recognize that the lies he daily tells are indeed lies.  I give him credit for his honesty because he truly believes the fibs he tells are truth. 

  

There are many business people, whom if you ask, believe that lawyers and accountants exist only to enable clients to avoid breaking the law in their daily activities, and to aid them when they misstep and do illegal things.  They are hired to advise clients are as to just how far they can go to avoid breaking the law, how to go about doing it and to get them out of trouble when they find themselves in it.  It is this disrespect for the law, picturing it as an opponent, which is contrary to what Americans have always thought of the law, as being almost a holy thing, that Donald Trump has brought to the White House.

  

But back to Fox News.  If one watches news channels on TV, particularly CNN and MSNBC, they often include panels of journalists.  Frequently, those who work for the Washington Post or the New York Times are on these panels.  Both of these papers, which the President constantly denigrates as part of the media which he sees as “an enemy of the people,” have enormous daily circulation (Washington Post - 474,700, New York Times – 2,500,000) and great worldwide credibility despite the President’s lies about the media. Therefore, when a Post or Times reporter is on a news panel, he or she is someone deserving of being paid attention to. 

  

On Fox News, their panels are padded with representatives of the Weekly Standard (circulation – 105,000) and the Washington Examiner, another weekly, (circulation - 45,000).  Fox’s gullible viewers think these are real newspapers, comparable to the Times and the Post, since they have newspaper-like sounding names.  Actually, they are just minor conservative publications, far from the objectivity of real newspapers like the Times or the Post.  Their representatives on panels, therefore, really have little credibility.  But Fox viewers don’t know that.  They don’t read newspapers. 

  

Similarly, when discussing the Mueller investigation and its possible relationship to the Administration, CNN and MSNBC include former prosecutors and Justice Department employees on their panels.  On Fox, the viewer gets credential-less commentators on this subject. 

Colmes

When Fox includes a dissident voice on a panel, he or she usually looks unappealing (that's why they were picked) and is often slapped down by an unashamedly partisan host. The late Alan Colmes was an example of this. 

Another explanation of why Trump’s supporters stick with him despite his obvious lack of Presidential qualification is suggested by Eddie Glaude, Jr, former CIA operative and present Princeton faculty member.  

Glaude

Glaude, who frequently appears on MSNBC, maintains that the Republican base sticks with Trump because of (1) his misunderstood position as someone who will lower their taxes and (2) who quietly appeals to the latent racism still present in the American psyche.  (Two postings ago, on Nov. 11, this blog touched upon this in the next to last paragraph of my "Back to Poitics" comments.) He has commented that although racism officially died in the 1960’s, the funeral is taking a very long time and still goes on.  And these two factors, to some extent, underlie Trump’s support, over and above, but along with, his cheerleaders and rooting section at Fox News.

Back in 2016, while even recognizing that Trump was “an exaggerated indication of the rot that is at the heart of this country,” Glaude would still not support Hillary Clinton.  That Trump was “worse than her” was, to him, not sufficient reason to vote for her.  So he skipped voting for a Presidential candidate.  But as recently as last month, Glaude has said that he "overestimated" white people in 2016 and didn't think they would put someone like Donald Trump in office.  But it happened.  Hindsight is easy.  Foresight is hard.
JL

A Change of Pace:  Learn about Pablo Picasso

(The following material was developed from several internet sources)

Pablo Picasso was born on October 25, 1881, in Málaga, Spain. Displaying great talent for drawing, he devoted himself to art rather than schoolwork. Later, as a young painter in Barcelona, Picasso fell in with a crowd of artists and intellectuals which led to his decisive break from the classical methods and began what would become a lifelong process of experimentation and  innovation.  

A lifelong womanizer, Picasso had countless relationships with girlfriends, mistresses, muses and prostitutes, marrying only twice. Some of the women with whom he had relationships influenced his work greatly and might be considered his “muses.” Detailed and fascinating descriptions of these relationships  may be found by CLICKING RIGHT HERE or copying and pasting this link onto your browser line: http://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/8799/the-women-behind-the-work-picasso-and-his-muses .

Picasso is renowned for endlessly reinventing himself, switching between styles so radically different that his life's work seems to be the product of many great artists rather than just one. He explained this by saying that “Different themes inevitably require different methods of expression. This does not imply either evolution or progress; it is a matter of following the idea one wants to express and the way in which one wants to express it." 

  

Pablo Picasso’s work can be broken down into his “Blue Period” (1901-1904) when, emotionally depressed, he painted scenes of poverty, isolation and anguish, almost exclusively in shades of blue and green. Later, he introduced warmer colors, including beiges, pinks and reds, into his work. This was Picasso’s “Rose Period" (1904-06).  A “muse” influenced it.  Later, with his friend and fellow painter, Georges Braque, he developed what became known as Cubism, in which objects are broken apart and reassembled in an abstracted form. His “Demoiselles d'Avignon,” a chilling depiction of five nude prostitutes, revolutionized 20^th century art.

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon

The outbreak of World War One ushered in the next great change in Picasso's art. More somber, his works between 1918 and 1927 are categorized as part of his "Classical Period," amounting to a return to Realism.  From 1927 onward, Picasso turned to Surrealism, an outgrowth of Cubism, the greatest example of which is the anti-war painting, “Guernica."

Guernica

In the aftermath of World War Two, Picasso became more overtly political, joining the Communist Party. He continued to paint and superstitiously believed that keeping working would keep him alive.  It didn’t.  He died on April 8, 1973, at the age of 91, in Mougins, France, conceivably with a paintbrush in his hand.   

JL

Letter I Wrote To the Palm Beach Post (Hope they print it.)

Davis

“In the currently playing movie “Widows,” three widows of men killed when their robbery attempt goes wrong decide, despite their lack of criminal experience, to continue their spouses’ violent trade.  When one of them is assigned the chore of getting weapons for their escapade, she says that she doesn’t know how to go about doing that.  The character played by Viola Davis turns to her, replying, “Come on, this is America!”  In the next scene, the buyer is at a gun show.’

JL

Two More “Must Read” Columns

Here, friends, are two columns which anyone concerned with the destiny of our country must read.  So many of you don’t read newspapers these days and might miss them.  That’s why they are included here.  Please take the time to read them.

Parker and Friedman together

First is Tom Friedman’s recent New York Times column about the hypocrisy and morality of trading justice for arms sales.  To read it, CLICK HERE .  Meanwhile, in the Washington Post,  the ever-perceptive Kathleen Parker recently wrote about the danger of accepting the lack of empathy with which some current tragedies are faced as defining the “new normal.”  Parker is a solid rock upon which democracy can fix its anchor.  Read that column by CLICKING RIGHT HERE .

JL

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Jack Lippman