As we free-fall into fascism, nothing else really matters very much.
On one hand, I can’t believe what’s happening – “in my lifetime” -- and yet this kind of evil (disrespect for government, contempt for established norms and the rule of law, cronyism, malice, incompetence, institutionalized racism, misogyny, cruelty especially to the poor and helpless, barbarism, etc.) has been building in the Republican Party since Reagan. Even before that with the John Birch Society, Human Events, Ayn Rand, etc. Now it’s just out in the open and in command, for all to see.
What I really want to say would get me arrested. Or at least, questioned. Someday soon, people like me might be “detained” somewhere. Who really knows what Trump … and his followers … are capable of?
We already know they’ve put kids in cages. Thousands of kids in cages, thousands of families separated. Concentration camps are being built in the USA to house thousands of refugees. (Some people are making a lot of money off these policies. Who knows what deals – and kickbacks – are hatched at Mar-a-Lago?)
More than two thousand former Department of Justice officials have asked Bill Barr to resign. But he ain’t going anywhere. Not as long as Trump thinks he has “his Roy Cohn” in place.
And things are going to get worse. Guaranteed.
As if that’s not enough….
I can’t help be dispirited by the performance of the Democratic party in the Iowa caucuses. (Who won again? And how few delegates did he win? And what’s the population demographic in Iowa? And New Hampshire, for that matter?)
“Fiasco” isn’t too strong a term. From now on, every primary, every caucus is a chance for the Democrats to screw up and give the Republicans a chance to ridicule them. “If they can’t run their own primary, how can they run the government?” Illogical, but it certainly has a whiff of truth in it.
The primary is coming up in California on March 3rd, but so far, I’m an agnostic.
The Democrats don’t have a “perfect” candidate. Not even close.
Biden is past his sell-by date; sorry, Joe.
Bernie is right on the issues, but the USA is not going to elect a Jew from Brooklyn, and I AM a Jew from Brooklyn. Also, Bernie’s too divisive, too risky, and could lose the Democrats some House seats in purple districts, instead of building on the gains of 2018.
As far as Mayor Pete, if there’s anything Americans hate more than a Jew, it’s a homosexual. I like a lot of things about Mayor Pete, starting with his crystalline intelligence, but I think that once the On-the-Fence Voter gets into the booth, he or she is not going to pull the lever for a gay candidate. I wish Americans were more enlightened, but they’re not. And if Pete does get the nomination, the Republican smear machine will go into high gear, beginning with the Pussygrabber-in-Chief himself.
I like Elizabeth Warren, but she’s lost momentum and focus. I was liking Amy Klobuchar, thinking that there was nothing obviously wrong with her except for her lack of charisma (centrist, Midwestern, etc.), but then she made that stupid error on Telemundo. Where was her staff? Who briefed her? She looked amateurish. Not good.
So Bloomberg is the “better” New York billionaire? Less sexist, less racist. Whoopee. One good thing is that Bloomberg could really get under Trump’s thin, repulsive, orange skin. All his life, Trump’s wanted nothing more than to be accepted by the New York establishment: Bloomberg is the New York establishment. And Bloomberg has the money to match Trump’s war chest.
It’s a toss-up. Bernie has a movement behind him, but he has some big minuses. Bloomberg has the money, but can you buy enthusiasm? Mayor Pete’s a risk: slight resume (same as Obama), but a fresh voice. Warren and Klobouchar keep marching: left, right, left, right, staying alive, staying alive. Maybe for a vice-presidential nod. But I could see the choice of Kamala Harris or Stacy Abrams satisfying two strong Democratic constituencies.
I don’t look forward to a brokered convention, but that’s what it looks like we’re headed for. My guess is that Barack Obama will come out of the shadows and anoint one candidate. We could see some crazy/good choices pitched in Milwaukee: Adam Schiff? Sherrod Brown? Oprah Winfrey? Michelle Obama? A John Kerry-Mitt Romney fusion ticket?
The main thing is: ANY DEMOCRAT IS BETTER THAN ANY REPUBLICAN.
No, the Democrats don’t have the candidate, but they have the issues.
And I believe that they have the majority of the country … if they can get people off their asses to vote. The GOP is very good at motivating its base through fear and hate (watch Fox News for a few minutes.) It’s hard to get Democrats to vote. I’ve done lots and lots of canvassing and precinct-walking in my time, and I know. I’ve gotten into too many discussions with young people – usually, men – who tell me that both parties are the same, and they’re all corrupt.
Which is why 42% of eligible voters don’t vote.
So we get the government we deserve.
MEANWHILE …
Meanwhile, my micro-life continues to thrive in the shadows. A visit to the Gamble House, Greene & Greene’s Arts & Crafts masterpiece. Lunch and a visit to the Broad Museum with my darling daughter. A bug class with my grandson at the Los Angeles Arboretum, where the peacocks roam free and Bogart and Hepburn once pretended it was Africa. And the mass-market edition of WHAT IT WAS LIKE is coming out from The Story Plant on April 7th. But that’s another story.
AND FINALLY …
One of my favorite opera singers – and one of the few genuine legends I actually saw sing live -- died recently: Mirella Freni, arguably the last of the great Italian sopranos. Her pure, sweet, tender voice is part of the soundtrack of my life. In my CD collection, on my Pandora stations, on Sirius radio’s Metropolitan Opera station, and in my stream of “Favorite Tracks.” I have 24 full operas with Freni and quite a few recital discs. Her Mimi and Butterfly with her childhood friend Luciano Pavarotti are wonderful and deserving of their reputation. I especially treasure her wonderful Susanna in a live “Marriage of Figaro” from Paris with Solti conducting. A “Manon” in Italian with Pavarotti, too.
The TG and I saw her in recital early in the 90s at the lovely Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena. It was a masterclass in singing.
As The New Grove Dictionary of Opera said of her in 1992, “The purity, fullness, and even focus of her voice have survived the transition from lyric to dramatic soprano, as have her personal charm and magnetism.”
Maybe Freni doesn’t go as deep as some other great singers, but her voice is never anything less than beautiful and truthful. I could listen to her all day.
Mirella Freni – live from 1985 – arias from "Mefistofele" … "Tosca" … "Gianni Schicchi" and "Don Carlo"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdnqLnOdpfU
Mirella Freni – in concert in Tokyo – singing “Si, mi chiamano Mimi” from La Boheme, “Vissì d'arte” from Tosca, “Ritorna vincitor” from Aida, “ Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante” from Carmen, The letter scene from Eugene Onegin, “O mio babbino caro” from Gianni Schicchi, and “Tu che di gel sei cinta” from Turandot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAbN5NW5eR0
Mirella Freni – at the Metropolitan Opera 1991 Gala, singing Adriana Lecouvreur and stopping the show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdcjfL-3wTk
Mirella singing “Tu Che La Vanita” from Don Carlo, a late career triumph and one of Verdi’s greatest arias
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_foI8s10Ow
Pure beauty. We can all use some.
Carpe diem.
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