obama

In Which I Attempt to Deconstruct a Meme

by

Writing this post is in some ways a self-indulgent waste of my time. Let me say right off the bat:

ALL MEMES ARE BY VERY DEFINITION THOUGHTLESS.

Why? Because they’re the equivalent of a pie in the face. Show me a thoughtful meme and I’ll . . . well, I don’t have to say that I’ll do because no one will be able to find such a thing. I’m reminded of the old joke about college lectures:

College is a place where a professor’s lecture notes go straight to the students’ lecture notes, without passing through the brains of either.

Read more

Can You Compartmentalize Character?

by
How'd We Get Here?
How'd We Get Here?
Can You Compartmentalize Character?
/

Show notes:

I give a brief overview of Donald Trump’s career as an adult up to early 2011, stopping here and there to give telling examples from his personal, business and political life. Here are links to the sources I mention in the episode:

“The Trumpiest Thing Trump Has Done This Week” by Jennifer Rubin, March 15, 2018, The Washington Post.

“Here Comes the GOP Bloodbath” by Erick Erickson, May 19, 2017, The Washington Post.

“Transcript of Mitt Romney’s Speech on Donald Trump” March 3, 2016, The New York Times.

“The Trump Taj Mahal Casino Sold for Four Cents on the Dollar–Here’s How Trump Bankrupted It Twice” by Linette Lopez, May 10, 2017, Business Insider.

“Trump’s Casino Was a Money Laundering Concern Shortly After It Opened” by Jose Pugliery, CNN Investigates, May 22, 2017, CNN Politics.

(Note that I mentioned The Atlantic as the source for the article I was planning to post; these two are more thorough.)

Two books mentioned in passing (both are Amazon Affiliate links):

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff, 2018.

Trump Revealed: The Definitive Biography of the 45th President by Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher, 2017.

And, finally, the clip from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner: