Chicago Tribune by Garrison Keillor
It is the most famous ducktail in America today, the hairdo of wayward youth of a bygone era, and it's astonishing to imagine it under the spotlight in Cleveland, being cheered by Republican dignitaries. The class hood, the bully and braggart, the guy revving his pink Chevy to make the pipes rumble, presiding over the student council. This is the C-minus guy who sat behind you in history and poked you with his pencil and smirked when you asked him to stop. That smirk is now on every front page in America. It is not what anybody — left, right or center — looks for in a president. There's no philosophy here, just an attitude.
He is a little old for a ducktail. By the age of 70, most ducks have moved on, but not Donald Trump. He is apparently still fond of the sidewalls and the duck's ass in back and he is proud as can be of his great feat, the first punk candidate to get this close to the White House. He says the country is run by a bunch of clowns and that he is going to make things great again and beat up on the outsiders who are coming into our neighborhood. His followers don't necessarily believe that — what they love about him is what kids loved about Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious, the fact that he horrifies the powers that be and when you are pro-duck you are giving the finger to Congress, the press, clergy, lawyers, teachers, cake-eaters, big muckety-mucks, VIPs, all those people who think they're better than you — you have the power to scare the pants off them, and that's what this candidate does better than anybody else.
After the worst mass shooting in modern American history on Sunday, 50 persons dead in Orlando, the bodies still being carted from the building, the faces of horror-stricken cops and EMTs on TV, the gentleman issued a statement on Twitter thanking his followers for their congratulations, that the tragedy showed that he had been "right" in calling for America to get "tough."
Anyone else would have expressed sorrow. The gentleman expressed what was in his heart, which was personal pride.
We had a dozen or so ducktails in my high school class and they were all about looks. The hooded eyes, the sculpted swoop of the hair, the curled lip. They emulated Elvis but only the look, not the talent. Their sole ambition was to make an impression, to slouch gracefully and exhale in an artful manner. In the natural course of things, they struggled after graduation. Some tried law enforcement for the prestige of it, others became barflies. If they were drafted, the Army got them shaped up in a month or two. Eventually, they all calmed down, got hitched up to a mortgage, worried about their blood pressure, lost the chippiness, let their hair down. But if his dad was rich and if he was born before you were, then the ducktail could inherit enough wealth to be practically impervious to public opinion. This has happened in New York City. A man who could never be elected city comptroller is running for president. [...]
Trump's no good because his hairstyle is out of date. Wonderful journalism.
ReplyDeletetotally missed the point - read it again
ReplyDeleteI know he says more but I don't like the harping about his hair. Most guys his age are bald already.
ReplyDeleteHow about dumping on the real enemy of the Jews, Hillary.
ReplyDeleteWe get it already - you hate Trump. Could you please explain to me how president Hillary Clinton will be better than President Donald Trump? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI hate this dodo, with his stupid Lake Wobegon show.
ReplyDeleteTo the contrary, his tweet after the Orlando atrocity was honest, to the point, and echoed what probably a good part of the country was thinking.
“This is the C-minus guy who sat behind you in history and poked you with his pencil and smirked when you asked him to stop. That smirk is now on every front page in America. It is not what anybody — left, right or center — looks for in a president. There's no philosophy here, just an attitude.”
ReplyDeleteI’m a Trump Supporter. Trump was right encouraging Britain to vote independence. Obama was wrong. Trump is the A+ guy in history that everyone loves. He is Mr. popular his whole life. He made big money for himself and for those around him. God bless him. He’s not like the Clinton’s that take cash from all special interests. Trump’s interest is making the USA great again.
I’m a PhD economist. In my opinion Trump is right on the trillions of debt in the USA, that this is no good for the USA. I predict when Trump becomes president, he’ll stop the mad experimental zero interest business, with massive printing of money. He’ll reduce USA debt. The world will follow and bless Trump.
Your inflammatory comments are really not helping your candidate since you talk just like he does. If you have an intelligent article from a respected sources will be glad to publish it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you need to be an American who grew up in the 60's and 70's to appreciate what he is talking about
ReplyDeletesorry Trump lost a lot because of his insensitivity. The fact that he thought that the massacre proved his point - was not a reason not to offer some sort of expression of concern for the people killed.
ReplyDeletehow do you explain the clear dismay in senior Republican circles and the lack of enthusiasm for his candidacy? I am not claiming that Clinton is a good candidate - she is not. But the appeal of Trump is perceived that he is going to get the establishment if and when he is elected.
ReplyDeleteSorry I don't hate Trump and I certainly don't like the idea of Clinton as president. But the article captures the personality of Trump and his appeal very well. Find a comparable article explaining why you can't trust Clinton and I will be consider publishing it. It is clear in this election the majoriy of voters are going to decide not which candidate they prefer but which one is least disgusting.
ReplyDeletehttp://observer.com/2016/06/the-coming-constitutional-crisis-over-hillary-clintons-emailgate/
ReplyDeleteHere is a good one.
I just now sent this comment to the Wall Street Journal:
ReplyDelete“Globalization…wipes out our middle class and our jobs,” he declared in a speech last week. “Our country will be better off when we start making our own products again, bringing our once great manufacturing capabilities back to our shores.” As president, he promised, low-paid immigrants would no longer take jobs from Americans, and “massive new factories will come roaring into our country.”
I’m a Trump supporter. I live in Israel. I’m a PhD economist. I like what Trump says. We well know how important to our wealth is self-manufacturing. This is the crux of the problem with Obama’s defense package offers to Israel. Obama wants to eliminate the 25% Israel self-manufacturing clauses.
just posted it - thanks
ReplyDeleteHow about the new book published by one of the Secret Service members who worked in the White House when Bill was president. He speaks about her temper tantrums, and many other personal failings that she has from up close.
ReplyDeleteRemember, sarah palin bought her sheitel's on 13th avenue. No such equivalent for the amazing.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about the Chicago Tribune but Garrison Keillor is certainly not a respected source.
ReplyDeleteHere is Dennis Prager's assessment of him
"Nor is this leftwing habit of smearing new. For some Leftists the best smear is one which can be claimed as not meant as a smear. The listener simply ‘mislistened’. In reality this smear is as if one might put a few drops of arsenic into a glass of water to poison but didn’t really mean the consequences of the drinker being dead. Garrison Keillor played that game 7 years ago with the accidental death of Paul Wellstone. I quote from the November 20, 2002 St. Paul Pioneer Press: Says Keillor: “I personally don’t believe he (Norm Coleman) had anything to do with the crash of Paul’s plane. Plenty of people suspect he did. I don’t. But I do think he is a cynical politician who should make himself scarce for the next few years until people start to forget his campaign.” Coleman had just defeated Walter Mondale for the U. S. Senate seat formerly held by Democrat, Paul Wellstone. Why did Keillor suggest Coleman murdered Wellstone if he didn’t believe it? Because he was and is a devoted Lefty so often perfectly described by Dennis. He sees himself as better than people, even fellow Lefties…certainly better than those people….the low renters. Garrison Keillor continues in the same article: “I know those (Coleman) people. To my own shame, I know them. I’m ashamed of Minnesota for electing this cheap fraud, and I’m ashamed of myself for sitting on my hands, tending to my hoop-stitching, confident that Wellstone would win and that Coleman would wind up with an undersecretaryship in the Commerce Department. To choose Coleman over Walter Mondale is one of those dumb low-rent mistakes…” I wonder how Keillor assesses Al Franken’s ‘qualities’? At last in 2002, thirty years after the Leftist hoodlums bombed America, rioted, spat and deficated in the name of Anarchist Freedom, I decided to become active politically against these Marxists. Garrison Keillor’s hate and smear had aroused me to defend my country."
Here is a video with details of many of Hillary's crimes which can be easily found to be true by checking them out on the web
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK2K5v5bm0Q
The dismay is due to their certain knowledge that if he gets in, he will overturn the apple cart. A lot of these guys are "go along, get along" people. They don't want someone who is not beholden to them.
ReplyDeleteOh, no doubt he can be a bit of a boor. He won't be the first US president to be one. But that doesn't change the fact that he was right about the terror threat, and about the stupidity of importing Muslims, and that the Orlando atrocity proved as much.
ReplyDeleteI have always voted Republican,and I am quite at dismay that Trump is the probable Republican nominee.For after all,Trump is the bully in the class that nobody would want to see succeed.
ReplyDeleteTrump is the type of person any mother would say not to emulate.All his put-downs from Lying Ted to Little Marco made me squirm.This is how you win votes-by calling respected people names???
Then,you have all the times Trump fluctuates from one direction to the next.If he keeps changing his mind,how can you take him for what he says???
Seeing people fall for Trump really remind me of how people fell for the President Obama mantra of change and all that stuff,and we see what little came from all that!!!
Also,do Trump supporters really think that Trump will win the minority vote???After he put down the Muslims,and the Hispanics ,why would they vote for him??And without the minority vote,Trump really has no chance as minorities are usually the main voters come election day.
I see that too many of my fellow Republicans are all falling for his wonderful mouth that can sprout out all the joyful things people want to hear.But to win the national election,you have to be a guy that can unite the country and not divide it,and Trump seems to be great at being divisive.
So enjoy his divisive and angry comments,but it will do little for him come election day,and it will be a most wasted opportunity for the Republicans and a shame that Clinton has to walk in so easily when the Republicans should have and could have picked a better suitable candidate.
Serious!?! Are you for real!? Can you send me proof?
ReplyDeleteHow about the fact that all Secret Service agents who worked there at the time say that the author of that book was a low-level employee who would not have even had the access to witness the events that he supposedly saw? See here: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/hillary-bill-clinton-secret-service-224578
ReplyDeleteHenry Paulson (Treasury Secretary under George W. Bush) has added his name to the list of high-ranking Republicans who will vote for Hillary.
ReplyDeleteHow about the fact that all Secret Service agents who worked there at the time
ReplyDeletePolitico does not quote a single Secret Service member who worked there at that time by name. Not even one!
The one person whose name they mention is Jan Gilhooly. One problem. First he says that it was "impossible" for Byrns to have been stationed there. Then he walks back his assertion with
“There could be a circumstance where a uniformed officer might be in the proximity. It’s not as if it never happens,” Gilhooly said. “It is possible, but not on a continuum.”
Gilhooly did not work with Clinton. He did some inspections.
The Secret Service declined to comment. Sorry, I do not find this to have discredited Byrns. If there will be actual names and statements from Secret Service members from during that time period, that would be another thing.
I do agree with all of the ideas you've presented in your post.
ReplyDeleteThey're really convincing and can definitely work. Still,
the posts are too short for starters. May just you please lengthen them a bit from next time?
Thanks for the post.