Looking back at the Con Man in Chief
In 2019 Around the Block revealed where little Donald learned his flimflammery
If you’re reading this, you’re aware that I’ve moved Around the Block to Substack. Long time readers might be aware that Substack is actually the third platform for this blog. Starting with Blogger in 2012(!), I transitioned to WordPress in 2019 and began publishing on Substack last month. I’ve published 1,000’s of posts over the 12 years of Around the Block. I hope you’ve enjoyed my commentary, opinions, and satire (“News with a Twist”) and will continue reading, commenting and forwarding my musings to friends and family, no matter “what side they’re on.”
(Please note, Substack offers two subscription models – free and paid. Around the Block is free and will remain so until and unless I come up with some “Lucky Strike Extras” that would justify a paid subscription.)
One last thing before I go on to the actual subject of today’s post, I wanted to point out an important side benefit of my move to Substack – the company I’m now keeping:
Now, today’s post.
Today is Wednesday, June 26. The first debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump is tomorrow. It will be the first debate between an incumbent and a former president. It will be the earliest presidential debate in history. And in form and format – no audience; non-speaker’s microphone muted – will adhere more closely to the first debate in modern presidential history, Nixon-Kennedy in 1960.
The reasons for the format changes are obvious. The 2016 and 2020 debates were less like debates and more like circuses due to Donald Trump’s unpresidential behavior. That is non-debatable, no matter which side you’re on.
So, where does a short history of Around the Block and tomorrow’s debate come together?
In reminiscing about 12 years of Around the Block, I did a quick review of some of my more memorable posts, posts that might still have some relevance today. That search uncovered a story from 2019 in which I explored the real reason why Donald Trump became Donald Trump. While not required pre-debate reading, it might provide insights into the man who has a 50/50 chance to become president of the United States again.
(Please bear in mind: this post was labeled “Satire” and “News with a Twist.” But you know what they say about satire – the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.)
October 11, 2019
As we head deeper and deeper into a full-fledged Constitutional crisis, a crisis in which democracy as we know it is on the precipice, a crisis of which Paul Krugman opined today, “…if democracy survives — which is by no means certain — it will largely be thanks to one unpredictable piece of good luck: Donald Trump’s mental deficiency," I started thinking, who is this man, Donald Trump? Who is the man Krugman characterizes as not stupid because “a stupid man couldn’t have managed to defraud so many people over so many years?”
The answer is well-known and easy: Donald Trump is a con man, a “lazy, utterly incurious, insecure” one, according to Krugman, but a con man nonetheless.
But, is this just his nature, or was there an event, a happening, an experience that formed Trump’s character?
And then it hit me.
Donald Trump became the hustler he is today on Saturday, November 3, 1956 when he, along with millions of other kids, watched as CBS reintroduced the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, to the American public. Ten-year old little Donald watched in awe as the film went from the black and white of Kansas to the technicolor Land of Oz (most of us watched in amazement as well but for one thing: we couldn’t see the transition to color because unlike the Trumps, most of us didn’t have a color TV).
Intently watching as Dorothy and her friends approached his image, little Donald knew instantly who he wanted to be – the greatest con man of all time: the Great and Powerful Oz!
Well as (bad) luck would have it, little Donald became president of the United States, a president who, in just the last few days has uttered the most incredible and amazing statements ever attributed to an American president (I could go back further than the last few days but even I have space limitations):
“As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the economy of Turkey.”
“They (the Kurds) are fighting for their land. And as somebody wrote in a very, very powerful article today, they didn’t help us in the Second World War. They didn’t help us with Normandy, as an example.”
“Well they (ISIS fighters) are going to be escaping to Europe, that's where they want to go."
Regarding former Vice President Biden: “He was only a good vice president because he knew how to kiss Barack Obama’s ass.”
Regarding Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: “She’s either really stupid or she’s really lost it — or maybe there’s a certain dishonesty in there.”
(Note: Last two statements were made at a campaign rally in Minneapolis which drew “roars of approval.”)
If only, as in the "real" The Wizard of Oz, there was little Toto to pull back the curtain (or at least flush these statements down the, well, Toto) and reveal the true man. Someone, anyone who could finally tell us to “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”
Someone, perhaps a Lindsey Graham, or a Mitch McConnell, or a Kevin McCarthy who could finally, finally tell us:
"If he only had a brain!"
"If he only had a heart!"
"If he only had some courage."
But they won’t and he doesn’t.
So, until he does, Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”
Final thoughts
Five years on Trump hasn’t changed. He’s gotten worse. Those quotes from 2019, his lack of historical knowledge, his personal attacks on rivals, his need for retribution, are mild compared to today’s Trump. What has changed is my own naiveté in suggesting Republicans like Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell or Kevin McCarthy might have reined him in.
Five years on adoring MAGA crowds still enthusiastically cheer Trump’s insults and lies about his enemies.
Five years on we are facing Constitutional crises Paul Krugman couldn’t have imagined in October 2019.
Five years on we have moved from a two-party system to a system with one party and one cult.
Five years on, while we are still concerned about the survival of democracy, we are that much closer to its ultimate demise.