October 7, 2024: One Year Later by marilyn salenger

We are living in a time of too much hate. Too much ignorance of facts. Too much divisiveness. It’s been brewing for too long.

The horror of the surprise Hamas cross-border October 7, 2023 attack on innocent Israelis was the most deadly day in Israel’s history. Over 1200 people were reportedly killed according to Israel and more than 240 were kidnapped and held hostage, including children, women and men. Of those original numbers, Israel says 97 people are still being held, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Since October 7 of last year, Israel has responded by devasting attacks on Gaza which is home to the Hamas terrorist organization who operates in underground tunnels in Gaza and is hidden in civilian populations above ground. It has created a nightmare war for all involved.

While attempts at peace deals and cease fires seem to continually fall apart, the war has now expanded to Lebanon which borders on the north of Israel. Lebanon is home to Hezbollah, another terrorist organization, that has been sending rockets into Israel for a long time.

Here’s how I described things a year ago:

The state of Israel has always been largely surrounded by enemies. But this is different and more extreme because the enemies are extremists. Hamas is a militant Palestinian organization based in the Gaza strip and supported by Iran. Hezbollah is a militant Lebanese organization with a strong presence in Southern Lebanon to the north of Israel. It’s also by Iran. Neither terrorist organization recognizes Israel as a state and both are dedicated to destroying the country and its people. Why you ask? Because they are filled with hate.

map courtesy of npr.org

Hate has now multiplied and fed not only the middle east countries immediately involved, but Israeli and American politics as well. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be using the war for his own political benefit allowing him to remain in power as long as possible. His slim political margin could be defeated when the war ends because many Israelis hold him responsible for what has been viewed as security failures that led to the October 7 attack.

Israel and the United States have forged a strong relationship over the many years since Israel’s founding in 1948. But the October 7th war is taking place during the 2024 U.S. election cycle. President Joe Biden has a long and complicated relationship with Netanyahu. Biden’s efforts to broker peace have repeatedly been thwarted by the Prime Minister, and Vice President Kamala Harris is now bearing part of the brunt of the lack of peace. Donald Trump on the other hand shares many of the same power hungry traits as Netanyahu, and is using lies and his own form of antisemitism to put himself in the middle of this foreign affair. Trump is all in it for himself.

While thousands of lives have been lost in this war, antisemitism has used the war to spread its own form of ugly hate here and abroad. According to the Anti Defamation League antisemitism has reached an all time high in the U.S. this year. In France and Germany, antisemitism has created a world of fear on the continent that knows well the devastation it can bring.

Last week, I called my 90 year old cousin in Israel to wish her a Happy New Year and make sure she was safe shortly before the Jewish New Year began. I couldn’t believe I was watching Lebanon’s rockets being intercepted in mid-air by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system while listening to my cousin tell me she was in her safe room. On my TV screen it looked like fireworks. The conversation ended abruptly when she told me the emergency alarm had gone off in Israel and she had to hang up.

The time for peace and sanity in our world has come. That includes a two-state peace agreement between Israel and Gaza, and electing Kamala Harris as President of the United States. The one state solution hasn’t worked and Donald Trump doesn’t about anything except getting elected and staying out of jail.

#October 7

Will Women Be The Ones To Take Trump Down: Take 3 by marilyn salenger

Donald Trump has always felt he could get away with anything he wanted without getting caught. Until now. He will go down in history not the way he intended, as the grandiose businessman, but as the first former president to be charged with criminal activity and put on trial for those charges. Trump is accused of falsifying business records in an attempt to cover up payment to a porn star in the days before the 2016 election resulting in election interference.

Six years ago, I wrote about the Trump drama currently playing out in a New York City courtroom. That column put the sleezy pieces together and predicted they spelled trouble. The irony of the role of women in all of this remains great. Just ask any woman being denied an abortion today as the result of Trump’s Supreme Court appointments.

WILL WOMEN BE THE ONES TO TAKE TRUMP DOWN - ORIGINALLY WRITTEN APRIL 10, 2018

You can't look forward in the presidency of Donald Trump without looking back. Women and real estate have been at the center of Trump’s life for many years. But his New York City playboy life may be catching up with him.

A porn star and former Playboy Playmate could now be the ones to bring down the Trump presidency. Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal have turned the tables on Trump using all the publicity possible to expose their alleged extramarital affairs with the president, as well as the hush money they were paid shortly before the election. The two women claim to have had the affairs with Trump while he was married to his wife Melania.

Attempts to silence Daniels and McDougal have resoundingly failed. The hush money both received became the target of this week's extraordinary FBI raid on Donald Trump's personal attorney’s office and residence. Trump attorney Michael Cohen has admitted paying porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000.00 and negotiating a non-disclosure agreement just weeks before the election.

Former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal's money came via a deal with the National Enquirer which is owned by Trump friend David Pecker. How much additional money, where it came from, and how many others have been paid by Cohen and Pecker to cover for Trump remains in question. The money trail, using a shell corporation(s) for the purpose of making these payments, raised alerts focusing on Federal finance laws and potential money laundering.

Trump is reportedly seething, but he’s not lashing out directly at Daniels and McDougal. Instead, he chooses to distract us with talk once again of firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Republicans appear to be surprisingly vocal in their warnings to the president about the potential firings of these men. If Trump fires anyone in the chain of command over Mueller, or the Special Counsel himself, talk of a constitutional crisis will begin.

 No matter the serious distractions Trump tries to use, investigations into breaking Federal finance laws and money laundering involving payments to women in his life are not going away.

#Trump #Stormy Daniels

Terror in Israel by marilyn salenger

Map courtesy of NPR

Pictures of young Israeli families, parents and children with the caption, “Murdered by Hamas.” Video of young people dancing to rock music at an Israeli music festival one minute and running for their lives the next with Hamas bullets flying directly at them. Too many never made it to safety. Babies, young children, young adults, parents and grandparents being killed or taken hostage as terrorists also known as Hamas set out to kill as many Jews as possible this past weekend.

What a nightmare.

An IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) spokesman told the BBC that the weekend attack was “by far the worst day in Israeli history. Never before have so many Israelis been killed by one single thing, let alone enemy activity, on one day.”

The barbarism used by Hamas is beyond the unspeakable. Rape. Murder. Kidnapping. All happening to those going about their lives peacefully until terror stuck on October 7th.

The State of Israel has always been largely surrounded by enemies. But this is different and more extreme because the enemies are extremists. Hamas is a militant Palestinian organization based in the Gaza strip and supported by Iran. Hezbollah is a militant Lebanese organization with a strong presence in Southern Lebanon to the north of Israel. It’s also supported by Iran. Neither terrorist organization recognizes Israel as a state and both are dedicated to destroying the country and its people. Why you ask? Because they are filled with hate.

I have family in Israel. They range in age from young to old, and different ones moved to Israel from the U.S. at different times. Messages and emails have been going back and forth between us these past two days some of which I’ll share:

“We have seen the Iron Dome intercept the bombs directly overhead. My son and son-in-law and two other cousins have all been called up (to active military duty) and are somewhere near the northern border. The wives and children are staying with us for now. There is no doubt that Israel will prevail, but the cost is already too high.”

Another cousin, “We just left the safe room a few minutes ago after a bomb was intercepted in Jerusalem.”

My elderly cousin wrote, “I am sleeping in the safe room. It is a very secure room made of strong iron windows and doors. If someone gets into our house they can’t open the door. But everyone is so scared.”

Another cousin, “We’re all on edge, sad by the horrific loss of life of so many beautiful people, but also determined and full of purpose that the State of Israel must be defended.”

Israel became a state and was founded as the Jewish homeland on May 14, 1948. A day later its Arab neighbors including Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq invaded the newly independent country. Truces were later signed but in all the years since, a lasting peace has been elusive.

It has personally been a difficult few days as I worry about my family. I pray for real peace and the day to actually come when Arabs and Jews can live in harmony.

#Israel

Will Women Be The Ones to Bring Trump Down? by marilyn salenger

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN FOR POLITICAL & OTHERWISE APRIL 10, 2018

You can't look forward in the presidency of Donald Trump without looking back. Women and real estate have been at the center of Trump’s life for many years. But his New York City playboy life may be catching up with him.

A porn star and former Playboy Playmate could now be the ones to bring down the Trump presidency. Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal have turned the tables on Trump using all the publicity possible to expose their alleged extramarital affairs with the president, as well as the hush money they were paid shortly before the election. The two women claim to have had the affairs with Trump while he was married to his wife Melania.

Attempts to silence Daniels and McDougal have resoundingly failed. The hush money both received became the target of this week's extraordinary FBI raid on Donald Trump's personal attorney’s office and residence. Trump attorney Michael Cohen has admitted paying porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000.00 and negotiating a non-disclosure agreement just weeks before the election.

Former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal's money came via a deal with the National Enquirer which is owned by Trump friend David Pecker. How much additional money, where it came from, and how many others have been paid by Cohen and Pecker to cover for Trump remains in question. The money trail, using a shell corporation(s) for the purpose of making these payments, raised alerts focusing on Federal finance laws and potential money laundering.

Trump is reportedly seething, but he’s not lashing out directly at Daniels and McDougal. Instead, he chooses to distract us with talk once again of firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Republicans appear to be surprisingly vocal in their warnings to the president about the potential firings of these men. If Trump fires anyone in the chain of command over Mueller, or the Special Counsel himself, talk of a constitutional crisis will begin.

 No matter the serious distractions Trump tries to use, investigations into breaking Federal finance laws and money laundering involving payments to women in his life are not going away.

#Trump Indictments #Stormy Daniels

When Antisemitism Became A Part Of My Life During The Holidays by marilyn salenger

At first I thought it was an accidental delay. The Christmas tree and many Christmas decorations went up the day after Thanksgiving in my apartment building lobby as they do every year. But the Chanukah (Hanukkah) Menorah that had been a part of the holiday decorations for the past four years was no where to be seen. A bunch of magazines had been piled on the chest where it would normally be placed. It was strange.

I love Christmas decorations. All my life as a Jewish woman part of the holiday season has involved driving through areas looking at beautiful decorations or visiting friend’s homes and enjoying their trees. Friends, in turn, have come to enjoy sharing Chanukah in my home which is now in an historic apartment building near the White House.

I contacted our building manager who originally bought the Menorah reminding her that Chanukah began on December 18th, and asked her not to forget to put it out. It appeared shortly after and was put on a chest in the lobby. And then it disappeared two days later. Its spot was simply empty.

Two days after no return, I thought perhaps the Menorah had been stolen.


My building is one of 200 residential properties owned and operated nationwide by Camden Property Trust. They are a publicly traded company with multiple layers of management. Chanukah was soon approaching, and I reached out to a regional manager inquiring about the missing Menorah. His email response was baffling since the Menorah had been in place as part of the holiday decor for the previous four years: He wrote:

“The Menorah has not be stolen. We have removed it based on Camden taking a stance that we will not show any religious decorations. The trees are up citing a 1989 Supreme Court decision stating that a tree is not a religious symbol, rather a seasonal symbol.“

But he incorrectly stated the Supreme Court decision which makes clear that both Christmas AND Chanukah have attained secular status. Here’s the Court ruling:

"JUSTICE BLACKMUN concluded in Part VI that the menorah display does not have the prohibited effect of endorsing religion, given its "particular physical setting." (placed next to a Christmas tree) Its combined display with a Christmas tree and a sign saluting liberty does not impermissibly endorse both the Christian and Jewish faiths, but simply recognizes that both Christmas and Chanukah are part of the same winter holiday season, which has attained a secular status in our society."

I responded to the Camden email letting them know that they were not only incorrect about the Supreme Court ruling, but that the Fair Housing Act and HUD have also ruled that the Menorah is not a religious object. I added, “So Camden in the midst of a tragically unfortunate surge in antisemitism in our country has decided to remove Menorahs?”

The next Camden response twisted the Fair Housing Act to try and justify their removal of the Menorah stating:

“In light of the Fair Housing Act and in an effort to treat all residents and their religious beliefs equally, we have made a decision not to display any religious decor at the property. We appreciate and respect every resident’s religious belief(s) and because we cannot cover all those potential beliefs.”

But, once again, the Menorah has been ruled “non-religious. The FHA and HUD both state:

"Certain holiday symbols, such as Santa Claus, the Christmas tree, and the menorah have also been deemed “non-religious” by the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity and are okay to use as well."

It was now four days before Chanukah.

Jewish residents, or those of other faiths, were left to wade through a large lobby area filled with a Christmas tree, Christmas wreaths and many additional Christmas decorations while listening to Christmas carols being played on the music system. The holiday gift wrapping station was once again set up for tenants and their gifts with assorted gift paper and ribbons paid for by the building. Amazingly this year it was missing any Chanukah wrapping paper which had been there in previous years. So if you are Jewish and wanted to wrap your presents along with your Christian neighbors, you were out of luck.

I was unprepared for how I felt each day and night walking by the empty spot in the lobby where the Menorah once sat. I have personally dealt with antisemitism in the past, but nothing like this for many years. Now I was dealing with it multiple times a day as I came and went. It was a horrible, stressful feeling knowing that I, along with other Jewish tenants, were being discriminated against.

I decided to go up the corporate ladder to really understand what was behind this entire Chanukah move by Camden. In a telephone conversation with a Vice President I was told they not only didn’t want religious objects put in the lobby but he now called the Christmas tree a “holiday tree.” He said they had their lawyers review things wanting their “guidelines to match the way things are today.” When I asked him to put the Menorah back up before the holiday began, I was told he couldn’t "guarantee that."

The night before Chanukah began, a non-Jewish neighbor was apparently outraged at the disappearance of the Menorah and found it stashed in a chest drawer in the lobby. He reportedly took it out and lit it. It stayed lit for the first two nights of the eight night holiday and then, if you can believe, it disappeared and was never seen again.

As the lights on the “holiday tree” shown bright, nobody who owns this building thought again about putting out their “holiday Menorah.”


#antisemitism

The Queen And I … In honor of Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee Celebration June,2022 by marilyn salenger

From the private collection of Marilyn Salenger

This is a remarkable time in the life of Queen Elizabeth II. As the Platinum Jubilee celebrations mark her 70 year reign in England, I thought back to another historic time in our own country that brought the two of us together.

In July of 1976 the United States celebrated its Bicentennial paying tribute to the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In its own way, the Bicentennial was a unique and special time of unity and celebrations across the country. President Gerald Ford had appointed a Bicentennial Commission to plan and coordinate the national events along with state commissions leading up to the days around July 4,1976, It was definitely primed to be the grand time that it turned out to be.

Part of what made it special was a Bicentennial visit by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. They traveled to several cities that played notable roles in our fight for independence from British rule including Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. New York City and Boston.

The Queen's last day of that U.S. trip was spent in Boston, the city that was home to the beginning of our revolutionary war history. She walked through the downtown streets and among the crowds moving from one reminder of 1776 to another before heading to the Old State House where she spoke:

This is where it all began...If Paul Revere, Samuel Adams and other patriots could have known that one day a British Monarch would stand beneath the balcony of the Old State House from which the Declaration of Independence was first read to the people of Boston and be greeted by the Mayor and others in such kind and generous words, well I think they would have been extremely surprised

That's the kind of day it was. Those of us in Boston where I was working as a broadcast news correspondent and anchor saw a warm and relaxed Queen Elizabeth without much of the formality surrounding her in England.

But it was one private invitation not involving work that gave me an experience of a lifetime. I received a formal invitation to meet the Queen and Prince Phillip at a small 40 person sherry reception hosted by Boston Mayor Kevin and Mrs. White at City Hall.

I have met and interviewed many famous people, but this was different. I had to get up to speed on what to wear. How to curtsey. How not to speak unless spoken to first. And how to refer to them if I was spoken to. I was simply honored.

Before the reception began, I watched Queen Elizabeth, Mayor White and his wife Catherine walk in a small parade that led to City Hall. When I first saw the Queen outside walking close by me, I was struck by how pretty and petite she was in person. No pictures I had ever seen had done her justice. I laughingly thought to myself she needed a new clothing designer because the dress she was wearing did little to enhance her looks. Prince Phillip, who walked close behind the Queen, was indeed a very handsome man.

Once inside City Hall's Eagle Room, we were asked to form a semi-circle so the Queen and the Prince could meet each of us separately by introduction. I wore a suit and hat and curtsied appropriately realizing I would probably never have a chance to do that again.

My maternal grandmother was from Liverpool, England. I know she was smiling down at me that day from above.

#Queen Elizabeth

Abortion: The Personal and Political by marilyn salenger

DREW ANGERER / GREG NASH / SAUL LOEB / AFP GETTYIMAGES

I could have died 48 years ago if abortion had not been legal. I was 30 years old, recovering from a rare and severe form of hepatitis and a top television newswoman in Boston. When I realized I was pregnant, my doctor told me that having the baby would kill me or my body would kill the baby. Roe v. Wade was one year old.

Months earlier I had been in a coma and was on massive doses of medication with a marriage about to end. Knowing that the pregnancy would have to be terminated was devastating even though I knew the timing was all wrong. I had always wanted children. I had been reporting on the abortion issue for three years and intellectually knew what I had ahead of me. But the reality was filled with an overwhelming mix of emotions as hormones and thoughts combine in ways hard to anticipate. I remember being wheeled into an operating room that had been set up with life-saving support by a nurse who said, "I watch you every day. You're terrific." I was stunned and upset that she recognized me at that very vulnerable moment. I had been worried people would find out I was having an abortion because I wanted my private life to remain private.

It all was like yesterday. The effect on me was profound. The effect on every woman who has an abortion is profound. It is one of the most personal and private decisions a woman can make. The choice not to carry a pregnancy to term needs to be kept safe and legal just as it was for me 48 years ago.

That abortion has been politicized speaks to the fact that it's a woman's issue. A woman's body. A woman's life. I have said it many times - if men were the ones to get pregnant abortion would not be an issue.

But how did we get to where we are today?

It's the Court folks. The Supreme Court has become as broken as our political system. It's not about the leak of the draft of an historically important legal decision that would reverse Roe v. Wade and nearly 50 years of legal precedent protecting abortion rights. It's what's gone on behind the scenes of our nation's highest Court that is exposing the smoke and mirrors game that's been played.

The Court has been held to a standard unlike any other. It's Justices are appointed for life. But the process by which they are chosen has been made a mockery.

Supreme Court Justices are political appointees. Few people routinely think of them that way, but it's how they got their jobs. Presidents nominate Justices and the Senate votes to appoint. The Court has cultivated a unique veil of secrecy over many decades to make it appear as if they are non-partisan with brain power that is above reproach. Except when their personal issues are exposed. Think Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh both of whom have been accused of sexual assault..

The power that President Donald Trump wielded in his appointment of three Supreme Court Justices is now being felt by every woman in the country. Trump and his Republican cohorts in Congress wanted to make sure they put three judges on the court that would do exactly what they are doing - overturn Roe v. Wade. Trump campaigned on the promise to do just that.

Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett were the conservative judges nominated by Trump, and they lied or danced around their beliefs during their confirmation hearings to get their highly valued jobs.

Gorsuch during his hearing said publicly that abortion was "settled law." He also said "I accept the law of the land," when asked about Roe.

Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing said when talking about Roe v. Wade, "It's settled as precedent of the Supreme Court. One of the important things to keep in mind about Roe v. Wade is that it has been reaffirmed many times." He also said that a court decision to overturn precedent should be "rare."

Amy Coney Barrett as a private citizen signed on to a newspaper ad that said it was "time to put an end to the barbaric legacy of Roe. v. Wade." At her confirmation hearing she danced around the issue. She said that she "doesn't view Roe as a super-precedent." That's a term to describe a Supreme Court decision that is so widely accepted it's at no risk of being overturned.

The Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in 1973 and made it safe for women in need has brought us to a grim new reality in 2022. We are now bearing witness to a near total destruction of the integrity of the Supreme Court. As one of the bedrocks of our democracy, it is outrageous to allow this to happen.

#abortion #supreme court

_____________________________________________________________________________

POLITICAL & OTHERWISE the book is now available on Amazon in paperback or e-book. I hope you’ll get a copy. It helps put all the pieces of these past 6 years together succinctly. Here's a link to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L8D56HH

Now Available! Political & Otherwise the Book by marilyn salenger

Political & Otherwise cuts through the chaos of the Trump era with brevity and clarity to reveal how America ended up on the precipice of a time never imagined. Veteran journalist Marilyn Salengerʼs real time analysis and chilling perspective takes you through four of the most tumultuous years in modern times. Beginning in October 2015, many of the events, actions and actors come together in individually written pieces that make clear history was being turned upside down. It was all there for us to see. While politics is the bookʼs main focus, the "otherwise" sneaks in periodically to look at women's issues and the business world.

BUY NOW:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L8D56HH

Abortion Issue - Old Story And New by marilyn salenger

Afgan women cartoon resized.jpg

I’ve been reporting and writing about the abortion issue since 1970 when New York State passed its law legalizing the procedure. That was three years before the landmark Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade legalized abortion throughout the country. I am angry that it is still an issue. Women die from illegal abortions, not the men who impregnated them. Women’s lives mentally, physically and financially are the ones at risk if they are forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term.

And yet here we are again still having to fight to control our body’s reproductive rights after mostly male legislators feel entitled to control us. I May of 2019 I put words together at another time when woman’s reproductive rights were being red-flagged by the right wing with a wave of anti-abortion laws. Young women and contemporaries asked me to speak out. I did and will continue to do so.

If abortion is against your moral or religious beliefs, no one is telling you to have the medical procedure. But it needs to be kept safe and legal for those who want it. Choice.

But Texas doesn’t see it that way nor do the other states that are lining up in a attempt to reverse the progress of the past fifty years.

Texas has created a law complete with a vigilante system to round up anyone who tries to help a woman in need of ending a pregnancy, even as the tragic result of rape or incest. But they included no funding to feed, clothe and educate the children who came into this world under the draconian Texas law. Good old boy Republican Governor Greg Abbott proudly signed the bill that bans abortions after six weeks when many women might not even know they are pregnant.

Governor Abbott is a man who is paralyzed below the waist and has been in a wheelchair since an accident at age 26. He and his wife adopted their only child. That was their choice and right. But the governor says that his anti-abortion stance has been driven by the adoption of his daughter. Now he has taken his personal beliefs and forced them on the women in his state, mostly for political gain.

There must be something empowering to men when they take the power to determine whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term away from women. It’s a very disturbing kind of power.

As I wrote in 2019:

Where is it written that laws should only govern the reproductive rights of women? Nowhere. Should a man’s penis and reproductive ability be allowed to exist without laws dealing with the impact it can have? Perhaps not.

There are approximately 500,000 vasectomies performed on men each year. It’s a procedure that makes it near impossible for a man to impregnate a woman. Men have a choice when they decide to have this procedure, and no one is threatening to take that choice away…

The Supreme Court will be hearing another anti-abortion case in the coming months, this one a Mississippi challenge. Donald Trump’s three critical conservative appointees, Neil Gorsuch, Bret Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett are expected to join forces to continue to weaken Roe v. Wade or perhaps abolish it completely.

When will people wake up and realize that legal overreach into a woman’s body is a very dangerous thing? Just think. If you had a fifteen year old daughter who was tragically the victim of rape or incest, would you really want her even more scarred for life because she was forced to carry the resulting pregnancy to term?_____________________________________________________________________________The entire piece written in 2019, “If Men Got Pregnant Abortion Wouldn’t Be An Issue: Same Old Story” appears in my book along with other writings over the past 5 years shedding perspective on our times., POLITICAL & OTHERWISE https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L8D56HH




Trying To Steal The Stage by marilyn salenger

G7 group pic resized.jpg
Trump notice 2021 resized2.jpg

Traditionally when Presidents of the United States left office they focused on building libraries, preserving their legacies and supporting our country and its leaders in whatever way they can. The past presidents club has always been the most prestigious and unique group of men who shared an experience like no other. Currently it’s a minus one technical member of the club.

Has anyone noticed that there has been no talk about a Trump library?

No other former president in modern times has behaved as Donald Trump is doing. He left office six months ago. Became the only president to be twice impeached. Incited an insurrection on the nation’s Capitol trying to stop our electoral process from confirming his loss in the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Officially became a loser. And despite all that, he continues to try and wreck havoc with every part of our democracy he can get his hands on. What a guy.

The only thing Trump is interested in is preserving his power. That ominous quality that can be wielded, in his case, like the Sword of Damocles. It’s all he ever wanted. And the majority of Republicans are ignorant enough to buy into this sick charade. The only power he has as the retired guy sitting in Florida is what Republicans give him. It’s not about what good any of them can do for the country.

Imagine what would happen if Republicans stopped supporting Trump and his destructive ways. The power the former president assumes to have would evaporate. The image that comes to mind is that of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Grievance and manipulation were the ways of the Trump presidency as I documented in my book, “POLITICAL & OTHERWISE.” Yet somehow they are working their way into a time that is no longer his. This is the Biden era. And that is absolutely eating away at Trump who has nothing else to do but pretend he is still running the show.

President Biden is currently on the world stage at the G7 summit trying to restore respect and confidence in the United States among our allies that Trump did his best to erode.

Our former president is going back to doing rallies.

_____________________________________________________________________________POLITICAL & OTHERWISE the book is now available on Amazon in paperback or e-book. I hope you’ll get a copy. It helps put all the pieces of these past 5 years together succinctly. Perspective is the key to the future. Here's a link to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L8D56HH