Be yourself a citadel.
Allow no fools entrance
Garner your goods, your strength, your star
In their sacred compound
Build your walls sturdy
For the days have come
When clarity, commitment and caring
Will be your currency
And truth your path
Be yourself a citadel.
Dear Leaders of Europe,
Most historians, and people of a certain age, would agree that Americans saved Europe during WWII. Now it’s your turn to reciprocate–please help save the United States. We hope you, Europe’s leaders, have the courage and conviction that America’s politicians lack when it comes to confronting Trump and his minions. Their brash, egomaniacal, and moronic statements and demands are laughable. We Americans know it, you know it, and hopefully, you’ll confront the stooges head-on, unlike the countless, feckless lemmings back home in the U.S.
Trump’s anointed fools have already begun arriving on your shores. Vice-President, JD Vance, arrived in Paris this week and told an assemblage of leaders debating the future of artificial intelligence that America would dominate the industry, make the most advanced chips on American soil, write the software there and set the rules. Europe could either get on board or get out of the way (NYT). Remember, only recently, the same JD Vance told Americans, with a straight face, that immigrants in Ohio, his home state, were eating cats and dogs. Don’t believe anything that comes out of his mouth.
Then Trump’s new Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, told a meeting of allies in Brussels that Ukraine must give up its objective of recapturing all its lost territory in the war with Russia. It was revealed during his recent nomination hearings that he has well-documented drinking problems, has sexually abused women and was nominated because he was a popular weekend TV host on a program liked by Trump. Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker (R-MS) called Hegseth’s comments, a “rookie mistake” (Heather Cox Richardson, Feb. 14) and pushed back today when Hegseth offered that the U.S. would not support Ukraine’s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He said that it was “unrealistic” for Ukraine to demand a return to its borders before Russia invaded in 2014, essentially offering to let Russia keep Crimea. Senator Wicker, a member of Trump’s own party, said he was “puzzled” and “disturbed” by Hegseth’s comments and added: “I don’t know who wrote the speech—it is the kind of thing Tucker Carlson could have written, and Carlson is a fool.” Joe Gould and Jamie Dettmer of Politico identified Carlson as a “pro-Putin broadcaster.”
Then, dear European leaders, there is Mr. Trump himself, who again, according to the NYT, has began imposing tariffs on you before he has begun even cursory diplomatic negotiations, hurting you, our allies, and adversaries alike, and wiping out years of trade agreements. This is the same Donald Trump who has insisted we rename the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Denali, the highest peak in North America, by executive order. In 2017, Trump pushed hard to make Americans accept that the crowds at his inauguration were bigger than those at President Barack Obama’s, an immediately disprovable lie that seemed unimportant at the time but was key to establishing the primacy of Trump’s vision over reality. This “acceptance” that led, eventually, to the Big Lie that Trump had won the 2020 presidential election and now, apparently, to the lie that Elon Musk is cutting “waste and fraud” from the government here when, in fact, he appears simply to be cutting programs he and Trump dislike (Heather Cox Richardson, Feb. 14).
Trump is a pathological liar. According to the Washington Post’s count, just during his first term as President, he lied well over 3500 times. Dr. Brandy Lee, a Psychiatrist and MD, and author of the book “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” has established, along with 40 other leading psychiatrists, that Trump has Clinical Personality Disorder, a pathology which fuels on cruelty and destruction. This is evidenced by his current wanton destruction of the U.S. government and its myriad agencies.
America’s Republican leaders, who once led with patriotism and pride, have become sycophantic puppets and have completely lost their way. Our Democratic leaders are licking their wounds after losing the 2024 election and are currently useless. We look to you to save Europe from Trump’s pathology and in doing so, help contribute to his demise. The modern Europe which we helped to create, led by NATO and the EU, must not succumb to Trump and his Russian partner, Putin. We look to you, the leaders of Europe, to defend freedom and democracy which, for the moment, are being spirited away from our shores.
What’s rotten of course is not something that’s occurring in Denmark, but rather the stench coming from my home, the United States. It’s the smell emanating from the rogue band of outlaws about to ride roughshod across America’s political, social and moral landscape. It’s justifiably setting off all sorts of alarms, creating new cottage industries, including countless articles on how to survive the coming apocalypse with titles like 10-Transformative Tips to Prepare for a Trump Presidency and Coping Tips for a Second Term.
For me, travel is the best elixir for all that ails about American politics. A stocking cap, my backpack and a wrinkled map is just about all I need. And the map, that’s optional. Somewhere I once read that a good cleanse of the soul could be had by just getting on a random tram and taking it to the end of the line. I’ve done that with good results many a time.
Alternatively, I love hopping a ferry to just about anywhere. My thick-treaded shoes can make a visit to a city park a memorable adventure. Sure, walking the 500-mile Camino de Santiago is guaranteed to help you leave Trump and his acolytes so far in the rear view mirror as to make them as small as their actual moral stature. But just to be clear, you don’t have to leave your seat to do some traveling. A gaze out the window tracing the flight of your local swallow works just fine.
Oh, and about Denmark…”‘Farewell, farewell,’ said the swallow, with a heavy heart, as he left the warm countries, to fly back into Denmark. There he had a nest over the window of a house in which dwelt the writer of fairy tales. The swallow sang ‘Tweet, tweet,’ and from his song came the whole story.” You don’t need a boat or plane ticket to get to Denmark. Just get a hold of a book from the author of that quote, Hans Christian Andersen, himself an amazing traveloguer.
Wondering where we are headed in the U.S.? It’s here: Viktor Orban 2.0…He’s the Prime Minister of Hungary often quoted and idolized by Trump and his acolytes. He has installed himself, his family, and the thugs that surround him, as the forever illiberal leader of Hungary. He hates immigrants, homosexuals, the EU, and NATO. He has rewritten the Hungarian constitution to, among other things, severely limit the amount of time the opposition has to use TV and radio during campaigns. He closed a major university that he felt challenged his opinions and policies. He has taken over successful Hungarian businesses and awarded them to family members and friends. Trust me, I’ve lived and worked in Hungary. With Trump’s November “Viktory,” welcome to what’s coming our way.
Short Talks Through a Wide World 