CSotD: Friendship and Other Pleasant Fantasies
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Rabbits Against Magic addresses a current Sophomore-Dorm-At-2-AM plan with the only way this silly idea might be worthwhile.
There seem to be a lot of SD@2 plans floating around on social media, and as much as I appreciate idealistic concepts, and as much as I favored lowering the voting age to 18, there are times I wonder if there are any grownups left. Idealism is important, but only if buffered with pragmatism.
The trick is to maintain the positive vision of youth and meld it with the practicality of experience so that you don’t stop trying to accomplish great things but approach them realistically.
Which brings us to our first
Juxtaposition of the Day
I was glad to see Ramirez address the meeting between Biden and Trump, because that, and the Morning Joe trip to Mar-A-Lago, have mostly drawn condemnation from the left side of the aisle.
It’s should be easy to explain the White House meeting as a meaningless, pro-forma tradition, since presidents, at least in the modern era, have always welcomed their successors for a grip-and-grin following the elections.
It would be unusual, and an exhibition of bad manners, for the incumbent not to make this gesture, which Trump did not make when he was voted out in 2020, but, obviously, he was a sore loser and has never been accused of having good manners.
Trump also skipped his successor’s inauguration, though so did John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren and Andrew Johnson, as well as Wilson, who had the excuse of the stroke that had limited his capabilities at the end of his second term.
So all the pearl-clutching over Biden doing what well-brought-up presidents have done in the modern era is silly. It’s a minor ceremonial part of the peaceful transfer of power.
Mika and Joe’s trip to Florida is more controversial, but it also strikes me that the objections are more idealistic than pragmatic.
The objection has been that Joe and Mika were afraid that Trump’s Department of Justice was going to crack down on them, and, if that were true and they had gone down there to kiss the ring and bend the knee, then of course shame on them. Shame on anyone who caves in to Dear Leader.
But show me your proof that they did that, because, otherwise, it’s a case of a little preventive socializing, and working your sources is a standard part of journalism.
I repeated the other day my contention that journalists have contacts and sources but no friends, but here it is again, because it’s a very basic part of the job, and if you don’t understand it, you’ll be played as a sucker by sources who do.
Of course a good journalist has to sit down with people he or she doesn’t admire, agree with or even like very much. To do otherwise would be like a doctor who only examines healthy patients, which raises the question of what’s the point?
Lord knows, I’ve had professional relationships go sour. One fellow could barely cover his fury in my presence after I’d written a column in which I called him a “loose cannon,” but we continued to do business, in a very prickly way.
His wife, on the other hand, saw me at the grocery store and whipped her cart around in the aisle to go the other way.
And then there was the athletic director whom I interviewed as we sat in the sunlight having a congenial beer together, during which he lied in my face.
I still reported what he said, though I added a bit of context:
Which I later heard (A) got me barred from the University of Colorado campus and (B) upset reporters at the Denver Post who weren’t allowed to use the word “bullshit” despite how often it seemed relevant.
Oh well. Keep your friends close and your athletic directors closer.
And that goes for presidents, too. It’s part of the job.
Juxtaposition of the Day #2
Speaking of unpleasant people with whom you have to deal anyway, here’s a frightening sequence about Volodya’s latest hissy fit.
Morland paints him as a blowhard and a coward, which fits the universal notion that most bullies are just that, though it’s scant comfort as you try to staunch a bloody nose from being punched in the face by a blowhard and a coward.
Davies takes his threat less seriously, or at least points out that, for a fellow suddenly obsessed with fair play, he’s sure crossed a lot of supposed red lines himself. It is kind of ridiculous for an invader to object to his victim counterattacking across their mutual border.
Still, as Boris suggests, putting nuclear weapons on the table, even as an empty threat, gives them a presence in your thoughts and could conceivably give them a presence in your planning, particularly when things haven’t been going so well.
And Le Lievre points out the risk of testing Mutual Assured Destruction, which has held atomic weaponry at bay for the past 75 years, though the pair of cockroaches he fears might touch it off would not be the type who would survive. It would be nice to think they realize that.
I think Putin does, but I wonder if he thinks the change in command here, from professional politicians to preening celebrities, would change the calculation?
Granted, Trump thinks they’re friends. See above discussion for how much water that holds.
But if that unqualified Christian-nationalist male chauvinist rape suspect and war-crimes apologist becomes Defense Secretary and fulfills his goal of firing all the military leaders who might restrain Dear Leader, we might use up all our nuclear weapons trying to stop hurricanes.
Dana Summers (Tribune) is usually a Trump loyalist, but apparently thinks Dear Leader will face problems in getting his collection of unqualified misfits through the confirmation process, and it’s not likely that John Thune — having beaten Trump’s favored Rick Scott for the position of Senate Majority Leader — is going to call for an adjournment in order to allow a series of recess appointments.
But we need to do more than hope for the best: This jigsaw puzzle isn’t going to put itself together.
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