History’s Not Kind To The Guys Who Held Mussolini’s Jacket September 10, 2019September 9, 2019 Have you read American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump? A compelling, alarming and scoop-heavy history of the fall of the party of Lincoln. — The Guardian Although Alberta is clearly not an admirer of the President, he is not unsympathetic to the voters who have embraced him and their feelings of resentment toward what they see as an increasingly liberal culture. — The New Yorker It is less about the daily mayhem in the White House than about the unprecedented capitulation of a political party. — The Washington Post . . . when Ted Cruz told his aides during the primaries, “History isn’t kind to the man who holds Mussolini’s jacket,” he surely had no idea what lay in store for him. — New York Magazine I’ve not yet read it — just finished listening to Admiral William “Make Your Bed!” McRaven’s wonderfully uplifting Sea Stories — but am struck by the clarity of that line: history isn’t kind to the guys who held Mussolini’s jacket. Centenarian Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote this in 2007, when he was barely 88: “PITY THE NATION” (After Khalil Gibran) Pity the nation whose people are sheep And whose shepherds mislead them Pity the nation whose leaders are liars Whose sages are silenced And whose bigots haunt the airwaves Pity the nation that raises not its voice Except to praise conquerers And acclaim the bully as hero And aims to rule the world By force and by torture Pity the nation that knows No other language but its own And no other culture but its own Pity the nation whose breath is money And sleeps the sleep of the too well fed Pity the nation oh pity the people who allow their rights to erode and their freedoms to be washed away My country, tears of thee Sweet land of liberty! → Ever so much more relevant today. Jim Burt: “Workers and farmers of America, Donald Trump and his whole party are shaking your hands while picking your pockets.”