Trump V. Gore . . . And Homan December 16, 2025December 16, 2025 But first . . . Sunday was so awful and sad. Rob Reiner was the ultimate mensch. “We grew up together.” He was six weeks older. We shared every episode of “All in the Family” — he from inside the TV, I from the couch — and I’ve watched “The Princess Bride” a dozen times. As you doubtless know, it’s about love and justice — what’s better than that? — with two epic love stories: Buttercup and Wesley; grandpa and grandson.* The Reiners’ murderer is mentally ill, as is the president who felt compelled to post — and then doubled down. *The other nine Greatest Movies Ever Made, just so you know: Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon, Dr. Strangelove and Dr. Zhivago, The Ten Commandments and The Godfather/s, Moonstruck, The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, The Bridge on the River Kwai and The Guns of Navarone, 2001 and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, It’s A Wonderful Life, The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Network, Invictus, Philadelphia and — is that more than nine? — you may want to fill out the list with one or two of your own. TRUMP V. GORE Jeffrey Toobin concludes his recent piece: . . . [I]t’s almost as if Donald Trump studied Al Gore’s behavior in 2000 and decided to do the opposite after he lost to Joe Biden in 2020. (And Trump did lose — by seven million votes in the popular vote and 303 to 232 in the Electoral College.) Like Gore, Trump went to court in the aftermath of the election, but instead of eminences like David Boies and Laurence Tribe, who represented the vice president, Trump trotted out crackpots . . . But the most important difference between Gore and Trump involves violence. At the infamous rally on the Ellipse on January 6, Giuliani called for “trial by combat,” and Trump told the throng, “We’re going to the Capitol. And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Since then, more than 1,500 of Trump’s fighters have been arrested. Two weeks later, Joe Biden took office, but Trump (unlike Gore) failed to attend the victor’s inauguration and persisted in the lie that the election had been stolen from him. Instead of the oblivion that Trump deserved, his belligerence won him continuing political relevance and, ultimately, the presidency once more. On the first day of Trump’s return to the White House, there were pardons for those criminals who answered his summons to violence at the Capitol. In all, the diverging fates of Gore and Trump offer grim lessons about the country they both sought to lead. Violence pays. Lying works. Grace is for suckers. “This is America,” Gore said in his concession speech. “Just as we fight hard when the stakes are high, we close ranks and come together when the contest is done.” No, alas; look who’s president now. THIS is America. → Maybe. But the majority of us, who are appalled by his behavior, will take the first step in restoring civility, integrity, competence, and respect for the Constitution and the rule of law when we prevail next November. NOW is the time to fund the infrastructure our 2026 candidates will rely on. The second half of next year is the time to fund individual candidates’ lawn signs and door knocks, bus tours and billboards, social media campaigns (!!!), direct mail, radio and TV. Please help if you can. TOM HOMAN IS A SENSITIVE MAN Jenn Budd: When the only lives of value are ICE lives Border Czar Tom Homan says he “does not want to bury anyone else.” He also wants you to recognize that his ICE and CBP agents are risking their lives every single day to keep you safe. In exchange for that bravery, he is “begging the politicians, the governors, the mayors who constantly attack these men and women, please stop.” To be clear, he is not begging this of republicans. It is apparently only the rhetoric and criticism coming from democrats that pierces ICE and CBP thin skin so deeply. So, let’s take a look at all the burials Homan has had to attend thanks to democrats. The ICE Memorial page for fallen officers lists 77 names. Most interesting about this list is that it contains 48 deaths prior to ICE’s creation in 2003 with one dating back to 1915, a whopping 110 years ago. Only 29 deaths were ICE agents. Of those 29, the breakdown of causes is listed as: > Covid – 15 > Cancer related to 9/11 [which occurred before ICE was formed] – 7 > Contracted a disease – 1 > Health of officer/accident – 3 > Shot while in Mexico City – 1 > Heat related – 1 It is not surprising that 15 ICE officers died from Covid. ICE and CBP ranks are bloated with right-wing conspiracy enthusiasts who did not believe in the dangers of Covid 19. Their opinion came from Trump calling the epidemic a hoax and that it was no worse than the flu. Most immigration officers refused to mask, going so far as to file a federal lawsuit against the Biden Administration for mandating they get vaccinated. . . . Of all the ICE officer deaths listed, only one appears to be on-duty deaths in which the officer was targeted. [And it was not in the U.S.] Meanwhile, can someone please tell us what happened to the $50,000 bag of cash Homan was filmed accepting in an FBI sting? In a normal world, he might be in very hot water.