Bob Schwartz

Tag: Trump

February 11, 2025

They’ve got a secret: Trump’s friends on the Supreme Court are scared

Trump has friends or at least sympathizers on the Supreme Court. He is hoping to appoint more.

Already in the first few weeks, Trump has taken executive actions that are clearly unconstitutional. Then yesterday, Vance said that judges don’t have the right to control presidential power. Vance and other Republican lawyers know better. The Trump Justices of the Supreme Court know better.

Those Justices are scared.

Knowing that Trump will continue to act in unconstitutional ways that threaten the core concept of separation of powers and checks and balances, and knowing history, they are concerned about the trajectory of the republic.

As the constitutional challenges work their way through the judiciary, they know that the challenges—and ultimately interpretation of the Constitution—will end up on their bench. Whether or not they want to take on Trump, his Republican supporters, and tens of millions of Americans who believe that Trump should be able to do whatever he wants, they are going to have to.

Maybe they decide that centuries of precedent in interpreting the Constitution should stand, and these executive actions must stop. Or maybe they decide that these are extraordinary times, and under these circumstances, the constitutional structure must give way to the president.

Either way, as students of history, the Justices would rather not have to face that crossroad, since whatever they decide, they know the last time the Constitution itself was so deeply contested, the result was the literal division of America. They—at least one Justice—would rather be touring America in a luxury RV, rather than deciding the fate of the republic.

But they are not going to have that option.

© 2025 by Bob Schwartz

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January 24, 2025

Unhappy Americans are leaving the country—for Bedrock and Orbit City

Will Elon Musk run against Cosmo Spacely for mayor of Orbit City?

There are many Americans unhappy with the return of Trump to the White House. While it is an extreme response, a small number have decided to leave the country to live elsewhere, or at least claim they will.

Surprisingly, two of the destinations for refugees may be Bedrock and Orbit City. These places are best known from the reality shows The Flintstones and The Jetsons. These popular programs followed the day-to-day lives of typical families in different eras—the Flintstones in a time when most things involved rocks and dinosaurs did much of the heavy lifting, the Jetsons in a time when people traveled by flying cars and both maids and dogs were robots.

Will it be better in Bedrock or Orbit City than it currently is in America? Only time will tell. However, it is thought that presidential advisor Elon Musk is seriously considering not only moving to Orbit City, but becoming its mayor. Is Musk unhappy? Will he end up running against Cosmo Spacely, George Jetsons’ boss and the wealthy CEO of Spacely Space Sprockets, Inc.? Once again, time will tell.

© 2025 by Bob M. Schwartz

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January 23, 2025

Religious traditions struggle with handling “politics”. They make a category error.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 21: Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde (L) arrives as U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during the National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral on January 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. Tuesday marks Trump’s first full day of his second term in the White House. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Rt. Rev. Marian Edgar Budde, Episcopal Bishop of Washington, presided over the National Prayer Breakfast, giving the sermon at the National Cathedral on Tuesday. Trump and many officials were in attendance.

In the sermon, she pled with Trump to show mercy and compassion toward scared individuals, including immigrants, those fleeing war and persecution, and gay, lesbian and transgender children. After the service, Trump and others attacked her, including some within her own church who believe that “politics” does not belong at the pulpit or in the pews.

This opposition may come from a category error. If this is purely and solely about “politics”—who you vote for and who you support for election—then the category applies. But it isn’t, and never has been. In many cases, and particularly in the current environment, the more fitting categories are ideology and philosophy.

Ideology and philosophy are the siblings of belief, if not identical twins. As for the religious traditions, belief is the central and essential element.

If the ideology and philosophy reflected in political support—the beliefs—are different, contrasting, contradictory to the beliefs of those religious traditions, how can it not be an issue for discussion by those traditions?

This is in no way to question the good faith and conscientiousness of those in the traditions who see politics as a categorical red line. It is just, at this moment and many moments past, the wrong category. The faithful may and sometimes do hold ideologies, philosophies and beliefs that are anathema to the core of traditions.

Which is exactly what Bishop Budde was saying, for which she now says she has nothing to apologize for. Others may say that she was not doing her job, touching on politics. She wasn’t touching on politics. She was affirming the very soul of her faith. That is her job.

© 2025 by Bob M. Schwartz

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July 25, 2024

Netanyahu and Trump bring out the worst in Jews, Americans and people

Above is Jimmy Carter. His presidency is seen by many as a mixed bag. His humanity was and is never in question. He is now 99 years old, and nobody in American history has had a more successful or shining post-presidency. As for his administration, he is a world leader who brokered a peace deal in the Middle East, a rare milestone.

Which is a segue to Benjamin Netanyahu, who spoke yesterday to Congress, at the invitation of Republican Speaker Johnson, a speech boycotted by many Democrats, a speech that resulted in a large and difficult protest by opponents of Israel’s Gaza war.

Netanyahu is a segue to Donald Trump, who Netanyahu desperately wants back in the White House, because Trump is his kind of president—corrupt, dangerously self-interested, inhumane, etc.—and because President Trump will allow, encourage and enable whatever scheme Netanyahu has to stay in office and avoid peace. Netanyahu correctly views Trump as his less smart but equally narcissistic but more powerful brother, one he can wrap around his finger.

Just as Trump has brought the worst out in many Americans, that is, the worst that was already there, Netanyahu has brought out the worst in some Jews. Nothing those Americans learn about who Trump is or what he has done or plans to do seems to bother them. Nothing those Jews learn about who Netanyahu is or what he has done or plans to do seems to bother them. Thus always with demagogues.

There are no easy answers, In America, we can elect Democrats for every office, from president on down, because Republicans who remain in the party are all in Trump’s thrall, whether or not that’s what is actually in their hearts and minds. For Jews, we can stand up for the humanity that Judaism in its best lights and moments represents, and which Netanyahu doesn’t.

While we are at it, consider Jimmy Carter as a role model. A man of genuine faith, a man whose life has been guided for 99 years by a calling of service. Those who think that either Trump or Netanyahu are people of genuine faith or are good role models can and will go on with that dangerous and devilish delusion. Some know better.

© 2024 by Bob Schwartz

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July 16, 2024

If Biden loses, it will destroy him. Do his supporters think about that?

Nothing is certain in politics, until it is. It appears possible that Biden will insist on being the Democratic nominee for President. It appears possible that he will lose and Trump will become President again.

It is certain that if Biden loses, as defiant and stubborn as he seems now, it will psychically destroy him. While politicians are generally used to losing, and have to be resilient, the special circumstances here will defy resilience for him.

As much as he now says he would be okay as long as he did his best, he will know that he is responsible. Maybe he will convince himself, or supporters will claim, that none of the alternative candidates could have beaten Trump—an unprovable proposition. They may say that it was all the negative Democratic talk about Biden’s age and abilities that sabotaged his nomination.

But somewhere deep, in some moments of self-awareness, Biden will know that it could have been different. That had he gracefully stepped aside in early 2024, or in the summer of 2024 when his problems became more prominent, that the next generation of leading Democrats could have taken his place—and beaten Trump.

That fact would tarnish his legacy. It will be a lead, if not in the headline, of the historical record. Most of all, it will be a psychic wound that Biden will bear. And for a man whose public contribution has been so full, it will be a sad shame.

Why don’t his family and friends, why don’t his Democratic supporters who love him, think hard about that?

© 2024 by Bob Schwartz

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May 27, 2024

Bibi’s Gaza bonus: Make Biden look bad to help elect Trump

The primary reasons for Netenyahu pursuing his Gaza war, whatever the actual success of the strategies, are to eliminate Hamas, hide his failure in preventing October 7, stay in power, avoid going to jail, and others.

There is a secondary reason, a bonus. Bibi has made Biden look weak and ineffectual. Biden’s rhetoric has been equivocal, leaning towards Israel. His actions have been less equivocal, since his arming of Israel remains intact, whatever he says.

This is exactly what Bibi and right-wingers in his cabinet want. They want Trump. Bibi, an agile politician if not a world-class statesman, can see that all this is costing Biden support and votes, increasing the chance of a Trump victory in what will be a close election. When Trump is back in office, they believe, whatever they want, whatever they ask for, he will be on their side. Unlike Biden, who seems to be having trouble holding steady in the political winds.

So while there are reasons that Bibi has remained stubborn and needlessly brutal in Gaza, helping elect Trump would be another good outcome for him. A bonus.

© 2024 by Bob Schwartz

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January 25, 2024

Nikki Haley isn’t driving Trump crazy. She’s just proving that he is.

The longer Nikki Haley stays in the race for the Republican nomination, the crazier Trump will act.

That may or may not be the point of her running. But it is already an effect, and he is getting worse every day she persists.

I first mentioned Trump’s mental health seven years ago (DSM-5: Antagonism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder). It is the most popular of my posts, viewed thousands of times, and still regularly read.

Here’s the most amazing thing: It never mentions Trump at all. But somehow, readers figured out in 2017 and beyond that it was about him.

It’s hard to know which is more unsettling. That a man who is clearly suffering from a psychological illness may yet become president (again). Or that the Republican Party, which must be aware of this, is willing to overlook it.

There are two unlikely but not impossible ways Republicans may yet deny Trump the nomination.

He is convicted of a crime before the convention or the election. That is unlikely to matter, because even if there is a conviction, it will be under appeal and characterized as part of the persecution and witch hunt.

He spins further out of psychological health, so that even irresponsible Republicans worry that voters may notice that the person running for president is—to use the disfavored colloquial word—crazy.

It appears that Nikki Haley is not backing down. She actually appears to be doubling down.

What will Trump say about her next in a rambling speech? What new off-the-wall attacks will he make? What absurd lies about her will he concoct?

Buckle up. It’s going to be the craziest ride in American political history.

© 2024 by Bob Schwartz

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January 29, 2020

Walt Whitman Visits the White House

The White House would benefit from many visitors. The founders of the republic, particularly the authors of the Federalist Papers. Abraham Lincoln would be a welcome presence. Above all, the current White House needs poetry, most especially the poet who most embodied, ahead of his time, the spirit of the ages taking form in the present American ideal.

As it happens, Walt Whitman recently visited the White House. This is how it went.

DJT: Who the hell are you? How did you get in here?

WW: I am large, I contain multitudes. I am Walt Whitman. I live here in Washington and work for the Attorney General. I am also a poet.

DJT: You work for Barr? (picks up phone) Get me Barr. Bill, there’s some homeless guy here who says he works for you.

WW: Let me read you a poem about an election.

DJT (hangs up phone): About my election?

WW: It is called Election Day: November 1884

If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene and show,
‘Twould not be you, Niagara—nor you, ye limitless prairies—nor your huge rifts of canyons, Colorado,
Nor you, Yosemite—nor Yellowstone, with all its spasmic geyser-loops ascending to the skies, appearing and disappearing,
Nor Oregon’s white cones—nor Huron’s belt of mighty lakes—nor Mississippi’s stream:
—This seething hemisphere’s humanity, as now, I’d name—the still small voice vibrating—America’s choosing day,
(The heart of it not in the chosen—the act itself the main, the quadriennial choosing,)
The stretch of North and South arous’d—sea-board and inland—Texas to Maine—the Prairie States—Vermont, Virginia, California,
The final ballot-shower from East to West—the paradox and conflict,
The countless snow-flakes falling—(a swordless conflict,
Yet more than all Rome’s wars of old, or modern Napoleon’s:)
the peaceful choice of all,
Or good or ill humanity—welcoming the darker odds, the dross:
—Foams and ferments the wine? it serves to purify—while the
heart pants, life glows:
These stormy gusts and winds waft precious ships,
Swell’d Washington’s, Jefferson’s, Lincoln’s sails.

DJT: Yeah, Mississippi, Texas, Virginia, they’re going to swell my sails! My heart pants, I get it. Napoleon, I like the sound of that. I’m going to tweet about you right now. How do you like Wild Walt?

WW: Another poem:

To the States or any one of them, or any city of the States, Resist
much, obey little,
Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved,
Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city of this earth, ever
afterward resumes its liberty.

DJT: Resist much, obey little!? (picks up phone again) Get this bum out of here!

WW: I’ll be back. Be best.

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September 21, 2019

“Shaman walking across Russia to ‘exorcise Putin’ arrested on ‘terrorism’ charges”

“He, Putin, is not human. He’s a beast, a demon.”

For those living under undemocratic regimes—in Russia, the United States, or elsewhere—this may be the most important and interesting story this week that has been missed.

The Independent:

Shaman walking across Russia to ‘exorcise Putin’ arrested on ‘terrorism’ charges

Alexander Gabyshev was attempting to walk 5,000 miles from Siberia to banish ‘demon’ president.

Six months ago, Siberian shaman Alexander Gabyshev experienced a mystical revelation.

He had been chosen to exorcise dark spirits from Russia – as he told anyone willing to listen – dark spirits that were being directed by a demon called Vladimir Putin.

To this end, the shaman set off on foot from far eastern Siberia. He aimed to meet his presidential nemesis in Moscow sometime in 2021. But in the early hours of Thursday, over 1,800 miles into his journey, Mr Gabyshev was stopped, arrested, and reportedly charged with extremism offences.

Authorities were taking no chances, with an elaborate dawn raid to detain the ageing shaman.

According to witnesses, police first cut off the highway on the border between Buryatiya and Irkutsk, the impoverished regions lying on the sides of Lake Baikal. They cut off mobile networks. Then officers surrounded the shaman’s campsite, before pinning him to the ground, leading him to a waiting van, and whisking him away.

For a long time, the idea of a 50-year-old shaman tugging a small trailer towards Moscow was the butt of jokes. Only a fragmented biography about the man was available. It seemed to speak of personal tragedy: a history graduate, Mr Gabyshev turned to mystical religion after the death of his wife in the 2000s.

There seemed little prospect of the one-man protest managing to complete the 5,000-mile journey to the capital.

Yet every day that Mr Gabyshev inched along the federal highway towards his goal, 10 miles at a time, his following grew. A handful even joined him on his crusade.

For some, his unusual protest spoke to a wider general disaffection with Moscow. Locals staged demonstrations in support. And that was when things started to get embarrassing for the Kremlin.

In an interview with the local outlet Znak published before his arrest, Mr Gabyshev said he aimed to create an “army” by the time he reached Moscow.

“God told me to go and banish the demon,” he said. “He, Putin, is not human. He’s a beast, a demon.”

Mr Gabyshev encountered plenty of resistance along the way. Earlier this month, a group of shamans more loyal to the Kremlin tried to impede his entry into Buryatiya. Nearer the regional capital, police also began to take a close interest, arresting two of Mr Gabyshev’s followers.

Ironically, the propaganda video below publicizing this mission is from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is funded in whole or in part by the American government. There seems to be no recognition that if Putin is viewed as a demon requiring exorcism, there may well be others who view Trump as a demon requiring exorcism. So far, no shamans. A walk from Washington to Palm Beach perhaps?

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June 25, 2019

Trump Couldn’t Get Hired to Manage a McDonald’s (Though He’d Love It)

For so many reasons, starting but not ending with incompetence, and including his reputation as a sex offender, Trump could not get hired to manage any public or private enterprise of any size. This includes managing a McDonald’s, which is in many ways his dream job (he doesn’t realize that managers don’t get free food).

And yet he is nominally Chief Executive Officer of the United States, the biggest enterprise in the world.

Leaders everywhere, the “beautiful” dictators who should be our enemies and the less “beautiful” allies who should be our friends, all know this. Aliens from other planets, if they are watching, know this. More than half of all Americans know this.

Years from now, in the unsettled and uncertain future, Trump’s “management” of America will be the stuff of hundreds of business school case studies. Even at Wharton, which he claims without proof as his alma mater, MBA students will have to read the story and be asked by their management professors, “What’s wrong with this picture?”

The right answer is: everything.

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