I have to admit there was a time I was recently running into writer's block over new essay topics. Now it seems I'm getting triggered almost constantly with ideas, whether it's Tom Woods email or Trump's latest whining soundbite from a forthcoming book. I came close to doing on one on Nikole Hannah-Jones, the (former) UNC journalism professor behind the 1619 project, initially denied tenure;
I still haven't ruled out doing that essay , but in part I have certain standards of due diligence, and I have my own axes to grind over an academic career done too soon and a general opposition to the concept of tenure. Sour grapes? Not really; I'm sure I would have accepted it if offered, but I spent the last 3 years of 5 looking for my next job; tenure wasn't an option at the 3 schools, well maybe the first 2 in theory, but I ran into powerful adversaries literally my first semester at each school, so I realized it wouldn't happen early on.. But to be honest, I never really liked the administrators or fellow faculty I worked with at UWM, UTEP or ISU. Like Meat Loaf sang in "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights", I would have been "praying for the end of time". The reality of life as a professor never matched my idea when I first dreamed it visiting (philosophy professor) Fr. James Lonergan's office at OLL: He was smoking a pipe with aromatic smoke filling his book-crowded office, Bernstein blaring from his phonograph. It was just an awesome atmosphere. The idea of a profession based on ideas, a comfortable lifestyle. Nope, I've never smoked, never will. But far from a Lebnizian "Come; let us calculate our differences!", I found office politics just as petty, if not more so, than what I've seen "working in the real world". Who knows? Maybe Dr. Lonergan had put up with his own load of crap I never knew about.
Now, to be honest, I thought once Jan. 20 passed, Trump was in the rear view mirror; he had been stripped of his high profile social media accounts. Oh, I realize that he has the idea he could be voted back into office in 2024, and I didn't truly believe he would fade into the background. He's been literally a publicity whore for literally decades. This is a guy who is still embittered by his reelection loss and the alleged disloyal Republicans who abandoned him, even supported his impeachment over Jan.6 events. He retains high approval with the GOP base. He can still pull in crowds to his rallies.
But I have to admit--the guy just knows what to say to trigger me. I exploded with a profane tweet when word came out of Trump blasting his second SCOTUS nominee, Brett Kavanaugh in an interview related to a forthcoming book. Now first of all, I wasn't raised to whine about all my problems, blame others, gripe about every unfair thing that's happened to me in life. I've talked about a few difficulties I've faced, but I've left out details, identities. I don't want to play the victim card, even when I've been largely victimized. I don't go around feeling sorry for myself. I've lost jobs under truly evil circumstances, people lied and screwed me over, at one point, I even had to hire a lawyer. Some of these things came with periods of unemployment and financial hardship.
I even had a six-figure job offer canceled after a busybody thin-skinned accountant remembered a legitimate breakfast claim he had denied years earlier. (A company manager was supposed to meet me for breakfast on a job visit interview, which would have been expensed. When he no-showed, I ate breakfast at the hotel as originally planned and expensed it--and not the most expensive thing on the menu. The accountant denied the claim, claiming it exceeded an undisclosed breakfast per diem. He had annoyed me; look, the company had payed probably over $400 for airfare and a hotel, and the dude is arguing over a breakfast check!)
But I've never been one to cry over spilled milk. Did I really want to work for a company or college whose management had screwed me over? Was I going going to live my life consumed by the need for vengeance against those that had wronged me? I know what I bring to an employer. Oh, I realize the right job opportunity might not be available the next weekday.
In short, when you run into obstacles, man up! Stop whining and complaining, looking for others to blame. let others or the past define you. Let your actions and character speak for themselves!
Donald Trump does none of that. He's fixated on asserting his authority and demanding loyalty, even from (independent-branch) judicial nominees. He's obsessed with exaggerating his alleged achievement and righting past wrongs against him. He's quick to turn on others, especially his (former) subordinates throwing them under the bus. One hardly needs to document any of these things, e.g., how quickly he turned on Michael Cohen, his personal attorney who among other things covered hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels., former National Security Advisor John Bolton (even trying to stop publication of his book), and his first prominent GOP supporter, Jeff Sessions, who he named Attorney General and then turned on him when Sessions (properly) recused himself over the Mueller Russiagate investigation, even campaigning against Sessions' post-AG attempt to regain his old Senate seat.
When Comey claimed that Trump turned against him because Comey would not pledge his personal loyalty, I never doubted him for a minute. Trump was a guy who didn't acknowledge boundaries, in fact claimed Article 2 gave him unlimited powers. This is a guy who as Commander-in-Chief condemned Bergdahl up before the court for military justice, has vented at judges and decisions, has repurposed funding (for his wall) without the consent of the Congress; he does not recognize the boundaries among the three branches of government.
I have no doubt Trump sees prized judicial nominations much like Blagojevich saw Obama's empty Senate seat and his power to appoint a replacement: his golden ticket. Trump knows, especially to his more conservative base, that selecting the right judges is critical to their continued political support. Trump expects a quid pro quo for giving judicial nominees their golden ticket; politically-favorable decisions to him and personal deference/loyalty.
I'm sure that Trump expected some pushback on the Kavanaugh nomination from Dems, still seething over their failure to confirm Merrick Garland to the late Justice Scalia's seat. He probably remembered Dems' scorched earth sabotage of Bork's nomination and Anita Hill's dubious accusations against Judge Clarence Thomas nearly killed the nomination. I'm not going to review Christine Blasey-Ford's explosive sexual allegations against a teenage Brett Kavanaugh; the interested reader can search my blog for old posts. But I'm skeptical based on the preponderance of the evidence of Brett's relationships at the time, the lack of contemporary witnesses or evidence of accusations from Christine, the fact that Ford's friend, allegedly a witness, has denied the story, and the dubious nature of "recovered" memories. It's almost impossible for a person to defend himself against 30-odd year old accusations. Evidence and witnesses are inaccessible and unreliable, etc.; there's a reason why you have something like a statute of limitations Kavanaugh was confirmed by barely 2 votes, only one Dem vote (Manchin), one of the narrowest approvals in SCOTUS history.
Although Trump got pushback on the Gersuch and Barrett, there's no doubt Trump felt it was politically costly and got him grief from Republican senators who were wary of casting a tough vote. He points out that he could have dropped the nomination and thrown Kavanaugh under the bus. And what did he get for sticking behind the nomination? An ungrateful jurist who wasn't there when he needed him, e.g., on his election appeals.
Now, first of all, I don't buy the "poor poor pitiful me" act. Kavanaugh's nomination to the DC Appeals had taken nearly 3 years to get through the Senate because the Dems resented his tole in the Clinton impeachment process. So it was going to be a rough vote even without the later-surfacing sexual misconduct accusations. It was like Trump discovering neo-con John Bolton, whose views were notorious far before Trump picked him as advisor, would push back on Trump's less interventionist views. Seriously, dude? Who do you think you hired? Maybe he thought Bolton simply go with the flow because Stone Cold Trump said so and abandon his philosophy.
And so Trump thunders on in his self-righteous indignation. Who the hell does Kavanaugh think he is? Everything he is, he owes to Trump. Without Trump, he couldn't get hired anywhere; no private law firm would hire him! Dude, he had a life-long position on the Court of Appeals, and you had absolutely nothing to do with that He had also been a partner at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis; maybe non-lawyer Trump doesn't know what a partner is...
Trump has a history of taking cheap shots at other people, of bullying them. It's petty, unnecessary, and unworthy of a real man. I've had to put up with his adolescent rubbish for years now, and I'm fed up.
