I sincerely lament what Donald Trump has done to people who used to be respectable Republicans. I used to enjoy listening to them and usually disagreeing with them. They were people with ideas and passions. Now they’re empty vessels, unable to take a stand and unwilling to think for themselves. The Emperor has no clothes, but he puts women in their place and he stands up to the dark-skinned people, so maybe naked and stupid is the place to be.

Donald Trump started out as a buffoon in the early debates, then he added in some sexual harassment and then he went full-on bully. The Once-Respectables, eschewing their principles and traditions, figured that maybe he could be their Useful Idiot. He moved on, piling lies on vulgarities, abuses on top of admissions of felonious criminal assault.

As he gathered momentum, the OR’s began to shut down parts of their identities, setting their morality aside for the election season (and, eventually, beyond) and suspending disbelief until further notice as visions of tax breaks and environmental rape danced in their heads. People on the other side of the divide couldn’t believe what they were seeing. How could they possibly support this guy? He’s the most prolific liar ever. He’s sexist and racist, a crappy businessman and an admitted felon. Most importantly, how could they reject their long-held principles and suddenly adopt a credo of the ends justify the means, no matter how ugly or even occasionally un-American those means might be?

But support him they did and support him even more, they now do. These once-proud protectors of the doctrine of smaller government and family values will now line up to lick the sweat off The Scoundrel’s perineum if he tells them that doing so might give them the Midas touch and help keep brown people at bay.

We have reached a point where, after two years of vehemently denying that he ever took help from a foreign government, he now says that he will happily do so in the next election…and nobody on his side finds anything wrong with that.

Most importantly, we have reached a point where every single one of us knows who and what Donald Trump is and three out of every seven Americans just don’t care. We know that Trump will be Trump because why wouldn’t he? He’s been pampered, lied for, bailed out and sucked up to his entire life. What possible reason could he have for manning up at this late stage of his life? So it falls to his enablers, the radio and TV talk-show hosts who giddily lie for him and the “religious leaders” who rush to forgive him of his sins. And it is the rank-and-file used-to-be-Republicans who keep quiet when they should speak out or shout a co-signing “Yeah!” when they should be shocked into silence. It is they who have the ability to bring America back to decency, but are currently showing absolutely no desire to do so.

It is someone from among their ranks who recently committed an act so egregious and so vulgar that it challenges one’s ability to imagine how someone could even think of such a thing, let alone put it into action. And, like most atrocities committed in Trump’s name, no one has taken credit nor blame for it.

As you know, when Trump was in Japan recently, someone ordered that the name of the USS John S. McCain (a destroyer named for the late Arizona Senator AND his father and grandfather, both Navy admirals) be covered with a tarp and its sailors were un-invited to an event because they would have worn USS John S. McCain hats. It was an act of indescribable pettiness.

The story first appeared in the Trump-supporting Wall Street Journal (and there was supporting photographic evidence) so the White House couldn’t deny it. Let’s assume that Trump didn’t know about it. (Yeah, right!) That means that the Secretary of the Defense and/or somebody in the Navy covered the names of not one, but three, American heroes so that a draft dodger wouldn’t pee his pants. This is what America has sunk to.

Fortunately, just as there is no USS Richard Nixon (never has been and probably never will be), there will never, EVER, be a USS Donald Trump, so future sailors don’t have to worry about that. (There are several other presidents who have never had Navy vessels named for them. The list includes Taft, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.)

Jimmy Carter, who is still alive, has a Seawolf class submarine named for him. (He was a nuclear engineer in the Navy as a young man.)

Still, what if there were such a monstrosity? Can you imagine having to be on such a boat? The feds could catch you spying for ISIS, Iran AND North Korea and they’d say, “We can either throw you in a cell at Guantanamo forever or you can serve on the USS Donald Trump. Your choice.”

And what kind of ship would that be? It would probably be a garbage scow, but it would tell everybody it was a battleship. It would have big, gaudy guns, but it would only be able to take potshots. And if it were ever in actual combat, it could only go in reverse. ■

This article appears in Jun 20-26, 2019.

37 replies on “Danehy”

  1. Amazing how similar your perspective is to the reality of what Republicans and really all non liberals is of Hillary and Obama. Of course they are lacking media scrutiny. Much of this is self inflicted.

  2. Hillary and Obama don’t have the “qualities” that the orange doofus has TonyZ. Get your head out of whatever you have it snuggly buried in, take a deep breath of fresh air, cancel your subscription to Info Wars, Breitbart “News”, etc…and make a valiant effort to embrace the facts when they are presented to you. It’s time for all you tRump cultists to break the chains that bind you.

  3. Wow, I’ve never seen so many Americans hate the fact our economy is doing well. Maybe a move to Canada or mexico could fix it?

  5. You’re too kind. Trump is the biggest a–hole this country has ever seen and patriotic Americans should collectively knock the snot out of him. Well, that might be too kind too.

  6. Hope you’re ready to do it again. 4 more years. I love it. By the by, Tommy. What branch of the military were you in. Hmmmm.

  8. As an 82 year old New Yorker and U.S. Navy veteran, I was there in 1973 when dirt bag and his beloved father were hauled into Federal Court in Brooklyn, with that stain on the legal profession, Roy Cohn, representing them. Their crime was instructing their rental agents not to show their Trump properties to black people. Hmmm This is our non racist president. Let’s look at the 2016 vote in N.Y Bronx 88% against Trump, Manhattan 86% against, Brooklyn 79% against, Queens 75% against, Staten Island, where the cops and firemen hide, 57% loved Trump enough to vote for him.

  11. Henry. I was in N.Y. in 1973, too. I don’t recall any such story. I’m not calling you a liar. I’m just saying that at 82 you might be having a memory lapse.

  12. “…bring America back to decency”… ?

    You mean like going back to the golden years of American presidential behavior … like Bill bringing Monica back into the oval office closet for a quick hummer?

    Signed,
    Danehick Sux

  13. Hi CW13 There is nothing wrong with my memory. Go on line and type in United States vs. Fred C. Trump, Donald Trump and the Trump Management , Co. and charged them with systemic violation of the 1968 Fair Housing Act in their many complexes. The suit was brought in federal court in Brooklyn N.Y. on October 15, 1973. Maybe you didn’t read the newspapers, Hmm?

  14. Let me start by thanking you for your service. Maybe I’m a little forgetful. I lived in Huntington and worked in Manhatten. That’s roughly an hour and 15 minutes each way. So, I had plenty of time to read the Daily News in the morning and the Post every afternoon. I don’t recall any stories about the Trumps being hauled into court. Maybe I missed it. That doesn’t change the fact that he’s doing great things with this country.

  15. What an infestation of tRump cultists we have here.

    We have cultists who believe that when people point out the bullshit currently going on in the USA, they hate the economy (?!) Yeah, that makes loads of sense. They probably also believe that tRump snapped his chubby orange fingers and he magically improved the economy! Yeah, that happened. FACT: The economy is doing well at the moment due to procedures put in place during…wait for it…the Obama administration. Sorry to blow away your fantasy boys.

    We have cultists who are accusing others of having a memory lapse when presented with very easily confirmed facts. FACT: tRump and his daddy were hauled into court for instructing their rental agents not to show their properties to black people. The accusers should check the information provided before making the childlike trollish move of accusing others of having a memory lapse.

    We have cultists that keep dredging up an indiscretion that happened many moons ago and are treating it as if it is SO much worse than anything your current “saviour” has ever done. FACT: Your “saviour” has cheated on all three of his wives, he busted into a teenage girls locker room unannounced and is proud of that, he was involved in the payment of hush money to a porn star that he raw dogged while his current wife was pregnant (what a stellar guy!) and he has been accused by several women…and at least one of them was a minor…of rape! The Ol’ Slick Willie and Monica event has nothin’ on that; unless, of course, you’re a tRump cultist.

    Nice try guys, but reality will “tRump” your blind and delusional irrationality Every Single Time!

  17. Lets face it. Trump haters will never feel otherwise. You have your opinion, we have ours. No sense in starting a civil war over it. We’re not all bad. I don’t know if you read my responce, but last week you caught me in some misinformation and I apologized accordingly.

  18. Sorry bud, I presented facts, not opinions.

    FACTS: Things that are known and proved to be true. Example: The misguided actions that tRump and/or his administration have engaged in are praised by his cultists, yet if Obama and or the Clintons engaged in any of this activity, these hypocritical cultists would be asking for their heads. These are facts.
    OPINIONS: Views or judgments formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge. Examples: Green is the prettiest colour. Jimi Hendrix is the greatest guitarist of modern, if not all, times. Okay, that one may border on fact! 😉

    But seriously, your tRump love is chock full of misinformation. Misinformation is/are not facts. I truly believe you are smarter than that.

    It’s a Fact, not an opinion, that tRump has next to nothing to do with how the economy is doing at this point in time. It’s a Fact, not an opinion, that tRump is a serial liar and a misogynist. It’s a Fact, not an opinion, that tRump has more respect and devotion for brutal foreign dictators such as Puppet Master Putin and Lil’ Kim Un than he does for the United States’ own allies. Not only is that shit unpatriotic, that shit is sickening and disgusting.

    I’m not in the mood for starting a war over these FACTS myself, but I can’t help but notice you spend so much time posting this drivel when you could be spending that time learning what’s really happening around you and to the country you profess to love. Take some time to learn something besides toeing the tRump cultist line and you’ll be a bigger and better man because of it.

    Sincerely, DC

  19. I just feel that people like to pile on the president. Last night with 10 minutes on the clock he found out that 150 Iranian citizens would die if we bombed them. So, he called it off. He later explained that 150 deaths is not proportionate to a single unmanned drone. All morning on the radio the Dems and the media ( same thing) are all over Trump for not being decisive. Admit it, if that was Jesus Obama they would say how humane he was. If Trump had gone ahead and pulled the trigger today they’d all be calling him a war mongering baby killer.
    You seem to think that I dwell on Trump. Not true. I supported Ted Cruz. I only voted for Trump because of his opponent. I just feel bad for the underdog. No matter what he does,he’s hated. Personally, I think he’s nuts for running for a second term. After all the shit I had to put up with, at the end of my first term I’d take my millions, my knock out wife and head for parts unknown.
    Now, onto something we can agree on. Check out my comment on Tom’s last column. I think you’ll like them.
    C.W. 13

  20. fact
    /fakt/
    Learn to pronounce
    noun
    a thing that is known or proved to be true.

    Sorry DC but your first fact was full of opinions.

  21. Sorry Mary Gomez Phony Sock tRump Puppet, Everything which I presented are Facts.

    Get yo’ head out of the small spaces!

    P.S. – Get an account if you wanna be taken seriously. Until then, you are the sock puppet that you get treated like.

  22. Tommy, you’ve had a day plus. I figure you’re about my age so that would make put you in the Nam era. So, tell me about your military career. Any Purple Hearts ? Maybe a Silver Star. Come on,tell us some war stories.

  23. It is not only the racial and religious minorities that Trump hates. On page 52 of the June 2019 Atlantic Magazine, in an article entitled Trumps Bigotry, the construction manager of Trumps headquarters which opened in February 1983 in Trump Tower, Barbara Res, the construction manager, tells the heartwarming story of Trumps love of blind people. Inspecting the cab interiors of the elevators. Trump asked what the dots, were. It’s braille. An upset Trump said get rid of it. I’m sorry; it’s the law, N.Y. City’s law, the architect replied. Trumps exact words were “No Blind people are going to live in this building”. What a guy!! I guess his famous disability, those pesky heel spurs that kept him out of the service don’t count for exclusion.

  25. I assume we aren’t pals anymore, , which is fine with me. That type of hatred is rally not healthy. I thought only us right wingers were suppose to hate like that.
    Tommy, I’m still waiting for some war stories. I’m starting to wonder if you were even in the service. You’d think so by the way you wrote about President Trump.

  27. I could post one of these stories every day for the next 10 years because there are so many of them. But the tRump cultist puppets would still find some silly way to deny the facts that are thrown into their face.

    A pathetic lot, those tRump cultist puppets are!

  28. Yeah, I take everything written in the New Yorker as Gospel.
    This just in, according to a U.S.A. Today poll, President Trump has a 49% favorable rating.

  29. This news showed up in a lot more places than The New Yorker, but I wouldn’t expect you to try to educate yourself and have your fantasies of tRump being a decent human being crushed.

    Sorry that Breitbart and Info Wars didn’t report on it bud. They were too busy getting their noses comfortable in tRump’s ass to bother.

  30. Sorry that the N.Y. Times,the Washington Times, the L.A. Times,U.S.A. Today, C.N.N., MSNBC,ABC,CBS,NBC, etal are trying to shove a pipe in there.
    Talk about fantasies, you and your ilk were blinded by your white guilt and couldn’t see Jesus Obama’s faults.

  31. Every news outlet you listed, with the exception of the Washington Times, is pretty reputable. tRump and his cultists don’t care for them because they report facts about him that he and his ilk doesn’t want to hear.

    Speaking of ilk, when you put me in a catagory where you believe I’m blinded by white guilt (classy!) and you believe I associate Jesus with Obama…it proves you know absolutely nothing about me. But, through the comments you’ve left your stains on in this thread, I’ve learned a boatload about you.

    Take care. DC

  33. “You started it, not me.”

    Um…no.

    For me, you started it when you accused Henry J. of having a memory lapse when he provided you with facts that you could’ve easily checked. Instead, you took the low road and accused him of a memory lapse because you didn’t remember reading it 46 years ago. It was a cheap shot and I called you out on it. And that hasn’t been your only indiscretion recently. I got tired of seeing every other comment everywhere on this site being one posted by you where you either didn’t know what you talking about, were being a jerk, or both. You need to rein it in a little, especially when you don’t have your facts straight.

    Besides that, I can get along with you just fine.

  34. I must admit I was nothing short of shocked by the all-out hatred people have for the President. I have about half a dozen friends that feel that way. Two of them are actually very good friends. One is a bartender, the other someone I like to meet for beers a few times a week. The minute Trump was elected they went into a full tilt rage. I got them to agree on no more talk about politics. We can talk sports, women, cars motorcycles even religion. Being an atheist I can’t contribute much but’s it’s better than the constant hatred of all things Trump.
    I have decided that I will not say another word about him. I ain’t changing your mind and you ain’t changing mine. So, why fight?
    As far as Henry J. goes.being an ex-New Yorker and a Navy vet I’m sure he can defend himself. If you re-read our posts you’ll notice he said I didn’t read newspapers which was quite untrue. I left it as I may have forgotten, i simply didn’t remember. You said I don’t know you which is true, but you don’t know much about me. I supported Ted Cruz until Trump got the nomination. Then it was him or Hillary. A simple choice in my mind. There are plenty of things about Trump I don’t like. Lots of thing he says or does I don’t approve of. But, I can say the same thing about my wife. I don’t think I’m about to use that as an excuse to leave her after 35 years.
    Idolize Trump? I don’t think. I idolize my kid brother who broke his neck in a diving accident in the Coast Guard when he was 19. How he handled it was amazing.
    In closing let me sum it up by saying that I voted for Trump to be my president, not my priest.

  35. You must’ve thought long and hard to come up with another negative trump musing that : speaks to binge haters,to the keep tucson and america shitty commenters, and somehow doesn’t just repeat the previous fifty trump opinion articles you’ve already written. This is just more of the same, with the exception of sports, most of your recent articles are similar.
    I know it’s not easy given your length in this job, but come on Tom, I know you can do better

  37. So, it’s okay to be disrespectful to someone because they’re an ex-New Yorker and a Navy vet? That’s straight out of the tRump playbook. Acting like an asshole towards veterans and their families is something you shouldn’t emulate. What you should be doing is feeling shame and apologising for your actions, not making feeble excuses for them.

    Also, nobody expects you to believe that tRump could ever be your priest, but you should expect him to have standards that make him a decent human being. Because of his childish actions, the USA are perceived as a bunch of clowns on the world stage. Iran is refusing to work with us because of that dumb shit he pulled by calling an air strike and then cancelling it. If he had just assessed the situation properly and shut his big stupid mouth in the first place, we wouldn’t be where we’re at.

    Learn that tRump’s actions aren’t just damaging this country, they’re damaging how the rest of the world views this country.

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