On Being a Dick - the Artist's Way

    They told me if I voted for Hillary, there'd be corruption, war and economic collapse. They were right - I voted for Hillary, and sure enough, that's where we're headed.

    It was bound to happen - just as the 2008 election led to immediate disappointment in any supposed draining of the swamp, the successive policies were oddly similar to the candidates' who'd been rejected. Jon Stewart noted the candidate's "she's likeable enough" comment "he sounds like a dickish boyfriend".

    This time of course it's more intentionally galling - the stalking on stage & "nasty woman" in the debates and "Parkinson's Disease" & "lock her up" outside were just foreshadowing. In every way that's possible (and not even as hyperbole), the new president is both making a mockery of his own promises and doing exactly what he attacked his opponent for doing - $100 million in Saudi money for his daughter's still-not-formed non-profit is just the latest.

    Let's try that again - on the same day that Jared picked up the phone to "bargain down" a $110 billion jet sale, the Saudis "donated" $100 million to Ivanka's "non-profit" "women's fund". Where's the MSM screaming of quid-pro-quo? Crickets.

    It's a male dick move, and it shouldn't be forgotten in all the FBI and FinCEN investigations. We're here because Comey pulled a major male dick move last July, publicly scolding a suspect he couldn't find enough evidence on for purported crimes far far less serious than the money-laundering/corruption/vote hacking Russian collusion he couldn't bring himself to report - and then pulled a 2nd dick move, going public to "protect his agency's reputation" when he couldn't stop leaks, and to hell with anyone else - the public, the election....

    Rosenstein's memo was a perfect dick move - everything that Lynch or Obama or someone should have written last July was exact opposite to what Trump and the GOP had spouted ever since, but suddenly finding religion, used to fire the burr in their butt.

    We've seen dick moves by Nunes, withholding evidence from his own committee (especially the Democrats) and making a midgnight dash to the White House. We've seen dick moves by Chaffetz, abusing his investigative position while pompously dressing down government officials in testimony. We saw Mitch McConnell pull dick move after dick move as he used an arcane rule to shut down Warren's quoting Coretta Scott King over Jeff Sessions, shut the Democrats out of most cabinet appointment proceedings, and then rammed through the Gorsuch approval at light speed. We're seeing continual dick moves by Sessions from the moment he pretended he might be reasonable in order to get confirmed. We saw Ryan and McCarthy recorded laughing about the Russians hacking the Democrats and not only doing nothing and releasing the DCCC's plans, using the stolen data to get an advantage (not just for the presidential race - as reported by the Times 6 months ago, for house seats as well - in primaries, to phantom candidates, with the use of hacked data & other means). No national investigation on that, eh?

    This week we saw a major dick move by a Montana candidate who body slammed a reporter for asking questions and still got elected. We saw Putin being a dick with Merkel by bringing in his rather large Lab to play on her fear of canines, and that's just a tiny example of his dickishness - sports doping, offing dissidents, his smug playing of chemical weapons & civilian bombing in Syria, his playing his puppet in Ukraine & outright stealing Crimea....

    And we've seen Trump be a dick time after time after time, whether overcharging the tax payer for Trump Tower & Mar-a-Lago, or holding "secret" meetings in the middle of a crowded banquet, or hiring the most unlikely, adverse person possible for every cabinet position, or shutting out the press but allowing sycophantic unknown online rags front row, or removing White House visitor records from public disclosure, or using the presidency again and again to promote his family business and sign deals in the hundreds of millions. Even a handshake is a weapon of war to him, whether *not* shaking Merkel's hand and ignoring her question in front of cameras, or his overt uncomfortable power play handshakes where he pulls his partner's arm close and won't let them go.

    We got to see this latter behavior repulsed twice this week - Melania slapped down his holding-hands gesture in Arabia (seems Donald is friendly in Muslim states, whereas in the west she has to walk 20 paces behind). And newly elected French President Macron both dissed the Donald to greet Angela, plus put Donald's hand in a turning-white death grip and wouldn't let go.

    It may be petty, but Trump and the GOP have shown us that the little things add up, and our only choice is to go with the full court press, to fight back strategically whether tiny or huge. That's how the GOP got here - being unreasonable 24x7, election season or not, minority or majority.

    Aside from the massive amount of fraud and collusion and illegal manipulation of the polls and opinion, a good portion of America, nearly 50%, signed off on dick move power plays as a sign of strength - even white women. But almost 50% isn't a majority, and as Macron showed in a little way, we can play this game and win - without compromising our classiness.

    Four decades ago, another Dick was forced to resign, even though he'd won a landslide less than 2 years earlier. What seems hopeless is just the start. It's not "they go low, we go high" - it's "when they hit the gutter, we get serious and start cleaning up, top to bottom". As JFK noted, defeat is (usually) an orphan, but even the large women's march in February showed it doesn't have to be, and while the DNC continues to unimpress with various poorly supported special elections, the resolve and enthusiasm of the opposition, the "Resistance", is building.

    At one point the Mafia in America seemed an insurmountable problem, but we were able to clean them out. Now we've got a huge GOP lock on power combined with Russian Mafia dealings directed directly from Moscow, involving hacking, money laundering, control of human assets, and other interference globally, and we're just coming to grips with the size of that problem.

    As noted in The Artist's Way

    “Sloth, apathy, and despair are the enemy. Anger is not,” she writes. “Anger is our friend. Not a nice friend. Not a gentle friend. But a very, very loyal friend. It will always tell us when we have been betrayed.”

    Yes, time to get angry - very angry. Not depressed - if there was a time for mourning, that 6 months have passed. Better to get cracking - because one thing a dick fears is having his balls crushed. And there's an app for that. It's called "us".

    Comments

    The kids are doing their part

     


    Yeah, the little pricks picking it up early, god bless 'em.


    Thanks for writing this. You mixed the right amount of skill, snark, and historical insight.


    devil


    I agree completely.   Why are dickish things overlooked when men do them?  You nailed it Paracles, as usual.

     


    Thanks for this excellent post.


    Peracles; for heavens sake, I have been a dick all my life and yet I have four dollars in the bank?

    Where in the hell did I go wrong.

    hahahhahahahaah


    As you note, you need a fix-me-upper, to be upwardly mobile. Don't get so down. These people are trained dicks, insincere - you're the natural. Rise to the occasion.  [okay, enough bad puns - I'm off to sit in my corner]


    As usual I have no idea which time zone you find yourself in. hahahha

    I am a natural, for sure. hahahah

    Peracles you make my day as is usual.

    But I am far too old to rise to any occasion.


    Father's little helper?


    Latest Comments