I’d actually managed to forget Cuccinelli was Immigration Director. Every conservative shitheel we thought we’d banished to the hinterlands has crawled back to serve in this Administration.
This particular parody is closer to reality than I’d like. I mean, Trump and his Administration have seen there are zero repercussions for all their other lies and flouting of laws, so why not do whatever they want on the census question regardless of SCOTUS? Every day in every way the unspoken question of the Trump presidency is “who’s going to stop him?” So far the answer is nobody.
This seemed a little too realistic to me. Why? Because the fact is that a) Trump is utterly lawless and b) singularly obsessed by immigration and racism above all else.
If I can run with the Mafia analogy for a moment, tangential to this admirable playlet, the presidency of a predatory global empire—even one visibly in rapid decline—is not unlike the office of “Godfather.” Let’s imagine that Mayor Pete becomes President Pete (I attended a talk in San Francisco last night at which former Minnesota GOP Senator David Durenberger enthusiastically endorsed Buttigieg, comparing him favorably to Harold Stassen. I’ll just let that thought sit there). What level of structural reform, really, will lie within the power of President Buttigieg, or President Warren, or Presidents O’Rourke or Harris? Imagine that, Marlon Brando being buried and the ring duly kissed, Al Pacino announces that the Corleones are getting out of numbers, protection, prostitution, solid waste management, et cetera, and that henceforth the Family will devote its energies and resources to (wait for it) animal welfare: no-kill shelters. Spaying and neutering services. Building and maintaining off-leash dog parks on Long Island.
Well, I’m going to guess that he’s going to see some pushback from his caporegimes. Tessio and Clemenza are going to be unhappy; likewise their soldiers. At best, the new Godfather is going to find the process of going legit difficult, strewn with obstacles, compromises and delays; at worst…well, in this country we have a tradition of the “fourth branch of government,” AKA The Lone Crazed Gunman. But I think it likelier that, as with Obama and his drones, even the best-intentioned 46th president will be compelled by the nature of the organizations and institutions she notionally heads to behave in ways that might have seemed unimaginable to the candidate.
I'm thinking you have to bring in something from the beauty pageants. Some reality TV stunt. You have to stay ahead of the absurd lengths to which the president and his enablers will go to make a splash.
The equivalence to him of "The Godfather" and "Porky"'s is just right. Kim Newman had a character in a few books, notably "The Quorum", who's very much like Rupert Murdoch. He is distinguished by an absolute and literal lack of taste, entering the world from the Thames enthusiastically chewing and swallowing every bit of flotsam that finds its way into his mouth.
Do I see a high school play in these scripts?
OK, this one is a little too realistic.
I’d actually managed to forget Cuccinelli was Immigration Director. Every conservative shitheel we thought we’d banished to the hinterlands has crawled back to serve in this Administration.
This particular parody is closer to reality than I’d like. I mean, Trump and his Administration have seen there are zero repercussions for all their other lies and flouting of laws, so why not do whatever they want on the census question regardless of SCOTUS? Every day in every way the unspoken question of the Trump presidency is “who’s going to stop him?” So far the answer is nobody.
This seemed a little too realistic to me. Why? Because the fact is that a) Trump is utterly lawless and b) singularly obsessed by immigration and racism above all else.
If I can run with the Mafia analogy for a moment, tangential to this admirable playlet, the presidency of a predatory global empire—even one visibly in rapid decline—is not unlike the office of “Godfather.” Let’s imagine that Mayor Pete becomes President Pete (I attended a talk in San Francisco last night at which former Minnesota GOP Senator David Durenberger enthusiastically endorsed Buttigieg, comparing him favorably to Harold Stassen. I’ll just let that thought sit there). What level of structural reform, really, will lie within the power of President Buttigieg, or President Warren, or Presidents O’Rourke or Harris? Imagine that, Marlon Brando being buried and the ring duly kissed, Al Pacino announces that the Corleones are getting out of numbers, protection, prostitution, solid waste management, et cetera, and that henceforth the Family will devote its energies and resources to (wait for it) animal welfare: no-kill shelters. Spaying and neutering services. Building and maintaining off-leash dog parks on Long Island.
Well, I’m going to guess that he’s going to see some pushback from his caporegimes. Tessio and Clemenza are going to be unhappy; likewise their soldiers. At best, the new Godfather is going to find the process of going legit difficult, strewn with obstacles, compromises and delays; at worst…well, in this country we have a tradition of the “fourth branch of government,” AKA The Lone Crazed Gunman. But I think it likelier that, as with Obama and his drones, even the best-intentioned 46th president will be compelled by the nature of the organizations and institutions she notionally heads to behave in ways that might have seemed unimaginable to the candidate.
I'm thinking you have to bring in something from the beauty pageants. Some reality TV stunt. You have to stay ahead of the absurd lengths to which the president and his enablers will go to make a splash.
The equivalence to him of "The Godfather" and "Porky"'s is just right. Kim Newman had a character in a few books, notably "The Quorum", who's very much like Rupert Murdoch. He is distinguished by an absolute and literal lack of taste, entering the world from the Thames enthusiastically chewing and swallowing every bit of flotsam that finds its way into his mouth.
I've been waiting, ever since he put the portrait of Jackson in his office, for him to pull a "How many divisions has the Chief Justice?"