ABC's Karl on Trump: "Something's Just Not Quite Right..."; Best Sports Week of the Year, but Is It Good? Friday Pick Six
Pssst. Jonathan Karl May Be On to Something
"I was looking for something. I wanted to see any hint of regret, any hint of remorse for what happened on Jan. 6. ... Absolutely none."
“He comes out — he's gregarious. He's got a way of trying to charm you. He doesn't seem like he's somebody who's completely insane at all… But it's the lack of any sense of remorse, I think, that really comes across as, there's something that's just not right."
Jonathan Karl, on Trump: Nov. 18th, 2021 to Joy Reid. Story Follows Below:
Jonathan Karl is one hell of a smart guy, so this is in no way some knock on him, but I suspect that one could go long periods, perhaps lifetimes, without seeing a hint of remorse in Trump. It is possible that Trump “feels” remorse, such as when he bankrupted himself (and Atlantic City as a municipality), but only in the sense that he wishes he had done something different. More likely, he’s furious at the people he blames for letting him down.
But with respect to January 6th? Remorse? For what? For what it did to the country? Pfffft. Any remorse Trump might feel is that it was not more intense, it didn’t work, he isn’t president. As I’ve written dozens of times, I suspect that the entire plot was an attempt to get Pence rushed out of the Senate, by the Secret Service, for good - at least for the rest of that day, throwing the process outside that portion of the constitution.
But as a true narcissist, one that a psychiatrist once wrote; “There will never need be a description again, one can simply point to his behaviors as the ultimate version,” Trump is more likely to look back on it with a euphoric high than any sort of guilt or remorse. Watching people fight, I mean literally fight, in his name? His name on flags hung from the United States Capitol? Again, other than not working, it is likely one of the highlights of his life.
The repercussions for everyone else, especially the country as a whole, none of it factors in. Never did. It is always about him and that is why he should never be in a position to start a war, ever again.
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SUNDAY’S NEWSLETTER WILL CONTAIN COMMENTARY ON THE RITTENHOUSE NOT-GUILTY VERDICT
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We Enter the Best Sports Week of the Year and That’s Great… But Is It Good?
This coming week (this Saturday until the Sunday after Thanksgiving) features the best sports week of the year in my opinion. We have the best of the college football rivalries, Michigan-Ohio State, Auburn v. Alabama, Cal v. Stanford, etc. We have big college basketball games #1 Gonzaga v. #2 UCLA and others, the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, they all put on a big show. I confess I love it.
Our society loves it. Do I and does society love it too much? Do we spend so much time concentrating upon our modern gladiators and not enough on the possible slide happening to the country’s underpinnings?
Gibbon wrote that the fall of the Roman Empire can be traced directly to five things:
1. Concern with displaying affluence rather than building wealth.
2. An obsession with sex in every form.
3. Art becomes freakish and sensationalistic instead of creative and original
4. Widening disparity between very rich and very poor
5. Increased demand to live off the state.
(Story continues below)
Substitute sports for art in number three and that is a pretty uncomfortable list. Number one is obvious, as Charlie Pierce likes to say, “Fraud,” in some way, is now central to any American business plan (ask the banks), and conspicuous consumption is everywhere.
Two, well, the last thing I am is a prude but when some estimates say 88% of men between 18-35 watch porn weekly, and as high as 20% of mobile searches are for porn. It might be safe to say that we have Rome beaten, were it not for the fact that they were actually doing it. Still… makes one wonder.
Three: Are we so busy cheering on our teams that we forget that we are no more capable of governing ourselves than most of us could shepherd goats?
Four, obvious.
Five, I think more of corporations, Space X, owned by the wealthiest man on earth, getting $10 billion from NASA, Bezos not paying taxes.
Sometimes I watch football, basketball, hockey, all of it - with more enthusiasm than most, and often more than a healthy amount, and wonder if the tens to hundreds of millions like me are watching the “greatest government experiment ever begun” in a serious decline.
It is the greatest week in sports all year in my opinion, but that isn’t necessarily “good” long term.
Regardless, Go Zags!
MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR TGIF AND ON TO THE FAVORITES, THE FRIDAY PICK SIX:
Best Football Game: #7 Michigan State v. #5 Ohio State
Quote of the Week: (Back to Gibbon) “Every person has two educations, one which he receives from others, and one, more important, which he gives to himself.”
Best Science Video (Short) of the Week: Why the Universe is a hologram, and maybe a computer.
MUCH ADO YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO: Green Day, American Idiot.
BEST FUNNY DOG TWEET OF THE WEEK: Compilation
Random Thoughts:
I confess I struggle, acknowledging that late fall and Thanksgiving are inseparable from the American genocide of Native Americans. And yet, it is still my favorite time of year, seasonally, and the holiday that I believe best retains its original roots. There will be many more newsletters before Thanksgiving, but since school gets out today for the break, the period starts today for my family of two. Maybe we will go to the beach.
Ketchup on hot dogs should be illegal.
Young teens these days look back upon Gun n’ Roses and Nirvana as music as ancient as the harps played in Rome, mentioned above.
Have a great weekend everyone and Please, if you believe I’ve earned the privilege, please share this particular newsletter, this one, just as an example, to one person on your email list?
Some asked. Contributions prior to paid list, through Venmo: @Jason-Miciak