Trump: The Little Boy Who Didn’t Grow Up

  The Perched Eye blog is 14 years old,  from 2009 with President Obama's election. Our focus has been eclectic ...  the styles and directions of American politics and culture, with an occasional comment on the impact of new technologies. Our observations sometimes attract a critical eye, but the 'pen' remains unblunted.

In the heart (even mine, somewhat), there is a modicum of sympathy for Donald Trump. One senses that Trump lacks self-accountability, and as such, he somehow deserves our overlooking his many, repeated faults.

Trump doesn’t exhibit responsibility for his own actions. He is like a child who pretend-dresses in adult clothing, but, in most other respects he behaves like a child…eating fast foods to the fault of having to wear diapers, ignoring debts, and then chastising debtors for being credulous…of him and his known ways of cheating and welching. (This is a chimpanzee's proto-human game often observed in the wild.)

In other respects, Trump is like the neighborhood’s idiot-savant…virtually lost to understanding because of his unique kind of Tourette’s Syndrome, barely able to make sense when he speaks, and barfing all over the new clothes his parents, children and fellow con-grifter-opportunists put him into each day.

Trump loves luxury. BUT, does he really appreciate luxury — the gold-plated bathroom faucets and gold plating on just about every additional surface that is visible or touched? Or, in reality, is Trump automatically and obsessively reactive to shiny faux plating rather than have an appreciation for the object or utensil underneath…an attraction-response much as a Corvid Raven is irresistibly drawn to shiny paperclips? 

I think the Raven comparison sticks, except that Ravens are probably more clever than Trump.

It's likely that Trump will be convicted of an ‘act of treason’, but he will likely not be convicted of the act… his ‘condition’ may earn him leniency, even in the face of the act (and even if the evidence is found that actual money was exchanged for the American secrets Trump auctioned.)

Will Trump’s mental ‘propensities’ save his ass?

(From Medium, May 24, 2023)

Trump’s Fall: The Guy Just Can’t Help It

 The Perched Eye blog is 14 years old,  from 2009 with President Obama's election. Our focus has been eclectic ...  the styles and directions of American politics and culture, with an occasional comment on the impact of new technologies. Our observations sometimes attract a critical eye, but the 'pen' remains unblunted.

If Donald Trump had shown just a few instances of self-effacement, told a few jokes rather than viciously snarked and attacked, acted like a real manager by hiring people smarter than him to manage the details, really smiled rather than show that fake, crooked, crocodile smirk…then who knows, he’d probably, still, legitimately be President.

But, Trump is none of these and couldn’t bring himself to change his ways…EVEN THO’ HE LIKELY SENSED HIS INCALCITRANT, STUBBORN PATH WOULD LEAD TO HIS DOOM.

Trump is like a passenger on a runaway train, his train, with the brake in hand but unable to tear himself from being fascinated by the approaching end of the line.

Trump, the modern ‘Salesman’….tragic.

(From Medium, May 24, 2023)

THE GREAT AMERICAN-MEDIA SPRING CLEANING: TUCKER CARLSON IS VANISHED FROM CONSERVATIVE FOX NEWS

 

The Perched Eye blog is 14 years old,  from 2009 with President Obama's election. Our focus has been eclectic ...  the styles and directions of American politics and culture, with an occasional comment on the impact of new technologies. Our observations sometimes attract a critical eye, but the 'pen' remains unblunted.

OK. Tucker Carlson is gone from the media stage,... so far. (Gargle with vinegar and salt.)

For years I’ve wanted the too-contrived, over-practiced, Botox-job voice of Tucker Carlson to disappear from conservative media, specifically from Fox News (Tucker’s employer and Cuckoo’s nest for other MAGA-Republican mouthpieces such as Sean Hannity.)

And lo, Fox News apparently fired Tucker last Friday, April 21 (2023). ‘Apparently’ because Fox held it in close to the chest, then announced Tucker’s ‘leaving’ on Monday morning, April 24, 2023. This is the timeline of things according to media and Fox PR.  

Tucker was ‘evaporated’ from Fox News with such an expertly wielded fly-swat … a fingerprint of the behind-the-mirror Murdoch style (the Rupert Murdoch family own Fox News.), that it has left much of the media (right and left) in shock, e.g.,  Tom Boggioni's piece  in Raw Story  (‘Did he kill someone?’ Critics stunned by Tucker Carlson’s abrupt departure from Fox News”, April 24, 2023.)

Further, Tucker’s abrupt ‘disappearing’ has so far been marked by the absence of both a ‘lead-up’ fanfare and the ‘traditional’ send-off last show — the protocol that usually bookends the end-of-tenure for such media stars as Tucker Carlson. Instead here has been only a simple ‘thank’s for your service’ from the Fox network.

Without the guidance of a traditional ‘leaving protocol’, Fox News has dropped it in our laps to weave our own ‘splain‘n’… from fog and mirrors. The media has to do its best with ‘Nada’…consequently, it stands agape, ’strung out and tongue-hanging.’ ‘Marvelous,’ because we see now how desperately conservative media needs a lead mule.

(Carlson himself claims he had no clue that last Friday, April 24, was to be his final day employed by Fox News…certainly, we didn’t have a clue, we, the audience to the conservative media circus. 

The ‘hidden-meanings’ flavor of Carlson's departure is like the ‘wake and ripple’ of a submerging shark.)

But shark fins do reappear, and we best be ready to administer the harpoon when we see Tucker again at the mike spewing his poison. (Alternet surmises about potential scenarios for Carlson’s resurfacing... somewhere.)

In defense of Democracy, Tucker Carlson should never again be allowed to ‘poison and warp’ America’s minds with his ‘transmissible’ toxicity of hate, racism, fear, and misogyny… all combined, interestingly and like Donald Trump, with an abject bowing to Russia, America’s sworn and very palpable state enemy.

AlterNet reports that Russia Today is hinting at possibly swooping to invite Tucker to join their own ‘news’ staff (AlterNet: ”Russian state outlet RT reaches out to Tucker Carlson.”

Personally, it’s a mystery how Tucker has gotten away with his too-close support of Russia’s foreign policy and propaganda. In this respect, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him again 'at desk’ willingly 'punditing' as a RUSSIAN ASSET at Russia Today…because, well, Tucker is so well-trained in warping Truth without moral remorse…and with a deep, grudging, hate for America. Carlson, in sum, is a privileged, trust-fund, spoiled brat who suckingly bites the hand that feeds him.

(Note: Tucker’s vanishing act so far comes off as masterful Media Empire scripting designed to minimize audience fallout…and it appears this has been accomplished to some degree.)

However, Fox News’ stage crafting may be lost on Tucker’s support base, who are too used to being passively fed, with no thought required, to fill in the blanks. 

Second, Tucker’s base are mostly a self-selected bunch who are intellectually unequipped to deal with subtlety. (The Carlson base need direct, crude, dog-whistle ‘triggering’ to energize and send them howling in the desired direction.)

Fox News’ way of removing Tucker Carlson from American airways is like a neat surgical excision of a smelly tumor. Let’s hope Fox‘s surgery will last…although, knowing the greed of Fox News (i.e., the Murdochs), the return of the Murdochs' media cancer will always be possible.

Despite all this turmoil, Tucker’s bad seed might sprout anew from the dank murk of Fox News and siblings such as One America News (OAN).

A final thought: has Tucker Carlson forgotten how ‘Big Wheels’ turn? They have a habit of hitting the hubris-filled in the ass. Cocky Tucker might soon find himself in a ‘Gulag Resort’, sitting neck-deep in ‘it’ with no toilet paper but his left hand. Such would be fitting irony. Karma.

(From Medium, April 25, 2023)

AMERICA MUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT OUR PESKY CHILD SHOOTERS ...BEFORE WE LOSE GUN RIGHTS

 The Perched Eye blog is near 14 years old,  from 2009 with President Obama's election. Our focus has been eclectic ...  the styles and directions of American politics and culture, with an occasional comment on the impact of new technologies. Our observations sometimes attract a critical eye, but the 'pen' remains unblunted.

America, Guns & Pesky Six-Year Olds

(excerpted from "pericles21 writes", on Medium.com, January 20, 2023)

Preface: American kids who pack guns. Should we get rid of them before we lose gun rights? All they do is eat and sleep, and cause 'issues'. Is it best just to get rid of 'em all before they turn six or seven? Some Americans seek to minimize their confusion and effort simply by eliminating six-year-olds. Kinda makes sense...after a nap and  Fenty refresher... don't it?

This is written to again lament America’s dis-ease about guns and gun control. And about its children. And about America's tendency to misdirect ‘blame and shame.’ And, once more, about Guns. Who is at fault? Certainly not the NRA. But let us make up our minds - 'what matters a few kids (and some teachers and school staff) wasted by gunfire when it comes to preserving our right to own guns,..as many as we want. That is American 'Freedom.'

Today, January 20, 2023, a six year old first grader at the Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, shot its teacher …supposedly over a classroom disagreement between the two of them. RawStory reposted the shooting details to which this writer responded with several comments, one of which is pasted below:

GUNS & 6-YEAR OLDS — A TOXIC MIX (RIGHT??). (RawStory.com)
Let’s be clear. ‘America’ shot elementary teacher Abby Zwerner. A six year older, “the young man” shooter (police chief description), was then “held in custody” by police…? That doesn’t even make sense for two critical reasons. Since when is a six year old a “young man”? Two, “in custody” — does that mean jailed? Cuffed and chained? Was the six year old ‘read their rights’ to remain silent…and, for a child still learning to read, what would that even mean in a sane culture?The answer to all questions and concerns is “GUNS” and lack of gun control! Got to get rid of guns or 6-year olds…America’s top-o-the-head first choice wouldprobably be to get rid of 6-year-olds as a sacrifice for “Freedom” …whatever that means.

There are many follow-up comments in the RawStory piece to the descriptors and viewpoints expressed by the Newport News police, reporters, and town officials. 

But first, should America be proud of how one of its six-year-olds handled a gun so well...ie, without shooting itself first or wounding others ('secondary casualties' in combat terms). I think not!

Almost universally, the comments express the usual sorrow for the victim(s) and about the general lack of gun control, especially now in Virginia under the open-carry-favoring Republican governor Youngkin. And even greater concern and amazement is expressed in how ‘distanced’ and unfeeling are some media (and police) handling of a child who came into possession of a gun, knew how to use the gun…and used the gun to express a child’s disagreement with an adult. (I read only one dissenter who did not express sensitivity for the child shooter.)

America has a problem with guns. But the child (not a “young man” as the police chief describes it)  learned to use the gun from many examples on American TV that depict gun use as an appropriate way to show anger.

We shouldn’t be surprised that the child learned how to pull the trigger —by watching American TV broadcasts - a 24/7 stream of violent, blood-spilled mayhem delivered raw to all ages. (Did the child hold the gun horizontally ("OG" style) while pulling the trigger?  

America’s (mis) handling of its guns is a global disgrace. We lack an adult-level sensibility about our guns and confuse our right to own as many guns as we want with a child’s misunderstanding of “Freedom.”

As for the unfortunate child ‘perp’ — let’s pray for it now that the system has apparently gotten hold of 'it' ...and let's hope that the police and ‘justice’ system have better sense than to mete out ‘just’ punishment of a child by condemning the child to a term in the local ‘Juvi’ center. A six-year-older would not survive well under that ‘treatment’ (to say the least.)

But meanwhile, on the 'bright side', America now has the excuse to add a new, money-making fetish and cultural topic to make even more graphic and shocking TV series (and profit)— a new fetish, “Kiddies Toting Guns’. Or even new clothing lines — ‘Kiddie Jumpers with Gun Pockets’. America stumbles forward, eyes always focused on the prize regardless (more moola). This is progress.(?)

ELON MUSK AND TWITTER: MUSINGS FROM AN MBA CASE STUDY POV

The Perched Eye blog is 12+ years old,  from 2009 with President Obama's election. Our focus has been eclectic ...  the styles and directions of American politics and culture, with an occasional comment on the impact of new technologies. Our observations sometimes attract a critical eye, but the 'pen' remains unblunted.

The recent Elon Musk-Twitter ‘fiasco’ was expected by some who have noted Musk’s ‘Twitter-troubles’ and moved on, but to many MSM readers this latest MSM ‘reveal’ has been a titillating new flavor experience to those who are programmed to be fed the latest MSM uncovering on just about anything, but especially juicy-ness about public notables of whatever kind...as noted in the following article:

Twitter brings Elon Musk’s genius reputation crashing down to earth

Nevertheless, the ‘roilings’ from Elon Musk’s acquisition of the social media giant, Twitter, has drawn attention from even investors and techie observors to ‘Musk the person’ behind ‘Musk the inventor’.

‘Elon Musk the inventor’ seems to mask something we did not fully expect, except for some who have worked with him. That revealed ‘something’ about Musk is enlightening, yet also a bit off-putting for a ‘businessman’ who has attracted the attention of the globe, and billions of investment from Wall Street and the American defense world… as is discussed below.

Musk’s Twitter ‘chapter’ reveals he is not a business Superman, but nevertheless he still stands out in ways that should retain Wall Street’s interest, and preserve Musk’s reputation for major innovative thinking (and influence.)  Musk‘s technical talents are definitely special but his marketing of them is enhanced by public and investor perceptions and mystique…which have suffered by his erratic ‘leadership’ of Twitter.

That Musk is shown to be part perception-mystique shouldn’t alarm investors or the world at large. Musk can reliably be expected to keep generating new, innovative and world-shaping ideas, products and projects-with-spin-offs. But after Twitter’, the world sees there are border fences to the Musk ‘genius’… that Musk’s investor and staff ‘dependents’ should be aware of in order keep Musk within his skill areas…for the best interets of everyone.

Musk’s interaction with Twitter - with its internal clockworks, especially with Twitter’s human gears, etc — show he is not a people person. This is a serious gap for someone whose business pattern has been to exercise near-complete control over his projects.

That Musk is not a people-person is not a new ‘discovery’, but it hasn’t been significantly mentioned in the public media except as a somewhat amusing aspect of a recognized ‘genius’ (now seen more as a ‘savant’ with psychological overtones.)

After Twitter (and speaking as a layperson), Elon Musk seems a ‘Spectrum’ listee (DSM-5) — a tech innovator/savant overlaid with bi-polar, sociopathic ‘flavors’. (Disclaimer — this writer is not a professional mental health professional and reference is given of DSM-5 purely as background for serious reading.)

’Pre-Twitter’, the public tides generated by the newness of Musk floated his boat well above its waterline, i.e., Musk demonstrated a skill in cultivating a ‘mystique’ and using it to influence the public, the media and funding sources.

But the newness of Musk in the investor world seems to have worn off, as is historically natural, as investor needs for the ‘different’ has leaned to boredom. Musk’s Twitter flop has definitely led to investor shyness as witnessed by the resultant drop in Wall Street indices for Musk companies and projects as noted here:

Tesla gets downgraded on Wall Street over Elon Musk’s Twitter antics, banning of journalists.

But, Musk’s innovativeness is real and still stands, e.g., the ‘Tesla’ electric car and associated sub-industries (e.g., battery technology), Space-X and coming cyber products.

Musk appears to have one clear ‘flop area’, people skills — where, it seems that he has a ‘less-than’ average ability to communicte except by intimidation and non-verbal cues that are ‘understood’ by his longest and closest associates (and a few employees).

‘Elon Musk’ is no longer an enigma, it’s just that total awe of Musk has settled into seeing where he excels, and where he is just ordinary (and prone to flop just like any entrepreneur).

TRUMP'S DIGITAL 'CARDS' (A GRIFT, FOLKS): WATCH OUT NOW, HERE COME THE MARKS

 The Perched Eye blog is 12+ years old,  from 2009 with President Obama's election. Our focus has been eclectic ...  the styles and directions of American politics and culture, with an occasional comment on the impact of new technologies. Our observations sometimes attract a critical eye, but the 'pen' remains unblunted.

Trump’s Digital Cards…Hmmm, That Is, ‘Digital Grifts’

America is going thru a test. ‘Yerp’, there it is… these last 6 years is not a real thing; it’s been a dream … navigable by those who try hard to keep their head straight. But sometimes… like this week’s ‘Trump Digi-Card Joint,’ things just ….(scream — life can’t be without some horse doodoo thrown around? Can it?) 

Trump’s latest ‘Jam' is his digital card Shtick (Grift!). 

Can’t ‘get a hold of it. Shall we just Rock On … Like the cool Americans we are, or pretend to be, or wanna-be? (Why oh Why-eee, does that Tiny-fingered D..ckhead continue to do this to us?)

Stopped reaching for my wallet with time to spare as my Arm-n-hand automatically sensed ‘scam,’ cut in to overrule the brain's reflex response to “Digital Stuff.” 

(I‘ve trained them to think for themselves if the rest of ‘me’ is about to be seduced by weird attractions. This is not, of course, to say this Trump play is weird….but, personally speaking, Trump flames.)

After DT’s “Big Announcement” last Wednesday, December 14, 2002, the planet (cum passengers) shook for a 'split nano-second' (a really short period of time), nevertheless most of us wearily continued on our ways except for the rabid Trumpians, viz.:

Trump's "major announcement" of NFT collection draws ridicule but sells out

After that “tremendous’ announcement, I had to sit, uncross my eyes, and…think. 

I mused ‘About Trump.’ About how America is truly diverse …with perhaps three top-level divisions — the Sane, the Often Sane, and the ‘Marks.’  

(Pets are exempt from these categorizations since our furry friends are super-sensitive to villains, card sharks, and all... ever wonder why Trump has no pets? I don't.)

We can safely let be the Sane and Often Sane…they can mostly take care of business…at least enough to survive. But, the Marks?

The ‘Marks’ are so far-gone lost in the American rat race that they are like the mushy detritus seen floating at the surface of a stormy sea …or a boiling pot of soup…or on America’s growing number of polluted rivers, lakes, sewer spillage. (The castaways.)

American Culture wind blows us here and there, wherever the latest con person leads…during the short time he/she captures media attention. And capturing media attention does require skills … of a kind that self-adjust in a split-second with changing social-media preferences. 

In other words, the Modern Survivor must cultivate, and be quickly able to learn, the skills to harbor the kind of inattention to reality characteristic of the deranged, or at least mildly deranged (erratically so)! (Trump seems to ‘qualify’ per the latter requirements.) Also, American Culture seems to provide nurturing soil for the Trumpian grifter type.

‘American ‘Culture’?

Is American Culture real? Is it imaginary? Seems all one can say is our culture is what one sees from split second-to-split second…a kind of drifting quantum foam.

American Culture is now truly entered the Quantum Age. 

With Trump catching so much media attention, we've ‘crossed over’ and are in a quantized mirror world where ‘Up’ is ‘Down’… or at least sometimes it is, and for short periods. ( ‘Alice’s” message all along.)

‘‘Yerp’, it’s happened folks, we are imaginary quantum states. (And Trump is the random-walk, quantum demon that brought us here — Trump, the ephemeral, erratic nuisance.)

But there is a ‘Way’…a ‘new way of walking’ ...in a quantized dream world. 

Just hold on tight and surf the imaginary, Schroedinger-foamed wavetops of THE CULTURE. Rock ON!

‘HANG TEN”, Dudes. Check the sun and waves. But keep one eye on the shore…if you can.

GUNS AT VOTING PLACES: WE MUST BAN OPEN-CARRY GUNS AT VOTING SITES, IT'S PLAIN INTIMIDATION (AS INTENDED IN THE 1876 SOUTH CAROLINA ELECTION POLL INSTRUCTIONAL FLYER TO PRE-KKK BLACK VOTER DISRUPTERS)

The Perched Eye blog is 12+ years old,  from 2009 with President Obama's election. Our focus has been eclectic ...  the styles and directions of American politics and culture, with an occasional comment on the impact of new technologies. Our observations sometimes attract a critical eye, but the 'pen' remains unblunted.

From the Nov 26, 2022, New York Times -"guns, protests and open-carry."

At Protests, Guns Are Doing the Talking

Armed Americans, often pushing a right-wing agenda, are increasingly using open-carry laws to intimidate opponents and shut down debate.

 the effects of more guns in public spaces have not been evenly felt. is uneven - with Democrats largely eschewing firearms and Republicans embracing them — . This has  has warped civic discourse. "Deploying the Second Amendment in service of the First has become a way to buttress a policy argument, a sort of silent, if intimidating, bullhorn."

One observer described a gathering at an LGBTQ rally.... “What I saw was described as "a group of folks who did not want to engage in any sort of dialogue and just wanted to impose their belief.”

A New York Times analysis of more than 700 armed demonstrations found that, at about 77 percent of them, people openly carrying guns represented right-wing views, such as opposition to L.G.B.T.Q. rights and abortion access, hostility to racial justice rallies and support for former President Donald J. Trump’s lie of winning the 2020 election.

From this blogsite: (

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2009

President Obama's First Year, Pt 1: From The Bottom of the Pit, The Spirit of South Carolina's Zombie Racism (Red Shirt Vigilantes) Rides Again)

The history of deliberately wearing(and openly showing) guns at political gatherings...to intimidate, especially at votng sites, goes back to America's days of Reconstruction (1870s) when the former Confederate supporters sought to cancel out the votes of newly-freed slaves.

Also, the wearing of guns at the President's town meetings and the shouting of "Liar" by the South Carolina Congressman (Joe Wilson) is a strategy first laid down in print in post-Civil War Dixie in 1870 by the Dixie states in their efforts to squelch the voting of newly freed African-Americans by intimidation (showing of guns at town meetings and political rallies) and murder, if intimidation was not effective. Here is an excerpt from a  1876 South Carolina poster giving instructions to the white supremacist vigilante group, the South Carolina Red Shirts, how to intimidate and disrupt town meetings - the similarity with tactics used recently to disrupt Mr Obama's town meeting can't be denied:

2. That a Roster must be made of every white and of every Negro in the Townships and returned immediately to the County Executive Committee. 3. .... be armed with rifles and pistols and such other arms as they may command..... . . . 13. "... soon as their leaders or speakers begin to speak ..., tell them then and there to their faces, that they are liars, thieves and rascals, and are only trying to mislead the ignorant Negroes and if you get a chance get upon the platform and address the Negroes. 14. In speeches to Negroes you must remember that argument has no effect upon them; they can only be influenced by their fears, superstitions and cupidity. . . . Treat them so as to show them, you are the superior race, and that their natural position is that of subordination to the white man. . . . 16. Never threaten a man individually. If he deserves to be threatened, the necessities of the times require that he should die. . . . 29. Every club must be uniformed in a RED SHIRT and they must be sure and wear it upon all public meetings and particularly on the day of election. 30. Secrecy should shroud all of our transactions. Let not your left hand know what your right hand does.

(Source: William A. Sheppard, editor, Red Shirts Remembered: Southern Brigadiers of the Reconstruction Period (Ruralist Press, 1940), pp. 46-50, reprinted in Paul D. Escott, et al, eds., Major Problems in the History of the American South, vol. 2, second ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999), pp. 37-38.)