I continue to be puzzled by Donald Trump, or at least by those who seem to worship him.
During the 1920’s and 1930’s, many Americans both feared and worshiped Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde, and other newsworthy criminals, who, despite tough times of The Great Depression, seemed to have the power, adventure, and money that eluded the brutal needs of those who were trying desperately just to feed their families. The undercurrent of envy in the face of very hard times was not unlike today’s struggles with inflation and the awful challenge so many working people feel as they break their backs just trying to get up the next rung on the ladder.
Though Donald Trump has, until now, escaped paying for his colossal skill at cheating the system that enfolds the rest of us, this icon of deception and apparent wealth remains for too many, a figure who seemingly knows how to beat the system for monetary gain. He is, beyond all reason, their “hero.”
His snide contempt for “suckers” who follow the rules, his general disrespect for women, his penchant for manufacturing endless lies to cover his misdeeds, and his making his underlings carry the brunt of his crimes have, in a way, divided the nation into Trump worshipers versus those who believe he should now face the music and pay for his career of deception and contempt for all those who have winked at his crimes and encouraged him to be an icon of privilege and open disrespect for all the honest suckers, who managed to build and maintain a great nation without a wall. JB
About John
About John
John Bolinger was born and raised in Northwest Indiana, where he attended Ball State University and Purdue University, receiving his BS and MA from those schools. Then he taught English and French for thirty-five years at Morton High School in Hammond, Indiana before moving to Colorado, where he resided for ten years before moving to Florida. Besides COME SEPTEMBER, Journey of a High School Teacher, John's other books are ALL MY LAZY RIVERS, an Indiana Childhood, and COME ON, FLUFFY, THIS AIN'T NO BALLET, a Novel on Coming of Age, all available on Amazon.com as paperbacks and Kindle books. Alternately funny and touching, COME SEPTEMBER, conveys the story of every high school teacher’s struggle to enlighten both himself and his pupils, encountering along the way, battles with colleagues, administrators, and parents through a parade of characters that include a freshman boy for whom the faculty code name is “Spawn of Satan,” to a senior girl whose water breaks during a pop-quiz over THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. Through social change and the relentless march of technology, the human element remains constant in the book’s personal, entertaining, and sympathetic portraits of faculty, students, parents, and others. The audience for this book will certainly include school teachers everywhere, teenagers, parents of teens, as well as anyone who appreciates that blend of humor and pathos with which the world of public education is drenched. The drive of the story is the narrator's struggle to become the best teacher he can be. The book is filled with advice for young teachers based upon experience of the writer, advice that will never be found in college methods classes.
Another of John's recent books is Mum's the Word: Secrets of a Family. It is the story of his alcoholic father and the family's efforts to deal with or hide the fact. Though a serious treatment of the horrors of alcoholism, the book also entertains in its descriptions of the father during his best times and the humor of the family's attempts to create a façade for the outside world. All John's books are available as paperbacks and Kindle readers on Amazon, and also as paperbacks at Barnes & Noble. John's sixth book is, Growing Old in America: Notes from a Codger was released on June 15, 2014. John’s most recent book is a novel titled Resisting Gravity, A Ghost Story, published the summer of 2018
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