This may be the last time you read a Top Comments diary. It is entirely possible that the world will end tomorrow between 1:15 and 2:45 EDT. While most of us don’t ascribe to astrology, it is still a very popular field. Total solar eclipses don’t happen very often, we haven’t seen one in the US in forty years. This one, I have a feeling, will mean something. Take some advice, go chase that eclipse!
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Tomorrow afternoon this nation will see something that it hasn’t seen since 1918, a solar eclipse that will cross the entire country. The full eclipse will travel west to east over an hour and a half tomorrow from Lincoln City, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. Those of us north or south of the path of the totality will still be able to see a part of it. Just be sure not to stare straight into it. Your eyes are important. So are your pets.
No one, of course, knows what will happen to Herr Trump during the eclipse, but Rob Brezsny, author of The Stranger's Free Will Astrology column, said there could be a death of some sort—though not, unfortunately, a literal one.
"I don't like to make absolute predictions, but this could result in an ego death," Brezsny told me. "In a normal person, that could be a good thing, because it would relieve that person of illusions and delusions that he has about himself. But in Trump's case, there could be a shattering." The kind of man who reads a folder of positive reviews about himself twice a day doesn't seem all that susceptible to an ego shattering, but, Brezsny added, "anyone else who is ridiculed as much as Trump is would probably have gone insane by now. The eclipse may portend a climax to the humiliation."
So what happens if this president suffers a death of the ego?
Twitter might explode. Then again, with his finger on the literal trigger, real things might explode too.
This president is all ego. There is quite literally nothing else there.
According to Larry King, “Donald is a complicated character. His ego is beyond egoism. I’ve never met anyone with a higher ego.”
According to writer Mark Bowden, “Trump struck me as adolescent, hilariously ostentatious, arbitrary, unkind, profane, dishonest, loudly opinionated, and consistently wrong. He remains the most vain man I have ever met. And he was trying to make a good impression.”
But I confess, I’m tired of writing about this president and his uncontrolled ego. I’m tired of writing about his personality. I’m tired of writing about the way he prances and preens for his loyalists. I’m over it. Trump is easy to write about, even when you don’t want to. He’s too erratic and too comical. He is all show.
Donald Trump is the symptom of the problem. He is the end result of the Southern Strategy and the Moral Majority and the dog whistling Religious Right and every other thing the GOP has done in the modern era. He could leave the White House tonight and we would be facing the same problems we face today. Mike Pence is just as bad from pretty much every ideological standard one could use. Mnuchin would still be Treasury Secretary. Sessions would still be AG. DeVos and Perry and Gorka would all still have jobs.
I spent most of the week thinking that something about Charlottesville broke me. I was wrong. What I lost was the ability to focus solely on the president as if impeachment would solve all of our problems. If someone can go to that rally and consider himself a “moderate Republican” then there is a problem with the whole party. And I say this knowing Republicans who feel the same way I do, that the GOP has been hijacked by hate.
Rest in Power
as for Jerry Lewis (from 2015) …
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TOP COMMENTS
from Yasuragi:
Ian Douglas Rushlau has a comment so dense with information and perspective it should be a diary unto itself and Onomastic's reply is rich and wonderful, too. From Dee's post Affirmative action mythology, white resentment, and bogus cries of 'reverse racism'.
Adding this gem, from DocDawg — when the best answer came out.
from The Marti:
I found this little gem in VirginiaLady's "Maureen Dowd Regrets Trump". The comment by KJB Oregon is an explanation of why Dowd hates HRC so much. The whole diary is good, but this comment just had me giggling in recognition of "that girl" from high school/college.
from Zen Trainer:
Very nice comment here in the Rest in Peace Dick Gregory diary by Gemina13. That diary has a ton of good comments. Seems many people knew or had met Dick Gregory. Might be like the 10 million who "say" they were at Woodstock, but maybe not....
from your humble diarist:
DROzone breaks down some reality in Affirmative action mythology, white resentment, and bogus cries of 'reverse racism' by Denise Oliver Velez.
indycam brings the funny in "I'm Not A Neo-Nazi, I'm A Moderate Republican," Says Neo-Nazi Photographed In Charlottesville by ursulafaw.
MrJayRazzle and Beelzebabe combine to win the day on climate humor in Trump Disbands U.S. Climate Advisory Panel Providing Critical Data For Coastal Protections by Dartagnan.
TOP MOJO
Top Mojo for yesterday, February 18, 2017, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
Top Pictures for yesterday, February 18, 2017. Click any picture to be taken to the full comment or picture. Thank you jotter!
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sadly, this adorable pootie does not like to share
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