Avuncular American

100 Days of Inaptitude

Apologies to Gabriel García Márquez ("100 Years of Solitude") for the title of this post.  Trump's first 100 days have been anything but literature, unless you're into comic books.  I found "words that end in tude" thanks to Freedictionary.com, and I was tempted to use "crassitude" or even "turpitude."  God knows there's been a daily dose of crass, and the turpitude, well, the FBI is looking into that.

But inaptitude, connoting unfitness, seemed particularly apt.  (Not to be confused with ineptitude, though there's been a fair amount of that too).

If we've learned one thing since January 20, it is that the Orange One is spectacularly unfit for the office of President.  And yet, he is (President, that is).  And he's unhappy that the "ridiculous" yardstick of 100 days in office is being applied to his record thus far.  However, who set the 100 day goal?  From donaldjtrump.com, the "100 day Action Plan"

The list ends with "This is my pledge to you."  Oh well, so who's counting?  I personally hope some of these things take a 1,000 days, or maybe never ("cancel billions in payments to UN climate change programs").

House of Un-American Hyperactivity

There was a time, weeks that seem like eons ago, when the White House was the very symbol of American steadfastness, stability, and respectability.  Many of us mourn the departure of Barack Obama from the premises, but it had to happen, we knew it would happen.  And Kennedy's "Camelot" was of course never such a thing, only a myth that became all the more romanticized once it all ended in Dallas.  In all the political dramas and thrillers we've seen on the screen, the White House is that pillar that exemplifies the United States.  Until, as in Mars Attacks! or Independence Day, aliens come to blast the place to smithereens.

Or, as with the current denizen of the place (on most weekdays), he turns it into something unrecognizable, a White House of Un-American Activities.

Upside down White House in Wisconsin Dells, photo by almiruh

There's no point in enumerating all the executive orders and declarations (bet you didn't know that Inauguration Day is now the National Day of Patriotic Devotion).  Some of them, like his Muslim Ban, are in a state of suspended animation, declared unconstitutional by Federal courts and under appeal by the Trump administration.  The Ban created such a worldwide uproar that it diverted attention from equally nefarious moves, like the elevation of conspiracy theorist Stephen Bannon to the National Security Council (and utter confusion over the role of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence, the experts and "adults in the room").

Then there's the sneaky little order - his very first, in the hours after his swearing in - where Trump the Populist added millions of dollars to the mortgages of American home owners.  Another, signed with some fanfare to the applause of lobbyists and brokers, makes transparency for Mom & Pop investments in retirement plans more opaque and could cost them billions.

Newt Gingrich, when he called last year for a reinstatement of the McCarthy era House Un-American Activities Committee or HUAC, had other things in mind of course.  For him, and for Trump, "un-American" activities are those done by immigrants, foreigners, judges and Democrats (probably).  When we know that the real un-American is Mr. President, who has already turned his back on all that is decent about the country, and who has become the one-man symbol, the world over, of rapaciousness and misogyny.  Thanks to Mr. Trump, we all know about narcissism and the ravages of sociopaths.  But until now, none of their ranks made it to the Oval Office.

So what to do?  Certainly not tweet or like or share your disdain for this man and his dangerous coterie of courtiers.  Or, do all of that, but first register to vote, and then vote in every single election for the next four years and more.  Complaining without consequent, effective action is not acceptable.

In the great World War II movie The Guns of Navarone, the Gregory Peck character, all angry righteousness, says to a cynical David Niven:

"You think you've been getting away with it all this time, standing by. Well, son... your bystanding days are over! You're in it now, up to your neck!"

Yes, "standing by" and not turning out to vote (at least in sufficient numbers in the right places) got us Donald Trump in the White House.  We're in it, up to our necks, and only we can get ourselves out of it.

Anne Frank, essential reading in these times

In the wake of the November US election, we happened to spend several days in Amsterdam.  One of my must-sees was the Anne Frank House, where one of the world's most read authors hid with her family from the Nazis from 1942 until they were captured and sent to concentration camps in 1944.

So many millions of people around the world read Anne Frank's "Diary of a Young Girl" as part of their school curriculum.  I hadn't, so I finally made up for it.  Since we know how the story ends, it's a heartbreaking glimpse into the hopes and fears of an aspiring teenage writer.  You dread that final diary entry.  And in the gift shop, I bought a diary with the same binding and plaid cover that Anne used.

Why? Because the story of this innocent girl, whose only "crime" that she was born a Jew, speaks volumes to our times.  I started my diary entries on the train back to Brussels, determined that I would write during these times that bode very ill for all that is decent and civilized.

Anne never got around to writing daily entries, and I'm even less diligent.  But we all should chronicle our reactions, and register our objections.  And not just in a diary.

As the assault on the weak gets fully underway by the bullies who are increasingly able to rise to power, people need to do everything they can to protect democracy.  Register to vote, and help others to do so too.  Contact elected representatives to ensure that the framework of a civilized democracy is not dismantled.

The Anne Frank Declaration, signed by world leaders from Nelson Mandela to Bill Clinton:

"Because prejudice and hatred harm us all, I declare that:

• I will stand up for what is right and speak out against what is unfair and wrong
• I will try to defend those who cannot defend themselves
• I will strive for a world in which our differences will make no difference - a world in which everyone is treated fairly and has an equal chance in life"

Today January 27 is Holocaust Memorial Day.  Anne Frank's father Otto was among those liberated by Soviet forces from Auschwitz death camp on this day in 1944.  He was the only survivor of those who hid in the "Secret Annex" in Amsterdam, and made his daughter's message his life's work.

Anne Frank died in Bergen-Belsen in 1945, just a month or so before the camp's liberation.  We now know that her father had unsuccessfully attempted to gain entry into the United States for the Frank family.

- - - - -

Update: The above post was written before we learned that the Trump White House declaration on the Holocaust specifically avoided stating that Jews were singled out for annihilation by the Nazis.  Many have seen "Holocaust Denial Lite" and the work of the far right in this omission.  On the same day, of course, Trump signed his Muslim Ban executive order, setting off a firestorm of protest worldwide and triggering unprecedented opposition from within his own executive branch, as well as judicial judgements deeming his actions unconstitutional.  What a way to honor the Anne Franks of 1945 and 2017.

Appel du 20 janvier

[Sorry, anglophones, but I had to write this one in French, an attempt to get it published in the Belgian press today.  Since that didn't happen, my readers get to see it here.]

Ceci a été inspiré par l'excellent "Appel aux Américains libres" d'Antoine Buéno, sur France Inter à la suite de l'élection du 8 novembre dernier aux Etats-Unis.  Ma tribune n'est pas drôle comme le podcast, mais s'adresse aux européens qui s'inquiètent - comme beaucoup d'américains - en ce 20 janvier 2017.

Appel du 20 janvier: un américain parle aux européens

Si aujourd'hui, vous vous êtes réveillé avec une vague angoisse, c'est peut-être en connaissance du fait qu'à la fin de journée, l'adulte intelligent qu'est le président Barack Obama sera remplacé par Donald Trump. Après la cérémonie d'investiture, le déni ne sera plus possible; Trump investit la Maison Blanche. Que faire?

Pour les américains ayant voté pour Hillary Clinton - près de 3 millions de plus que les électeurs du candidat républicain - Trump représente le plus grand clivage politique que le pays ait connu depuis la fin de la guerre civile en 1865. Certes, la Grande Dépression anéantit quasiment l'économie américaine dans les années trente, mais il n'y eut pas de véritable poussée extrémiste. Il y eut bien des charlatans engagés dans la politique, mais ils n'accédèrent jamais à la présidence. Des présidents médiocres aussi, mais jamais à la tête d'une superpuissance mondiale et nucléaire.

Quand il faut se référer aux magazines de psychologie pour essayer de comprendre un président ultra-narcissique, il y a problème: une dichotomie dans notre fascination pour Trump. Nous ne pouvons nous empêcher de regarder, tout en nous moquant du style "Louis Farouk", les photos des appartements couverts de dorures de la Trump Tower. L'internet nous inonde des sorties incessantes de Trump. Mais il ne faut pas nous laisser intimider par sa dernière tirade publiée sur Twitter; il dira sans doute le contraire demain. Gare aussi à ceux qui se contentent de se gausser du comportement bouffonesque de cette ex-star de télé-réalité. Aujourd'hui, il est président.

Aux Etats-Unis, la résistance à tout ce que représente Trump s'organisera surtout au niveau local. Ces villes qui passent des lois en faveur d'un salaire minimum décent, ces états qui continuent à installer panneaux solaires ou éoliennes face au réchauffement de la planète, nié par Trump. A Washington, la minorité démocrate au Sénat va peiner à restreindre la vague de nominations d'idéologues ou d'acolytes peu qualifiés aux postes les plus importants, où la tendance Trump est de mettre le loup dans la bergerie (un avocat des plus grandes banques d'investissement pour "contrôler" Wall Street; un promoteur de toutes les énergies fossiles à l'agence pour la protection de l'environnement, etc.). Le plus grand défi pour les Démocrates: préserver l'héritage des présidents Roosevelt, Johnson, et Obama, pour sauvegarder les acquis en matière de droits civiques, de pension vieillesse et d'assurance santé, ciblés de longue date par le parti républicain.

Et l'Europe, que peut-elle faire pour assurer que le choix malheureux d'une minorité des électeurs américains ne pénalise pas l'Europe et n'affaiblisse pas les institutions issues de la deuxième guerre mondiale? Si Trump approuve le Brexit, c'est son affaire, et ses commentaires anti-Union Européenne devraient inciter les pays membres à lui répondre "None of your business". Et barrer la route à ceux qui veulent imiter Trump ce côté-ci de l'Atlantique.

Les propos de Trump sur l'OTAN - il traite l'alliance atlantique d'obsolète, et a fait comprendre que la mise en oeuvre de l'Article V définissant la stratégie de défense commune en cas d'attaque serait assujettie à une participation financière accrue - ces propos devraient inciter les chefs d'état et de gouvernement européens à resserrer leurs liens. Non seulement à défendre l'OTAN (et à rappeler à Trump que l'Article V fut invoqué pour la première fois au lendemain des attaques du 11 septembre 2001, quand l'OTAN mobilisa des avions AWACS pour défendre les Etats Unis), mais aussi à renforcer une défense strictement européenne.

Ready or not, here he comes

This is it.  Tomorrow, January 20, is Inauguration Day in the United States, and you know what that means.  Donald Trump will change his acronym from PEOTUS to POTUS.  With that title go other titles like Commander in Chief, and unofficial ones like "leader of the free world."

Let's see if he comes to deserve them.  President Barack Obama famously said "words matter," so let's see if Mr. Trump, once he starts signing his name on White House stationery, can think before he tweets, or can link words to consequences.

Robin Wright in the New Yorker, writing about her conversations with diplomats in Washington trying to interpret Trump for their capitals, presents their dilemma: “Every day I send back the same cable saying, ‘We don’t really know’" what to make of Trump's pronouncements.  Friends are confounded and dumbfounded, foes can't believe their dumb luck.

How can you lead anything, like NATO for example, when you call the organization both "obsolete" and "important" in the same sentence?

When I wrote on November 9, the day after the 2016 presidential election, that we needed to bone up on our history books (especially one about the upset election by a minority German vote-getter who came to power in 1933), many readers wrote to share their concerns.

One referred to the next four years as the "new season of Presidential Apprentice," and several had awakened thinking that it was all a nightmare (see Nicolas Vadot's nice "Nightmare before Christmas 2016" dedication on my copy of his book).  Some admitted to crying, they were so distraught at this hard-right turn in American politics.  An Englishman, talking to Brexiteers who expressed solidarity with Trump voters, said he felt like a liberal in Munich in the 1930s.  And from Germany, someone who saw Stephen Bannon, the "alt-right" presidential counselor, as "the American Julius Streicher," the rabid anti-Semite who was judged at Nuremberg.  My book review apparently wasn't the only reminder of analogies with the dangers of the 1930s: Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here, his 1935 novel on the rise of a crass, nativist populist in America, sold out on Amazon after the November 2016 election.

Only one reader (not an American voter) thought I had gone too far in the 1932-2016/Germany-US comparison.  He felt that Trump had some useful observations on the dangers of globalization, and on improving relations with Russia (more on that below).  Another, an American historian of 20th century Europe, took solace in the "checks and balances" in America that didn't exist in Thirties Germany.

Now, on those potential safeguards, a word of caution: given the collection of Trump appointees to head agencies and departments that they have a proven record of opposing (Rick Perry, named to the Energy Department, famously said he wanted it abolished - but couldn't remember its name), and the unseemly speed to confirm them before they even complete vetting procedures, can anyone seriously believe that his own party will provide checks and/or balance?  Despite winning a minority of the popular vote, Trump shows no inclination whatsoever to govern cautiously.  On the contrary, he sees his Electoral College victory as a landslide, and he and his party are pushing full steam ahead on ramming through appointees and policies that often are the antithesis of his own supposed "populist" campaign blather.  I would truly like to know if those who chose to regard Trump's election with equanimity have been reassured by anything he's said or done in the past two months.

And on that Russia thing... can anyone, given the overwhelming evidence of Russian meddling in the American presidential elections, still believe that Trump can be trusted to foster American interests - NATO and Western security - when dealing with Russia?  The man never misses a chance to praise Putin, for God's sake.  And Trump puts him on a par with Angela Merkel - seriously?

This may upset the reader who objects to my Thirties analogies, but there was another politician back then who promised great things: "Give me four years, and you will not recognize Germany." We know how that ended.

Be careful what you ask for.

Obamas, it's not farewell

 

Spot the orange-haired PEOTUS

How to say it?  Like the Von Trapp family in The Sound of Music, in a selection of languages?  If so, then it's not with the finality of adieu, but rather a cheerier au revoir to President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle, and the two first daughters.  These are the people who, in 2008, inspired the world (and some Cajuns who sang "Oui on peut") with Yes We Can.

We want to see them again, and we'll need them in the coming years.  Not in another Dynasty saga à la Bush or Clinton families (in any case, Michelle has ruled out running for office), and the post-Franklin Roosevelt 22nd Amendment long ago ended any possibility of more than two terms for Barack.  But as living references to an America that is decent, and one that represents what the future of America can be, after it has its fling with a 70 year old spoiled rich kid for the next 4 years.

As Brussels-based Nicolas Vadot entitled his end-of-year collection of political cartoons, Barack, Tu nous manqueras! (Barack, We'll miss you!), it's going to be hard not having an intelligent, articulate gentleman in the Oval Office amidst all the chaos besetting the world.  And a First Lady who is at least as intelligent, articulate, and who carved out such a special role as a presidential spouse who connected with Americans of all ages, classes, and origins.  "More than a "Mom-in-Chief" is how The Guardian described what Michelle Obama achieved.

Here's a moving collage of video clips, from children to celebrities, on their "Obama Moment."

Next Friday, Inauguration Day, while the nation and the world watch the ceremony in Washington, Americans living abroad will gather for "Thank you Obama" vigils

To show support for the principles of democracy and to thank the outgoing Obama Administration and U.S. Embassy & Consular officials for their service during the past eight years, steering the country through numerous economic and geopolitical challenges, improving our foreign relations and standing in the world community.

Nice idea, and a way of stressing the positive in the face of what millions in the US and across the world see as an unmitigated disaster, the transition of PEOTUS (President-Elect) to POTUS of one Donald Trump, AKA "@realDonaldTrump" to his Twitter fans.

In 2008, I labored in Brussels as spokesman for Democrats Abroad Belgium, appearing in a number of debates, sparring with my Republican counterpart on TV and radio, for the successful campaign of Barack Obama.  Ditto for the campaign of Hillary Clinton in 2016.  Had Hillary's 3 million vote lead in the popular vote translated to a win (as it would have been in any country not burdened with an 18th century anachronism called the Electoral College), my "It's okay to be an American again" fridge magnet would have lost none of its shine.  But I'm afraid that in the next four years (God forbid it last any longer than that!), it's going to be hunkering down time for Americans abroad.  Few want to be associated with the America that allowed Mr. Trump to come anywhere near the White House.

Yes, Barack, we will indeed miss you.  Stick around, please, and remain the conscience of a better America.

The Longest Night

The book's yellowed cover is a testament to its longevity and continued relevance.  It was a textbook in my university history class, published in 1965 when the fall of Hitler was barely twenty years in the past.  It continues to be required reading in many classes, both in the US and Europe.

Author William Sheridan Allen chose to name the German town that was the focus of his research "Thalburg," his "Middletown, Germany" in the words of reviewer Walter Laqueur.  Just a typical town in 1930s Germany, which thanks to subsequent editions, we now know is Northeim.

I've been re-reading it in light of the rise of Donald Trump as the Republican Party candidate, and now after his victory in yesterday's 2016 Presidential election.  Here are some passages (in blue).

"This [book] is an attempt to understand one of the central political and moral problems of the twentieth century: how a civilized democracy could be plunged into a nihilistic dictatorship."

I have just spent most of election night and the day after speaking to groups here in Brussels - students at the main French-speaking university, and three hours on Belgian TV commenting live on the final returns leading up to Trump's speech - as a concerned expatriate voter.  I was well behaved, ever the diplomatic Avuncular American.

Now that the deed is done, I can share my deepest concerns with readers.  But I'll let William Sheridan Allen and The Nazi Seizure of Power do most of the talking.

"Nazi propaganda consists entirely of a perpetual appeal to whatever is swinish in man."  Dr. Kurt Schumacher, SPD, Reichstag speech February 1932.

"Swinish" is a good 20th century word that certainly describes what the world has been watching at Trump rallies.  Though it accurately reflects the bombastic, boorish content favored by President Elect Trump, it probably is unfair to the swines.

"There were two groups of Nazis in Thalburg," said a former civil servant, "the decent ones and the gutter type.  In the end, the gutter won out."

Last month I made a trip back to south Florida for a family bereavement.  We're talking suburban Fort Lauderdale, not the Everglades.  And yet, of all the political bumper stickers on display while waiting at traffic lights, not a single one was for Hillary Clinton.  It was all for Trump on those pickup trucks, along with assorted gun totin' homilies - "Marines kill people" (not a condemnation, on the contrary, just a proud statement of a state of mind).

"Most of those who joined the Nazis did so because they wanted a radical answer... people wanted a hard, sharp, clear leadership - they were disgusted with the eternal political strife of parliamentary party politics."

The only words that need to be replaced might be "Nazi" and "parliamentary" to update this to 2016.  Think "gridlock" and other ways to blame-share what has been Republican obstructionism over the eight years of President Obama.

"Anyone who went regularly to Nazi meetings, or read the pamphlets, or even slogans chalked on the walls, should have been able to discern the vulgar and violent aspects of the NSDAP (Nazi party)."

Who needs pamphlets these days when you have a multitude of Tweets straight from the man himself?  Trump's almost single-handed campaign and nonstop utterances are amply documented for all to see; no one can say they were duped by his charm.

"The failure of the middle class parties to withstand the Nazi electoral drive was caused by... the inadequacy of their followers' commitment to (or understanding of) democracy."

Early indications of voter turnout in the 2016 election show it hovering slightly above 50%.  Does that mean that almost half of the US voting population "lacked a commitment to democracy" by their failure to vote?  Trump was elected with 24% of the popular vote, meaning 76% of the electorate did not vote for Trump; here is a great graphic provided by Ryan McMaken of the libertarian think tank Mises Institute.  Historical footnote: in 1933 Adolf Hitler became Chancellor after his Nazi party garnered 33% of the vote.

Back to Allen's The Nazi Seizure of Power:

"The Depression not only created the climate of fear in which the Nazis throve, it also embittered political processes.  The root of the problem was the division into two groups of absolute opponents, each of which meant to destroy the other..."

Fear - we have that in spades, as well as an embittered political process.  On the eve of the election, The Atlantic quoted Brookings Institution's Thomas Wright, who had Tweeted

Pretty clear this is the most important election anywhere in the world since the two German elections of 1932.  No other election has had the capacity to completely overturn the international order—the global economy, geopolitics, etc.

Well, we've had our election, and the world awakened today to find that perhaps after all things won't be the same again.  Will a future historian one day write about how, in 2016, a typical American suburb stood as a microcosm of the "movement" (as President Elect Trump termed it last night) that has swept all opposition before it?

RIP Faithful TV: 1985 - 2016

It was, I guess, inevitable.  That's our long-serving Sharp television before getting placed on a pile of similar vintage tube TVs - tubes! - at the recycling depot.

Perhaps a disclaimer is due: I have no shares in Sharp, and when we replaced our venerable TV the shop had no Sharps in sight.  Oh, just checked their website.  It appears they don't even produce TVs anymore.

But I want to give the company due credit: with planned obsolescence a fact of modern economic life - the excellent documentary The Light Bulb Conspiracy proved that beyond a doubt - I found it comforting to lug our TV around the world over the years and tune into whatever systems (PAL, SECAM, NTSC, and all the sub-categories imaginable) were on the airwaves.

So why get rid of this gem, which, true to its manufacturer's name, provided very sharp pictures on a square screen up to the very end?  Not because it broke; nope, if anyone in the recycling chain retrieves it and hooks it up to a DVD player, it will work just fine.  Oh yes, it's also automatic dual voltage 110 - 220.

No, if we got rid of it, it's only because of technological progress: not only has Europe evolved from analog to digital, but in April France is going HD for its "TNT" free broadcasts (some 20 + channels).  We could have gotten a cheap decoder, but the images wouldn't have been HD, and the 16/9 letterbox format would have further reduced the image on our square screen.  So goodbye DV-5405SPN, we hardly knew ye.

Now don't get me wrong.  I'm not a Luddite, and in certain cases I'm even an Early Adapter.  Got a first generation iPad a few months after they appeared.  Ditto for this nice MacBook Pro Retina I'm typing on.

But if something works and ain't broke, I'm not going to throw it away for the flavor-of-the-month.  Our TV (bought in Oman in 1985) has finally been replaced by a nice HD LED flat screen job, and I can watch my collection of cassettes from the '80s and '90s on it!

Now, what do I do with my 1973 Saba transistor radio (SW, LW, MW, FM - "the best tube radio ever" according to somebody on YouTube)?  It still works...

Mustang - Free and Untamed in Turkey

Bars on your home's windows are usually to keep the baddies on the outside, but in Mustang they come to signify the prison that Grandma's house becomes for the five spirited girls who are facing the special dangers of adolescence in a conservative village.

Deniz Gamze Ergüven's film - honored at Cannes - begins and ends with Lale, the youngest of the girls but the one you want on your team if ever you have to survive impossible odds.  Young Günes Sensoy, playing Lale, sees trouble brewing, and lays plans.  Her first film, and what an acting revelation.

Her older sisters, one by one, risk succumbing to the constant pressure to be married off, arranged by Grandma, who mostly just wants to avoid embarrassment in front of judgmental neighbors, and by uncle Erol, a supposed prude with a violent streak.

Director Ergüven (French director Alice Winocour co-wrote the screenplay), whose diplomatic childhood spanned life in Paris and in Ankara, has deftly inserted scenes which illustrate the lot of many a marriageable girl in Turkey: virginity tests, arranged pairings concluded by the families, frustration assuaged by eating too many Turkish delights or swigging the dregs of raki at big sister's wedding reception.

But this is not a documentary, credible and realistic as it is.  From the outset, you care deeply about these girls and are with them as they try to enjoy innocent childhood pursuits or the normal joys and challenges of growing up.  A beautiful, moving film.

Deniz Gamze Ergüven is interviewed here on France Culture (44 minutes, in French).

The Blue Woods of Belgium

Today's post is simply to celebrate the ephemeral beauty of the Hallerbos, the Belgian park just outside of Brussels in Halle.

Every spring, usually April or May, bluebells carpet the woodland.  I've seen coverage in The Guardian, the Washington Post, and on CNN.  Thousands of people line the road traversing the park to take in the spectacle.

Ours was just a little early-adopter digital camera, but the pros were out there too, getting the flowers at every possible angle and shutter speed.

But our pics aren't too bad for point-and-shoot.  We'll be back again next year.