GOP, YOU’RE ON THE CLOCK: One of our favorite things to watch during the Trump Era is whether or not the Republican Party is going to be able to survive it.
At first we thought Trump losing the general election might mean the end of the GOP. That point, of course, is academic, because he won. But Trump is nothing more than a 72-year-old spoiled brat who lacks a long-term vision for our country, so we started thinking maybe Trump’s victory might spell the end for the GOP.
We’re not so sure. True, we are only four months into his presidency, but if there was going to be a palace revolt I think we would already have started hearing the first rumblings.
OTOH: The conditions remain ripe for both elected GOP officials and GOP members to bolt. The Trump Administration has been four months of non-stop chaos and intrigue and scandal. No actual governing is getting done because the Trump Administration has turned out to be a quagmire jumping from one fiasco to another.
It is being led by an insecure, brutish man whose only real talent is drawing attention to himself. The remainder of his term will accomplish nothing of substance, obliging America to mark time, instead of making substantive progress on any issue at a time when America and the world could use some real, substantive leadership.
The Bottom Line: While the GOP cannot be looking at the 2018 midterm elections with any degree of enthusiasm, who’s to say they will take a beating next year? Recall this is a party that survived Nixon and got George H.W. Bush – a man of no particular substance – twice elected president. With the Democrats lacking anyone to rally around and the Libertarians hampered by a populace that prefers to stick with the familiar, the GOP might – despite everything they have to answer for – be able to ride out yet another storm.
Dry, Technical Matter: America has its media to blame for this, of course. Long gone are the days of Woodward and Bernstein because a proper media would not have let Trump anywhere near the primaries. A real American media would have had Trump out of the race in two weeks. But Candidate Trump meant TV ratings and internet hits and he was allowed to talk in vague generalities and insults, permitted to bulldoze his way through candidates that, frankly, weren’t a whole lot better than he was.
INSERT OWN LEAD LINE HERE: Queen Mary I grants a charter to the Derby School in Derby, England on this date in 1554. Though founded in the middle of the 12th century, the school had been closed for a few years. It closed permanently in 1989.
Up, Up And Away: Charles Lindbergh lands in Paris in this date in 1927, becoming the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. The flight from New York City had taken 33 hours.
Oh Yeah: Lindbergh’s flight was also the first flight between the North American and European mainlands, and the second transatlantic flight. In 1919 two British pilots flew a plane from Newfoundland to Ireland, which is about 1,800 miles less than what Lindbergh flew.
Hey, What About Me?: Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to make a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean on this date in 1932, landing in a pasture in Northern Ireland. Earhart had taken off from Newfoundland the previous day and had originally planned to fly to Paris.
Here, Take That: Michelangelo’s Pieta, a sculpture depicting a dead Jesus Christ lying in the lap of his mother Mary, is damaged in St. Peter’s Basilica on this date in 1972.
The attack was by one Laszlo Toth, an Australian originally from Hungary. He took a hammer to the sculpture, taking off Mary’s arm at the elbow, plus parts of her nose and one of her eyelids.
The Pieta was eventually restored, and is now kept behind bulletproof glass.
Great Moments In Mental Health: While attacking the Pieta, Toth advised onlookers that he was actually Jesus Christ. In light of the fact he was crazy, Toth was never charged with a crime and after a couple of years in an Italian mental hospital, Toth was deported to Australia, where he died in 2012.
Theeeerrrreee’s Johnny: Johnny Carson hosts his final Tonight Show with guests on this date in 1992. Carson’s final show, a retrospective in front of invited guests, would air the following night. Carson hosted The Tonight Show for 30 years and 4,531 episodes.
Thought For The Day: Fortune had betrayed him for the moment, and the world had turned against him. Victory was slipping from his grasp even as he stretched out his hand to seize it. But his arm was long. – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: The last deed under the Homestead Act, signed in 1862, was issued in 1988 to Ken Deardorff of Alaska.
Today’s Stumper: What show did The Tonight Show replace in the NBC lineup? – Answer next time!
