18 July

Photo Journal, July 18, 2033.Heads Up. Purple Gladiolas Are Just About Here.

by Jon Katz

Usually, the flowers appear one or two days after the heads emerge. I expect purple gladiolas tomorrow or Wednesday.

Tomorrow is also round three of my effort to start a men’s group at the Mansion. We’ll see what happens in the afternoon.

(Three kinds of gladiolas coming to life.)

My dental work took it out of me today, a lot of novacaine, etc. I’m enjoying my new book Thank You For Your Servitude by Mark Lebovich. I’m surprised I’m even reading a politics book right now, but I need to understand what is happening to our country.

Lebovich isn’t wasting much time trying to explain or apologize for Trumpism.

He says the movement is just what it appears to be –  lazy, ignorant and bigoted. He says there is nothing more there, no lasting policies to think about. He makes no apologies for that belief. His stories about the wheeling, dealing, and thievery in the Trump Hotel for four years are jaw-dropping and well-documented.

But the book pulls me into reality and perspective and reminds me to smile.

Lebovich sees the Trump Years as a freak show that got out of hand and collided with the dark spirits of our country. It was also enabled by a cohort of weak and ambitious party leaders.

I can’t imagine why they talked so freely to him; he must be a great interviewer.

He is also helping me understand that the Republican Party leaders were weak, frightened, and out of touch with their base; they simply collapsed under the weight of a Tsunami.

Politicians are just like sharks; they survive at all costs and any price. Only the very great ones can rise above that.

The Liz Cheneys of the country have always been rare; I believe she will be remembered in history as a great American hero. I bet that means a lot to her. She makes her enemies seem smaller by the day.

It is somewhat comforting to learn that they saw him for what he is and betrayed their country.  And to see that they will not prevail.

Trump will always find a way to destroy himself; this is a part of his illness.

Any book on politics that can get me laughing in the first 20 pages is promising. We sometimes take ourselves too seriously and forget to laugh at our bizarre world. Lebovich is reminding me to do that.

Lebovich interviewed Trump again and again. There’s nothing there, he says; he was too dull to write much about; he is just a self-obsessed windbag whose mind reminds one of his own people of six lightning bugs stuck in a jar.

Trump’s primary genius, says Lebovich,  lies in finding weak people and sucking the blood right out of them.  The carcasses form a bloody trail behind him. The fickle spirits of the Republican Party were no match for him; there was nothing there but toadies and cowards.

 

Tomorrow I think I will wake up to some beautiful purple flowers. I believe the Men’s Group will come together and happen.

I believe in good, and I have faith it will prevail.

5 Comments

  1. Hi Jon,
    I’m trying to photograph flowers like you. I am improving, but I’m not in your league. I am enjoying myself.
    The remarks by Lebovich on Trump are so right on. Trump is as dumb and evil as they come.
    Liz Chaney is a profile in courage, no doubt.

    1. I’m sure you’re doing fine, Robert. I appreciate your messages. Lebovich was quite blunt for an ex big cheese at the New York Times, I’m enjoying the book.

  2. Jon, you have given me a new appreciation for gladioli! I used to think of them only as “funeral” arrangement flowers, but your beautiful photographs of them have shown me just how lovely they really are. 🙂 Loving your whole series of photos of flowers and nature…how are you going to top these photos in the winter?! 🙂 😉 I know you’ll find something interesting; you always do!

  3. Your glads are beautiful! Two back to back heat waves 10 days each, 100 degrees + and mine are done for the year. May be next year they’ll last longer—gardeners are forever hopeful!!

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