"Walmart Liberace"

If you know anything at all about Der Furor, you know that he loves the trappings of wealth and power, especially gold. His Trump Tower penthouse apartment has long been famous for its over-the-top gilding of almost every surface ...

His home at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, is similarly decorated,

Der Furor's belief that acres of gold convey a sense of luxury and power now extends to his redecoration of the historic Oval Office, covering every available surface with gold trimmings, objects, curtains, and carpets. He called in the cabinetmaker who upgilded Mar-a-Lago to add gleaming golden touches throughout the historic mansion, and also wanted to hang a chandelier in the Oval Office, but dropped the idea when he was told it would be too heavy for the ceiling to support. 

Der Furor's Oval Office style has been called "Walmart Liberace."

The Oval Office is the official workplace of the President of the United States, who deserves the right to decorate it in a style that creates a personal comfort zone in which they can make decisions that affect every American and the rest of the world. In that regard, presidents deserve a degree of freedom of expression in their choice of decor.

But the Oval Office is more than just the workplace of the current officeholder - it's a symbol of the United States of America, and it represents all of us. It should present an image of gravitas appropriate to our history. 

We fought a revolutionary war to free ourselves from kings who needed to impress their subjects with displays of wealth and power. Versailles represents in gold and crystal the past glories of French kings. The Kremlin represents in gold the power and dominance of the tsars. Buckingham Palace remembers the golden highlights of the power and majesty of the British empire at its height. And all of those are appropriate to the history of their nations.

The Oval Office should represent the history of a free people ... not a garish whorehouse gleaming with golden bling.

We deserve better than Walmart Liberace.

Have a good day. Demand better, but expect less. 

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

History Repeats Itself

One of the most depressing things about being interested in history lies in recognizing when it repeats itself.

It happened yesterday, when Der Furor and "Vice-President" Vance ambushed and berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on live television during an Oval Office meeting. The cheap schoolyard bullying of an ally fighting for his nation's life was appalling, cast our nation in the worst possible light, and mirrored the actions of a different autocratic bully that took place over a hundred years ago.

As the world spiraled toward World War II in the late 1930's, Nazi German dictator Adolf Hitler treated two European leaders to the same savage bullying used by Der Furor on President Zelenskyy. 

The first was Hitler’s ambush and relentless bullying of Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schussnig in February of 1938, as he sought to absorb Austria into the German Reich. You can read about it here, and there's also a dramatic report of it in William Shirer's classic history The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

Chancellor Schussnig was not the only European leader to suffer Hitler's bullying abuse. A year later, in March of 1939, Czech President Emil Hacha was bullied into a nervous breakdown by the Nazi leader ... an event also dramatically recounted in Shirer's history.

It's the lowest hanging of fruit to compare the Orange Airhorn to Adolf Hitler, one of the most terrible dictators in history, but in the embarrassing and despicable bullying of the President of Ukraine, history has clearly repeated itself.

The despicable behavior of Der Furor and "Vice-President" Vance, and the shameless toadying of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose embarrassing version of what we all saw on live television would be laughable were it not so shabby, have driven yet another nail into the lid of the coffin containing what's left of our national honor and dignity.

Have a good day, and reflect that our nation has turned from reliable ally and defender of the weak to the international equivalent of a cheap, ugly bully. 

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo