From Kenneth Ellman, email:ke@kennethellman.com, Copyright 2017, All Rights Reserved
ON TRUMP, HAND WRINGING, NIGHTMARES and ISRAEL, Kenneth Ellman Responds
I do not know what to make of the hysteria that has disrupted the minds of so many people, also known as TRUMP Nightmares. It is not any particular ethnic or religious grouping since support and opposition for our President Trump arises from every community. This is the way it should be since America is a very diverse land with 50 States and more points of view than can be counted. This is also a normal part of American Polity, a singular attribute of tolerance for dissent which is beautiful thing about our nation and people. However there is also an ugly side to dissent which is the intolerance, even hatred for your fellow Citizen, something that occurs in most of the world and is an evil shadow of many other nations. We must remember that we are so different in part due to our genuine Constitutional tolerance for each other and our love of Law where we recognize each Citizen as an American equal to ourselves under our Law.
As a people we have three things in common, that overwhelm our differences.
First, most of us speak and read a common language, English. So at least we can yell at and communicate with each other. To the extent that we leave or lose that common language we risk losing our nation and a wonderful heritage of English Speaking Peoples. . Hopefully that will not happen.
Second, most of us love our nation because that is what has given us a home where we and our children can live and flourish with incredible opportunity and safety and dignity. When compared to the rest of the world, even with all our troubles, it is where the whole world runs to. You do not see thousands of people trying to escape from the United States, desperate to find a way out. Rather you find people desperate to find a way in like my family and many others did. Never, never forget that.
Third, we have something that most of the world simply does not have and that is LAW. It is our LAW, most beloved and represented by our Constitution, that distinguishes America from any and every other place in the world, except perhaps our great brother and progenitor Great Britain and its other children. There is nothing like American Law, where the weakest and strongest amongst us are able to contend in a Courtroom for their beliefs, self respect and Justice. Where our Government must prove its case before it can proceed against the weakest amongst us. Where influenced or corrupt Judges are the exception rather than the rule. Where Juries, of regular persons in our community can sit in Judgment. Yes, our Courts, our Prosecutors, our Police and the insufficiently trained and dedicated Bar, terribly fail from time to time, I know. But that is Not a failure of our law but a failure of human beings who since G-D is not walking amongst us, must administer the Law. Those who administer the Law, our fellow Citizens, fail from time to time because people by the very definition of humanity are fallible, fearful, prejudiced and sometimes corruptible. That does not matter. What matters is that we as a people with this thing we call our Constitution and Law, carry on and demand Justice because we know our Law can bring that to us and being a free people who love life, we do not have to accept anything else.
SO, when some Americans scream, yell, march, demand and sometimes make a fool of themselves, that is their right. We have a short memory. President Trump is far, far less contentious and divisive than the experiences we had when that overwhelmed man, Lyndon Johnson was our President. Have so many forgotten what happened to our nation at that time? Remember as I do like yesterday, the 1968 Democratic Party National Convention held in August of 1968 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois. That was a year of civil disorder, riots and the calling of the National Guard and U.S. Army to restore Order. I saw it with my own eyes. There were riots in over 100 cities. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the brother of our assassinated President John F. Kennedy, were both murdered in that year. It makes the demonstrations about the Presidency of Donald Trump seem like a joke.
At least in 1968, the demonstrators against the Vietnam War could articulate a point of view as to why it was necessary to be so confrontational. It does not mean they were right in what they did, particularly the verbal and societal abuse dealt to our Soldiers who did nothing more than their Duty to obey our Congress and Laws. That abuse was inexcusable and cannot be forgiven. Even today, memory of the hatred toward our own Soldiers and members of our Community, is haunting. Keep in mind some of the great American Soldiers that war produced who won the Congressional Medal of Honor demonstrating such Courage and Sacrifice, that our nation always needs. But as Americans our citizens also did what they were allowed and supposed to do, which is to participate in the politics of the nation, including by public demonstrations and protests. And believe me they could articulate a case for their point of view which eventually prevailed as America left Vietnam.
But now, today, with the terror, fear and distress that some show due to the election of President Donald Trump the political process is missing a rationality that is needed to discuss differing points of view. Many simply do not like the personality and comments made by our new President. Many do not like his financial success and that of his successful children. Is it Trump Madness, Jealousy or just a Guttural discomfort that bends and contorts some of my fellow Citizens?
President Trump, his daughters, sons and those who are pleased and happy by his election all know that our President is a human being who from time to time has said things that in retrospect should not have been said. The notorious recording made many years ago about our fellow female Americans and how he then thought of them, is nothing to repeat. So what? President John F. Kennedy actually kept women employed in the White House as public employees, for sexual purposes during his Presidency and his wife Jacqueline knew some of them. Mimi Alford a 19 year old child, later wrote a book about her sexual use by President Kennedy. She was just one of many. President Clinton had his notorious excursion with a young lady who came to the White House seeking an internship in Government and received from him more than that. He was impeached, though not convicted. Nothing to be proud of in either case. Perhaps John Adams or Abraham Lincoln or Harry Truman did not do these things. All men are not the same. To those whom the sexual behavior of Presidents is important, I do not see President Trump behaving as did Kennedy and Clinton. Perhaps our daughters or grand daughters would be safer with a 70 year old Trump and his family, than Kennedy or Clinton.
We did not elect a Saint. We elected a human being with all the flaws and strengths that a man can have. Donald Trump grew up not far from where I grew up in Queens, New York City. That was a special and particular kind of place in those days. Many of us came from upper middle class or very well to do families. I had attended meetings many years ago where Donald Trump would enter accompanied even back then by what I saw as a bodyguard. I spoke to the bodyguard, out of curiosity, not understanding why Trump would need such at this kind of meeting or affair. Trump had a Drama attached to his presence which was part of his business and self promotion. He certainly did it very, very well. I knew some of those whom he had associated with and they were typical very successful New Yorkers in his industry. Who can forget that Donald Trump employed as his attorney Roy Cohen that notorious Homosexual and Counsel to that well known Senate Committee. Roy Cohn did good legal work for Donald Trump before he died of AIDS. That does not sound like a hater of New York City diversity. A man who is as much a part of the landscape diversity of New York as anyone could be. Children from three different wives, does that sound like a Christian crusader? Yet, so many feign fear of President Trump.
SO, a certain geographical segment of the American people, faced with an uninspiring crowd of candidates, disgusted with a return to the past of the Clinton’s, not impressed with the dishonesty of our Constitutionally protected Press and Media, socked and surprised the other half of our nation. They elected Donald Trump. Trump, a socially liberal New Yorker with a fierce patriotism, sharp New York elbow, desire to take America back to being a powerful force to be reckoned with, who never held elective office and who is not afraid to speak what half the nation was also thinking. Thinking that we have more to be proud of and advocate for than to be ashamed of. That things just cannot go on as they have any longer. That the American people have been hurt enough and given much for little in return. That the wealth of the nation seem to some to have been looted by bandits and garbage regimes. Maybe we should fix a Bridge or Two and open a factory or Two and help those in our nation as Trump says: first, first, first. Maybe we need universal and affordable health care in a system that works, so that the body of the nation, our children can be healthy and strong. Not really a bad idea.
We are still Americans and we will always extend to our fellow humanity compassion and help when tragedy strikes. Earthquakes, tidal waves, natural disasters and I am sure those gangsters of the world that cut off the heads of man, rape and kidnap women and enslave those weaker than themselves will still get our attention. But if President Trump is to succeed he must also allow Americans to look out their window and see infrastructure rebuilt, good paying middle class jobs return, criminals afraid of the Police, a Judiciary that continues to protect the People and an educational system that is more accessible to all without an educational financial burden torturing and threatening a generation.
If our President Trump can do any of that he will be remembered as one of our greats.
NOW a word to my fellow Jews/MOT and Bernard-Henri Lévy. Are you all off your rocker? When was the last time that we had a President of the United States whose Daughter and Son in Law and Grandchildren are Orthodox Jews attending a Chabad Shul? I am waiting for an answer. When was the last time that we had a President who will keep his word and move the American Embassy to Jerusalem? You mean Jews cannot have a Capital in their nation without the permission of the Goyim? I don’t think so and Donald Trump does not think so. When was the last time we had a President who believed as the Russian Jewish Ayn Rand (Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum) said: “The Arabs are one of the least developed cultures. They are typically nomads. Their culture is primitive, and they resent Israel because it’s the sole beachhead of modern science and civilization on their continent. When you have civilized men fighting savages, you support the civilized men, no matter who they are.”
When was the last time that we had a President who was a New Yorker, living with New York Liberal Jewish Culture each and every day and willing to show courage and sincerity to make common cause with Israel?
Finally to those who think President Trump is the end of the world I remind you of two things. Your imagination is not reality and as Ben Carson said when asked what to do if Donald Trump is not who we hope he is, simply answered that “after four years elect someone else”. We are Americans, we do elect our government and fire our government all the time. That is why we are better than many others. I encourage all people to read a very well done book, that I became attached to entitled: Empires of Trust by Thomas F. Madden, found at:
https://www.kennethellman.com/2012/12/20/empires-of-trust-how-rome-built-and-america-is-building-a-new-world-paperback-review-by-kenneth-ellman/
and at:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AHEP7JDWMEQ5EECTHUM4UYR4FEFQ
We live in interesting times. Enjoy Them. President Trump has the potential to be one of the best we have had in recent history.
From Kenneth Ellman, email:ke@kennethellman.com, Copyright 2017, All Rights Reserved
ON TRUMP, HAND WRINGING, NIGHTMARES and ISRAEL, Kenneth Ellman Responds
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ON TRUMP, HAND WRINGING, NIGHTMARES and ISRAEL, Kenneth Ellman Responds
From Kenneth Ellman, email:ke@kennethellman.com, Copyright 2017, All Rights Reserved
ON TRUMP, HAND WRINGING, NIGHTMARES and ISRAEL, Kenneth Ellman Responds
I do not know what to make of the hysteria that has disrupted the minds of so many people, also known as TRUMP Nightmares. It is not any particular ethnic or religious grouping since support and opposition for our President Trump arises from every community. This is the way it should be since America is a very diverse land with 50 States and more points of view than can be counted. This is also a normal part of American Polity, a singular attribute of tolerance for dissent which is beautiful thing about our nation and people. However there is also an ugly side to dissent which is the intolerance, even hatred for your fellow Citizen, something that occurs in most of the world and is an evil shadow of many other nations. We must remember that we are so different in part due to our genuine Constitutional tolerance for each other and our love of Law where we recognize each Citizen as an American equal to ourselves under our Law.
As a people we have three things in common, that overwhelm our differences.
First, most of us speak and read a common language, English. So at least we can yell at and communicate with each other. To the extent that we leave or lose that common language we risk losing our nation and a wonderful heritage of English Speaking Peoples. . Hopefully that will not happen.
Second, most of us love our nation because that is what has given us a home where we and our children can live and flourish with incredible opportunity and safety and dignity. When compared to the rest of the world, even with all our troubles, it is where the whole world runs to. You do not see thousands of people trying to escape from the United States, desperate to find a way out. Rather you find people desperate to find a way in like my family and many others did. Never, never forget that.
Third, we have something that most of the world simply does not have and that is LAW. It is our LAW, most beloved and represented by our Constitution, that distinguishes America from any and every other place in the world, except perhaps our great brother and progenitor Great Britain and its other children. There is nothing like American Law, where the weakest and strongest amongst us are able to contend in a Courtroom for their beliefs, self respect and Justice. Where our Government must prove its case before it can proceed against the weakest amongst us. Where influenced or corrupt Judges are the exception rather than the rule. Where Juries, of regular persons in our community can sit in Judgment. Yes, our Courts, our Prosecutors, our Police and the insufficiently trained and dedicated Bar, terribly fail from time to time, I know. But that is Not a failure of our law but a failure of human beings who since G-D is not walking amongst us, must administer the Law. Those who administer the Law, our fellow Citizens, fail from time to time because people by the very definition of humanity are fallible, fearful, prejudiced and sometimes corruptible. That does not matter. What matters is that we as a people with this thing we call our Constitution and Law, carry on and demand Justice because we know our Law can bring that to us and being a free people who love life, we do not have to accept anything else.
SO, when some Americans scream, yell, march, demand and sometimes make a fool of themselves, that is their right. We have a short memory. President Trump is far, far less contentious and divisive than the experiences we had when that overwhelmed man, Lyndon Johnson was our President. Have so many forgotten what happened to our nation at that time? Remember as I do like yesterday, the 1968 Democratic Party National Convention held in August of 1968 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois. That was a year of civil disorder, riots and the calling of the National Guard and U.S. Army to restore Order. I saw it with my own eyes. There were riots in over 100 cities. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the brother of our assassinated President John F. Kennedy, were both murdered in that year. It makes the demonstrations about the Presidency of Donald Trump seem like a joke.
At least in 1968, the demonstrators against the Vietnam War could articulate a point of view as to why it was necessary to be so confrontational. It does not mean they were right in what they did, particularly the verbal and societal abuse dealt to our Soldiers who did nothing more than their Duty to obey our Congress and Laws. That abuse was inexcusable and cannot be forgiven. Even today, memory of the hatred toward our own Soldiers and members of our Community, is haunting. Keep in mind some of the great American Soldiers that war produced who won the Congressional Medal of Honor demonstrating such Courage and Sacrifice, that our nation always needs. But as Americans our citizens also did what they were allowed and supposed to do, which is to participate in the politics of the nation, including by public demonstrations and protests. And believe me they could articulate a case for their point of view which eventually prevailed as America left Vietnam.
But now, today, with the terror, fear and distress that some show due to the election of President Donald Trump the political process is missing a rationality that is needed to discuss differing points of view. Many simply do not like the personality and comments made by our new President. Many do not like his financial success and that of his successful children. Is it Trump Madness, Jealousy or just a Guttural discomfort that bends and contorts some of my fellow Citizens?
President Trump, his daughters, sons and those who are pleased and happy by his election all know that our President is a human being who from time to time has said things that in retrospect should not have been said. The notorious recording made many years ago about our fellow female Americans and how he then thought of them, is nothing to repeat. So what? President John F. Kennedy actually kept women employed in the White House as public employees, for sexual purposes during his Presidency and his wife Jacqueline knew some of them. Mimi Alford a 19 year old child, later wrote a book about her sexual use by President Kennedy. She was just one of many. President Clinton had his notorious excursion with a young lady who came to the White House seeking an internship in Government and received from him more than that. He was impeached, though not convicted. Nothing to be proud of in either case. Perhaps John Adams or Abraham Lincoln or Harry Truman did not do these things. All men are not the same. To those whom the sexual behavior of Presidents is important, I do not see President Trump behaving as did Kennedy and Clinton. Perhaps our daughters or grand daughters would be safer with a 70 year old Trump and his family, than Kennedy or Clinton.
We did not elect a Saint. We elected a human being with all the flaws and strengths that a man can have. Donald Trump grew up not far from where I grew up in Queens, New York City. That was a special and particular kind of place in those days. Many of us came from upper middle class or very well to do families. I had attended meetings many years ago where Donald Trump would enter accompanied even back then by what I saw as a bodyguard. I spoke to the bodyguard, out of curiosity, not understanding why Trump would need such at this kind of meeting or affair. Trump had a Drama attached to his presence which was part of his business and self promotion. He certainly did it very, very well. I knew some of those whom he had associated with and they were typical very successful New Yorkers in his industry. Who can forget that Donald Trump employed as his attorney Roy Cohen that notorious Homosexual and Counsel to that well known Senate Committee. Roy Cohn did good legal work for Donald Trump before he died of AIDS. That does not sound like a hater of New York City diversity. A man who is as much a part of the landscape diversity of New York as anyone could be. Children from three different wives, does that sound like a Christian crusader? Yet, so many feign fear of President Trump.
SO, a certain geographical segment of the American people, faced with an uninspiring crowd of candidates, disgusted with a return to the past of the Clinton’s, not impressed with the dishonesty of our Constitutionally protected Press and Media, socked and surprised the other half of our nation. They elected Donald Trump. Trump, a socially liberal New Yorker with a fierce patriotism, sharp New York elbow, desire to take America back to being a powerful force to be reckoned with, who never held elective office and who is not afraid to speak what half the nation was also thinking. Thinking that we have more to be proud of and advocate for than to be ashamed of. That things just cannot go on as they have any longer. That the American people have been hurt enough and given much for little in return. That the wealth of the nation seem to some to have been looted by bandits and garbage regimes. Maybe we should fix a Bridge or Two and open a factory or Two and help those in our nation as Trump says: first, first, first. Maybe we need universal and affordable health care in a system that works, so that the body of the nation, our children can be healthy and strong. Not really a bad idea.
We are still Americans and we will always extend to our fellow humanity compassion and help when tragedy strikes. Earthquakes, tidal waves, natural disasters and I am sure those gangsters of the world that cut off the heads of man, rape and kidnap women and enslave those weaker than themselves will still get our attention. But if President Trump is to succeed he must also allow Americans to look out their window and see infrastructure rebuilt, good paying middle class jobs return, criminals afraid of the Police, a Judiciary that continues to protect the People and an educational system that is more accessible to all without an educational financial burden torturing and threatening a generation.
If our President Trump can do any of that he will be remembered as one of our greats.
NOW a word to my fellow Jews/MOT and Bernard-Henri Lévy. Are you all off your rocker? When was the last time that we had a President of the United States whose Daughter and Son in Law and Grandchildren are Orthodox Jews attending a Chabad Shul? I am waiting for an answer. When was the last time that we had a President who will keep his word and move the American Embassy to Jerusalem? You mean Jews cannot have a Capital in their nation without the permission of the Goyim? I don’t think so and Donald Trump does not think so. When was the last time we had a President who believed as the Russian Jewish Ayn Rand (Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum) said: “The Arabs are one of the least developed cultures. They are typically nomads. Their culture is primitive, and they resent Israel because it’s the sole beachhead of modern science and civilization on their continent. When you have civilized men fighting savages, you support the civilized men, no matter who they are.”
When was the last time that we had a President who was a New Yorker, living with New York Liberal Jewish Culture each and every day and willing to show courage and sincerity to make common cause with Israel?
Finally to those who think President Trump is the end of the world I remind you of two things. Your imagination is not reality and as Ben Carson said when asked what to do if Donald Trump is not who we hope he is, simply answered that “after four years elect someone else”. We are Americans, we do elect our government and fire our government all the time. That is why we are better than many others. I encourage all people to read a very well done book, that I became attached to entitled: Empires of Trust by Thomas F. Madden, found at:
https://www.kennethellman.com/2012/12/20/empires-of-trust-how-rome-built-and-america-is-building-a-new-world-paperback-review-by-kenneth-ellman/
and at:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AHEP7JDWMEQ5EECTHUM4UYR4FEFQ
We live in interesting times. Enjoy Them. President Trump has the potential to be one of the best we have had in recent history.
From Kenneth Ellman, email:ke@kennethellman.com, Copyright 2017, All Rights Reserved
ON TRUMP, HAND WRINGING, NIGHTMARES and ISRAEL, Kenneth Ellman Responds