What part of “TRUMP IS NOT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT” do you not understand?

Seriously! YES, I'm still of the belief that Trump will be pulling out before the Republican Convention. And I’m using all caps to shout it out…again: “TRUMP IS NOT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT!!!”

Yeah, yeah, I hear ya’…I’m crazy delusional, right? Well, if you believe I'm as delusional as most of my peeps do, you should probably stop reading and go back to figuring out for whom you will vote between Donald and Hillary.

Still here? Cool... First, let me tell you what you already know...Trump is a Reality Star...Trump is a Huckster...Trump is a Barnum-esque character (and unfortunately, I just insulted Barnum's memory…sorry P.T.!)…Trump is a believer ONLY in Power, Power, and Power. You may remember that I mentioned that fact in several earlier blogs. And he is absolutely NOT running for President. What fun would that be? Sure, it’s a powerful job. But there’s no power in being President when all of your own countrymen will inevitably shun you…when all of Congress will immediately shun you…when all of the world powers will shun you with delighted, giddy passion? And Trump knows this! He also knows that he will never ever ever EVER have more power than what he has right here, right now!

The power WE thought he sought has been surpassed by the power WE have given him! The publicity WE think he craves has been eclipsed by the publicity WE crave about him! The outrageousness that WE profess to abhor has been overshadowed by outrageousness that WE cheer, clap, and arouse & salivate over!

Remember the expression that no one takes away our power without our permission? Well, clearly, Republicans have chosen to give Trump their permission...along with their conscience, their rational mind, their standards (what standards, you ask?), and even, perhaps, their first born! But make no mistake...they HAVE given him their power as have all the other Republican candidates who have been tripping on their own tongues and slipping on their own drool trying to out-Trump Trump. They can't!

Even the cataclysmic catastrophes that are Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have been sucked into Trump's playing field like cheap prostitutes (and unfortunately, I just insulted cheap prostitutes…sorry!).

And while I'm on my rant, Palin and Christie unapologetically joined those kool-aid-drinking ranks so willingly, so blindly, and so hastily that it was hard for pundits or even ME not to wonder about what they may have been promised…or paid!

And finally, in answer to the question of why the number of Republican voters has risen while the number of Democratic voters has fallen, I have my theory…no surprise there! But you won't like it so I’ll save it for the next entry here. I dont want your head to explode twice in one blog!

MY PRIMAL SCREAM!

Well, it's official! Pretty much everyone I know thinks I'm wrong. And I love it! Everyone believes that Trump really DOES want to be President. I don't. I still don't. I didn't before. I STILL still don't! So here it comes...are you ready...wait for it...(I'm screaming now) AHHHHHEEEEERRRRRRRRAAAAAHHHHRRRRRRRRHMMMMMAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

TRUMP DOESN'T WANT TO BE PRESIDENT!!! TRUMP DOESN'T WANT TO BE PRESIDENT!!! TRUMP DOESN'T WANT TO BE PRESIDENT!!!

To me (and clearly no one else) it is obvious. He is pushing every button, every boundary, every sane discussion, every fear, every paranoia, every bias, every outlet of hate, every entree into organized racism, every connection to misogyny, every access to base ignorance, and every contact to the primal anger in ALL of us, no matter how disconnected to reality.

I've expressed a few ideas about why he is doing this in previous blogs and I still believe that those ideas are sound. But...I have another...of course! The Donald will now write another book! 

Yup, you heard me...he will write a book about what he did, what he's doing, and what he intends to do regarding his decision to play very dangerous and precarious games with America. And he'll make more money off of that book than he ever would have by being president AND he will get more attention, more publicity, and more commentary than any president in history. 

Granted, I am most likely giving him this idea for which he will, naturally, take full credit expounding that he had planned it far far in advance and only did it to prove his point: that Americans are so easily frightened, so easily manipulated, and so easily coaxed into being scared, hate-filled, bigoted creatures. And, if you haven’t completely written me off, I will now explain how he will unfold this either brilliant or dastardly concept, depending upon your own level of cynicism.

His new book, likely titled something like “Trump’s Calling, (how I became the most powerful man in the world w/o lifting a finger)” or, his sequel, “The Art of The Manipulation.” It will catalog how he went on a proudly noble journey to reveal the black, fowl, appalling, disgusting, shameful underbelly of America's deep seeded racism, homophobia, misogyny, fear of people different from them, unease with their own situation, suspicion of anyone who doesn't share their narrow, biased values, and anxiety over their own uninformed, going-nowhere state of being.

There ya' have it! Pretty simple, pretty diabolical, and pretty frigging ingenious!

Now, before you think I'm insinuating that Trump is a genius, let me explain. He is far far from genius status for reasons that other people have explained better than I ever could, but ingenious in the way that this has all revealed itself.

I don't believe for a minute that Trump set out to do it in exactly the way it has unfolded. I think that Trump discovered, through his predictable publicity-hungry investment in running for President, that he hugely underestimated the contagious, fearful, and collective stupidity of the closet racist, the closet misogynist, the closet homophobe, the closet Islamophobe, the closet scaredy-cat, the closet progress-o-phobe (my term!), and the closet Neanderthal.

So stay tuned to his inevitable withdrawal from the race. Be it from a decline in poll numbers or a fabricated excuse (health issues, wife doesn’t want to be subjected to all this, people aren’t respecting him, the media aren’t respecting him, we don’t deserve him…), or any other completely contrived myth). It WILL be coming..guaranteed!

Set your DVD recorders!!!

IT'S THE STUPID, STUPID!

Really? I mean REALLY, do you really still believe that Donald Trump wants to be President? REALLY????? Well, since I have already stated that I am certain that La Trump-ette (hereafter referred to as LT) does not wish to be President, let me double, triple, and quadruple down by explaining... It seems to me that the pundits have it all wrong. They are saying that LT is attacking Carson because Carson is leading in the polls. I think they have it backwards. I think that the fact that he (LT) has actually made it this far and is now a serious contender to get the GOP nomination (even though the party would NEVER allow it) absolutely terrifies him. As stated in my previous blog, LT knows he cannot do the job, would not be able to do the job, has no cred to do the job, and would be the butt of every joke, tagline, punchline, critical review, or policy meeting evaluation. He also knows his REAL power lies in being in the game, not winning the game. HE KNOWS THIS! Let's get that through our heads!! And now he must climb to new heights of outrage in order to, as he desperately hopes, have people FINALLY stop elevating him in the poles so that he may then have an excuse to slither away and pontificate at how much worse our country will be now that HE is out of the race...now that HE will not be President...now that HE has not been tapped to save us. And he will remain on that pontification trail for the rest of his life. He will never run again, thankfully. But he WILL continue to remind us that anything bad that happens would never have happened on his watch and that anything good that happens was only the result of his input or advice or suggestion or savvy. Is this the real pathological, egomaniacal, narcissistic personality flaw of which LT accuses others? Or is it sheer brilliance, based on planning, plotting, and organizing? You can decide for yourself...

So Who's The REAL Loser???

Am I the only one who thinks that Donald Trump has absolutely NO intention (and never really has) of becoming President? Apparently, I am! Ah well... What I don't understand is how everyone doesn't see that he is playing and WINNING the game according to his own rules, needs, and narcissistic insecurities. Yeah yeah, even most of my friends think that his ego is so big that he would, OF COURSE, want to be the leader of the free world AND the most powerful man in the whole world. What they are not realizing is that the real power Donald Trump seeks does not come from running this country but rather from having the entire country talking about him, thinking about him, debating about him, speculating about him, and analyzing him as we furtively and desperately try to understand what makes him tick! The real irony is that Trump actually has all that power, and more, without ever having to lift a finger to try to run this country, solve our problems, bring peace & security, answer difficult questions, or formulate any plans…he never could. Most people think he's just too arrogant to back down or too much of a bully to stop barreling through and running over anyone he disagrees with or anyone who disagrees with him. WRONG! I fervently believe that he knows that all the blustering, posturing, ranting, name-calling, and yes, bullying will give him all the attention and strokes he needs, lusts after, and desires as much as oxygen. I believe that he also knows that it’s not a job he could even remotely execute. And he further knows that the more bravado and bombast he extrudes actually grants him EXACTLY the position in which he wishes to be: that of a contender (which he is not), and a spoiler (which he could be). Once he fulfills his goal and is out of the race, he will then lecture and harangue, ad nauseum, about how WE blew the chance to get our country back on track IF ONLY we had had the foresight and courage to elect him. He will proclaim, with blatantly faux conviction, what “losers” WE are not to have chosen him. And he will continue that eruption for at least the next 8 years. Why? Because he also knows that once he loses the nomination or is eliminated from the pack, he will be in the same position as Ross Perot in 1992 and could easily determine the results of the National election. Plus, he will have easily garnered all of the coveted publicity which a man of his particular predilections so compulsively craves. And he knows, better than most, that THAT is real power. But make no mistake...at least in my opinion...he does NOT want to be President.

NOT-SO-QUICKIE! Whitney Houston

When I heard the news of Whitney Houston’s death, I let out an audible gasp. I was completely shocked…for a few seconds. And then I began to relive a lot of memories and emotions. I had been a great fan of Whitney’s for all the right reasons. That voice…that VOICE! In all of my life of listening to all kinds of music, loving all kinds of music and wanting to hear all kinds of music, her voice was at the zenith of all voices. It was pure, powerful, and pristine. It wasn’t soulful in the sense of any ethnic connection. It was soulful in the most primal of ways. Whitney created sounds and levels and timbres and resonances that seemed at perfect synchronicity with her entire being. Her placement of notes, her phrasing, her subtle nuances, her powerful command of the forceful moments, her tender and virtually transparent plying of the delicacies of resonance and reverberation…all emanated from her very core, her marrow, her sinew, her flesh...and yes, her soul. This was the Whitney Houston I loved and astonished over whenever she would sing. Did I believe that hers was the voice of an Angel? Of course not! I don’t believe in Angels and we all know that Whitney was far from being one. But that voice…that VOICE! It was the Gold standard, the Platinum standard, the Titanium standard against which ALL voices were judged. I didn’t just want to hear that voice, I needed to hear it...to help complete me, to help explain me, to help define me, to help justify me. And it did...every time! And then she imploded. She betrayed me. With both hands she threw away all semblance of the magnificence that she possessed, of the splendor her voice embodied, of the majesty that just one look could engender, of the radiant grandeur that that voice could detonated in my own soul and being. And I lost all confidence, all faith, all respect, and all need for her. She was no longer on my radar. It was a great love that had been lost and would most likely never return. But in those dark and quiet moments when other artists came and went, I could not help but feel just a small, almost insignificant burning within me that often said, “she WILL return, she will wake up, she will grow up, she will escape the repressive talons of the vultures and demons she has willingly exposed herself to and she will, like a new comet, re-enter the cosmos with all the power, beauty, confidence, and regal authority that she had always owned and seemed to hold a monopoly on for so many years. Something did happen to me the weekend she died. I was the official announcer at a large sporting event that was using the Whitney version of the Star Spangled Banner during their opening ceremony. I spoke softly into my announcers microphone: “Ladies and Gentlemen, will you please rise for the playing of the National Anthem as sung by one of the greatest voices of all time, who will be so very missed...Miss Whitney Houston.” As the lights went down and the spotlight came up on the American flag and I was surrounded by complete darkness and Whitney’s complete voice piercing both the air and my heart…I cried. Silently and quickly, as I became aware of the reality that my little spark of hope, for the return of that voice, would never be reignited.

NOT-SO-QUICKIE! Corbin Bleu

Last week I was lucky enough to see the performance of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL’S, CORBIN BLEU, as he took over the lead role of USNAVI in the Broadway Musical, IN THE HEIGHTS. What a treat!

Now, in fairness, I must say that I most likely would not have gone to see the show under normal circumstances. I doubted whether I was in the demographic to which HEIGHTS would appeal and, in all honesty, I’m not. But, because I know his parents and because his uncle is my best friend, I was invited to go and happy to support Corbin’s Broadway debut.

I gotta tell you that not only was I delighted and impressed by the acting, singing, and stage presence of this very talented, soon-to-be-twenty-one-year old, I was even more impressed and downright awed by his personal charm, style, warmth, and genuine simpatico with people…regular people...people like me! Ok , maybe I'm not THAT regular but hey...

I met Corbin at the after-show dinner, a private, family & friends affair at the delicious theatre district restaurant, Tony's Di Napoli. He was as gracious, unspoiled, and genuine as any person (celebrity or not) that I have ever met. And I have met a LOT of regular people as well as celebrities.

As I told his parents, I have chosen to give them full credit for keeping the kid grounded and anchored in the real world in spite of his enormous success. And since I know them, I also know that they deserve this credit.

Frankly, I don’t really care if you go see IN THE HEIGHTS or not. But if you are a fan of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL then you should. Or, if you’re a fan of seeing a fresh, young, very talented man who will absolutely, positively, most assuredly be making even a bigger splash in the future, you should. See him now and you will also see how he deftly handles the big stage in ways that many, MANY seasoned actors, too often, do not.

Now that I’m a fan of his, I will definitely be following his career wherever it may take him.

Way to go, Corbin!

ME & MY BLOG On the first day of Spring, The Solstice, The Beginning

I’m a guy, my name is Jack, I’m a writer and I live in NYC. And I believe that most adults act like children. That is until that age when we lose all memory of what it was like to be child-like, or teenager-like, or youthful and lust-filled-like. I believe that most children act more like adults in the simple ways they handle problems and adversity (crying and tantrums are vastly underrated). Unfortunately, that simplicity of expression is usually talked out, embarrassed out, threatened out, forced out, or beaten out of them by adults as we hit that age when we lose all memory of what it was like to be…well, you get the picture. Yes Virginia, that’s the circle of life that we cannot seem to let go of.

That’s really all you need to know about me except that I am neither a cynic nor an optimist. If you must have a handle on me, then consider me a cynical optimist and an optimistic cynic. I do believe we can be better and I do believe we all want to be loved. What I don’t believe is that most of us are capable of getting the hell out of our own way and allowing ourselves to enjoy life, respect feelings, conquer fears, quiet our souls, enjoy our passions, AND enjoy passion!

So, strap on a pair of Skorpion Skates and tool around my blog with me. Who knows, you might be as weird as I. And that’s a great start!

P.S. Feel free and empowered to comment on anything you read here or to ask me any questions about anything…please. I’ll probably have an opinion!


My blog is divided into 3 sections: Quickies, Not-So-Quickies, and TIWA’s. But not all at once.

Section 1: QUICKIES!

These are thoughts, observations, opinions, rants, raves, and general outlooks about life, love, and the weirdness of being human. This does NOT include devotees of that silly intelligent design theory. I like to call that theory “the beard for frustrated people who could almost never get laid, still can’t get laid, and very likely will never be able to get laid as much as they fantasize.” They are neither intelligent nor well designed. Let them be.

I may label each story with my own rating system based on the above and predicated, of course, on my own very biased and very non-objective views and judgments:

• GW=good weird
• BW=bad weird
• WW=weird weird

Section 2: NOT-SO-QUICKIES!!

These are short stories and experiences that may or may not have anything to do with the subjects included in the Quickies! More than likely, they will not. But they will still be irreverent when necessary, fuming when appropriate, enlightening when required, and humorous. Because there can never, ever be enough of humor. And sometimes that can actually help you get laid!

Section 3: TIWA’s (Things I Wonder About)

These are, well…things I wonder about. Little things, big things, but always brief things. I suspect that there will be a lot of things that you, too, have wondered about as you trot through life. So, let’s put ‘em out there, huh? I’m just sayin’…

And finally…Thanks for comin’.