Donald Trump

Trump Leaves People To Suffer In Silence

Trump Leaves People To Suffer In Silence

Two weeks ago, I wrote about tinnitus - that maddening condition of hearing phantom ringing, hissing, or pulsating sounds that aren’t there. To my surprise, the reaction from readers was overwhelming. Emails and messages have been pouring in and I’m still working my way through them (apologies to anyone I haven’t replied to yet).

It turns out many of you, including people I’ve known for years, have been quietly battling tinnitus without ever speaking about it. Some have theories about the cause - standing too close to deafening speakers at gigs, car accidents, or the creeping effects of aging. Others have no clue. One day, the infernal noise just started and hasn’t stopped since….

,

Teaching Racism While Eating Cats and Dogs…

,
Teaching Racism While Eating Cats and Dogs…

How Trump’s delusional lies about immigrants fuels a deeper worry about Irish schoolbooks…

By any sane assessment, an angry and unprepared Donald Trump lost heavily in the ABC News Presidential Debate on Tuesday night last, against a confident and joyful Kamala Harris. He lied, as he does, forcing factchecks from the moderators and was easily baited by the barbed remarks of his opponent; into ridiculous claims of; his vast crowd sizes; that he had nothing to do with the January 6 attack on the Capital which was the fault of Nancy Pelosi; a migrant crime wave was sweeping the country and Haitians were eating the pets of residents in Springfield, Ohio (the last a crazy lie which normally would have concerned relatives googling costs of nursing homes).

IRISH ‘MAGA’ supporters and a canary-yellow shirt

IRISH ‘MAGA’ supporters and a canary-yellow shirt

What possessed me to wear a canary-yellow shirt to the Fianna Fáil meeting in Ballina? I was glowing in a sea of monochrome jackets, jumpers and tops, only matched by my throbbing red face. Most of the other party faithful, representing the various ‘cumann’ or local party branches in the North Mayo region, were gathered in the large, weakly lit ballroom of the Downhill Hotel. The backslapping, laughter and excited chatter had spilled slowly in, but then quickly fanned away from the TV crew from Dublin ensconced inside the door, creating a large empty gap where only a careless or unwary visitor would stray… or someone in a canary-yellow shirt.

America may be talking itself into a civil war

America may be talking itself into a civil war

As I crossed the pedestrian walkway, a flatbed truck driver leaned out his window and unleashed a barrage of angry words at me. The wind swallowed most of his rant, but the essence was clear: he was furious, and his fury was aimed at “Democrats”, “budgets”, and “billions of dollars”. My puzzled expression likely only heightened the veins bulging in his neck. With a final, dismissive curse, he sped away, his old truck groaning under the strain, but not before glaring at me through his rear-view mirror. The faded U.S. flag sticker on his window was a faint clue to his political leanings, though I was more perplexed by why he assumed I was a Democrat. Was it my outdated 1990s attire—jeans, shirt, and blazer combo—that my wife swears she will leave me if I wear again?

Gotcha! How Trump outsmarts the Media

Gotcha! How Trump outsmarts the Media

It is one of the most memorable moments in movie history. Set in a stifling courtroom, during one of the final scenes of Aaron Sorkin’s A Few Good Men, Jack Nicholson (as Colonel Jessep) delivers his greatest monologue, relishing the opportunity to teach Tom Cruise (as upstart lawyer Lieutenant Kaffee) a few home truths of his iron-fisted command over Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. However, Cruise’s character has instead set a ‘gotcha’ trap for his ego-charged superior, with the provoking demand ‘I want the truth!’. Without awareness of his hubris and impending legal peril, Jessep famously replies with, ‘You can't handle the truth!’ and then is drawn him into admitting that he ordered an illegal punishment of another soldier, resulting in his arrest on the stand. It is one of the ultimate gotchas of our shared cinema culture.

The Risks of Second-in-Command

The Risks of Second-in-Command

Vice-presidential nominees have “virtually no impact,” according to Donald Trump, when recently asked if J.D. Vance would be ready to take over "on day one, if he has to be." This clear snub of his running mate when speaking to the National Association of Black Journalists, had less to do with Trump’s thoughtful analysis of voters’ intentions during presidential elections and more to do with the fact that the twice-impeached and criminally convicted former president cannot abide sharing the limelight with anyone — not even where a supportive platitude would help their shared ticket and therefore his electoral chances.

Biden is no old Irish hero

Biden is no old Irish hero

Making Irish boring was a feature of the Irish educational system, rather than a bug. Learning Tóraíocht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne (or Pursuit of Diarmaid and Gráinne), the epic retelling of a love triangle between the aging warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill, his loyal follower Diarmaid, and the beautiful and wily Gráinne, should have ensured rapt teenage attention with its tales of illicit sex and bloodthirsty feuds. Yet, I was bored senseless by the focus on grammar and pronunciation, with the wild language tamed into anaemic English approximations. I remembered thinking, as I stared out the window of Mrs. Mahon’s Irish class in Gortnor Abbey, why didn’t old Fionn just let the young lovers be? Why risk all your accomplishments in an obsessive pursuit of a young woman who found you too old and wanted a younger lover?

Underestimating Trump

Underestimating Trump

Donald Trump is exceptional. Is there any other politician anywhere who would have had their wits about them to reflexively know to seize the iconic photo opportunity, seconds after a would-be-assassin shot his right ear? His stump speech on 13 July, at an election campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was cut short by loud cracks of gunfire and bright red blood splattering over his face and hands, as the former president dropped to the floor beside the podium. While his gaggle of secret service manhandled him back up and away, Trump seemed to instinctively know where the cameras were, clenching a victory fist to the sky towards his audience, before being quickly shuffled away to safety. With the American flag billowing over his head, he was reenacting Rocky or Rambo for generations who grew up in the certainty of American exceptionalism. More than anything this is what sets him apart from his peers. He innately understands how to garner publicity to his advantage. He always did.

A Two Horse Race

A Two Horse Race

Following the notorious recent presidential debate hosted by CNN, The Hill reported on July 1st from a Harvard CAPS/Harris poll that 72% of voters have already decided who they will vote for in the upcoming election, with 58% of Independents, 16% of Republicans, and 28% of Democrats yet to decide. Meanwhile, Trump leads Biden in a head-to-head match-up in the poll by 6 points. Since then polling suggests that Biden has lost further valuable ground in swing states due to the public’s reaction to his dismal debate performance. These seven crucial states, where less than a hundred thousand votes can swing the election either way, have the Democratic Party in turmoil over whether Joe Biden should be the nominee to contest the upcoming election against Donald Trump.

‘If he runs, it’s over. Period’.

‘If he runs, it’s over. Period’.

‘If he runs, it’s over, period’ — the text glared at me from my phone, and I was at a loss for words. We had just left my local Ralph’s grocery store, the evening breeze offering a welcome break from the relentless summer heat of Southern California. A young couple stood by the fast food truck, intently listening to the CNN Presidential debate on the young man’s smartphone. They didn’t appear Eastern-European, and those who did weren’t paying attention to either Donald Trump or Joe Biden, instead going about their day — shopping, chatting at outdoor restaurant tables in Armenian or Russian, or hurrying home. My phone was buzzing with messages from my older Jewish friend in New York: ‘Are you watching the debate? We are in deep shit.’

Shooting dogs and goats, and not meeting Kim Jong Un

Shooting dogs and goats, and not meeting Kim Jong Un

Since January 2019, Kristi Noem has been the formidable Governor of South Dakota and her uncompromising conservative positions on taxation, healthcare and gun rights would have in any case made her a leading candidate for Donald Trump’s running mate in this year’s election. Aside from being articulate, striking in appearance and appearing politically savvy, she received national attention for her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, opting against statewide lockdowns and mandates. Noem is a vocal supporter of Trump's policies and has adopted similar stances on key issues such as immigration, economic policy and law enforcement. But this was all before she dragged her dog and goat, and Kim Jong Un, into the national conversation.

The trial everyone is talking about

The trial everyone is talking about

As the warm Californian evening falls, the latest news beams out from large flatscreen TVs across the stacked rows of apartments visible from our living room window. Few residents feel the need to close their blinds in this balmy weather, instead leaving windows and doors open, creating an almost Mediterranean atmosphere. Excited voices of TV anchors vying with shrieks of playful children, drift upwards to our terrace. Inside, my wife exclaims periodically as she watches the sharp summaries of the day’s events in ad-spliced YouTube videos.