Remember when, in a debate with Biden last September, Trump told the Proud Boys skinheads to “stand back and stand by”?
Yesterday, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio bragged about being invited to a meeting at an “undisclosed location” and posted photos taken on the White House porch. The White House denies inviting him and claims he was merely one of many on a public tour.
Whatever actually happened, members of the Proud Boys who were present in Washington DC for yesterday’s pro-Trump rally ran wild during the night, assaulting random people on the streets and vandalizing two Black churches. The pastor of one of those churches issued a public statement today, which included this paragraph:
“Sadly, we must point out that if this was a marauding group of men of color going through the city, and destroying property, they would have been followed and arrested. We are especially alarmed that this violence is not being denounced at the highest levels of our nation and instead the leaders of this movement are being invited to the White House.”
I’m with the pastor. I think the White House denial is bullshit, and that Trump invited Tarrio to the White House. Nothing is too petty, too small, or too vicious for Donald Trump. It would be entirely in character for him, in a fit of loser spite, to pull the trigger on the kind of white supremacist street violence we saw last night.
Thirty-seven more days. Dear lord.
When I was in grad school, I addressed PhD professors as “Doctor.” I looked on it as a courtesy title, a rather undemocratic one at that, a nod to caste and privilege in a society that prides itself on having none, and always told myself if I ever earned a doctorate I’d never put “Dr.” in front of my name. After reading this obnoxious Wall Street Journal op-ed, I have revised my opinion. And I will certainly forevermore refer to our new First Lady as Doctor Jill Biden.
Our deal with the neighbor, who was going to cut down two dead trees on our lot, is off. It became clear to us there were problems and we are now turning to professionals to finish the job. As we should have done in the first place. Sorry to vagueblog, but I’m reluctant to share details in case other neighbors might read what I write here.
Elsewhere on the neighborhood front, as president of the homeowner’s association it falls to me to try to fix a problem with Waste Management, the company that picks up our garbage every week. And boy oh boy do I ever think of Tony Soprano every time I have to deal with them! Anyway, past HOA presidents made a deal with WM that WM is now pretending doesn’t exist. I have some old documents spelling out what was originally agreed to, and after a morning of detective work now have a contact to call. Wish me luck!