When I heard about the salute Musk made I thought of Ken White’s “Rule of Goats”. It’ll be interesting to see who wins the Bannon/Musk fight over immigration. And a few other things I imagine.
Writing from the next day’s perspective, I really wish I had the cash for an immigrant’s visa to Australia. I think nuclear non-proliferation is dead, and we’re not far enough downwind of any place in the northern hemisphere. I fear Trump is entirely likely to stumble into a war close at home. Neither he nor the people around him have paid any attention to the drone war in Ukraine and all of Texas and the southwest are vulnerable. Nevermind a probable insurgency in those states.
Didn’t watch the speech. Went for a walk, did some reading.
I fear you didn't move far enough away. A country who chose a president who eschews the rule of law and permanent damage to our planet is a frightening place.
Lynda, thanks so much. You and Bill have certainly taken the lead in standing up for what is best in the country. Deb and I miss you and look forward to seeing you again. In whatever locale.
Thinking about the visuals of Melania and the thought of $40,000,000 tossed to the wind for a hagiography of her. (Anything to avoid thinking more about Trump's frenzy of retribution today.)
Most of our male politicians have wives who have come up in the political world of the US. Those women have (mostly) had to learn that they were part of the package that is the candidate, whether they like it or not. (Michelle Obama's book is a wonderful example of trying to negotiate that role.) And they have grown up seeing the role of political wife or First Lady at least from a distance. We who grew up in the US "know" that a First Lady has to at least pretend to be interested in things like the history of the White House and that she should choose a more typically female and relatively uncontroversial area to shine in. (Hillary Clinton's choice of health care policy was a huge misstep for her way back when because she dared to have plans for health care and to try to implement them). Ditto for Rosalyn Carter's role.
A First Lady's clothes should mostly be American designed and made and be conventionally pretty. Think Jill Biden's appearance. The only time I ever saw a photo of Melania where she looked comfortable in her clothes was when she arrived back in Miami wearing a Palm Beach matron's caftan on the way to hanging out at the pool.
Melania knows none of these things about the "correct" role of a First Lady and is not interested in any of them. She never got the message that her appearance should somehow be relatable to ordinary women. She comes from a political culture where wives who are not politicians themselves have no public role. Her command of English is not great in a country where there is always suspicion of people who speak too many languages other than English. In some ways she is a throwback to a day when lives were shorter and where the real goal of a later wife was to ensure that her child became the chosen one out of a rabble of children all scheming for their own advantage. Think of the court of Henry VIII, described in a just published history, "The Waiting Game" where female power was exercised through positioning daughters of the aristocracy in the court hierarchy surrounding each queen consort in hopes that this would ensure a powerful and rich marriage for those daughters and power for their sons. This, I suspect, is why Melania sticks it out with Trump. Her goals for herself are to promote Barron to be the chosen one among Trump's multiple and scheming heirs. How she appears to the world outside King Donald's court is meaningless.
Thank you for watching and listening for us (for me, at least). I had a media-free day yesterday and felt the need to have a soul cleansing experience; so I listened to Beethoven’s late quartet No. 13, opus 130. Trump will come and go, but Beethoven gives us hope.
One of my similar-spirited plans for the next few months away from DC, in addition to seeing relatives and following some California stories, is seeing if i can revive two activities I actually spent a lot of time on long ago. Playing tennis and playing the piano. Worth a try.
Your frustration and disappointment come through loud and clear -- and you have earned the right to depart occasionally from your usual measured tone. Enjoy the escape from DC; I hope the Cirrus will join you out in CA before too long!
This! This little Cirrus is happily chugging its way around Central Ohio these days. That's another story which I will tell soon.
(After 25 adventuresome and knock-wood incident-free years flying our little planes all over the country, including landings in all 48 CONUS states plus adjoining countries, we decided it made sense to quit while we are ahead as airplane *owners*. Still interested in flying them, but that will mean rentals. I'll tell this story soon.
I watched the inauguration as well. I also rubberneck traffic accidents. Personal failing.
The question going in was what type of awful would it be, and what would be the visuals. The only thing I can add to the observations of the narcissism, pessimism, and the outright lies, and the weird God thing (and why has God gotten out of the smiting habit? Would come in so handy now), is that for the most part the vaunted executive orders he described in his speech were so meaninglessly performative. No substance, just foot stomping. Of course, the meaningful stuff came tonight like no more $35 insulin, leaving the World Health Organization, teeing up litigation on whether the 14th Amendment really counts (hold your breath as this SCOTUS has no problem with reading out troublesome constitutional provisions), a backdoor effort to revivify Schedule F, withdrawing from the Paris climate treaty, etc.
The visuals were fascinating. Oligarchs given pride of place in the audience before GOP governors and Cabinet picks, Trump not touching the Bible as if it was poison, his almost kiss with Melania (such a transactional marriage), Vance ignoring his wife except during the actual swearing in (having Kavanaugh up there was intentionally meant to rub it in), Musk stimming (I guess he is on the spectrum--I wonder if the Nazi salute was a stim, although a strange way to comfort yourself). The whole event was off-putting.
So you're in California, Jim? If you get down to San Diego, stop by for a beer and some tacos.
I hadn't thought to use 'stimmming' to describe what Musk is doing, but that does seem to be the mot just. And, you're right, a lot of the "OK, now it's getting serious" stuff, from insulin-price to the 14th amendment and citizen ship, came later in the day.
If the salute was just a tic, from some underlying Musk condition — well, maybe that's better, but he's got to say something about it. As someone mentioned, otherwise it is too much like Dr. Strangelove.
Will see you in SD. (We'll be there for sure for a week in July, for the Esri conference, and we have projects and allies at UCSD and elsewhere.)
Glad you fixed the sentence with the second footnote about SD’s Mount Rushmore. I read the emailed version and was happy to see it corrected here.
FDR should have been on Mount Rushmore, but work on it began in 1927 before he was elected President. FDR did attend the 1936 dedication of the Jefferson sculpture.
Reynold, thanks -- it was one of those things I noticed about 10 seconds after pushing "Send." Ah, the perils of low-staffing-level publications. Got it fixed right after that, but not before all the email versions had gone out. Thanks for noticing, and rising above it!
Totally understand wanting to ration your exposure to the new admin for mental health reasons. But for those who CANNOT watch this stuff for mental health reasons, like me, must say you are precisely the interpretive perspective on this stuff I need. Thanks.
Yes! It had been really, really cold the previous few days, lows well below freezing, and the plane would never have started without pre-heating. They put on the cord about 24 hours before we went out there for the flight.
I was sweating bullets to see if the engine would actually turn over. (It did.) And the oil was already heated enough (maybe 100F) that the engine could run without damage.
Jim, welcome to the world of Mr. Bitcoin and MUSKrat, neither of whom give a damn about our United States of America.
They are soulless grifters who have taken over a well-managed ship of state and now have a rudderless ship floundering in domestic and global shoals.
Normally I would have been aghast that an American president felt required to pardon many people who have served well my country. This was unprecedented. But with Trump’s staccato promises of political retaliation and the prospect of Bondi as Attorney General and Kash Patel (arguably the very worst of Trump’s appointees) as FBI hatchet man, no self respecting American is safe from being targeted unjustly. Trump is s master of false suits intended to bankrupt the target.
Seeking to ‘analyze’ Trump’s inaugural blithering is akin to sorting out relative quality in a sewer. I shall leave this task to others.
My best hope is that Trump and his sycophants, including the mega billionaires, will ultimately disgust a majority of Americans and that, in the 2026 congressional elections, the ‘Trump cult’ will be significantly secularized.
Mr. Fallows, you did a great service for your readers by suffering through his spewings so we don’t have to. I have muted his voice for years because I just can’t stand His Orangeness
Thanks! It did seem pretty much like an ordeal this morning. Especially on the fifteenth or so repetition of "like no one has ever seen before." At least he didn't tell a "Sir" story — or I may have tuned it out.
Even though I only read about the Coronation of the wannabe king and have neither listened to or watched any of it, it was still a sad, sad day. I am glad once again that my parents passed away years ago and would not have to see Musk give a Nazi salute--twice. Did you see the look on Musk's face? Frightening. Who will really run this country? Musk? Miller? Hegseth? Patel? I think Vance has already been put out to pasture. I realize that Trump's grievances and desire for retribution are mainly his and reflect his mentally deranged mind but beyond his new money minting crypto scheme I think he will run out of steam pretty quickly. But his minions are just getting started.
In desperation for some humor (I do like snark) I appreciated Caitlin Flanagan's piece, "Michelle Doesn't Want to Go to Barack's Work Thing" in The Atlantic this morning. Of course Melania's hat was strange. All her clothing choices are strange--as is her taste in husbands.
Don't count out Thiel. Vance is his boy and there is bound to be an effort to push him forward. Oligarchs are courtiers and destabilizing intrigue is part and parcel of such systems.
Yes, the through-line in everything Trump does is grievance and resentment. And I fear that the people around him are less clownishly incompetent this time around than they were eight years ago,
The OED says your last word occurs only 0.2 times in every million words of written English. And naturally this: "The earliest known use of the noun 'malignity' is in the Middle English period (1150—1500). OED's earliest evidence for malignity is from around 1390, in the writing of Geoffrey Chaucer, poet and administrator."
I had typed out "malign-ness," and that looked weird and ugly. "Malevolence?" More normal word but somehow not right. So I thought: if we can have "dignity" and "fidelity" and "probity," why not "malignity"? QED Now I know its history!
I was envious because I didn't know the word. Thought "History and Lit?" So much better that you actually made it up! Basically reviving its use after 735 years (modern usage had been twice in every 10 million written words?!?) and climbing right up there with Chaucer, who did the same in 1390. Gratz.
Thanks for reminding me of the wisdom of my ongoing commitment to never, ever listen to a word that charlatan has to say.
It's like the sewage system in my local community. I know how important it is, and I'm extremely grateful to those who are willing to tolerate the smell for the good of us all, but I have absolutely no desire to go anywhere near it.
The only difference is that the local sewage system actually does some good.
Thanks. I figured I owed it to myself to watch this inaugural address, as I watch most SOTUs, just because of having read and seen so many of them over the years.
Yes, sewer systems are indispensable! By contrast...
When I heard about the salute Musk made I thought of Ken White’s “Rule of Goats”. It’ll be interesting to see who wins the Bannon/Musk fight over immigration. And a few other things I imagine.
Writing from the next day’s perspective, I really wish I had the cash for an immigrant’s visa to Australia. I think nuclear non-proliferation is dead, and we’re not far enough downwind of any place in the northern hemisphere. I fear Trump is entirely likely to stumble into a war close at home. Neither he nor the people around him have paid any attention to the drone war in Ukraine and all of Texas and the southwest are vulnerable. Nevermind a probable insurgency in those states.
Didn’t watch the speech. Went for a walk, did some reading.
"But have you seen the price of eggs?"
Sigh. I wish I could dispute your predictions / analyses.
Dear wonderful former neighbors,
I fear you didn't move far enough away. A country who chose a president who eschews the rule of law and permanent damage to our planet is a frightening place.
Lynda, thanks so much. You and Bill have certainly taken the lead in standing up for what is best in the country. Deb and I miss you and look forward to seeing you again. In whatever locale.
I’m sure you will succeed, Jim. Happy trails to you and Deb in California!
Thinking about the visuals of Melania and the thought of $40,000,000 tossed to the wind for a hagiography of her. (Anything to avoid thinking more about Trump's frenzy of retribution today.)
Most of our male politicians have wives who have come up in the political world of the US. Those women have (mostly) had to learn that they were part of the package that is the candidate, whether they like it or not. (Michelle Obama's book is a wonderful example of trying to negotiate that role.) And they have grown up seeing the role of political wife or First Lady at least from a distance. We who grew up in the US "know" that a First Lady has to at least pretend to be interested in things like the history of the White House and that she should choose a more typically female and relatively uncontroversial area to shine in. (Hillary Clinton's choice of health care policy was a huge misstep for her way back when because she dared to have plans for health care and to try to implement them). Ditto for Rosalyn Carter's role.
A First Lady's clothes should mostly be American designed and made and be conventionally pretty. Think Jill Biden's appearance. The only time I ever saw a photo of Melania where she looked comfortable in her clothes was when she arrived back in Miami wearing a Palm Beach matron's caftan on the way to hanging out at the pool.
Melania knows none of these things about the "correct" role of a First Lady and is not interested in any of them. She never got the message that her appearance should somehow be relatable to ordinary women. She comes from a political culture where wives who are not politicians themselves have no public role. Her command of English is not great in a country where there is always suspicion of people who speak too many languages other than English. In some ways she is a throwback to a day when lives were shorter and where the real goal of a later wife was to ensure that her child became the chosen one out of a rabble of children all scheming for their own advantage. Think of the court of Henry VIII, described in a just published history, "The Waiting Game" where female power was exercised through positioning daughters of the aristocracy in the court hierarchy surrounding each queen consort in hopes that this would ensure a powerful and rich marriage for those daughters and power for their sons. This, I suspect, is why Melania sticks it out with Trump. Her goals for herself are to promote Barron to be the chosen one among Trump's multiple and scheming heirs. How she appears to the world outside King Donald's court is meaningless.
Elegant and convincing, thanks.
Thank you for watching and listening for us (for me, at least). I had a media-free day yesterday and felt the need to have a soul cleansing experience; so I listened to Beethoven’s late quartet No. 13, opus 130. Trump will come and go, but Beethoven gives us hope.
Bruce, and example to us all, as always.
One of my similar-spirited plans for the next few months away from DC, in addition to seeing relatives and following some California stories, is seeing if i can revive two activities I actually spent a lot of time on long ago. Playing tennis and playing the piano. Worth a try.
Your frustration and disappointment come through loud and clear -- and you have earned the right to depart occasionally from your usual measured tone. Enjoy the escape from DC; I hope the Cirrus will join you out in CA before too long!
This! This little Cirrus is happily chugging its way around Central Ohio these days. That's another story which I will tell soon.
(After 25 adventuresome and knock-wood incident-free years flying our little planes all over the country, including landings in all 48 CONUS states plus adjoining countries, we decided it made sense to quit while we are ahead as airplane *owners*. Still interested in flying them, but that will mean rentals. I'll tell this story soon.
I watched the inauguration as well. I also rubberneck traffic accidents. Personal failing.
The question going in was what type of awful would it be, and what would be the visuals. The only thing I can add to the observations of the narcissism, pessimism, and the outright lies, and the weird God thing (and why has God gotten out of the smiting habit? Would come in so handy now), is that for the most part the vaunted executive orders he described in his speech were so meaninglessly performative. No substance, just foot stomping. Of course, the meaningful stuff came tonight like no more $35 insulin, leaving the World Health Organization, teeing up litigation on whether the 14th Amendment really counts (hold your breath as this SCOTUS has no problem with reading out troublesome constitutional provisions), a backdoor effort to revivify Schedule F, withdrawing from the Paris climate treaty, etc.
The visuals were fascinating. Oligarchs given pride of place in the audience before GOP governors and Cabinet picks, Trump not touching the Bible as if it was poison, his almost kiss with Melania (such a transactional marriage), Vance ignoring his wife except during the actual swearing in (having Kavanaugh up there was intentionally meant to rub it in), Musk stimming (I guess he is on the spectrum--I wonder if the Nazi salute was a stim, although a strange way to comfort yourself). The whole event was off-putting.
So you're in California, Jim? If you get down to San Diego, stop by for a beer and some tacos.
I hadn't thought to use 'stimmming' to describe what Musk is doing, but that does seem to be the mot just. And, you're right, a lot of the "OK, now it's getting serious" stuff, from insulin-price to the 14th amendment and citizen ship, came later in the day.
If the salute was just a tic, from some underlying Musk condition — well, maybe that's better, but he's got to say something about it. As someone mentioned, otherwise it is too much like Dr. Strangelove.
Will see you in SD. (We'll be there for sure for a week in July, for the Esri conference, and we have projects and allies at UCSD and elsewhere.)
Looking forward to your visit.
Glad you fixed the sentence with the second footnote about SD’s Mount Rushmore. I read the emailed version and was happy to see it corrected here.
FDR should have been on Mount Rushmore, but work on it began in 1927 before he was elected President. FDR did attend the 1936 dedication of the Jefferson sculpture.
Reynold, thanks -- it was one of those things I noticed about 10 seconds after pushing "Send." Ah, the perils of low-staffing-level publications. Got it fixed right after that, but not before all the email versions had gone out. Thanks for noticing, and rising above it!
Totally understand wanting to ration your exposure to the new admin for mental health reasons. But for those who CANNOT watch this stuff for mental health reasons, like me, must say you are precisely the interpretive perspective on this stuff I need. Thanks.
I'm grateful for your understanding and support!
Was that an electric cord for a block heater for your engine?
Yes! It had been really, really cold the previous few days, lows well below freezing, and the plane would never have started without pre-heating. They put on the cord about 24 hours before we went out there for the flight.
I was sweating bullets to see if the engine would actually turn over. (It did.) And the oil was already heated enough (maybe 100F) that the engine could run without damage.
Jim, welcome to the world of Mr. Bitcoin and MUSKrat, neither of whom give a damn about our United States of America.
They are soulless grifters who have taken over a well-managed ship of state and now have a rudderless ship floundering in domestic and global shoals.
Normally I would have been aghast that an American president felt required to pardon many people who have served well my country. This was unprecedented. But with Trump’s staccato promises of political retaliation and the prospect of Bondi as Attorney General and Kash Patel (arguably the very worst of Trump’s appointees) as FBI hatchet man, no self respecting American is safe from being targeted unjustly. Trump is s master of false suits intended to bankrupt the target.
Seeking to ‘analyze’ Trump’s inaugural blithering is akin to sorting out relative quality in a sewer. I shall leave this task to others.
My best hope is that Trump and his sycophants, including the mega billionaires, will ultimately disgust a majority of Americans and that, in the 2026 congressional elections, the ‘Trump cult’ will be significantly secularized.
Keith, thank you. Agree with your diagnosis, and prescription.
Mr. Fallows, you did a great service for your readers by suffering through his spewings so we don’t have to. I have muted his voice for years because I just can’t stand His Orangeness
Thanks! It did seem pretty much like an ordeal this morning. Especially on the fifteenth or so repetition of "like no one has ever seen before." At least he didn't tell a "Sir" story — or I may have tuned it out.
Even though I only read about the Coronation of the wannabe king and have neither listened to or watched any of it, it was still a sad, sad day. I am glad once again that my parents passed away years ago and would not have to see Musk give a Nazi salute--twice. Did you see the look on Musk's face? Frightening. Who will really run this country? Musk? Miller? Hegseth? Patel? I think Vance has already been put out to pasture. I realize that Trump's grievances and desire for retribution are mainly his and reflect his mentally deranged mind but beyond his new money minting crypto scheme I think he will run out of steam pretty quickly. But his minions are just getting started.
In desperation for some humor (I do like snark) I appreciated Caitlin Flanagan's piece, "Michelle Doesn't Want to Go to Barack's Work Thing" in The Atlantic this morning. Of course Melania's hat was strange. All her clothing choices are strange--as is her taste in husbands.
Don't count out Thiel. Vance is his boy and there is bound to be an effort to push him forward. Oligarchs are courtiers and destabilizing intrigue is part and parcel of such systems.
Yes, the through-line in everything Trump does is grievance and resentment. And I fear that the people around him are less clownishly incompetent this time around than they were eight years ago,
So sorry, Jim, that you actually had to watch and listen to Trump's b..s. Service above and beyond the call of duty!
Tom, thanks! Appreciate it. Hope to see you on a visit to our homeland.
The HAT! Thank gawd you got the hat, Jim. And brought it right back to the jacket!
Bill, thank you! In her own way, she is a perfect match for him, in narcissism and malignity.
The OED says your last word occurs only 0.2 times in every million words of written English. And naturally this: "The earliest known use of the noun 'malignity' is in the Middle English period (1150—1500). OED's earliest evidence for malignity is from around 1390, in the writing of Geoffrey Chaucer, poet and administrator."
I had typed out "malign-ness," and that looked weird and ugly. "Malevolence?" More normal word but somehow not right. So I thought: if we can have "dignity" and "fidelity" and "probity," why not "malignity"? QED Now I know its history!
I was envious because I didn't know the word. Thought "History and Lit?" So much better that you actually made it up! Basically reviving its use after 735 years (modern usage had been twice in every 10 million written words?!?) and climbing right up there with Chaucer, who did the same in 1390. Gratz.
Thanks for reminding me of the wisdom of my ongoing commitment to never, ever listen to a word that charlatan has to say.
It's like the sewage system in my local community. I know how important it is, and I'm extremely grateful to those who are willing to tolerate the smell for the good of us all, but I have absolutely no desire to go anywhere near it.
The only difference is that the local sewage system actually does some good.
Thanks. I figured I owed it to myself to watch this inaugural address, as I watch most SOTUs, just because of having read and seen so many of them over the years.
Yes, sewer systems are indispensable! By contrast...