Before I rant, please pause with me for a moment and consider this:
The victims recovered were identified as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, who was from Mexico and lived in Baltimore, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, who was from Guatemala and lived in Dundalk, Md. They were found together inside a pickup truck beneath approximately 25 feet of water.
Other victims who have been identified included Maynor Suazo Sandoval, 38, from Honduras and Miguel Luna from El Salvador. Sandoval, the father of a 5-year-old and 17-year-old, left his small town in Honduras nearly two decades ago but remained closely tied to his family there, a relative told The Post. Luna, from El Salvador, was a father of three and worked for the construction company for about 15 years.
Immigrants, all. Hard-working, family men, filling potholes in the dark of night to support their families—and to keep the rest of us safe. Several of the victims were not named; they were probably illegal. These are the people whom Donald Trump calls “vermin.”
Actually, when I read about these men, my first thought went to another bridge—The Brooklyn Bridge—whose construction workers were also immigrants, who also suffered terribly as they built the underwater stanchions. It was an historic enterprise, brilliantly recounted in David McCollough’s The Great Bridge. At least a dozen died. Many others were crippled by a condition called “the bends,” or decompression sickness. They were called “Sandhogs.” They were immigrants, too, of course. Most of them were Irish; the next generation of sandhogs, who tunneled the New York subways were mostly Italian. And I would like to know—since we’re all about ethnic legacies these days—how many of their descendants are Trumpers now?. How many consider the Latin Americans who lost their lives on the bridge as members of a lesser species—a different blood—than their ancestors? How many of them buy the hogwash about the Key Bridge disaster being peddled by disgrace-at-every-turn wing of the Republican Party:
Utah state Rep. Phil Lyman (R) blamed DEI policies for the bridge collapse. The Utah gubernatorial candidate running against Gov. Spencer Cox (R) shared a post online attacking Port of Baltimore Commissioner Karenthia Barber, a Black woman whose biography says she owns a consulting practice that takes on work related to DEI. Responding to the post about Barber’s background, Lyman wrote on X on Tuesday morning that “this is what happens when you have Governors who prioritize diversity over the wellbeing and security of citizens.” In a subsequent post referencing the collision, he said: “DEI = DIE.”
Now, as regular readers know, I consider DEI programs to be dreadful. (See below.) But that’s not what the Key Bridge disaster was about: It was an accident. Period.
And it makes me wonder how low—how stupid, how loathsome, how perversely immoral—the Trumpers can go. I know this is a constant refrain, and I could probably express my outrage on a daily basis, but still—sometimes you just have to scream in anger and frustration. For example:
Donald Trump is selling Bibles. This is several floors down the escalator below his peddling the world’s ugliest sneakers. One can only ask: Who is profiting from these sales? The poor? The meek? Those without clothing or shelter? The prisoners? (Well, maybe one particular future inmate.) This is a sociopath trying to make a buck off the most important words ever written. I’ll be curious about the sales, though we’ll probably not get an accurate count. But, what kind of American would buy a Bible from a man who speaks like a sewer, a convicted rapist who defamed his victim and a full-fledged traitor who tried to overthrow the American government? If you are a literal believer in the Bible, especially the Old Testament, and you’ve followed The Don’s exploits closely, you have to wonder why Yahweh hasn’t smote this creep with a bolt of lightening or turned him into a pillar of salt.
And then, there’s this, also today: Richard Grenell, an Orange employee has apparently been running a shadow Trumpist foreign policy across the world. He tried to intervene to overturn an election in Guatemala that legitimately brought a non-Trumpist to power. I don’t know if there are statutes that cover this, but Grenell should never be allowed to serve the U.S. government again.
And then, there’s this, via Tom Edsall, from the Republican candidate for Governor of North Carolina:
In February 2018, [Mark] Robinson, the first Black lieutenant governor of the state, described on Facebook his view of survivors of school shootings who then publicly call for gun control. They are “media prosti-tots” who suffer from “the liberal syndrome of rectal cranial inversion mixed with a healthy dose of just plain evil and stupid permeating your hallways.”
In a March 2018 post on Facebook, Robinson declared: “This foolishness about Hitler disarming MILLIONS of Jews and then marching them off to concentration camps is a bunch of hogwash.”
In an October 2021 sermon in a North Carolina church, Robinson told parishioners, “There’s no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth. And yes, I called it filth.”
Can there be anything lower than this? The man is the Republican candidate for Governor of North Carolina. Can our democracy survive such people? Is this cynicism or just pure evil?
I have very limited patience with the politically correct, government-can-do-it-all, let’s-ignore-the-border Democratic Party (see below…and there’s much more in the Sanity Archives), but the Republican Party has become a national obscenity. I believe democracies are best governed by moderate conservative parties. We sure could use one now.
Non Sequitur
I’ve admired Tessie McMillan Cottom as a writer. I’ve learned from her occasional New York Times columns, so I was happy to see she had one today Then I started to read:
The moral panic about “woke” campuses has metastasized into actual legislation, and not just in the swampy idylls of Florida. Last week the governor of Alabama signed a bill that purports to limit the teaching of “divisive” topics in its colleges and universities. The bill is similar to Florida’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in public colleges, which was signed into law last May. Both are all-out attacks on learning by excommunicating liberal ideas from the classroom.
This is utter nonsense. It’s like comparing apples and freight trains. I am—you just have to be—in favor of teaching “divisive” topics in college. I am utterly opposed to DEI programs, which have absolutely nothing to do with what is taught in the classroom—at least, they shouldn’t have. This continues the distressing Times pattern of being really craven about race. Yes, slavery has to be taught. If you don’t learn the sordid details, you can not be considered a truly educated American. If you take a Modern European history course where Mein Kampf isn’t required reading, you’re not getting the full picture. And so on. But making distinctions according to race—as DEI hiring programs do—is a questionable policy at best. And equating the two is just sloppy. C’mon Times people, tighten it up. And, Ms. Cottom, I’ll continue to read you despite this lapse.
How To Hire A Trumper
The embarrassment at NBC continues—and at the other networks, too. The executives, who seem wildly uninformed when it comes to American politics, just don’t to see the very obvious bright line: It is not okay to hire someone who supports illegal acts, like trying to overthrow the government of the United States, but it should be mandatory that the roster of commentators—all of whom are just, just beautiful people; look at their teeth!—include some people who support Trump’s right-wing populist positions.
I am sure there is an academic, or a journalist, somewhere who believes Trump lost the 2020 election, but:
The southern border should be closed, no matter the human cost.
We have no business supporting Ukraine.
We should downgrade NATO.
DEI programs—see above—are fundamentally misguided.
We should increase tariffs on goods from China, regardless of the consequences.
The government should not pick winners in questionable technologies, like electric cars.
It’s okay to post the Ten Commandments in schools.
Teachers should be armed.
Abortion shouldn’t be legal, except for the life of the mother, after 15 weeks.
I could go on. I disagree with almost all of these positions, but a real debate on the issues would be very good—indeed, healthy—for the country.
Pitch
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The essence of trump's cult is lies; I don't think it is possible to be maga without believing - and spouting - lies. We must be careful not to confuse conservatism with trump's cultism. Liz Cheney is as conservative as they get; we should be looking to her (instead of a lying opportunistic toady like Ronna McDaniel) to present the honest conservative view. Why isn't she out there more? Am I missing her? I think there is no overlap between honest conservatism and trumpist cultism. My hair is on fire.
Joe, your obsession with all things Trump is making your substack hard to read.