Cultural Issues

Where's the blogs?  It's been weeks and you haven't written anything!!

The problem is, I've run out of interesting things to say about current events.  It's hard to be a blogger who strives to educate on environmental inefficiencies or political whimsy when the news media has done it already ad nauseam. 

Should I write about Brother Michael Cohen's testimony?  Trump's failed summit with a known track record of human rights abuses? More Grateful Dead?  Beyond their song "loser" it's hard to associate any Dead song with this President.  I'm not sure he likes music anyway.

And, maybe that's it.  Maybe what's bothering us most about Trump is his seeming lack of humanity because he had no depth.  He has no cultural stake in this world.  He's here to make money and push an extreme vision of the Republican agenda, with or without the party's help.  His one known cultural luxury has been golf, which, I believe, is seen as a rich man's game.  Hell, you get your own slave to carry your clubs!  How great is that?  What a throwback!  It's winter, and so, his affinity for the sport has taken a back seat to, well, the rest of his job (unless you count this story in the WashPo), but, I expect to hear the jets scramble once the weather improves and his majesty takes the chopper over to Bedminster, NJ for a quick 9. 

But, it seems that this disconnect with culture is unique with our Commander in Cheeto.  Every other President in modern history has been able to relate to the people through culture, both winning and losing the respect of the populace.  Just looking back at Ronald Reagan, the Hollywood superstar (just ask his co-star, Bonzo) rose to fame in and around WWII.  Yes, he served in the War, but the short film he narrated for the military won an Oscar! While he was never nominated himself, his volume of works earned him a star on the walk of fame in 1960.

George Herbert Walker Bush loved baseball.  He played at Yale, got to meet Babe Ruth, and, as VP in 1984, got to play in an old-timer game with former MLB players.  But, he was an avid fan of all sports from Tennis to when he performed the coin toss in Superbowl 51.  He and his son shared their love for the Astros and Texas Rangers, a team that the younger Mr. Bush was able to purchase in 1989 (with other investors).  Speaking of "W," avid painter?  Look, it was 9/11, it was Chaney, it was many things, but afterwards, the man settled down and has been a prolific painter and fisherman since. 

It's easy to gloss over Clinton's sax performance on Arsenio, or Obama's brackets during March Madness, yet, it wasn't like that was Bill's first time with the instrument, and Obama was known to love to play and watch all manner of sports and the arts.  These looks into their lives allow us as the public to get to know our politicians better and it makes them more human.  Among other things, that does separate them from our current president.  He's disinvited more champion teams and players than those that chose to meet him...and then cancelled.  He's skipped both of his opportunities to congratulate honorees at the Kennedy Center.  And, when he does pay attention to culture, he's frequently whining about how unfair it is to him.

This is a problem.  I realize that I'm cherry-picking here but revenues from sports and movies/TV greatly exceed US energy revenues in the US (2017).  The doesn't even include concerts and live theater, or other things we do for entertainment: vacations, eating out, travel, etc.  Culture is what brings us together as a society.  This president has no culture.  And, even when he makes the attempt to connect, he gets it wrong...like when he served college athletes, potentially the most physically fit demographic in the States, some of the worst food the America has to offer, and then brags about paying for it himself.  That's very big of you accepting responsibility for poisoning the youth of tomorrow with toxic amounts of sugar and saturated fats.  "They sure don't make them like this back home...oh, wait, yes they do."

Look, we've had Presidents with unpopular policy decisions in the past, but even they had redeeming qualities of character.  This President has none of that and I think he knows it, which is why he doesn't connect or resonate with but a small part of the American populace.  While he makes the occasional attempt at a cultural connection, when he fails (and he's failed miserably) he becomes spiteful and belligerent, berating whomever refused to avail themselves to the King, to take the knee and kiss the ring, as long as it doesn't happen during an NFL broadcast.  You may not think it matters, but if you really want to reunite the Country, culture, not politics, may be the healthiest way to do that.