Whither now?
It’s winding down, “The Season” of 2026. People have left the Vineyard as school is starting in many places, a thought sacrilegious to me. School is supposed to start the day AFTER Labor Day, not a day before. It seems obscene to my old fashioned sensibilities. Children should savor the last days of August with relish rather than attendance.
The streets still swell but less than a couple of weeks ago. The store is busy but not quite as busy.
The summer weather has been sublime, like the “old days” say some who have summered on the Vineyard for years.
Last weekend was dark, gloomy, rainy. Edgartown Books was bursting with people looking for activity books for children, something to read for themselves. A madcap, joyous weekend, people swarming, yelling to each other across the room, chaos, a kind of chaos causing me to smile from my place behind register #2, where I spend much of the summer, being the book monger of Edgartown, as my godson has named me.
It’s been busy, challenging, exhausting, rewarding. And I’m still standing.
Surprising myself, I’ve found a can ingest bits of news from radio. I can listen but not yet watch news.
We all rage about Trump though Trump is the front man for a group of really bad characters. Stephen Miller, an exorable chap, has claimed might makes right. That is not what America should be about according to everything I was taught. Though that has been what America has been about for quite a while. Pete Hegseth [and his wife] are gutting the Pentagon of decency. Robert Kennedy, Jr., who probably lied to Congress, probably leading us into a vaccination debacle.
In the 21st century, we have, continuously, waged war, some call this period, the “Forever Wars.” We’ve gained nothing, spent trillions of dollars without anything to show for it.
The bond markets are rattled as our national deficit has gone over 40 trillion dollars. Much has been those wars. Iran is another instance.
Tax breaks to corporations and individuals have reduced the flow of cash into the treasury.
We are confronted with wealthy tech moguls who find democracy inconvenient to their goals. Hello, Peter Thiel!
Trump’s lusty vision of America has released from the bottle the pent up frustrations of some Americans who felt deprived, left behind, ignored in their needs. They were. Shame on Democrats for not listening.
Farmers felt Trump listened. They’re paying the price now.
We’re in a trade war with Canada. Canada! Good for them for standing up to our bullies. Canada has been loyal to us through most of our troubles and our sad wars. Lake America? It’s Lake Ontario to me.
Trump is a capricious president with little understanding of the world. He thinks the lessons learned in real estate in New York, from the tutelage of Roy Cohn, are the rules of the world. They’re not. [If you don’t know about Cohn, read about him. It explains a lot of Trump’s behavior. “Scoundrel,” a biography of him is out soon.] They’re the rules of a demi-monde, New York.
ICE just approved a contract for electric gloves to give shocks. Really, this is who we have become? ICE is arresting people who are legally in the United States so they can make their “quotas.” Has ICE become the Black Shirts of our country?
Trump shuns South Korea because he is annoyed they didn’t support his Iranian war. Instead, he embraces North Korea.
I am appalled, angry and so, so sad.
There has always been a segment of society who has wanted fascism, since the beginning of the Republic. I’m not sure all signers of the Declaration of Independence were happy about it.
I did a signing this week for a book, “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times.” It’s a book about what you can do when you’re asking yourself what can you do. I’m going to read it. Perhaps you should, too. The author, Skye Perryman, was inspiring in her interview with Jonathan Capehart, from PBS and MSNOW.
Corporations who leeched themselves to Trump are now courting Democrats. Polls are trending for Democrats. Ron Lauder has not given any money to Republicans.
Trump and his minions want to interfere with vote by mail [though Trump votes by mail]; a way of disrupting the mid-terms.
Our president thinks an Executive Order the equivalent of an Imperial Degree. Trump, his administration, are pushing against the limits of the Constitution, supported by a Congressional majority.
Disruption is the game of this administration, the taking down of our norms. Time for us to call them all to account.
Letter from the Vineyard 