Tag Archives: Melania Trump

national news

Do our eyes now turn to Barron?

Barron Trump remains the mystery member of the nation’s premier political family.

I am more than willing to admit that the young man has stirred my curiosity more than just a little bit.

I mention Barron because he now is an adult. He is past the age of majority, which in some circles makes him an open target for all kinds of rhetorical mischief. I will not go there.

I do intend to express some interest in the kind of man he has become, living as he has in the crucible known as the White House.

Barron Trump, born in March 2006, now towers over almost everyone he sees. His father stands 6 foot 3, and Barron appears to be around, oh 6 foot 9 or 10.

Soon enough, probably when Dad leaves office in January 2029, we’ll get to see more of the youngest of Donald’s five kids. Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka all have made their marks on some fashion or another. A second daughter, Tiffany, has obtained her law degree and has remained out of the limelight.

Now we have Barron.

Here’s my hope for the young man. I hope he has learned from the plastering his brothers have gotten because they chose to become political animals, just like Dad. My hope for Barron Trump is that somehow, someway and through some channel that escapes me, he is able to carve out something akin to a normal life.

I suppose there’s always hope that the young man can stumble into a relationship that gives him complete happiness. I realize that’s a difficult order to fill, being the member of a family led by a fraud, a con man, a charlatan … and a loser!

education news

No bullying allowed

Southard Middle School in Princeton, Texas, is no place for bullies … if the signs I saw on the walls of the library and in the hallways are any indicator.

I believe they are. Thus, I want to applaud the school system for sending out the message to the students who might fancy themselves as tough guys or girls.

I went to meeting at Southard the other evening where I saw the posters. Now, to be sure I am acutely aware that Princeton Independent School District is far from alone in promoting the no bullying allowed message. Such messaging has become almost an essential part of public schools’ doctrine … as it should.

Indeed, I recall when former first lady Melania Trump decided to take on cyber bullying as her signature issue. That was a noble endeavor, although her work on that project too often became buried under the reporting of the nonsense occurring elsewhere during her husband’s administration.

Public school systems have taken that message, though, and are sprinting with it.

I’ll be attending another meeting next week down the street where I live; the meeting will occur at Lowe Elementary School. To be sure I will look for more messages on the walls at Lowe. I hope to see them.

The school system here has earned a high-five from me on its efforts at reminding students that bullying has no place.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Joe Biden, national news, political news

Love the tradition

You at this moment are reading the words of a sucker for pageantry, ceremony and even a little bit of pomp. It was with that bias that I was able to watch the return of a longstanding White House ceremony laced with good humor, good tidings and gratitude.

President and Mrs. Biden invited former President and Mrs. Obama back to the White House today to unveil portraits of the Obamas that will hang in the people’s house alongside — as President Obama noted — “George and Martha.”

OK, this isn’t normally the stuff that would fill a blog such as mine. Except for the proverbial elephant that one could almost hear trudging through the White House room where they unveiled the Obamas’ portraits.

That was the memory of the single term of the man who served as president between the terms of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Donald J. Trump could have had a ceremony honoring the Obamas. He chose to throw that tradition aside, alongside other traditions that Trump chose to ignore.

No one mentioned Trump’s name in their remarks to the nation as the pictures were unveiled. There was no need. The Obamas and the Bidens all referred to the “tradition” they were honoring, just as the Obamas did when they unveiled portraits of President and Mrs. Bush, and just as the Bushes did when they welcomed back President and Mrs. Clinton for precisely the same ceremony.

I should point out that in both those instances, presidents of one party honored his predecessor from the opposing party, setting aside partisan differences and disagreements over policy to honor their service to the country.

So, now for The Big Question: Would there be such a ceremony in which Donald and Melania Trump come back to the White House for a portrait unveiling? I almost laughed out loud when I typed those words.

Given all the hatred and the violence that preceded the transition from Donald Trump to Joe Biden’s administration … do not hold your breath waiting for the Trumps to return to the White House.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Bias against The Donald? No-o-o-o!

Can it be that we’re now going to see a first lady feud develop between two women; one is married to someone who served as POTUS, and the other is married to the current president of the United States?

Melania Trump didn’t get to appear on the cover of Vogue magazine. Now she is blasting the magazine because if put Jill Biden on its cover. She blames “media bias” against her for the alleged slight against her.

According to The Daily Mail: In her first interview since leaving the White House, Melania Trump told Fox Nation that she believes media bias against her is the reason for the discrepancy.

I don’t think there was a bias against her, necessarily. Her husband, though, is another matter. Donald J. Trump engendered plenty of “bias” against him for a host of reasons.

His denigrating of prisoners of war, his mocking of people with disabilities, his admitted philandering and the admission that he sexually assaulted women. Oh, there’s more. You get the point.

Melania Trump ought to pipe down and maybe — if she dares to do so — have a serious discussion with her husband about the way he has conducted himself since he became a politician.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Grisham owns it … good!

I want to give Stephanie Grisham some points for coming clean on a key matter involving her time serving in the Trump administration.

She owns the mistake she made in refusing to speak out in real time what she was witnessing while serving as White House press secretary and as chief of staff to the first lady.

Grisham, who’s written a reportedly stunning tell-all book about her time in the White House, also said today that her boss — the 45th POTUS — is “unfit for office” and she hopes fervently he never darkens the White House door ever again.

She spoke of the Secret Service code name for Melania Trump; the agents referred to her as “Rapunzel,” named after the fictitious character who was afraid to leave the castle. Melania Trump reportedly spent most of her time in the White House residence because, according to Grisham, she dared not venture out to be seen by the public or the dreaded media.

Listening to her discuss her book, though, filled me with a bit of admiration for a public figure who is willing to own her mistakes. She said she was wrong to keep quiet about the Trump chaos as it was occurring. I accept that acknowledgment as an apology.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

No support for Trump acolytes

I said the other day I had no intention of buying Stephanie Grisham’s book on the Donald Trump administration.

Here is why. I do not want to spend any of my money to fatten the wallets of the 45th president’s administrative aides. Grisham, sad to say, fits into that category.

She served as communication director and press secretary for the White House; she also served as first lady Melania Trump’s chief of staff. She has written a book with some pretty stunning accounts of what she saw at the White House. She writes about the president’s explosive temper, discloses the Secret Service code name for the first lady and tells of how first daughter Ivanka Trump talked Daddy into delivering a COVID-19 speech on national TV that went quite badly.

That’s all I need to hear from her or from any of the other goofballs who worked for the ex-POTUS.

There you have it. I’m out.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news, national news, science news

Turning the COVID corner? Hah!

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

OK, Mr. President, let’s lay it on the table, shall we?

You keep saying we are “turning the corner” on the coronavirus pandemic. That is a lie. Which isn’t a surprise, given your penchant for lying.

Damn near every state in the Union is experiencing an increase in coronavirus infections. Yes, some of those states see a decline in deaths, which of course is good news.

But for criminy sakes, dude, stop lying about “turning the corner.” We aren’t turning anything resembling a corner in this fight.

Joe Biden has built his electoral lead on the back of your consistent denial over the seriousness of the killer disease. Holy cow, man! Didn’t your own infection, or the infections of your wife and son, Barron, teach you anything? Don’t answer that. I know it didn’t.

I’m glad you’re better. I am particularly glad to know that the first lady and young Barron are OK, too. Your cavalier attitude about the coronavirus, though, only proves your unfitness for the office you want to keep.

So, with that I guess I could ask you to keep up the charade.

Many millions of us know better than to buy into the nonsense you seek to peddle.

medical news, national news

Here’s your COVID outbreak

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Having wished Donald and Melania Trump a speedy recovery from the coronavirus, I now wish to slap the sh** out of The Donald for what he has produced.

He has delivered us an actual “outbreak” of infections caused by his refusal to wear a mask with others around him or to demand that everyone in his presence exercise social distancing in the wake of the pandemic that continues to kill too many Americans every single day.

Several people who were hobnobbing with Trump prior to his diagnosis now have tested positive for the virus. Let’s see:

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, U.S. Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, former White House senior policy adviser Kellyanne Conway, White House aide Hope Hicks, at least three White House beat reporters, and perhaps a host of others all have the disease. Have I missed anyone?

Yep, I would call that an “outbreak.”

Donald Trump insisted on staging those rallies. Crowds showed up sans masks. They were crowded together. They were cheering, laughing, carrying on as if they didn’t have a care in the world … all the while transmitting COVID germs among themselves.

There was the POTUS, taking it all in.

He didn’t give a rip about the safety of those who adore his presence as president of the United States.

Now he is paying the price. So are those who were careless and thoughtless enough to forgo the safety procedures preached to them by the doctors and assorted scientific experts.

Whatever happened to leading by example? Donald Trump is leading by setting the wrong example at every possible turn.

I still wish everyone a speedy recovery. I also still wish them all to be tossed out of public office as soon as is humanly possible.

national news

POTUS becomes Exhibit A

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It is utterly impossible to avoid putting a political spin on news that Donald and Melania Trump have contracted the coronavirus that has killed more than 200,000 Americans.

I wish a complete recovery for the first couple.

I also believe that Trump should pay the ultimate political price because of what has transpired. He has tested positive for a virus he once called a “Democrat hoax,” which he has sought to play down because he didn’t want to “panic” Americans, which he keeps telling us is “under control” and which he has said will be disappear miraculously.

Donald Trump now becomes the leading exhibit for discussion about the falsehoods he has been telling for most of this year.

The pandemic is not getting any better. We’re in the middle apparently of yet another surge in illness and death.

Donald Trump is running for re-election partly by touting the “fantastic job” he says his administration has done. He has ignored medical experts’ advice about wearing a mask or keeping a social distance from others.

He is now paying a price. Trump is likely to pay a steep political price as well … as he should.

Trump mocked Joe Biden earlier this week because the Democratic Party presidential nominee wears a mask. Unbelievable! Biden shrugged it off with a chuckle.

We are heading now into the final month of the most unusual election season in anyone’s memory. Yes, the election will be a referendum on Donald Trump’s mishandling of the initial response to the pandemic. Indeed, his continued response has been an exercise in fecklessness, too.

There will be no more claims of “Democrat hoax.” Nor will there be any more mocking of those who wear masks or keep their distance from others. That’s all fine. The damage politically has been done to Trump, in my view.

That, too, is fine with me.