Tag Archives: People magazine

national news, political news

Trump denies an impersonation?

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trump

Can this campaign for the presidency get any stranger than it has gotten in the past few hours?

Yeah. It can. More than likely it will.

Donald J. Trump’s unbelievable march to the Republican Party presidential nomination has been hit with another bizarre tale. It involves a Washington Post report that in 1991, Trump impersonated someone named “John Miller” while extolling the virtues of — yep, that’s right — Donald Trump.

“Miller” was talking up Trump’s virtues in an effort to stave off reportedly negative publicity about his divorce. Those who’ve heard the recording insist it’s Trump’s voice.

Here’s where it gets weirder in the extreme. Trump this morning denied it was him.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/trump-denies-impersonating-spokesman-223158

What’s utterly insane is that even an untrained voice analyst can detect speech patterns and sentence structure that sound identical to what the real Donald Trump uses today.

But, oh no. Trump said it’s not him.

In the grand scheme of things, this likely shouldn’t count as a big deal. Except that we’re talking now about the man who’s poised to become a major-party presidential nominee. All he had to say when asked about the recorded phone conversation was, “Yes, I did it. I like to promote myself. I was just having a little fun.”

The reporter who covered the conversation initially for People magazine has said just in the past day that Trump actually called her at the time to apologize for impersonating this “John Miller” character.

Given this candidate’s astonishing record of getting away with utterly outrageous behavior on the campaign trail, do not look for this latest incident to put much of a dent in his upcoming nomination.

We can, I suppose, just add it to the lengthy list of bizarre behavior that has been the hallmark of his business and personal life.

To think he’s going to try to sell that record to a country that in just a few months will be electing its next head of state.

 

entertainment news

The Hulkster says he’s sorry … now

Hulk

Et, tu … Hulk Hogan?

The list of big-mouth celebrities who say things they shouldn’t say has grown by one very intriguing personality.

Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, said some things years ago that have just come out. The pro wrestling association that hired Hogan, World Wrestling Entertainment, has essentially terminated him. It’s taken the Hulkster’s image off its website.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2015/07/24/wwe-erases-hulk-hogan-mentions-from-web-site/

Hogan says he’s sorry.

Granted, it wasn’t one of those “If I’ve offended anyone … ” apologized straight out. He said he’s sorry. No qualifiers. No mealy-mouthiness about it.

I’m glad about that. Then said this, in a statement to People magazine: “This is not who I am. I believe very strongly that every person in the world is important and should not be treated differently based on race, gender, orientation, religious beliefs or otherwise. I am disappointed with myself that I used language that is offensive and inconsistent with my own beliefs.”

This is not who I am?

You hear that occasionally from celebrities who say offensive things. They disavow the comments, as if someone put them into a trance and put some sort of post-hypnotic spell on them to make them say things they otherwise wouldn’t say.

I fear that whatever Bollea-Hogan said — and I haven’t seen precisely what it was — that he meant it at the time.

Did he change his view of individuals, or groups of individuals?

I have no idea.

But when you make patently offensive statements and you sully the reputation of your employer — which might sound strange when referring to an organization that promotes fake “wrestling” and showcases women as sex objects — well, then you pay the price.

As an old friend and colleague once told me: You cannot unhonk the horn.

national news

Racism, or mistaken identity?

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Take a look at the picture of first lady Michelle Obama attached to this blog post.

It shows her shopping at Target in 2011. She’s dressed casually, with a ball cap and sunglasses. The first lady said during a “highly publicized” shopping excursion, the only person who talked to her was a woman who asked her to take something off a shelf.

The first lady used that encounter as an example of the racism she and her husband, the president, have experienced over many years.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/12/17/michelle-obama-i-was-asked-to-get-something-off-the-shelf-at-target/

I guess my confusion is rooted in a single question: Would I have recognized this woman as the first lady of the United States had I seen her pushing a shopping cart through a mid-level department store?

I’m not so sure.

The only giveaway that she is a very important person would be the presence of security personnel wearing ear pieces, dark suits and perhaps handguns bulging from the side of their jackets.

Yeah, that would tip me off that she’s the first lady.

There can be zero doubt that President and Mrs. Obama have felt slights — large and small — growing up in the United States. They are laying some of that experience out in a lengthy People magazine interview. It is wrong for it to have happened in any context … ever!

However, I am a bit puzzled by the example cited by the first lady.

The only thing I can figure is that the Secret Service agents were keeping a considerable distance away when the woman asked the first lady for some help.

Am I wrong to think this?