Everything Everywhere All at Once

Sorting out my thoughts

It’s been a month since I posted. So much has been happening that I felt as if my radar was jammed; nothing was coming through clearly. I wrote and wrote, revised and deleted. I was overwhelmed by the constant change around me.

Text-to-speech is available in the app.

Typically I try to shed light on issues from overlooked angles. The subjects I was addressing during April changed constantly as I wrote.

The horrors of Hamas

I had planned to remind readers of the horrors of Hamas: They attacked a peaceful kibbutz savagely, then retreated and embedded themselves among their own people, guaranteeing that Palestinian civilians would die in great numbers. My intention was not to balance or justify what Israel does; only to keep the full picture remembered.

When I talked about this with friends, they told me that Israeli soldiers have now used Palestinians as human shields. The “full picture” I had in mind was changing as I wrote.

About this I have nothing more to say. I can only repeat: No one’s atrocities justify anyone else’s. And no matter how one allocates blame, it’s always the Palestinians who suffer most.

The excesses of DEI

In March, I wrote that universities have developed ways to deal with offensive material in the classroom — like the use of the N word, or pictures of the Prophet, or descriptions of rape. Even as I wrote, I knew my claim was only partially true. There are examples of professors following the rules and yet being pilloried or even forced out. The same is true of many other facets of DEI. This set of wonderful ideals has at time been taken to extremes. One high profile \ example was the ousting of Al Franken from the Senate. (He’s now playing the role of senator on the TV show “The Residence.” It hurts me to watch him.)

Again, as I began to write, the news made me stop. The campaign against DEI is essentially a witch hunt. Massive cuts to medical research are threatened in its name; petty punishments dealt to a teacher because her classroom posters said “Everyone is welcome here” – who could disagree? — with surrounding handprints in multiple skin tones.

My first post, almost three years ago, was about diversity. This picture, too, keeps changing. I have more to say, but not now.

Dodgy DOGE

Last month I wrote that DOGE, obviously, is not about government efficiency. Instead, it’s about eliminating government. The next question is equally obvious: Who wants that, and why?

In many cases corporations want it, for the sake of their bottom line. Starving government agencies makes them unable to do their jobs. As their failures mount, it’s easy to claim that the government agency is failing, and then call for privatizing it. The National Park Service is a perfect example. First, deplete its resources. Then watch the restrooms get dingy, the crowds unmanageable, the trails dangerous. Next, fan the flames of outrage. “The government is failing!” Finally, turn the Parks over to business.

In practical terms it’s often corporations who most want to slash government. Philosophically, the desire is based on an assumption: that business always does everything better.

That’s not true. About this I do have more to say.

Trump’s rhetoric

In March I wrote that the president’s crackdown on campuses, justified as fighting antisemitism, actually made it worse. Ironic, I said. Many other writers, mostly Jewish, have made a similar point. To paraphrase, “Defunding diabetes research ‘to protect Jews’ does us no favors.”

These writers did not call the situation ironic. I had been naïve to do so. The trouble is not that Trump’s efforts will undermine his stated goal. The trouble is that we cannot know what his goals really are. His campaign strategies suggest that he cares nothing about Jews; in fact, they use antisemitic tropes.

The evidence suggests that what the president wants, in almost everything he does, is power. (Tariffs may be an exception; he seems to genuinely believe they’re a good thing.) He spent his first 100 days amassing power: over universities, the press, law firms, libraries, museums, and schools; over the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian. He is trying to control the Fed and the courts. Until the pushback that began in late April, he was succeeding.

Writing in March, I had forgotten what I once knew: that Trump’s words have no particular relation to truth. Sometimes he does what he says he will; sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes the reasons he gives seem to be his real reasons; sometimes not. His supporters call his language rhetoric. His opponents call it dishonest. Whatever we call it, the habit is useful. It distracts and confuses those who must deal with him – which in turn increases his power.

This led me to think more about Trump as a businessman. He made some of his money in real estate: hence, his desire to acquire Greenland, the Panama Canal, even Canada.

In the end, though, Trump made his fortune through show business. In “The Apprentice” he created a brand, which he monetized in support of his real estate ventures. Trump is a gifted performer. That often serves him well.

Effective presidents need performance skills. But they need much more than that. Finally, I know what I want to write about next.

Governing a country is very different from running a corporation. That idea is foreign to most Americans. I’ll make the case for it next time. Assuming, of course, that the ground under me stops moving, at least a little.

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