Posted on 05/04/2018 7:57:03 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Which element of Donald Trump do you delight in despising most? Every day brings a fresh example of pugnacious behaviour, another execrable opinion, more insights into his arriviste 24-carat gold tap taste or strutting vanity. We lap up every revelation; his bombast is brilliant clickbait. The Trump Show gains top ratings in our everyday dialogue; his latest tweets are a failsafe conversation starter.
This week alone brought a basketload of delights (he’s the gift that just keeps on giving. No wonder sales of the New York Times are up 10 per cent). Now we know he’s the author of that “astonishingly excellent health” report of 2015 (did we ever doubt it? Who else could have written the line Trump will be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency”). Plenty of joyful sniggers about that one — it certainly cheered up my afternoon cup of tea.
Of course he failed to buy a birthday present for his First Lady. And this despite Melania’s composure during “Pussygate” and revelations by porn stars and Playboy bunnies (now Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York who joined Trump’s legal team, seems to admit the President did reimburse Michael Cohen’s $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels).
While Trump’s confident riposte — “I’m very busy to be running out looking for presents” — brilliantly fits the caricature of the ultimate male egoistic cad who can’t be bothered by his wife, it has to be scripted?
We’re fascinated and disgusted in equal parts. One-and-a-half years in and I remain hypnotised by those feminine lips, that pout and curl like a cat’s posterior, the comical comb-over, the tiny hands, the piggy eyes… weirdly revelling in the physical revulsion he creates.
And yet… there are sizable achievements, even if we want to ignore them. And it’s starting to disrupt our confident dialogue of disgust. These successes may be momentary but we should not want him to fail on everything. We need him to prove us wrong — remember when “Trump starting World War Three” was freely bandied about?
I am no Kanye West. I won’t be going MAGA on Twitter, ever. But the US economy is booming. And we can’t ignore that it was his corralling of other nations to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea that forced Kim Jong-un to last week’s historic meeting between the two Korean leaders. South Korean President Moon Jae-in has said Trump would be a worthy winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his part in nuclear disarmament.
Trump also took action over President Assad’s use of chemical weapons in Syria — and while there was typical war-like bluster from the President, the delivery of the warning to Syria was carefully constructed. He’s risking a new trade war — US officials are in China trying to reach compromise — but China did blink after Trump announced $50 billion in tariffs on its products. The outcome could be positive for Americans.
We rightly fear normalising Trump, yet his character is proving an advantage in squaring up to male dictators. And his innate sexism has fuelled an irreversible wave of new feminism. Is it time to let go of the man we love to hate? You don’t have to like him…
My glamazon Aussie au pair couldn’t be more down to earth
For those waiting on tenterhooks (I mean, obviously you are) to see which au pair I finally hired, it was the Australian blogger with the 120,000 Instagram followers.
I had fretted that the beauty with the amazing gym bod and glamorous lifestyle, whose feed was an endless rota of envy-inducing travel hotspots — and outstripped my meagre 18,000 followers — would reject the humdrum of helping corral my two Fortnite-obsessed boys (as an aside, anti-Fortnite measures have been taken, consoles hidden, gaming time banned; Fortnite will not be part of our Bank Holiday weekend, despite the fury).
But it goes to show that the unrealistic disguise social media helps create, is, in many cases, hiding a loveable, normal gem. She couldn’t be more down-to-earth, possessing an everyday girl’s wardrobe and healthy exercised shape. Vanity is not in her lexicon. Thank God Instagram can get it wrong.
Virgil Abloh meets Ikea: the way to a millennial’s heart
How grateful are we that fashion’s love affair with high-street collaborations has not abated? Next is the collection for Ikea by designer Virgil Abloh. As the new head of menswear at Louis Vuitton and creative director of his hip streetwear label, Off-White, many of his creations are unaffordable to his millennial fans.
There are his designs for Nike but he has also now partnered with Ikea to create affordable pieces for a millennial’s first living space. There’s a glass and wood cabinet to showcase your trainers. And a red doorstop. And a three-legged chair that works with said doorstop, entitled Door Stop Interruption. I think that’s for keeping Mum and Dad out.
Maybe she’ll be watching “Yes, Minister” and “Yes, Prime Minister” re-runs to see how it’s done.
If May doesn’t play ball I doubt we’ll lend her a World War II fleet submarine, much less a Trident SSBN. Then the UK will no longer be a nuclear power.
Brilliant show. One of my favorites.
Some of the Kroger’s, Central Markets and Tom Thumbs here have a little British section, too. My mother worked in the Publix deli when I was a boy.
I think Sweet Bay does also if it is still open. I can’t say I have seen one recently.
Publix is, and always has been my market of choice. Can’t beat the customer service and the friendly staff!
P.S. my mom worked for A & P many, many years ago!
I remember Publix had electric eye automatic doors before much of anyone else did.
Oh wow, what we now take for granted now was a sensation then. I never minded opening a door myself way back when, but now it would annoy me a lot. LOL
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