Arnold Palmer’s Club
Politico thinks maybe Trump is crass: “Size matters: 2024 becomes the genitalia campaign,” reads a rather flaccid headline from Politico.
“The former president is delivering a closing argument that expressly embraces locker room talk,” reads the subhed, saying it all hearkens back to Donald Trump’s 2016 run, in which the Access Hollywood tape, and the “grab ‘em by the pussy” comments became a major scandal. Trump at the time defended his older comments, saying it was just “locker room talk.”
“Just look at the difference in reaction between now and 2016,” argue Adam Wren and Emmy Martin at Politico. “Eight years ago, voters and Republican officeholders went through a moment of genuine consternation in responding to his comments about grabbing women by their genitals. Then, almost a third of the Republican caucus in the Senate said they wouldn’t back him. He faces no such uproar now.”
Of course he doesn’t! The comments they’re reacting to, though crass, were not offensive toward women or tacit endorsements of sexual assault. They were rambling, amusing comments about Arnold Palmer’s penis.
For the blessedly uninitiated, here’s what happened. Trump was speaking over the weekend in Latrobe, Pennsylvania—the birthplace of legendary golfer Arnold Palmer.
“Arnold Palmer was all man, and I say that in all due respect to women—and I love women,” said Trump. “But this guy, this guy, this is a guy that was all man. This man was strong and tough. And I refuse to say it, but when he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there, they said, ‘Oh my God, that’s unbelievable.’ I had to say it.” (“There’s nothing much to say. I’m not really upset,” said Palmer’s daughter, when reached by reporters for comment.)
Politico is a) acting like crude comments from Trump are something new, and b) ignoring the fact that it was really kinda sorta former President Barack Obama who started the dick jokes.
Obama, when speaking at the Democratic National Convention this past summer, managed to slide it in: “Here’s a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago. It has been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that’s actually getting worse now that he’s afraid of losing to Kamala. There’s the childish nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, this weird obsession with crowd sizes.” It was on that last part that he made a gesture with his hands, quite well-executed, that made clear he was not talking only about the size of Trump’s crowds.
Nobody cares! Perhaps the best part of the Politico article, which attempts some impressive hand-wringing, is that…the actual sources, the actual Trump voters, didn’t seem to care. A 54-year-old from North Carolina who attended a recent rally told the reporters that the former president “talks just like us.”
“I feel like you just have to have a little sense of humor,” proclaimed another North Carolinian.
“There are things that he says that will be the subject of skits and laughter and jokes,” said Kamala Harris in response to the Palmer saga, “but words have meaning coming from someone who aspires to stand behind the seal of the president of the United States. These are the things that are at stake.”
It’s true that Trump appears to have no respect for any of the decorum that used to be a requirement for seeking high office. “I used to think the Democrats were crazy for saying men have periods. But then I met Tim Walz,” he recently joked at the Al Smith Dinner, an important political event that raises money for Catholic charities in New York. Normally, major-party presidential candidates are invited to speak at the event; it’s a bit of a show of comity. But this time around, Trump made pretty off-color jokes given that it was a religious event. As for Harris? She didn’t even show. Both shattered norms in their own ways.
Between his Walz period jokes, his Arnold Palmer penis obsession, and his recent stint manning the fry station at McDonald’s, Trump’s populist appeal has long involved marshaling the lowbrow for his own personal gain; this campaign is no different.
Kevorkianism: “An expert committee reviewing euthanasia deaths in Canada’s most populous province has identified several cases where patients asked to be killed in part for social reasons such as isolation and fears of homelessness,” reports the Associated Press. “Ontario’s chief coroner issued several reports Wednesday—after an Associated Press investigation based in part on data provided in one of the documents—reviewing the euthanasia deaths of people who weren’t terminally ill.” Legally speaking, Canada’s law is supposed to require a “fatal diagnosis” or “unmanageable pain” but, in fact, these new reports out of Ontario provide solid evidence that doctors have been euthanizing people who do not meet the criteria. For example:
“In the case of a man identified as Mr. A, Ontario’s expert committee questioned whether authorities tried hard enough to relieve his pain before he was euthanized. Mr. A was an unemployed man in his 40s with bowel disease and a history of substance abuse and mental illness. He was described as ‘socially vulnerable and isolated.’ Some committee members were alarmed that a psychiatrist suggested euthanasia during a mental health assessment.”
Or this case:
“Another case detailed Ms. B, a woman in her 50s suffering from multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome, with a history of mental illness including suicidality and post-traumatic stress disorder. She was socially isolated and asked to die largely because she could not get proper housing, according to the report.”
In a socialized health care system with long waiting lists, maybe there’s less incentive to doggedly pursue treatment for some of the most vulnerable people, like those who are homeless or mentally ill. Some doctors are willing to say as much. “Either the law is too broad, or the professional guidance not precise enough,” Trudo Lemmens, professor of health law and policy at the University of Toronto, told the A.P. “Or it is simply not seen as a priority to protect some of our most vulnerable citizens.”
Here’s an interview with one of the Canadian assisted-suicide doctors, Dr. Ellen Wiebe, talking about her work. Forgive me for finding it all rather ghoulish, I fear my Catholicism is showing.
Scenes from New York: The Daniel Penny trial is underway. In May of last year, Penny, a former marine, put Jordan Neely, a homeless and mentally ill man, in a chokehold on the subway, killing him. Penny claims Neely was threatening commuters on the F train. Prosecutors allege his actions became criminal when he refused to relinquish his grip on Neely after the offender had gone limp and was clearly immobilized. Penny is being brought up on charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, and the trial may last as long as six weeks.
The case has become a bit of a Rorschach test for many New Yorkers: Either Penny’s actions feel warranted, his desperation when faced with erratic public behavior relatable, or Neely—whom the media frequently refers to as a beloved Michael Jackson impersonator—was brutally victimized by someone who acted far too aggressively than the situation called for.
QUICK HITS
“Chinese banks cut their benchmark lending rates after easing by the central bank at the end of September, part of a series of measures aimed at reviving economic growth and halting a housing market slump,” reports Bloomberg. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has lost the support of her family members, including her adult sons who want her to stop running. A pretty good chronicling of Kamala Harris’ rise in San Francisco high-society world, and how it led to her political career. Buried within: Her delightfully cold-blooded dissing of ex-boyfriend/ex-mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown. Big if true:
i told chatgpt to roleplay as a brilliant LLM that’s trained on the entire internet and has strong opinions. Then I asked what political philosophy it identifies with pic.twitter.com/CxjpYmFwZG
— Aella (@Aella_Girl) October 21, 2024
Incredible scenes:
Lmao it’s real https://t.co/CELE37cRF4 pic.twitter.com/IHFK8HmoXj
— Alec Stapp (@AlecStapp) October 20, 2024
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