A horrible suspicion just visited me. Aside from the choice of vocabulary, does everybody actually agree with Trump? Does the message of “let’s keep immigrants out” resonate on some level with everybody? And I don’t really care about the immaterial distinction of wanting to keep out white-collar immigrants as opposed to Trump’s desire to keep out blue-collar immigrants. 

Is Trump doing so great because he says what everybody is thinking? Is there anybody who disagrees and happens not to be an immigrant?

This is both sad and scary.

A fiercely Republican commentator believes that both Bush and Walker took a major drubbing in the debate yesterday.

I said a year ago that Republicans have no candidate. I’m still right today. It’s the 2012 election all over again. A bland, boring, uncharismatic fellow who says one ill-advised thing after another and whom nobody really cares about is the only serious candidate. And that’s very bad for the entire political field.

I keep decorating my car:

Of course, I don’t think there’s any likelihood that Bernie will directly support Ukraine. The farther you go to the Left and to the Right of the political spectrum,  the more Putin lovers you find.

The far far right wingers think he’s manly. Honestly, there’s not enough alcohol in the world for me to see manliness in Putin but hey, we are all entitled to our erotic fantasies. 

The far far left wingers don’t explain their love for Putin. They just get sulky and glum when one asks them to explain. So I’m sure Bernie has a tender spot for Putin.

However, in larger terms, Bernie does support Ukraine without even realizing it. A prosperous, successful, authoritative, happy United States is an anathema to Putin and a great support to Ukraine. Putin wants to see Americans poor, struggling, miserable, and despised by everybody in the world. The better we do, the more we make Putin suffer.

So hey, let’s all pledge to have a really fantastic time this weekend to spite Putin. Remember, it’s for a good cause!

People ask me what an American presidential candidate needs to say about Ukraine for me to approve.

Minimally, I’d like to hear something like, “We support Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity and welcome Ukrainians among civilized, democratic countries.” This would show a specific, non-vague knowledge of what is taking place in Ukraine and what Ukrainians are trying to achieve. And it’s not like it’s such a hard thing to squeeze out, is it?

Of course, there’s a way to make the statement even better by adding something like, “Ukrainians have demonstrated that they cherish and promote the most important, beautiful values of our Western Civilization. Ukraine is Europe. Ukraine is the West.” Whatever you might think about it, it matters to Ukrainians to hear this.

And in an ideal world which doesn’t exist, the candidate would say, “We know that we have let Ukrainians down and did not fulfill our obligations under the Budapest agreement. But we want you to know: we will never recognize the Crimea or the Donbass as part of any country but Ukraine.”

Again, I don’t hope for the ideal scenario, I’m just fantasizing. But how hard is it to recognize the Revolution of Dignity and the values it defended?

When I was a kid I always hated all children characters in all cartoons and children movies I ever watched. I also detested all other kids I ever saw anywhere.

The reason was that I always felt that I was about to be told how much better all of these kids – whether fictional or real – were than me. Every kid in existence was a reproach to me because I could never be as good as them.

I still feel a searing hatred whenever N mentions any child character from a popular movie or cartoon from our childhood.