Chicago Sun-Times (Sunday)

WORSE FOR WEAR

- MICHAEL SNEED msneed@suntimes.com | @sneedlings

OMG! Donald Trump isa “Larp!” Whew! Finally, a definition of our former president found in the lexicon of internet slang!

Variously described, a “Larp” is a pose, described by some as “live action role play.”

Translatio­n: gameplay that eventually becomes real.

Ah, Trump props. Ah, Trump acts. Ah, Trump costumes.

And consider the Donald’s favorite wearables: Red MAGA baseball caps; flag gear; flag apparel ... presumably ordered frequently in X-tra large.

Then toss in Trump’s “Il Duce” fascist facial grimaces with both hands on the Trump rally lecterns — and you have Italian strongman Benito Mussolini on tap.

And, gag a GOPer, consider the recent garment to hit the Trump fundraisin­g wing Sneed considers a must in updating my collection of presidenti­al campaign political geegaws and gimcracks, which includes Rev. Jesse Jackson’s campaign shoelaces distribute­d when he was running for president in 1984! Get it? Shoelaces? Running?

Anyway, the Trump shirt is abbondanza!!

“The moment I stepped off the stage at a recent rally, I told my team that we have to make sure every patriot across the country has to have their very own Trump rally shirt,” Trump declares online. “These shirts are a masterpiec­e!

“They are a true symbol of my SAVE AMERICA movement. I want my most devoted patriots to have one,” says the Trumpster heralding a below-the-waist shirt composed of 16 Trump headshots encircling a 17th pix centerpiec­e: a Trump thumbs-up in a red baseball cap emblazoned with “Make America Great Again.”

So if one can figure out which donation on the Trump mega money chart nets the shirt, I may buy one.

But I won’t be striking a gaga MAGA patriot pose in my Trump purchase.

Who wants to be a “Larp”?

A Lightfoot hotfoot?

Watch for former Gov. Pat Quinn, who is eyeing a bid for Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s job, to join a posse of environmen­talists blowing smoke her way.

Sneed has learned Quinn plans to dispatch a letter Monday demanding Lightfoot and the city corporatio­n counsel release the entirety of a scathing but summarized watchdog report dispatched earlier this year involving the 2020 environmen­tal debacle in Little Village, which showered residents with a cataclysmi­c dust storm on an Easter Sunday.

Activists branded the disastrous dust storm “environmen­tal racism.”

“If this pollutant disaster had happened in affluent Lincoln Park, no doubt the full city inspector general’s disaster report would have been made public long ago,” he said. “And not just piecemeal.”

Backshot: In April 2020, a botched implosion toppled a 400foot smokestack showering Little Village, located in the city’s Southwest Side, in particulat­e dust. It had housed the former Crawford coal-fired power plant, which was being demolished to make way for a 1 millionsqu­are-foot warehouse now leased by Target.

An open records request earlier this year by the Chicago Sun-Times resulted in city officials claiming they were legally limited in what they can release following an investigat­ion by the city Inspector General Joe Ferguson, his last inspector general report before he retired.

In July 2020, Lightfoot announced the city’s creation of an air-quality reform agenda and the selection of a chief sustainabi­lity officer to convene advocates to improve air quality and mitigate the cumulative impact of industrial activity.

“If there had been a City Department of Environmen­t this disaster would never have happened,” said Quinn, who claims a phone canvass of 614 Chicago voters by Bluepoint polling he commission­ed in May resulted in 80.8% in favor of the restoratio­n of the city’s Department of Environmen­t, compared with 12.6% opposed and 6.6% not sure.

Sneedlings …

Condolence­s to Sheila Berner Kennedy on the death of her beloved father, Robert L. Berner Jr., 90, a longtime Winnetka resident who died recently. No father had a better daughter. … Congratula­tions to Courtney and David Quinn on the birth of their first child, daughter Priya. Former Gov. Quinn,a grandfathe­r for the first time, is over the moon. Quoth Quinn: “Remember, poet Carl Sandburg once said, ‘The birth of a baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on.’” ... Saturday birthdays: actor Sebastian Stan, 40; retired soccer star Alan Shearer, 52, and Illinois film production stellar Chris Dudley, ageless and priceless . ... Sunday birthdays: actress Halle Berry, 56; basketball legend Magic Johnson, 63, and comic actor Steve Martin, 77.

 ?? PROVIDED ?? “These shirts are a masterpiec­e!’’ says Donald Trump, about this Donald Trump shirt featuring 17 photos of Donald Trump.
PROVIDED “These shirts are a masterpiec­e!’’ says Donald Trump, about this Donald Trump shirt featuring 17 photos of Donald Trump.
 ?? ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States