We need an adult to take launch codes from Trump
We are witnessing the conversion of the United States government to a reality TV show — one in which our reality-TV-star-turned-president has become the director.
There’s the pint-size North Korean despot, Kim Jong Un, with his bowl-cut hair, his knockoff Mao suits and unhinged nuclear utterances. Onto the screen strides President Trump, reaching for cheesy dialogue from an action movie (“lock and load”) and matching the Nut from the North, insult for insult.
The showdown escalates, and the evil mini-empire threatens a missile test run for vaporizing Guam. But is it a test? Will the U.S. bombers take to the air, the silo bunkers spring into action? It’s like the Cuban missile crisis all over again! Tune in next
week!
What better way to pump up the White House’s sagging ratings?
This is no joke. Trump is desperately trying to shore up his base by adopting a strategy nominally directed at Kim, but which in fact is intended for the guy in Fresno who voted for him and might be wondering why the president hasn’t gotten anything done.
But Trump is completely out of his league. He knows TV. He doesn’t get the potentially apocalyptic consequences of nuclear brinkmanship.
What we need is some adult restraint on all sides. It’s hard not to despair of the chances it will come from Washington.
Former Rep. Pete McCloskey, who earned the Silver Star and two Purple Hearts for his heroism in the Korean War, just sent a letter to Rep. Jackie Speier and others on Capitol Hill urging Congress to step in and take the nuclear missile launch codes away from the president and put them in saner hands.
I’m not sure how that could happen. But I know I’d sleep better if it did.
Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell of Dublin and Joaquin Castro of Texas held court the other night at the Fairmont Hotel. Both are members of the House Intelligence Committee. Both predicted that Independent Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election may well produce jail time for key players on the Trump team.
The other day, on the rooftop of the Via Hotel, the Irish world celebrated Joe O’Donoghue’s 80th birthday. Love him or hate him, O’Donoghue has put a real stamp on San Francisco.
He started the Residential Builders Association in the ’80s, when housing first became a big issue in the city. Back then, the fight was over neighborhood complaints about outsize “Richmond specials,” the properties in the Richmond District that were being bought up by Chinese immigrants and built all the way out to the property lines. Joe made a name for himself as an early supporter of the build-outs.
When the progressives tried to put the damper on big development South of Market by declaring the area a “live-work” space for artists and small machine shops, Joe and the boys turned around and used the new rules to initiate the loft building boom.
Those were some fierce fights. So it was interesting that one of the heroes of the left back in those days showed up to wish O’Donoghue many happy returns — former Supervisor and onetime mayoral candidate Matt Gonzalez.
I was walking along the Embarcadero down by the ballpark the other day when I heard a voice call out, “Hey, Mr. Mayor, you have got to see this.”
I looked around and saw a guy standing in front of a green door between Via and Momo’s.
I went in and discovered Cooperstown S.F., a museum with an incredible collection of baseball memorabilia and paintings by sports artist Leroy Neiman.
The museum has a great display of Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Juan Marichal, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda and Gaylord Perry. I can’t wait for the day Barry Bonds joins them.
That green door affirms that it pays to walk if you want to really appreciate the city. There’s always something you didn’t know about.
The rooftop of the Salesforce Tower is the ultimate viewing platform for our city. I got to visit it the other day and contemplate how beautiful our Bay Area looks from so high above.
It’s the closest to heaven I’ll ever get.