President Tweety’s Black-Hearted Memorial Day Weekend
The President of the United States spent much of the Memorial Day weekend playing golf. And when he wasn’t driving his cart around, he was on Twitter trash talking
I always thought Memorial Day weekend was supposed to be a somber occasion for commemorating the men and women who have lost their lives while serving in the military.
This year, it’s a particularly tragic day in light of the rapidly mounting death toll from the coronavirus in the US, which is fast approaching 100,000 lives.
In addition to a few misleading mentions of the pandemic, President Trump retweeted posts calling Hillary Clinton a "skank,” accusing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of being an alcoholic, and mocking Stacey Abrams’ weight.
He did make it today sans mask for a wreath laying ceremony.
The presumed Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, left his home for the first time since the pandemic lock down began.
https://twitter.com/HKrassenstein/status/1264944079886041089?s=20
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This weekend it was full speed ahead for the Trump re-election effort, which --surprise! surprise!-- involves making a few dollars off the faithful.
From Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington:
President Trump is planning to reprise his notorious Fourth of July celebration this year in Washington DC, and it’s not just the “Salute to America” rally that’s coming back, but also the corresponding spike in room rates at his nearby hotel.
Last year, Trump raised eyebrows by using government resources to stage a rally on the National Mall for the Fourth of July, complete with tanks and fireworks. While the event put a strain on the DC government, which still hasn’t been paid back for the expenses it incurred, at least from the perspective of Trump’s personal business, the event appears to have been a success. CREW reported at the time that the Trump International Hotel, just a few blocks from the National Mall, raised room rates to an unusually high $1,166, and only allowed guests to book if they were booking at least three nights. The hotel called it the “Independence Day special,” and noted “high level of activities in the city over this special holiday...”
...The hotel’s least expensive rooms typically cost between three and four hundred dollars per night. That’s the cost to book this Friday, and it’s what they cost to book the week after July 4th. The cost of the same type of room, however, is $795 to book for Fourth of July weekend–double the normal rate. Not only that, but you have to book at least three nights from July 2nd to July 5th. That means that to stay at Trump’s hotel that weekend, you will have to pay the president’s business at least $2,385.
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Also in the news, the President is threatening to move the Republican convention out of Charlotte, since he’s displeased with the rate the pandemic lockdown is being eased.
Over the weekend, North Carolina reported its highest one-day spike in confirmed cases, which comes just as the state enters its second reopening phase.
“Plans are being made by many thousands of enthusiastic Republicans, and others, to head to beautiful North Carolina in August,” Trump tweeted.
“They must be immediately given an answer by the Governor as to whether or not the space will be allowed to be fully occupied. If not, we will be reluctantly forced to find, with all of the jobs and economic development it brings, another Republican National Convention site. This is not something I want to do.”
There is just one teeny-tiny little problem with Trump’s threat. Charlotte was the only place in the U.S. willing to submit a bid for the August 24 GOP Convention.
There are media reports suggesting the President is discussing moving the gathering to Florida. I don’t think Mar a Lago is a big enough space, but maybe they can put up tents… Which will be fine, unless… it is hurricane season, after all….
Another report this weekend has White House jack-of-all-trades Jared Kusner urging the GOP to produce a platform succinct enough to fit on a postcard.
I have a suggestion: “I got mine, screw you."
They can even put the words in a large enough typeface to be read by a blind elephant.
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Finally, a reminder amid all this presidential hubris, of the historical roots of the Memorial Day.
Memorial Day began in 1865 when 10,000 freed slaves & a few white missionaries honored 260 fallen Union soldiers in Charlestown, South Carolina.
From the New York Times:
The procession was led by 3,000 black schoolchildren carrying armloads of roses and singing the Union marching song “John Brown’s Body.” Several hundred black women followed with baskets of flowers, wreaths and crosses. Then came black men marching in cadence, followed by contingents of Union infantrymen. Within the cemetery enclosure a black children’s choir sang “We’ll Rally Around the Flag,” the “Star-Spangled Banner” and spirituals before a series of black ministers read from the Bible.
After the dedication the crowd dispersed into the infield and did what many of us do on Memorial Day: enjoyed picnics, listened to speeches and watched soldiers drill. Among the full brigade of Union infantrymen participating were the famous 54th Massachusetts and the 34th and 104th United States Colored Troops, who performed a special double-columned march around the gravesite.
The war was over, and Memorial Day had been founded by African-Americans in a ritual of remembrance and consecration. The war, they had boldly announced, had been about the triumph of their emancipation over a slaveholders’ republic. They were themselves the true patriots.
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Just sayin...
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1264730445243052032?s=20
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