Monday, May 20, 2024

The Smart of the Deal


I am not a smart person. I'm not. Nor am I saying this as some type of humblebrag. Or an endearing expression of self deprecation. I may know a little about a lot of stuff. But I don't know a lot about specific stuff.

In other words, I can't go deep like Randall Cunningham or Brett Favre, who by the way, is also not smart.

I am however wise enough to recognize smart people. I seek them out. And like to surround myself with them. Hoping that through some late stage osmosis, some of that brilliance will migrate my way. 

I'm still waiting.

Sadly, the world has a serious deficit of smart people. Even sadder is when this admittedly small group is bifurcated -- I hope I used that word correctly -- and some of these "smart people" voluntarily line up behind Captain Ouchie Foot. 

Before I proceed perhaps I should define what makes a smart person, smart. In my book. And again my library is quite limited, it is not about reeling off facts. Knowing the great Hellenic leaders that gave rise to civilization. Or being able to locate Senegal on a map of eastern Africa and then naming the country it surrounds on all sides. 

It's about having those attributes, in some form or fashion, but it's also about leveraging that accumulation of knowledge to navigate life and emerging successful. With at least an above .300 batting average.

This is what I find so confounding. 

Think about it, there are legitimately smart people who have scaled the heights in their chosen field, attained wealth, notoriety, and influence, who have bet their entire legacy on America's Biggest Loser. This, despite watching other allegedly smart people do the same and end up in the clink. Or drizzling honey biscuits at the Cinnabon at La Guardia Terminal 3.

Shall I name names? 

Yes, I shall:

John Charles Eastman -- This man was a former Dean at Chapman College of Law. He attended the University of Chicago and was a member of the law review. Clerked for Federal Judge Michael Luttig (more about him later). And has argued in front of the Supreme Court. Had he not been sucked into Trump World, his old white guy portrait would still be hanging in the hallways at Chapman, gathering dust for the next 1000 years.

General John Francis Kelly -- An arguably brilliant strategist/warrior who rose through the ranks and served under two president before agreeing to become Chief of Staff during the most tumultuous regime of any US president. Kelly, a distinguished soldier with a chest full of medals, clearly knew how navigate the battlefield but decided to bow down and kiss/lick the orange ring. For what, general, for what? All that sycophancy got you bumped down to Seargant Schmuck.

Justices Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett -- The Google is telling me there have only been 112 Supreme Court Justice in the history of the United States of America. That is some rarified air. I think it's safe to say that you have to be quite smart in order to reach that apex of the judicial world and claim a robe. And I assume a mahogany-lined locker in the Supreme Court Dressing Room. 

And yet right now, while you're reading this drivel, between your next status meeting and email about filling out your timesheets, they are effectively sledgehammering one of the pillars of our democracy. 

"No man shall be above the law" and is effectively being replaced with "The porn star-banging, tax-cheating, insurrection-inciting, election-stealing douchebiscuit from Jamaica Estates shall be above the law."
 
I do not and cannot understand why obviously smart people (though clearly lacking in character) throw in and continue to throw in, with a "man" (?) who promises to be a Dictator on Day One if re-elected to the highest office in the land.

If I may double back to Judge Lustig. If you don't know of him or have not seen him, he is a lifelong conservative Republican, the kind you could disagree with, but still admire. He along with folks like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, are a part of a herd that has been thinned and hollowed out. Left on the side of road along the Trump Hershey Highway.

Luttig has joined forces with left-leaning Professor Lawrence Tribe to have the 14th amendment invoked and preclude another term for America's Worst American. Sadly that effort is losing steam.

If people do not come to their senses, the not-so-smart people will put Trump back in the White House. 

Much to the delight of a very smart man, Vladmir Putin.

 

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