January 28, 2021

"But Trump must never have an official presidential library, and Congress should move quickly to make sure he doesn’t."

Writes WaPo art and architecture critic Philip Kennicott. 
The case of Trump is exceptional by any standard, and he should be afforded no discretion over his records or any privilege to extend the amount of time before the public can see them. Trump’s 2017 requirement that the National Archives withhold access to his materials until 2033 should be abrogated, and Congress should begin an extraordinary effort to recover as much of his communications legacy as possible, even material that wasn’t deemed “presidential.” 
Trump’s presidency mixed public and private interests in a way that was unprecedented in modern American history, so his decisions on these matters can’t be trusted. He incited an insurrection, and many of the people who may have participated in that, including members of Congress, are still actively engaged in public life. The need to know who they are and what they did isn’t just a matter for the FBI, the Justice Department and prosecutors.... 
It is imperative to the nation’s future that we know how and why authoritarianism became so deeply and pervasively rooted in the Trump administration. Historians, journalists and biographers need immediate access to this material (with the minimal oversight necessary by professional, nonpartisan archivists) to help educate the American public on the greatest threat to the republic since the Civil War.... 
Further, given Trump’s alleged misuse of charitable funds, including self-dealing, waste and other illegal activities, at his now dissolved New York-based foundation, any intention to start another public entity can only be considered a crime scene waiting to happen.... 

138 comments:

Gospace said...

Bill of attainder anyone?

But it’s constitutional because of the “Orange Man Bad” clause that’s frequently been used by the courts.

jeremyabrams said...

Just substitute "the Jew" or "the Jews" for Trump in a lot of these diktats and the impulse becomes clear.

rcocean said...

Its amazing how the Left-wing media owned by left-wing billionaires hates Trump so much. There is of course, absolutely zero reason to treat Trump differently from any other President.

This sort of trash get printed because Gazillionaire Bezos hates Trump. why? I dunno. Maybe its because Bezos hates the 75 million Trump supporters who voted for him.

Caroline said...

Wow, time to start working on “The Lives of Others” memes!

Achilles said...

Fascist shitheads gotta be fascist shitheads.

Gahrie said...

Wow, that would sure be moderate and boring. How soon until we airbrush him from history completely comrade?

rcocean said...

The Left, the MSM, and the Democrats are making it clear the rules don't apply to them anymore . The old norms and traditions or the Constitution, they just don't care. They'll only stop when someone with equal or superior political or economic power FORCES them to stop. Otherwise, its just "by any mean necessary".

Rusty said...

Blogger Caroline said...
"Wow, time to start working on “The Lives of Others” memes!"
Oh, man. That was a scary movie. I understand it was watered down too.

rcocean said...

What's astounding is the average Democrat, who pretended for years to care about ethics, constitutional limits, traditions and norms, just doesn't care anymore. in fact when you call them on it, they don't even deny it. They just - falsely - claim that "both sides do it". The Democrats and the MSM have already approved of Antifa/BLM violence, how much more violence will they approve of, if they thinks it "necessary"?

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

the collective elite democratic left incited and inspired the creation of brownshirt Antifa Nazis. Can we cancel the collective left for doing so?

Start with Nancy.
Erase. Delete.

rehajm said...

Fuck you, assholes.

Nonapod said...

Ever since the inauguration we've had so much healing and so much unity it's amazing. Biden truly is a magnificent healer of wounds and a bridger of divides.

Breezy said...

What’s this have to do with art and architecture? Aren’t these critics supposed to stay in their lane? Category appropriation, I say!

rcocean said...

Twitter has been hiring a 1000 "Public Safety" snitches to patrol twitter looking for "Unsafe words". Can you imagine all the nice white middle-class ladies who would LOVE To do this? You can just imagine Joy Behar or Megan McCain signing up to "Patrol" twitter in their spare time and report any "Unsafe" words or tweets.

steve said...

"It is imperative to the nation’s future that we know how and why authoritarianism became so deeply and pervasively rooted in the Trump administration." I sure wish one of these writers would give us the evidence that Trump was an authoritarian. He was cutting regulations right and left which decreases the power of government doesn't it? He couldn't stop any of that bogus Russian collusion investigation. Shouldn't an authoritarian been able to do that? The media did everything in their power to destroy him. Shouldn't an authoritarian been able to put an end to that too? For a supposed "dictator" he must have been the most impotent one in history

Todd said...

What f*cking trash! Obama did far worse. Bill and Hillary did far worse. They are Democrats so all is good. F*ck all of them, they are all criminal hacks.

rehajm said...

Not satisfied with controlling the narrative these fascists are hell bent on creating an alternative reality and destroying actual reality.

Lucid-Ideas said...

Remember, it's not Trump they hate, it's you. And you. And you. You voted for an outsider to invade their paradise on the Potomac.

Clark said...

These people have lost their minds.

Mike Sylwester said...

Democracy Dies in Darkness!

JaimeRoberto said...

"Trump’s presidency mixed public and private interests in a way that was unprecedented in modern American history." Stated without evidence.

"He incited an insurrection." Not proven.

"why authoritarianism became so deeply and pervasively rooted in the Trump administration." Another assertion without evidence. If you want authoritarianism, look at the governors' lockdowns and Biden's executive orders.

Mike Sylwester said...

Thanks to "President" Biden, normalcy and civility are being restored to our country's politics.

Rob said...

Kennicott also writes, "So, on this matter, Americans cannot trust the rule of law in Florida, but they can put pressure on corporate and other entities not to donate to any group associated with any effort to build a Trump presidential center. And the FBI can keep a close watch on any national group created to solicit funding for such an endeavor."

You have to give him some credit. He doesn't try to hide his jackbooted thug persona. This is the kind of unity President Biden's supporters seek--don't step out of line, or we'll make sure you regret it.

Big Mike said...

TDS will never end, will it?

Biff said...

Kennicott has a Yale degree and a Pulitzer. I remember when I was impressed by those credentials.

mccullough said...

Imperious tone from a Bezos bot.

Flat Tire said...

I naively thought these people would slowly regain some sanity. I see it all more clearly now.

rcocean said...

everyone at the WaPo hates trump. Sports writers. Fashion writers. Theater/movie reviewers. Book reviewers. Reporters. Op-ed page writers. Even Bezos' dog hates Trump.

rcocean said...

"Remember, it's not Trump they hate, it's you. And you. And you. You voted for an outsider to invade their paradise on the Potomac."

Yep. Its not him, its us.

rcocean said...

Who knew enforcing the immigration laws, getting better trade deals, making our allies pay their fair share, staying out of useless wars, and getting the economy going, would stir up this sort of insane hatred?

Make America great Again. It makes them see Red and fills them with rage. And now they want revenge on Trump. Smash him - and grind him into the dust.

Pathetic and disgusting.

Gravel said...

the next time I want an art and architecture critic's opinion on anything - including art or architecture - will be the first.

gbarto said...

Breezy, I thought the same thing. If he'd written an article saying the Trump Library must use modernist architecture or something like that, it'd be okay. But this is silly.

Joe Smith said...

Before we start cancelling Trump post-presidency, first let's see Obama's real birth certificate and all of his college transcripts.

I'm disappointed that Trump never dug those up or found a way to declassify them.

TheOne Who Is Not Obeyed said...

I'll give this dude* a 12 on the 1-10 'OK Boomer' scale.

*Yes, I assumed his gender. I had a 99.3% chance of being correct.

Bob Boyd said...

This guy is fully immersed in this cult pseudo-reality. TDS is worse now. It's quite astounding.

Rabel said...

"So, on this matter, Americans cannot trust the rule of law in Florida, but they can put pressure on corporate and other entities not to donate to any group associated with any effort to build a Trump presidential center. And the FBI can keep a close watch on any national group created to solicit funding for such an endeavor."

Wow.

Francisco D said...

It is imperative to the nation’s future that we know how and why authoritarianism became so deeply and pervasively rooted in the Trump administration. Historians, journalists and biographers need immediate access to this material (with the minimal oversight necessary by professional, nonpartisan archivists) to help educate the American public on the greatest threat to the republic since the Civil War....

This level of insanity can only be explained by one word: Projection.

Leftist authoritarians are the greatest threat to the republic since the Civil War. They know it and they are proud of being able to pull the wool over the eyes of the Democrat base.

n.n said...

Hunted, judged, protested, disarmed, denied a voice, per chance to cancel. Peace in pieces through progress.

Matt Sablan said...

I wonder if they'll photoshopped him out of photos with leftists in good standing nect.

Danno said...

Don't these elitist clowns realize in their cancel culture they will be creating dead-enders that might become the next Timothy McVeigh?

Balfegor said...

I honestly don't understand what people mean when they constantly characterise Trump as "authoritarian." Mostly, their concrete objection is about his style, not anything he actually did, but you could make the same stylistic point with even more force about Obama (who had a more conventional, less tongue-in-cheek personality cult). Their substantive objections are often that he didn't exercise executive power aggressively enough (e.g. by imposing a possibly unconstitutional mask mandate, or usurping state health authorities). Their procedural objections, such as they are, aren't so much about Trump's use of executive orders, but about his overriding the unelected professional civil service. Layers of unaccountable bureaucracy aren't a safeguard against tyranny! That's what Congressional oversight and the courts are for! And the argument that he somehow suppressed the press -- who were allowed to print all kinds of thinly sourced falsehoods about him on the Russia nonsense -- is incomprehensible.

Leland said...

Congress cannot take Trump's private anything without due process in a court. If Congress passed a bill attempting to do so, it would effectively be a bill of attainder, as GoSpace notes above, and that's not allowed by the Constitution. The whole point of a Presidential Library is to store the official records of the President, so not building a library and wanting to collect more records than allowed by law is stupid without a place to store them.

Joe Smith said...

"Just substitute "the Jew" or "the Jews" for Trump in a lot of these diktats and the impulse becomes clear."

This is correct, the left have always hated Jews and Israel, which is why I'm incredulous that Jews still vote so heavily democrat.

But a small correction, it's 'Jooo' and 'Jooos.'

If you say it in a backwoods, Mississippi drawl it will make sense.

gilbar said...

Serious Question
WHY? by what possible excuse?
Maybe they should just exile him? You know, like Banana Republics do?

n.n said...

This guy is fully immersed in this cult pseudo-reality. TDS is worse now

Acutely phobic reactions are generally a progressive condition. Popular correction: abort two babies, sequester the carbon remains of the boy, cannibalize the profitable parts of the girl, and bray at the Twilight Fringe for secular indulgence from the mortal gods and goddesses with standing.

Michael said...

Sod off Phil. He will get his library like all the rest. Your opinion is not of interest

Tommy Duncan said...

Mike Sylwester said...

"Democracy Dies in Darkness!"

Mike, do you think that was intended as a warning? Or a promise?

Roughcoat said...

The Pharaoh Horemheb has decreed that the name of Akhenaten shall be erased from all monuments bearing it.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

It is possible to argue that every Republican pres is compared to Hitler, no matter what. Nixon, Reagan, both Bushes. So it's not like the Dems needed to use detective work to find out that Trump was authoritarian, completely outside so-called norms, unacceptable, etc. They were always willing to make it up if necessary. That said, the Capital riot shouldn't have happened, and Trump should have done more to prevent it. This doesn't make him Mussolini, or even Huey Long.

DarigoldVanilla said...

Amen!
Traitors shouldn’t get presidential libraries.

jim said...

Wants to raise $2 billion for a library. Fits the business plan nicely.

Fine if it's privately funded (i.e. if suckers really born every minute), I'd actually like to see Trump's idea of a library.

Michael K said...

Trump’s presidency mixed public and private interests in a way that was unprecedented in modern American history,

Yeah. No president has refused a salary since Washington. Can't have that.

This stuff is getting us closer to France 1789 than ever.

CWJ said...

"Don't these elitist clowns realize in their cancel culture they will be creating dead-enders that might become the next Timothy McVeigh?"

I think they're hoping for it, just as they hoped Trump would have a "Kent State" incident during the summer's riots. They've tried their best at puffing up the Jan 6 capitol incursion, but they need something more substantial to get people on board with the domestic terrorist/white supremacy suppression agenda.

Michael K said...

I see the lefty trolls suddenly appear.

The Democrats tried to seize Nixon's papers but I think they failed. This will also fail.

wild chicken said...

Do one-term presidents usually get libraries?

Only one I've been to is Reagan's.

eddie willers said...

I am getting so tired of these fuckers.

They really are pushing it.

Gunner said...

Lefties have spent almost 50 years whining about Gerald Ford letting Nixon escape punishment. Anyone who thought they would not press hard against Trump, even if the Capitol Panty Raid hadn't happened, was dreaming.

Paul said...

Wow, is Kennicott a communist? After all, it sounds just like what a Communist would say and do.

Kevin said...

When Trump dies some journalists will insist he be buried at sea.

The idea that people might be able to visit his grave will be too unsettling for them to bear.

tcrosse said...

I'd actually like to see Trump's idea of a library.

You should get a load of Obama's.

Anonymous said...

"It is imperative to the nation’s future that we know how and why authoritarianism became so deeply and pervasively rooted in the Trump administration. Historians, journalists and biographers [[need immediate access to this material]] CAUSED IT."

There. Fixed it for you.

Wince said...

Call me crazy, but this general level of hysteria among those who are fed their information from Deep State Democrats is starting to rekindle my confidence -- bolstered by the documents Trump declassified on the way out -- that Durham has the goods on many of the Trump enemies.

Joe Smith said...

I don't care about anybody's library as long as it's privately funded.

From the National Archives:

"A Presidential Library is constructed with private or non-Federal funds donated to non-profit organizations established usually for the express purpose of building a Presidential Library and supporting its programs.

Some Libraries have also received construction and development funding from state and/or local governments."

This second paragraph is problematic.

Presidents work for you.

Zero public dollars should be spent.

Would you pay for a house for your gardener?

Juan does a great job with the lawn edging, but it doesn't merit a house.

Joe Smith said...

"I'd actually like to see Trump's idea of a library."

Gold Jerry, gold!

effinayright said...

Future headline:

"Trump Jail Suicide Remains Unexplained"

Just you wait.

Jim at said...

Keep kicking the dog in the teeth, leftists.
Just keep it up.

RMc said...

WaPo art and architecture critic Philip Kennicott

Why exactly does anybody care what this giant pimple thinks about presidential libraries...or anything, really?

effinayright said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
effinayright said...

Joe Smith said...
"I'd actually like to see Trump's idea of a library."

Gold Jerry, gold!
*************************
Fool's gold, both of yuz, fool's gold.

Clinton's "Presidential Library and Massage Parlor", as Limbaugh refers to it, consists of nothing but old issues of PlayBoy, Hustler and Swank.

Biden's library will be one book, which he will read from start-to-finish--and then read it from start-to-finish, again and again---because he won't realize it's the same book.

Calypso Facto said...

wholelottasplainin' said..."Biden's library will be one book, which he will read from start-to-finish--and then read it from start-to-finish, again and again---because he won't realize it's the same book."

Hopefully it's got his 3rd grade syllabus. And then his 3rd grade syllabus from the next year.

Jim at said...

Don't these elitist clowns realize in their cancel culture they will be creating dead-enders that might become the next Timothy McVeigh?

That's what they want, and will use it as another reason to apply the boot.

They also think they won't be the target.

DanTheMan said...

Before this is over, they will be calling for Disney to remove him from the Hall of Presidents exhibit.
If Disney doesn't beat them to it...

rcocean said...

"Don't these elitist clowns realize in their cancel culture they will be creating dead-enders that might become the next Timothy McVeigh?"

"Yeah, don't they understand they're only hurting themselves?" This is the lamest argument ever. Yes, they do understand and they're willing to take that risk. They also don't care if they are hypocrites. Evil doesn't care.

Joe Smith said...

"Biden's library will be one book..."

I predict 'Go Dog, Go' or some other classic from Dr. Suess.

He's as much of a doctor as DOCTOR Jill, don't ya know.

rcocean said...

People need to stop asking "Don't they understand...?" and assume they DO Understand. And go from there.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Balfegor said...

I honestly don't understand what people mean when they constantly characterise Trump as "authoritarian."

It's a word they don't know the definition of, they just know it means bad. Like when they call people Nazis; they know that Nazis were the bad guys in Raiders of the Lost Ark, but they know nothing about the true evil of the NSDAP.

Tina Trent said...

WaPo is bitching about “waste”?

Trump really did part the waters.

Jimmy Carter’s presidential library and center, in contrast, actually does endorse foreign dictators, engage in targeted election fraud overseas, and sponsor actual domestic terrorists. — Bernardine Dohrn’s partner in her radical campaign to eliminate all school discipline has been supported by The Carter Center.

And remember, Carter pardoned the Puerto Rican terrorists who shot half a dozen Congressmen. In Congress. The pictures of Miss Lillian are a hoot, but otherwise, The Carter Center is a pro-totalitarian entity supported by our tax dollars.

Spiros said...

Presidential libraries are bullsh*t. We need access to records and transparency, not glitzy exhibits. Real documents like Mr. Trump's letter firing James Comey, not crappy educational programs for children. Congress should reform these things.

Anyways, Trump obviously deserves a presidential library. The man is a fascinating, radical figure. He is uniquely American. And he is tacky. After Trump dies, maybe his preserved body can be put on display at his library? Jeremy Bentham was on display in a glass box for centuries!!! It's kind of cool.

BUMBLE BEE said...

TDS? Hell Yes... Trump is the MOST successful one term President. Jews in my in-law family hate him. He accomplished stuff lots of stuff, and who is being authoritarian?
Still.. I can hear the lamentations of their women like vanilla.
Judging by his history I'll bet Joe's book will only be half colored. .

BUMBLE BEE said...

Dumbocrats got daddy issues.

rhhardin said...

Self-awareness is not big in leftist journalism.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

And you can bet your bottom dollar there'll be a huge appropriation for the Biden library after his three months are up!

rhhardin said...

I wonder how self-awareness ties in with soap opera, namely whether it's actually minimal. Certainly it's minimal as regards what reality is, but it's big on empathy.

Joe Smith said...

"And you can bet your bottom dollar there'll be a huge appropriation for the Biden library after his three months are up!"

Maybe not so much a library as an annex.

Of course, they'll also stock lots of kids books.

That pre-teen hair isn't gonna smell itself.

rhhardin said...

Men are from Mars, women are from the Biden Presidential library.

Freeman Hunt said...

The election of Biden doesn't seem to have been a curative for Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Freeman Hunt said...

It would be funny if presidential libraries were full of the books presidents actually read.

Freeman Hunt said...

I predict a lot of TV Guides and thrillers.

donald said...

Naturally this fascist calling for thug jackboot mentality looks completely effeminate, is no doubt completely incapable of physically imposing his will on anybody and naturally is completely mentally and emotionally fucked up in the head because his mother was mean and distant, so naturally he’s a sausage smoker.

MartieD said...

I’ve never donated to a presidential library before this but now I will. This WaPo shit just earned the Trump library a shit ton of money from me. Where do I send the check?

Leora said...

I was pretty impressed that after three years of intense investigation all the NY Attorney General came up with - purchase of a portrait of the founder for the office for $10,000 and a tenuous argument that the donation of 2 million dollars raised for veteran's charities was really a donation to Trump's election campaign. The judge was not impressed. He allowed the foundation to present a plan of liquidation that allowed them to give another 2 million to veteran's charities, had Don Jr purchase the portrait from the foundation at cost, and Don Jr, Ivanka and Eric had to attend a class on fiduciary responsibility. The remaining assets of the foundation were then disbursed to a list of charities and the foundation terminated. There was no fine and no suggestion of criminality. For all the talk about Trump's criminality there seems to be remarkably little detail of what he has supposedly done that is criminal.

It's depressing that the media continually defames the man and about half of our citizens believe them or claim to. I hope that he starts suing people for calling him a criminal with no evidence.

Night Owl said...

They sure are desperate to shut Trump down. They don't act like people secure in their "victory". They're afraid of him, and his supporters.

Night Owl said...
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Night Owl said...
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donald said...

Well, Mebbe little boys. I bet Phil Kennicot can TEAR up a nine year old boy. IYKWIMAITYD.

Mark said...

Kennicott is guilty of speakcrime in mentioning a unperson.

Leora said...

wild chicken - Carter has a library in Atlanta.

Achilles said...

Night Owl said...

They sure are desperate to shut Trump down. They don't act like people secure in their "victory". They're afraid of him, and his supporters.

They are acting like Trump got about 75 million votes and Biden got about 63 million votes and they had to pause counting in 6 states all at the same time and count some votes after kicking observers out.

Big Mike said...

If we could press a button to eliminate all the genuine, soul-scorched, haters in this country, would there be any Democrat party left at all? I concede that we’d lose more than a few Republicans, but there’d be way more Democrats disappear, Thantos-style.

daskol said...

Are architects particularly susceptible to fascism?

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

So. This is what happens when the People rashly chose for high public office someone not of the Political Elite.

Voters sustain the Political Elite by returning the same assholes to public office - same office for 30 or more years in many cases.

I do not blame the Political Elite for wanting to hold on to a good job with no responsibility or accountability. It is human nature lie, cheat, and steal to keep such a job.

I do not blame the entertainment media for the crap that appears as "news" and "information" in print and TV. The purpose is to sell asswipe and airtime. It is entertainment.

I blame the voters.

roesch/voltaire said...

He already has his Trump library in the thousands of insulting tweets that the NYT has chronicled and be down loaded at any time.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Further, given Trump’s alleged misuse of charitable funds, including self-dealing, waste and other illegal activities, at his now dissolved New York-based foundation, any intention to start another public entity can only be considered a crime scene waiting to happen....

OK, "alleged misuse." Including "waste," which I am pretty sure isn't a criminal offense anywhere, and definitely not in D.C., else we'd have no government at all.

Tina Trent, thanks for reminding us all of the Puerto Rican attack on the Capitol, which was a hell of a lot worse than 1/6/2021 and resulted in frickin' Presidential pardons for the perpetrators. That one had swum out of my ken a long time ago, and I (unlike the average MSM journalist) was actually alive and conscious when it happened. Whereas this one is The Worst Thing Ever To Happen In The Capitol, Bar None.

Look, it's by now clear that the anti-Trumpistas aren't content for Trump to be out of office, still less for Biden to be in office. Biden is the best placeholder they could find, that's all. As for Trump, they want him gone, they want him never to come back (do the voters perhaps want him back, or mightn't they in a few years? Well, they shouldn't have the choice!), they want his family gone and all his assets gone and him in jail with (as I recall some ever-so-nice dude saying about Ken Lay; prison rape is so much yuk-yuk, nyet?) a cellmate nicknamed "Spike," and, for all I know, all his buildings torched, the ground seeded with salt at all his golf courses, and a permanent "the vile authoritarian" mandatorily inserted before his name on all the major word-processing programs. Not only his own voice but any non-derogatory mention of his name should be banned on all social media platforms, and those who refuse to comply should be shut off, as Parler has been quasi-shut off. Once he dies, they can dig him up after a decade or so and hang him in chains in the Senate chamber, like Oliver Cromwell.

This is . . . disproportionate.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Correction/clarification: I wasn't alive for the Puerto Rican attack on the Capitol, merely for the pardon. The former happened thirteen years before I was born. But my parents remember it.

My point that most current reporters weren't born when the pardon took place stands.

chuck said...

Presidential libraries are a bizarre phenomenon designed to help forgotten presidents on their way to the afterlife. Why congress should concern themselves with religious matters escapes me.

Joe Smith said...

"Are architects particularly susceptible to fascism?"

Ask Albert Speer.

Joe Smith said...

"Presidential libraries are a bizarre phenomenon designed to help forgotten presidents on their way to the afterlife. Why congress should concern themselves with religious matters escapes me."

They certainly have set themselves up as modern-day pharaohs...with all the riches that come with it.

We've forgotten that every public employee works for us, from dog-catcher on up.

Amadeus 48 said...

Thugs are thugs, even if they pose as WaPoop "art and architecture critics".

Those folks really ought to give it a rest. Their hatred is just building up Trump. He is out of office, but they seem frightened of him.

This is how they get more Trump, particularly when they have just installed the feeble Joe Biden and are headed towards Kamala Harris.

Amadeus 48 said...

"Are architects particularly susceptible to fascism?"

If he were still alive, you could ask Philip Johnson. He had an early fling with the Nazis.

Readering said...

Let's face it, he saw this kind of thing might be coming and was in a panic. But just made it more likely by his bonkers conduct to stop it. Poetic justice.

narciso said...

avery brundage was an engineer, but he was similarly inclined, see the 1936 olympics,

Rhonda said...

Totally agree regarding the records, just as soon as every prior president’s records are accorded the same treatment...

Richard Dolan said...

He knows his audience and is giving them what they want. Journalism 2021, in the time of Biden. Not a chance that 10 senate Republicans will support it, so the chances of legislation being adopted are nil.

daskol said...

Philip Johnson was on my mind, and some documentaries I've seen about architects of the 20th century and their dalliances with a variety of toxic ideologies. Something about them does seem to make them susceptible to it, like they have a god complex that would make a surgeon blush.

Michael K said...


Blogger roesch/voltaire said...

He already has his Trump library in the thousands of insulting tweets that the NYT has chronicled and be down loaded at any time.


The crazies carry on and have zero self awareness. This is a religion for you crazies.

He left office for crissakes ! Get over it !

Anonymous said...

There are alot of Boomers, on their way out. What do we leave our kids? FBI-Stasi?

Wanna live a couple a years in a nursing home, where the CNAs hate you for having to wipe your butt?

"there is no greater love, than a man give his life for his friends"

The Godfather said...

"Do one-term presidents usually get libraries?"

Yes. Bush 41, Carter, Ford (less than one term), Hoover, all have Presidential libraries. That's as far back as I've looked.

The only Presidential library I've visted was Nixon's. It was very interesting. It includes the modest little house he grew up in. Notwithstanding Nixon's misconduct in office, his political career spanned a very interesting period of American and world history, and he seems to have met every significant player during that era. Obama to the contrary notwithstanding, a Presidential library doesn't have to be a monument to the greatness of its subject.

PM said...

A library would be nice, but what he ought to have is one of those boards detectives use with pix and stickies, arrows and connecting lines. And yuuuuuge.

readering said...

Presidential libraries, which started with Hoover, as libraries have an uncertain future now that documents are digitized and accessible online. Obama the first to deal with that state of technology from outset. Trump, or the folks to whom he delegates, will hopefully learn from Obama's problems. The library closest to me I have visited the most is Nixon. My impression is that his family plays an active role in charting its future. It seems well run and more interesting than the second closest in Simi Valley.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

Trump governed like a constitutionalist. He went to Congress for the border wall funding, when they didn't give it to him, he used the authority Congress gave the president to move funding around to build the wall. When challenged in court, he obeyed the orders of the district court until they could be overturned by a higher court. District courts that made nation-wide rulings. He could have told the court that their ruling applied only to the specific district and if the court didn't like that, to take it up with the circuit or Supreme Court.

The China virus was a perfect opportunity to extend the government's control, but instead he cut regulations and relied upon private business to step in and fill the need.

The left thinks that if Trump talked nicely to autocrats like Putin, that made Trump an autocrat also. They forget Teddy Roosevelt's motto: "Talk softly, but carry a big stick." He talked nicely to Putin while whacking Putin with low oil and gas prices, imposing sanctions and putting the squeeze on Russia's ally, Iran. The big squeeze was taking out the IRGC top general, ol' what's his face (can't remember and don't feel like finding his name)..

Kirk Parker said...

Balfegor @ 3:22 PM,

The path to understanding is realizing that virtual everything that comes out of the left mouth is projection. Yes, they are the authoritarians, and can't imagine that anyone else wouldn't be.

n.n said...

Trump governed like a constitutionalist

The very model of an anti-fascist who denies single/central/monopolistic/monolithic colusions and solutions. All-American: Pro-Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. Impeach the bastard and sequester his carbon remains.

n.n said...

everything that comes out of the left mouth is projection. Yes, they are the authoritarian

From anarchists on the far-right to libertarians on the right to conservatives in the middle to liberals and progressives on the left, and the left-right nexus is leftist.

Largo said...

So the 'fuck you, constitution' now extends to its fourth ammendment.

Will any ammendment go untouched?

n.n said...

Notwithstanding Nixon's misconduct in office

He stood loyally, stalked by the braying press, betrayed left and right, bled support, then double-down and lost.

Largo said...

Bill (WF) Buckly spoke very highly of The Lives of Others calling it, IIRC, his favourite movie.

Arguably mine too.



n.n said...

Will any ammendment go untouched?

Twilight Amendment: penumbras and emanations (i.e. semantic games, conceptional corruption, conflation of logical domains). Because a baby is not merely a Fetal-American but often a "burden", an impediment to social progress, an obstacle to revenue collection, an inconvenience to feminine female availability, a useful novelty mallet and leverage, and other purposes.

Bill said...

women now know how to suceed and raise to the presidency, I'm shocked that Monica Lewinsky wasn't the first female president...

jim said...

"He left office for crissakes ! Get over it !"

He had to be pushed, and tried to subvert the election results. We don't want Biden or whoever acting that way.

Readering said...

Attempt is in the criminal code for a reason.

Sam L. said...

Dems, and the WaPoo (but I repeat myself), will have ulcers because of Trump, and they DESERVE it.

Readering said...

GoP will have ulcers. Dems will reap dividends.

Readering said...

Following on GA.

Todd said...

Joe Smith said...

Of course, they'll also stock lots of kids books.

That pre-teen hair isn't gonna smell itself.

1/28/21, 4:58 PM


Does that mean that the Harris library will have extra cushiony floor coverings? No bruised knees here!

Lurker21 said...

We shouldn't have any of these White elephant presidential libraries. FDR's kids would probably agree with me: "Kids, after years of parental neglect, we're giving your family home to the government to make a monument to me and your mother." Still Trump, is as entitled to a library/museum as any of the others were. It could be much more worth visiting than many of the others.

Obviously, if you work for the Post and Beezus, you are going to toe the party line. I'm a little surprised that the guy who complains here about "authoritarianism" was so enthusiastic about the Biden's inauguration and didn't note the overtones of Nuremburg rallies or May Day in Red Square.

WZimmerman said...

Authoritarianism?

Would that be something like the person running the executive branch signing 30+ executive orders in two weeks?

Soon an executive order to disband Congress?

Anonymous said...

Free Speech.
Free elections.
Free Markets.

Free.

We haven't had that for awhile, now. The World Economic Forum meets in Davos to determine how the cattle who wear masks, can be carved up, for the greater good.

The mask-wearers don't even know they are cattle. Didn't they suffer the humiliations and abuse that the TSA doled out, so they could go on vacation?

One week of not flying would have ended that. Buh...buh...I have reservations! Did you climb the cliffs at Pont du Hoc? No one was asking you to do that. One week of not flying. That's all it would have taken.

2 waves of men who landed at Normandy were assigned the task of being...sandbags, to absorb the machinegun rounds, leaving the opponent, out of ammo, so men could climb the cliffs.

No one is asking you to be a sandbag. Stop wearing your stupid mask.

Frk'n cattle.

There is nothing new, under the sun.


Skippy Tisdale said...

"But Trump must never have an official presidential library, and Congress should move quickly to make sure he doesn’t."
Writes WaPo art and architecture critic Philip Kennicott.


It really is a mental illness.