Mom, I Think I’m Poignant!
Trump and BLM have a few things in common, not that they would ever admit it. Or care.

I was in the middle of a Chicago hot zone surrounded by blocks of National Guard troops forming a half-wheel around my neighborhood last month. While the Guard was ensconced at Sox Park (their epicenter) I was ensconced at home, apprehensive, tired, aghast, sad, confused and unable to deep sleep. My neighborhood was suddenly nothing but broken glass, empty, burned and ransacked stores, stolen merchandise and equipment.
And board ups all around–many still here a month later.
It was like a new Chicago fire.
Or like Yucca Flat after the blast, which Alice Kramden once said to Ralph Kramden on “The Honeymooners” about their deteriorating apartment.
Or Englewood, after Obama gave the banks all their money back, and then let them throw everyone out of the homes they thought they owned and could pay for; not realizing they were the victims of greedy banker swindles.
Maybe outside my door was like Kosovo, Rwanda, Iraq and Somalia? Who knows?
My neighborhood still writhes in discomfort, if not trauma, as life as we knew it re-emerges.
I’ve been watching interviews with Hawk Newsome the last few days, the “head” of the New York chapter of BLM, the voice of a Marxist hierarchy.
Perhaps a more savvy Donald Trump–if he were more consistent, sensible and clear-headed could have teamed up with Hawk way back when. Trump’s 2018 crime bill, praised by Van Jones and welcomed for fairness and smarts, was proof, perhaps, that they could have shared some common ground as comrades.
Unless it’s true that all BLM wants to do is turn America into Venezuela.
Hawk and Trump could have outsmarted the Washington elites, proving who the establishment really is and what they stand for. And how they never solve anything. And that’s by design.
“No one has ever seen anything like it,” Trump would have said pridefully about he and Hawk banding together and improving things. Unlikely disruptors together.
But Trump’s war on face masks has him distracted now; he’s showing those invisible little suckers who’s boss. He’ll fake out the Covid-19 and drive it into submission by declaring war on the face mask. Cloth and paper.
Then again, BLM didn’t care much about masks during the protests, either. Nor did the democrats.
Trump-science makes a certain kind of sense because there’s been an awful lot of waxing and waning on just about everything Novel Coronavirus from the get go, from the doctors and the scientists and Fauci and Birx and the numbers and the charts, ever since the scourge started. And no one has proved that masks make a difference one way or the other.
But no one has staked their reputation on masks. Except Trump.
Trump should have just said, “Masks, Not much to lose. Other than inhaling a bit of CO2 back-flow. And a little laundry fuzz from the cloth.” Everyone would have been satisfied. And mask-wearing wouldn’t have become what could seal Trump’s fate.
Newsome and Trump both emerged in the US with a goal: to drain the swamp. (Or, as Newsome says, to burn the system down.)
But either way, a draining or a burning, the swamp still runs rampant. While both vow to drain and burn, Trump has let the swamp drown him in a sea of hypocrisy, phonies, lies, double crosses, half truths and two-faced rats. Newsome, on the other hand, has gotten rich from it.
In fact, the swamp has endowed BLM with $1.6 + Billion (no typo). The establishment is scared. Do they want to stop the destruction of their quiet richness and enormous wealth by sharing some of it? Or do they want BLM to use their money to burn everything down? I think they put their money on the former.
The nonprofit do-gooders and the elites from the art world to the world museums, historic libraries (ironically) and house museums have taken up solidarity with BLM, too–with a ton of boilerplate praise for them on the internet, and standing ready to take down any statue they want them to. They, too, need the money of the establishment. They’re all in this together.
BLM’s got the white elites from Hollywood to Martha’s Vineyard apologizing for living, breathing and existing.
They hate themselves, they say, for their white privilege and then throw a few more dollars toward someone’s bail. And then they apologize again, offering to commit lily-white suicide. As if that would stop a handful of psychotic cops from arresting people and killing them.
Trump inartfully asked the African American community in 2016, like the goofy wise-guy he is, “What have you got to lose?”
Good question, many thought. And then he went on to provide opportunity zones, a good economy and record high employment. He doubled his African American support. And while Van Jones was praising Trump’s crime bill, everyone else said Biden’s old one was terrible, made things worse, was racist, unfair, insulting and fatal in many ways.
But now, while Trump fights the war on masks, BLM steals the limelight.
They both want to overcome the phony elite hacks whose idea of statesmanship is showing off a freezer full of gourmet ice cream on a late night talk show. While also getting everything very wrong.
They push for an insidious, insincere gadfly with a career as a California prosecutor, who can bring democracy back to the masses by helping shore up a weak, sickly corrupt has-been liar called “If you don’t vote for me, you ain’t black” Biden: Harris for VP.
The idea is she’ll be his vice; and then she’ll be his prez. And ours, too. In very short order.
Insincere opportunists like Senator Kamala Harris are not medicine for our time. They are not a bromide for the deep sickness that ails us.
Wiping her crocodile tears a mile a minute, Harris says she cannot digest African American Republican Senator Tim Scott’s legislation. Or compromise. Tinkering with any of his provisions–and hers and Senator Cory Booker’s–is out of the question.
She’s contending these issues will be better-served and hotter in November, but not so much in July. So much for an emergency. So much trying to stop sadistic cops from killing people.
Defunding/refunding isn’t a bad idea. Now. If the cities and states made a commitment to take the money and restructure the lives of overworked and misused cops–who unnecessarily pass out traffic tickets and preside over overdoses, domestic spats and psychotic breaks–all could be better done by “meter maids” social workers and psychiatrists.
But Harris will not behave like a concerned adult and well-paid US senator. She won’t work with an African American man from South Carolina because he’s a Republican. She prefers practicing obscene politics. Rife with twisted motives and rampant insincerity.
How about demanding an end to for-profit prisons which are geared to please their politically connected pals who own them and make suckers out of everyone, particularly the inmates and the taxpayers, because we have to step aside and allow the politically connected prison owners to make the same fortune the politically connected casino owners do (wink!).
While “You ain’t black” Biden hunkers down in a basement, we have a chance to study his probable choice for vice president’s embarrassingly lost chance to get the nomination herself. We can enjoy her greatest talent–the use of giggling to avoid answering any incisive question asked of her, her blatant use of the photo-op, her merch mavenship, the empty-insults hurled while questioning people on the senate floor, and now her quest to sneak into the presidency–even though she was dismissed just a few months ago by her polling, which was humiliatingly low.
The elites really wanted her, before she flamed out due to utter incompetence. Wall Street I’m sure loves her lack of empathy which appeals to hedge fund types who don’t want their gravy train to stop. And they’ll shower her with money.
Appointment makes more sense to her and to them–as Biden prepares to choose her in order to let her become number one as soon as it’s obvious he can’t put a sentence together or stand up. Talk about an end run around the voters.
In a sea of leveled statues, the threat of losing stained glass in historic churches (this one I do not believe; a false flag threat, perhaps?), the blowing up of Mt. Rushmore (ditto), defaced monuments, the take downs of abolitionists, Ulysses S. Grant who won the civil war and Abraham Lincoln himself, an the incessant slinging and shooting of guns, we are left with being Red China in 1966, in a cultural revolution led by automatons.
Even though corporate idiots will stand there and take it to pacify, letting the insurance companies fix everything, they think nothing of laying off hard working moms, family-supporting dads and young people just starting out. Because business has dropped off.
Are we ready for a Lenin, a Stalin or a Castro?
Is that what burning down the system means?
Will a silent (and moral) majority emerge again?
While some watch from the wings a guy and his dwindling polls, who has decided to bet his presidency on a war with face masks, the guy running against him barely has the strength to put one on.
Type your email address in the box and click the “create subscription” button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.
Filed under:
Life in the South Loop, Uncategorized
-
Advertisement:
-
Advertisement:
-
Welcome to ChicagoNow.
-
Meet The Blogger

Bonnie McGrath
Bonnie McGrath is an award-winning long time Chicago journalist, columnist, blogger and lawyer who lives in the South Loop. You can contact her at [email protected]
-
Subscribe by Email
Completely spam free, opt out any time.
Recent posts
-
Trump and BLM have a few things in common, not that they would ever admit it. Or care. »
Bonnie McGrath on Mom, I Think I’m Poignant!Posted Tuesday at 11:49 pm -
On dishwashing, ATMs, walking the neighborhood and shopping for food during the time of “we’re all in this together….” »
Bonnie McGrath on Mom, I Think I’m Poignant!Posted May 29, 2020 at 1:57 pm -
Me Too or no Me Too, it’s time to replace the presumptive nominee, Creepy Joe »
Bonnie McGrath on Mom, I Think I’m Poignant!Posted May 4, 2020 at 8:20 pm -
The Biggest Biden Bernie Betrayal of all may be on its way: Kamala Harris for VP »
Bonnie McGrath on Mom, I Think I’m Poignant!Posted April 13, 2020 at 3:21 pm -
We’re in dystopia and it’s back to the basics with food »
Bonnie McGrath on Mom, I Think I’m Poignant!Posted March 30, 2020 at 4:21 am
Monthly Archives
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
Blogroll
- 4 Broads Dish/Dee Dee Lynch Silverstein
- Chat With Pat/Pat Deeb
- Chicago Architecture/Bill Motchan
- For What it’s Worth/Jack Leyhane
- JaneswalkCHICAGO/Martha Frish
- Joan Chandler Communications/Joan Chandler
- LoriLevinLaw/Lori G. Levin
- Me & My Shadow A Life in Chicago/Frances Archer
- nancy bishop’s journal/Nancy Bishop
- Opinionated Woman/Judy Marcus
- South Loop Connection/Stephen Reginald
- Sugar Buzz Chicago/Judy Marcus
- The Daily Blagica/Blagica Bottigliero
- The Rookie Widow/Elaine Soloway
- The Story of a House/William Tyre
Categories
- Uncategorized (221)
- Life in the South Loop (177)
- I Can’t Stand Rahm (14)
Latest on ChicagoNow
-
PHOTOS: Renovated River North penthouse loft: $1.3M
from ChicagoNow Staff Blog by ChicagoNow Staff
posted today at 8:23 am -
Olive — Petraits Rescue
from Pets in need of homes by ChicagoNow Staff
posted today at 8:22 am -
The most annoying language: a list to enjoy and avoid
from Margaret Serious by Margaret H. Laing
posted today at 7:10 am -
Amid an Ugly Year, Craft Beer Perseveres
from Kraft Brews Chicago by Sam Kraft
posted today at 7:08 am -
Trump and BLM have a few things in common, not that they would ever admit it. Or care.
from Mom, I Think I’m Poignant! by Bonnie McGrath
posted Tuesday at 11:49 pm
Posts from related blogs
-
The Good Life
Most recent post: Realtor Highlight: Kerry Turgeon
-
Chicago Weather Watch
Most recent post: sweet summer days
-
Cosmic Chicago
Most recent post: NASA and SpaceX Successfully Launch Astronauts to Space
More from News: City Life
Read these ChicagoNow blogs
-

Cubs Den
Chicago Cubs news and comprehensive blog, featuring old school baseball writing combined with the latest statistical trends -

Pets in need of homes
Pets available for adoption in the Chicago area -

Show Me Chicago
Show Me Chicago previews, reviews and expresses opinions on what’s happening in Chicago from Blockbuster Theater, to what’s new in dining, arts, and the neighborhoods.
Read these ChicagoNow Bloggers
-

Ray Salazar, NBCT
-

Natalie Matthews
from Aspiring Dance Mom: -

Chris O’Brien
from Medium Rare:
- About ChicagoNow
- •
- FAQs
- •
- Advertise
- •
- Recent posts RSS
- •
- Privacy policy (Updated)
- •
- Comment policy
- •
- Terms of service
- •
- Chicago Tribune Archives
- •
- Chicago Internet Marketing Services
©2020 CTMG – A Chicago Tribune website –
Crafted by the News Apps team

