U2’s lawyers work pro-bono – advice for lawyers
by S. Jayasankaran
Most people will agree that I’m a very, very, very intelligent man – President Donald J Trump, who offered this scoop to journalists.
The French novelist Gustave Flaubert listed three requirements for happiness: stupidity, selfishness and good health. He threw in a caveat: if stupidity is lacking, Flaubert cautioned, “all is lost.”
Flaubert needn’t fret. Where Donald Trump is concerned, all is found: ignorance, narcissism and perfect health all wrapped up in the man the Republicans deem perfectly suitable as the next Leader of the Free World.
The world will know the results by the time lunch rolls around in Malaysia on Wednesday. If the Lied Piper wins, Ms Harris will concede and that will be that.
But if history is made with the election of the first female President of the US, all bets are off because the Donald will almost certainly contest the results. He will use the courts and God knows what else. Don’t forget he’s the fellow who predicted a “bloodbath” if he lost.
In fact, he hasn’t even conceded the last election and already he appears to be laying the ground to contest the up-coming results.
On Thursday, he posted furious (in capitals with sundry exclamation marks) allegations that there had been election fraud in early polling in Pennsylvania.
He did not, however, furnish any evidence to back up his claims. You might say it’s the story of his life.
The man is a political rarity, the original Teflon Man. Nothing sticks to him. This is amazing for a country, which can get pretty fevered-up in its politics.
He’s attempted an insurrection against an elected government; been convicted of 34 felony charges; been accused of sexual assault and has talked to Vladimir Putin no less than six times after he left the Presidency. If he had been a Democrat, the last act alone would have been enough to derail his political aspirations.
To top it off, he lies so often and so frequently that a fact checker to him would be the equivalent of a cross to Dracula.
But nothing seems to be held against him. No President in history has, for example, attempted to sell stuff to the American people after they left office. Yet Trump repeatedly does so – cards, shoes, coins, watches, even Bibles – and no one seems to find it weird.
Not to be outdone, his wife Melania has just unveiled her Christmas ornament collection – going for between $75 to $90 – in a “one-off, not to be missed” collectable set.
If it all sounds shameless, it is.
The only ones having a field day over Trump are the late-night show hosts. But even their jokes are sounding worried. Whether the jokes work is moot. As humour writer Tom Lehrer points out gloomily: Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.”
That’s why opinions are shifting, and meanings and definitions are changing.
In Lincoln’s time there was such a thing as an honest politician. The definition has blurred; nowadays, it is the one who, when he is bought, stays bought.
Seasoned journalist S. Jayasankaran, who often blends his keen observation with sharp wit, also writes for The Weekly Echo and his views are entirely his own
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