Mayors and Millionaires, &c.
On self-defeat, ‘86,’ the Trump-claimed Nobel, anthropologists, pen pals, ice cream (prices), and more
May I start with mayors and millionaires? (And the letter “m,” I guess?) Last month, I had an item beginning as follows:
On April 15, Tax Day, Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York circulated a video. It showed him outside a rich person’s apartment building, making a bogeyman out of that person and enthusing about taxing the rich.
I then said,
Mamdani has his charm. He’s also a demagogue. And either you’re allergic to demagogues or you aren’t. And I am highly allergic.
I added, “I am also allergic to the politics of envy.”
(The column from which I have drawn this item is here.)
I have now been introduced to Katie Wilson, the mayor of Seattle. I have not met her in the flesh—but I saw a video of her, making light of millionaires who might want to leave Washington state. “Bye,” she said, to the whoops of her crowd.
See it here.
There are a hundred points to make about all this. I’ll make just one.
For years, when people throughout the world complained about American power and influence, John Bolton said, “They’ll miss us when we’re gone.” (We Americans will miss us too, but that’s a separate, though related, story.)
Well, one thing about millionaires: you’ll miss them when they’re gone (and states such as Florida and Texas are smart to scoop them up).
One more point, maybe. Both Mayor Mamdani and Mayor Wilson describe themselves as “democratic socialists.” I am not a socialist of any flavor but a free-marketeer. Yet I can say this: some of the greatest freedom champions we have had have been democratic socialists.
Orwell, for one. That’s a mic drop. If you’d like another name, after the mic has been dropped: Sidney Hook. (I recommend his memoirs: Out of Step.)
If Mamdani and Wilson are cut from that cloth—I’d be surprised.
***
For years now, many of us have written about “normalization.” A harmful normalization. “Beware numbness,” I have often said. “Fight the numb.” Fight the new normal.
The president talks like this and nobody bats an eye. It does not make the news, it does not make a ripple.
Leave “THUG” aside for a moment. Many people have noticed that Trump tends to call black people “low IQ.” But he is an equal-opportunity insulter and juvenile. For instance, many times he has called Tucker Carlson “low IQ.”
He is not, I can assure you.
***
The Justice Department is prosecuting James Comey, the former director of the FBI, for posting an image that said “86 47.” Shells on a beach formed those numbers. “86” means “get rid of” and Trump is the 47th president of the United States (as well as the 45th). Trump and his administration are pretending that Comey issued a death threat.
I think people in general realize that this is a crock. But I bet some people don’t. And it occurred to me last week that some may be confusing “86” with “deep six.”
That counts as a language item, I guess, as well as a political one …
***
María Corina Machado, I have written about many times. She is the leader of the Venezuelan opposition and a very brave woman. Last year, she received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Which really ticked off Trump. Evidently, Machado thought it in the best interest of her cause to give Trump her Nobel medal.
As I have said before: What kind of man accepts a woman’s Nobel medal? Especially when that woman has risked her life, risked everything?
Trump took it as his due.
About a week ago, he said, “María was very nice. She gave me her Nobel Peace Prize because she said she didn’t deserve it.”
Did Machado really say that she did not deserve her prize?
About two weeks ago, Trump claimed that Machado had said, “No, no, I don’t deserve it.”
Do you believe that? I do not.
Trump also said, “I stopped wars that nobody thought—President Putin called me, he said, ‘I can’t believe you stopped this one and this one, which are impossible.’”
Over and over, the president of the United States cites Vladimir Putin for approval. Which is revealing, and, to some of us, revolting.
***
Above, I used the word “juvenile” (which functions as a noun and an adjective, both). What do you think of this?
***
Let me move to anthropology. For years, Margaret Mead was virtually synonymous with anthropology—with cultural anthropology, certainly. You had Louis Leakey for archeology, or paleoanthropology. Mead and Leakey were household names, pretty much. It’s amazing to think about.
We did not have TikTok influencers …
Let me recommend an article by Conrad Kottak on Mead: here. Kottak is a leading anthropologist himself. And Mead was one of his teachers. She was an interesting, not uncomplicated, woman.
***
Once upon a time, letter-writing meant a lot to many of us. It still does, I suppose—in the form of e-mail. I am grateful for e-mail. It can be just like letter-writing, if you want it to be. And the other person receives your letter—instantly.
Mirabile dictu. (I thought that the fax machine was a miracle. And it was.)
Many people had pen pals. This practice is still alive, says Holly Ramer. She writes for the Associated Press, and she has penned an article on the subject, here. I found it touching, for the stories it tells.
***
Okay, let’s talk ice cream. And inflation. For a year or two, pints of Häagen-Dazs at the grocery store across the street from me have been $6.99. I have bought, uh, a few of those pints (for guests, I mean). Two days ago, I walked in and they were: $8.49. This happened overnight. They did not even stop at $7.99 or something.
Three blocks from me, there is an actual Häagen-Dazs parlor. The pints there? $12.88.
Geezum.
I remember when movie tickets in New York hit $10. (They must be more than double that now.) Ed Koch, the ex-mayor and a great moviegoer, said he would not go anymore. Eventually, he relented.
But I choke at paying $8.49 for a pint of ice cream, I really do. I may have to switch to—I don’t know, popsicles?
***
Tell you something charming, about prices. At a bodega, Yemeni-owned, I often buy a bagel with cream cheese. The price is never the same. It depends on the cashier. Sometimes it is $3, sometimes it is $3.50, sometimes it is $3.75—and once it was (this was really weird) $3.80. I never mention the price fluctuation. I just smile and pay.
***
How would you like a combo of English and Spanish? Behind the counter at a deli, I saw a sign above a piece of machinery. It said, “No worquín.” Loved it.
Later.
Regarding ice cream. The HD "pints"--ain't pints. They're 14 ounces,true pints are supposed to be 16 ounces. And if you really want to upset yourself, compare the original HD ingredient legend with
the current ingredient legend.
John Kenneth Galbraith described himself as a socialist.
He was a Kennedy Democrat, an exceedingly erudite, well-mannered gentleman, a diplomat and a celebrated author.
He was also wrong about almost everything, having to do with economics.
“Americans had built themselves a world of speculative pipe dreams. That world was inhabited, not by people who had to be convinced, but by people who sought excuses for believing.”
John Kenneth Galbraith
The tag “Socialist” seems to include anything the speaker decides he wants it to mean.
Dr. Galbraith came & went from the very humble beginnings on a farm in Southwestern Ontario, to the splendour of Kennedy Camelot, and the fame, social prominence& wealth that accompanied a successful author in the 50s, 60s and beyond.
In what other Country could this have happened? In what other Country does it occur with such frequency?
As Leonard Cohen might say, “my original astonishment remains.”