Four years after the ending of World War I, and 57 years after the emancipation of America’s slaves following the victory of the United States against the Confederacy that killed 800,000 Americans in a nation of 34 million souls, the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in 1922.
He is so low a man. No concept of grace or purpose other than self-aggrandizement. I will be happy to be part of the wrecking crew to tear down whatever he has built in his name. He must be removed from all polite mentions of his name. He will go down in history as the worst this nation has produced: let that be a lesson to all of us that the experiment lives on and that it's success won't be complete until he is gone.
So easy to believe in Washington, in Lincoln, in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, in malice toward none and charity for all. So difficult to believe that our fellows would follow Trump and Miller, the lowest of men, to that same racist mirror that reflects our ugly birthmark. We’ve been taught better from our beginning, but some of us always equivocate. And so we learn again and again, but only after the lessons, written in cruelty, have been retaught again and again. And now the teaching begins once again, with a cruelty so blatant that we finally have to say no, this can’t stand. Listen to Minneapolis. We can’t speak up soon enough.
I regret not having the learned thoughts of the above commenters. My thoughts go merely to the revolting, obscene desecration of Arlington National Cemetery, because my husband is buried there. I do not understand how ANYone could agree to building this offensive monument to naked greed. This foul and vile person should be banned from ever going there again.
The parallels between Trump and Hitler show up in their architectural preferences. Massive buildings and monuments in a grandiose and grotesque imitation of classical architecture emphasize the power of the state and diminish the individual, unless that individual is the authoritarian in charge. Trump is hoping to have his image carved into Mt. Rushmore. All of his projects are aimed at securing his legacy in stone. He will fail; just as his domestic and foreign policies are failing. What he has built and defaced will be torn down.
That rendering of his beloved ball room makes the place look like a warehause.... but then again, I'm sure once he's had it sprayed gold in every nook and cranny there will be a big improvement ....
How hideous is this? You have to click the link and take a look at this revolting statue of our "Dear Leader."
It’s known as “Don Colossus.”
At 15 feet tall, the statue of President Trump, mounted on its 7,000-pound pedestal, is about the height of a two-story building — a giant effigy cast in bronze and finished with a thick layer of gold leaf.
For more than a year, the golden statue has been at the center of one of the stranger moneymaking ventures of the Trump era. A group of cryptocurrency investors paid $300,000 to have a sculptor create it as a tribute to Mr. Trump, an outspoken crypto proponent.
Then they used it to promote a memecoin called $PATRIOT.
Now, improbably, the project appears close to fruition. A pedestal made of concrete and stainless steel was installed last month on the grounds of Mr. Trump’s golf complex in Doral, Fla. Pastor Mark Burns, one of the organizers of the effort and a friend of Mr. Trump’s, told his collaborators that the president planned to attend the statue’s unveiling there, according to messages reviewed by The New York Times.
How obscene is this? Glad it will be at Doral where I’ll never have to see it! And to think, someone(s) were stupid enough to pay for it!! How can there be so many stupid people? (imho, thanks)
Thank you for the hope that arises from your words, Steve. Our country has faced great perils as we have grown and aged. Yet, we have found our building light in such times. I have hope and I believe, we will persevere during this, another peril. I hope they block his wretched monument to ego and the grotesque ungapatchka dance hall. If not, I will stand by your side as we dismantle, disassemble, and remove all trace of them from the face of the earth. We'll also stand unified in removing the temu facade of ghastly gold he encrusted the interior of the White House. We will restore Joe Biden's portrait, remove all stupid plaques, and in place of his ugly mug, install a sharpie marker abd the label "Never Again!"
I git it from Jennifer Rubin who writes Words and Phrases we Could Do Without on substack. This is definitely a great descriptor! Also yabbocracy is a keeper.
Well, Steve, I finally see something I can strongly disagree with you about -- the value of ambition. You say it is a needed and valued behavior. I see it now, and always have seen it, as a garrot around the neck, cutting off the blood flow to the brain. To rise to the top of any venture via ambition is to genuflect to the hierarchy of power and discrimination. During my life I have known so many men and women who have lived, labored, strived, been stable through tough times, made their way quietly and with dignity along the winding path we call 'life.' If to survive with dignity is to be ambitious, then surely we can find another moniker to denote that effort and its outcomes. Lincoln had ambitions, according to others. I studied Lincoln when I was young and attracted to achievements, and I slowly came to feel that Lincoln was resigned to become the leader he would have preferred never choose to be. Some times Destiny gets in the way of the discovery of Life made for Beauty and Truth. Lincoln, as I saw him then and now, was this reluctant warrior. Now as to the pile of rotting garbage that now disgraces the face of 'murka via the three branches of federal service and duty to the public, I very much agree that the almost prurient yearning for monuments that FAKE fame via the conduit of ambition are a further disgrace to the very notion of E Pluribus Unum. All of us should get down off our own High Horses and quietly and thoroughly observe WHO and WHAT ever made this nation great. Then, as now, it is the little people, so to speak. Those who have felt the oppression of ambition from the hands of the greedy and feckless, and still have wended their way through life with quiet grace, determination, and the value of beauty from small and simple things. They are now and have been the ONES who have given this nation its backbone, its roads, bridges, buildings, infrastructure, all it foodstuffs, its tax base, let me repeat, ITS TAX BASE, its religious dignity via actions, not talk, and the dutiful adherence to the vote and the rule of law. Ambition is the desperate yearning for PRIDE, and that myopic desire always ends with the FALL from Grace. Lincoln, as I see him, labored in agony and almost bitter resolve throughout his life. He knew things were wrong, certainly with many of his more juvenile thoughts, and he struggled and overcame most of them. The pathetic contras of today are so humiliated by the humility of Lincoln that they MUST destroy all notions of alleged weakness to it. This is the gnawing fear of the empty soul, that there is No There There inside their slowly rotting carcasses. Humility, not ambition, is the legacy of Lincoln.
I prefer your Lincoln, and it is a defensible, understandable one. As for the little people tax base—that they so willingly tolerate the gargantuan theft of their efforts from Lincoln’s orange opposite would be humorous if I wasn’t one of those little people and a ‘murkan myself.
So am I. Although not amused either, I take comfort in my opportunities to experience the beauty of 'murka, and to know other great common folk like myself. I may not be great, like most of them, but I have no shame in being a simple man who treasures beauty and truth.
What an eloquent, POWERFUL piece. I’m in awe Steve, of your ease of writing such a beautiful, compelling description of Lincoln, and our once great country, populated with real heroes. And your ability to write such a measured, important reminder of what was, and what we could somehow hope to find again. It seems like a dream, but we can hope…
He is crazy. While Americans are being crushed by high grocery prices, rent and utility bills, he does nothing to help. Instead he’s focused on ball rooms and an ugly monument that nobody wants. In addition to knocking his monument down on Day1 of the new Democratic President’s term, the new President should also remove his name from the Kennedy Center. Trump is a disgrace.
Hitler's personal army was the Schutzstaffel (SS), a paramilitary organization that evolved from a small bodyguard unit into a massive, independent armed force that operated parallel to the regular German Army (Wehrmacht). Under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler from 1929 to 1945, the SS became the primary instrument of terror, racial policy, and military action for the Nazi regime.
This dismantling of democracy began in earnest under Reagan and was thrown into the woodchipper with Gingrich’s “Contract with America”, which demanded that Republicans never negotiate but always hammer the GOP agenda (see the Lewis Powell memo and Jude Wanniski’s “two Santas” theory). Dump is just the logical outcome of 45 years of the same bullshit. I served 20 years in the defense of this country. I may not live to see it but I hope my kids and grandkids live to see all his trash torn down and the materials used to construct useful things!
Thank you for pointing out the origins of Trump's atrocities. I couldn't agree more. It started with Reagan. Then Gingrich, that ugly little man, elevated it to a fine art. This has been coming for decades. Once Trump.is gone we must show zero tolerance for any remaining trace of their obnoxious culture.
Not all the damage wrought by Trump can be remedied but much can. Let us hope that the next president is a Democrat and will revoke every one of Trump's executive orders, remove his name from everything, remove any portraits or photos of Trump in government buildings, restore the White House to the dignity it had before Trump sullied it with gold leaf, rebuild the East Wing, restore the Rose Garden, remove any and all hideous items added by Trump, and basically undo everything that Trump did. And of course, demolish any arch that Trump erects. Trump must return any and funds he absconded to the US Treasury. Finally, the next president should issue an apology to our allies and affirm our intention to honor all commitments we made before Trump.
We will most assuredly tear down anything he has built with his name on it, and repurpose the building materials in the name of freedom, the same freedom that his existence is a denial of. The steel in his hideous wall can be melted again and turned into girders with which to build bridges. If he tears down the Kennedy center, we’ll erase whatever he puts in its place as if it never existed, just like we’ll do with his abomination of a ballroom. That will be the easy part, the hard part will be the restructuring of our government so that a demonic force like him will never again get near our White House. We’ll also claw back every ill gotten dime he has gotten his greedy hands on and those around him as well. If they think they can go hide somewhere they have parked a lot of that wealth, we’ll make it worth while for those countries to return them and their stolen wealth back to us. The nation will have plenty of energy to do all of this, because our memories will be fresh, given what we have had to endure. 🤬🤬🤬
Demolishing any and all structures built by the Lord of Lies in Washington DC has to be a priority of the next Democratic administration and in fact should be front and center for Democrats in the 2028 presidential campaign: a rallying cry. Demolishing and removing the egregious White House ballroom and restoring the WH East Wing should be first on the agenda followed by other WH restoration projects such as the Rose Garden (which now resembles a Mar a Lago patio), removal of Lord of Lies’ name from DC buildings such as the Kennedy Center, and so on. Then restoring intellectual integrity and historical accuracy to national parks and museums, and so on. Erase the remnants of the man’s physical presence as much as possible. All of these have to be part of the Democratic campaign and agenda.
He is so low a man. No concept of grace or purpose other than self-aggrandizement. I will be happy to be part of the wrecking crew to tear down whatever he has built in his name. He must be removed from all polite mentions of his name. He will go down in history as the worst this nation has produced: let that be a lesson to all of us that the experiment lives on and that it's success won't be complete until he is gone.
So easy to believe in Washington, in Lincoln, in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, in malice toward none and charity for all. So difficult to believe that our fellows would follow Trump and Miller, the lowest of men, to that same racist mirror that reflects our ugly birthmark. We’ve been taught better from our beginning, but some of us always equivocate. And so we learn again and again, but only after the lessons, written in cruelty, have been retaught again and again. And now the teaching begins once again, with a cruelty so blatant that we finally have to say no, this can’t stand. Listen to Minneapolis. We can’t speak up soon enough.
I regret not having the learned thoughts of the above commenters. My thoughts go merely to the revolting, obscene desecration of Arlington National Cemetery, because my husband is buried there. I do not understand how ANYone could agree to building this offensive monument to naked greed. This foul and vile person should be banned from ever going there again.
The parallels between Trump and Hitler show up in their architectural preferences. Massive buildings and monuments in a grandiose and grotesque imitation of classical architecture emphasize the power of the state and diminish the individual, unless that individual is the authoritarian in charge. Trump is hoping to have his image carved into Mt. Rushmore. All of his projects are aimed at securing his legacy in stone. He will fail; just as his domestic and foreign policies are failing. What he has built and defaced will be torn down.
The Austrian corporal had respect for fallen soldiers...... drump has said that those soldiers who fall are "losers".
So drump is even lower then the Austrian corporal.
Trump is devoid of any positive attributes.
That rendering of his beloved ball room makes the place look like a warehause.... but then again, I'm sure once he's had it sprayed gold in every nook and cranny there will be a big improvement ....
How hideous is this? You have to click the link and take a look at this revolting statue of our "Dear Leader."
It’s known as “Don Colossus.”
At 15 feet tall, the statue of President Trump, mounted on its 7,000-pound pedestal, is about the height of a two-story building — a giant effigy cast in bronze and finished with a thick layer of gold leaf.
For more than a year, the golden statue has been at the center of one of the stranger moneymaking ventures of the Trump era. A group of cryptocurrency investors paid $300,000 to have a sculptor create it as a tribute to Mr. Trump, an outspoken crypto proponent.
Then they used it to promote a memecoin called $PATRIOT.
Now, improbably, the project appears close to fruition. A pedestal made of concrete and stainless steel was installed last month on the grounds of Mr. Trump’s golf complex in Doral, Fla. Pastor Mark Burns, one of the organizers of the effort and a friend of Mr. Trump’s, told his collaborators that the president planned to attend the statue’s unveiling there, according to messages reviewed by The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/03/technology/trump-statue-don-colossus.html
Oh geez. At least it's down THERE........
How obscene is this? Glad it will be at Doral where I’ll never have to see it! And to think, someone(s) were stupid enough to pay for it!! How can there be so many stupid people? (imho, thanks)
Thank you for the hope that arises from your words, Steve. Our country has faced great perils as we have grown and aged. Yet, we have found our building light in such times. I have hope and I believe, we will persevere during this, another peril. I hope they block his wretched monument to ego and the grotesque ungapatchka dance hall. If not, I will stand by your side as we dismantle, disassemble, and remove all trace of them from the face of the earth. We'll also stand unified in removing the temu facade of ghastly gold he encrusted the interior of the White House. We will restore Joe Biden's portrait, remove all stupid plaques, and in place of his ugly mug, install a sharpie marker abd the label "Never Again!"
New word in my lexicon - ungapatchka. Perfectly describes the abomination in the WH. Thanks!
I git it from Jennifer Rubin who writes Words and Phrases we Could Do Without on substack. This is definitely a great descriptor! Also yabbocracy is a keeper.
*guiding
Well, Steve, I finally see something I can strongly disagree with you about -- the value of ambition. You say it is a needed and valued behavior. I see it now, and always have seen it, as a garrot around the neck, cutting off the blood flow to the brain. To rise to the top of any venture via ambition is to genuflect to the hierarchy of power and discrimination. During my life I have known so many men and women who have lived, labored, strived, been stable through tough times, made their way quietly and with dignity along the winding path we call 'life.' If to survive with dignity is to be ambitious, then surely we can find another moniker to denote that effort and its outcomes. Lincoln had ambitions, according to others. I studied Lincoln when I was young and attracted to achievements, and I slowly came to feel that Lincoln was resigned to become the leader he would have preferred never choose to be. Some times Destiny gets in the way of the discovery of Life made for Beauty and Truth. Lincoln, as I saw him then and now, was this reluctant warrior. Now as to the pile of rotting garbage that now disgraces the face of 'murka via the three branches of federal service and duty to the public, I very much agree that the almost prurient yearning for monuments that FAKE fame via the conduit of ambition are a further disgrace to the very notion of E Pluribus Unum. All of us should get down off our own High Horses and quietly and thoroughly observe WHO and WHAT ever made this nation great. Then, as now, it is the little people, so to speak. Those who have felt the oppression of ambition from the hands of the greedy and feckless, and still have wended their way through life with quiet grace, determination, and the value of beauty from small and simple things. They are now and have been the ONES who have given this nation its backbone, its roads, bridges, buildings, infrastructure, all it foodstuffs, its tax base, let me repeat, ITS TAX BASE, its religious dignity via actions, not talk, and the dutiful adherence to the vote and the rule of law. Ambition is the desperate yearning for PRIDE, and that myopic desire always ends with the FALL from Grace. Lincoln, as I see him, labored in agony and almost bitter resolve throughout his life. He knew things were wrong, certainly with many of his more juvenile thoughts, and he struggled and overcame most of them. The pathetic contras of today are so humiliated by the humility of Lincoln that they MUST destroy all notions of alleged weakness to it. This is the gnawing fear of the empty soul, that there is No There There inside their slowly rotting carcasses. Humility, not ambition, is the legacy of Lincoln.
I prefer your Lincoln, and it is a defensible, understandable one. As for the little people tax base—that they so willingly tolerate the gargantuan theft of their efforts from Lincoln’s orange opposite would be humorous if I wasn’t one of those little people and a ‘murkan myself.
So am I. Although not amused either, I take comfort in my opportunities to experience the beauty of 'murka, and to know other great common folk like myself. I may not be great, like most of them, but I have no shame in being a simple man who treasures beauty and truth.
First , read Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley. printed below:
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
when Trump is gone, hit it with a sidewinder.
What an eloquent, POWERFUL piece. I’m in awe Steve, of your ease of writing such a beautiful, compelling description of Lincoln, and our once great country, populated with real heroes. And your ability to write such a measured, important reminder of what was, and what we could somehow hope to find again. It seems like a dream, but we can hope…
He is crazy. While Americans are being crushed by high grocery prices, rent and utility bills, he does nothing to help. Instead he’s focused on ball rooms and an ugly monument that nobody wants. In addition to knocking his monument down on Day1 of the new Democratic President’s term, the new President should also remove his name from the Kennedy Center. Trump is a disgrace.
Hitler's personal army was the Schutzstaffel (SS), a paramilitary organization that evolved from a small bodyguard unit into a massive, independent armed force that operated parallel to the regular German Army (Wehrmacht). Under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler from 1929 to 1945, the SS became the primary instrument of terror, racial policy, and military action for the Nazi regime.
Is there not ONE person in DC that can stop this monster? Please Kennedys…
don’t let him tear down The Kennedy Center! This nonsense has to stop!
This dismantling of democracy began in earnest under Reagan and was thrown into the woodchipper with Gingrich’s “Contract with America”, which demanded that Republicans never negotiate but always hammer the GOP agenda (see the Lewis Powell memo and Jude Wanniski’s “two Santas” theory). Dump is just the logical outcome of 45 years of the same bullshit. I served 20 years in the defense of this country. I may not live to see it but I hope my kids and grandkids live to see all his trash torn down and the materials used to construct useful things!
Thank you for pointing out the origins of Trump's atrocities. I couldn't agree more. It started with Reagan. Then Gingrich, that ugly little man, elevated it to a fine art. This has been coming for decades. Once Trump.is gone we must show zero tolerance for any remaining trace of their obnoxious culture.
Not all the damage wrought by Trump can be remedied but much can. Let us hope that the next president is a Democrat and will revoke every one of Trump's executive orders, remove his name from everything, remove any portraits or photos of Trump in government buildings, restore the White House to the dignity it had before Trump sullied it with gold leaf, rebuild the East Wing, restore the Rose Garden, remove any and all hideous items added by Trump, and basically undo everything that Trump did. And of course, demolish any arch that Trump erects. Trump must return any and funds he absconded to the US Treasury. Finally, the next president should issue an apology to our allies and affirm our intention to honor all commitments we made before Trump.
Right on! You have said it all.
We will most assuredly tear down anything he has built with his name on it, and repurpose the building materials in the name of freedom, the same freedom that his existence is a denial of. The steel in his hideous wall can be melted again and turned into girders with which to build bridges. If he tears down the Kennedy center, we’ll erase whatever he puts in its place as if it never existed, just like we’ll do with his abomination of a ballroom. That will be the easy part, the hard part will be the restructuring of our government so that a demonic force like him will never again get near our White House. We’ll also claw back every ill gotten dime he has gotten his greedy hands on and those around him as well. If they think they can go hide somewhere they have parked a lot of that wealth, we’ll make it worth while for those countries to return them and their stolen wealth back to us. The nation will have plenty of energy to do all of this, because our memories will be fresh, given what we have had to endure. 🤬🤬🤬
Demolishing any and all structures built by the Lord of Lies in Washington DC has to be a priority of the next Democratic administration and in fact should be front and center for Democrats in the 2028 presidential campaign: a rallying cry. Demolishing and removing the egregious White House ballroom and restoring the WH East Wing should be first on the agenda followed by other WH restoration projects such as the Rose Garden (which now resembles a Mar a Lago patio), removal of Lord of Lies’ name from DC buildings such as the Kennedy Center, and so on. Then restoring intellectual integrity and historical accuracy to national parks and museums, and so on. Erase the remnants of the man’s physical presence as much as possible. All of these have to be part of the Democratic campaign and agenda.
Thank you so much for this. I was felling this but didn’t have the words to express it.
My sentiments exactly, Steve.