January 20, 2025 will go down in the history books, but not for the reasons Donald Trump thinks. His inauguration was a “shock and awe” affair, but the shock was at how much Trump’s narcissism has grown and how long his anger over his own mistakes has lasted. That anger has sent Trump on a journey to rewrite the sordid history of his own treason in the hopes that once he is dead, he will still be viewed by some as a great man.

Trump’s inauguration speech this year was as remarkable as that of 2017 but bests it in the depth of its lies and the sheer viciousness, expressed in how the speech treated President Biden and his administration. 

Trump implies that the Biden administration was one of the most consequential—in a bad way—in American history. To believe Trump, Biden, ridiculed for years by Trump as senile and incompetent, not only undid America’s last golden age (2017-2021) but most of the things that made America great before Trump’s first term. 

As president, Trump is entitled to his own perspective on history, but we are entitled to judge its veracity. Similarly, Trump won the presidency, in part, because he is brash and crude, but, as citizens, we have the right to condemn him when his behavior disgusts us. Trump tripped that wire in his inauguration speech.

President and Jill Biden, unlike Trump in 2017, chose to attend the inauguration of his successor despite the viciousness of Trump’s campaign. Starting in 2021, Trump systematically sought to destroy Biden’s presidency and credibility, both through personal attacks and by lying. Trump succeeded. Biden left office with a permanently broken legacy he doesn’t deserve. Biden had every reason in the world not to attend the inauguration.

Had Biden not been the fundamentally decent and patriotic man he is, he would have left Washington on January 19.

Here is what Trump told America in his speech with Biden sitting a few feet away:

“As we gather today, our government confronts a crisis of trust. For many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens while the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair.

“We now have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home while, at the same time, stumbling into a continuing catalogue of catastrophic events abroad.

“It fails to protect our magnificent, law-abiding American citizens but provides sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals, many from prisons and mental institutions, that have illegally entered our country from all over the world.

“We have a government that has given unlimited funding to the defense of foreign borders but refuses to defend American borders or, more importantly, its own people.

“Our country can no longer deliver basic services in times of emergency, as recently shown by the wonderful people of North Carolina — who have been treated so badly — and other states who are still suffering from a hurricane that took place many months ago or, more recently, Los Angeles, where we are watching fires still tragically burn from weeks ago without even a token of defense. They’re raging through the houses and communities, even affecting some of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in our country — some of whom are sitting here right now. They don’t have a home any longer. That’s interesting. But we can’t let this happen. Everyone is unable to do anything about it. That’s going to change.

“We have a public health system that does not deliver in times of disaster, yet more money is spent on it than any country anywhere in the world.

“And we have an education system that teaches our children to be ashamed of themselves — in many cases, to hate our country despite the love that we try so desperately to provide to them.”

President and Jill Biden—and Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff—should have walked out on Trump.

J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, and, too infrequently, other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s List on Medium and Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.

 

After watching several reruns of video of the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol, I decided not to write about it this week.  President Biden’s editorial in Monday’s Washington Post said enough about that sad day and the importance of remembering it.  In part, the president wrote:

“We must remember the wisdom of the adage that any nation that forgets its past is doomed to repeat it. We cannot accept a repeat of what occurred four years ago.

“An unrelenting effort has been underway to rewrite — even erase — the history of that day. To tell us we didn’t see what we all saw with our own eyes. To dismiss concerns about it as some kind of partisan obsession. To explain it away as a protest that just got out of hand.

“But on this day, we cannot forget. This is what we owe those who founded this nation, those who have fought for it and died for it.

“And we should commit to remembering Jan. 6, 2021, every year. To remember it as a day when our democracy was put to the test and prevailed. To remember that democracy — even in America — is never guaranteed.

“We should never forget it is our democracy that makes everything possible — our freedoms, our rights, our liberties, our dreams. And that it falls to every generation of Americans to defend and protect it.”

With President Biden’s words in mind, we need to move past January 6, 2021 and focus on the future.  Unfortunately, that future includes soon-to-be President Trump asking Congress to pass major parts of the  MAGA agenda in “one powerful bill.”  Trump wrote:

“Members of Congress are getting to work on one powerful Bill that will bring our Country back, and make it greater than ever before. We must Secure our Border, Unleash American Energy, and Renew the Trump Tax Cuts, which were the largest in History, but we will make it even better – NO TAX ON TIPS. IT WILL ALL BE MADE UP WITH TARIFFS, AND MUCH MORE, FROM COUNTRIES THAT HAVE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF THE U.S. FOR YEARS. Republicans must unite, and quickly deliver these Historic Victories for the American People. Get smart, tough, and send the Bill to my desk to sign as soon as possible. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

What is wrong here?  Everything. The Framers of the Constitution created a Congress to legislate the laws of the land and an Executive Branch of government to implement the law.  Trump is asking his slim majority in Congress to abdicate their responsibility to take his proposals, deliberate carefully on them, before passing them.

 If Congressional Republicans act on Trump’s none-too-subtle request, there likely would be no hearings, no analysis, no debate, and no opportunity for Democrats to offer amendments to one massive bill that would rewrite immigration policy, radically change energy policy, and extend the Trump 2017 tax cuts.  Unless the bill grants Trump massive, most likely unconstitutional discretion to implement the policies envisioned, the bill will be hundreds of pages long.

Congress must do its work as envisioned by the Framers of the Constitution.  They need to accept Trump’s proposals, analyze them for both programmatic and budgetary impact, hold hearings to receive input on the proposals from stakeholders, and consider the legislation in a deliberative manner.  Trump does not envision this.

On Monday, reports circulated that the President-Elect is inviting Congressional Republicans to Mar-a-Lago to discuss his plan of action.  Let’s hope that at least a few Republicans will not be blinded by the splendor of Mar-a-Lago.  Let’s hope they remember why they were elected to Congress and do their job.

J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, and, too infrequently, other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s List on Medium and Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.

 

I will leave it to others to recount the many challenges of Jimmy Carter’s presidency. I recall some of them myself, most notably buying a car with an 18 percent auto loan. I also recall Carter’s “national malaise” speech, delivered by the president wearing a sweater in front of a lit White House fireplace. Carter turned down the heat in the White House during the energy crisis and was ridiculed for his efforts to reduce energy usage, just as he was blamed for failing to rescue the Iran hostages.

By the time Carter left office, he was labeled a failure. I don’t remember him as one, even though the presidency of his successor, Ronald Reagan, was seen by many as a rescue from an America in decline.

I don’t dispute the successes of the Reagan presidency, but I also credit Reagan with consciously working to destroy Carter’s credibility during the 1980 campaign. In many ways, Donald Trump borrowed a page from Reagan’s 1980 win in his treatment of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and more than a dozen Republican primary challengers in three elections. 

I like to think that if Reagan were alive today, he might regret his harsh treatment of Carter because, on reflection, Carter wasn’t so much a bad president as an unlucky one. His heart was in the right place, and Carter was no clueless idiot. He just won the election at the wrong time.

My first experience with Carter came as a young Capitol Hill aide working under a moderate Republican Congressman who worked with Democrats and once told me that John F. Kennedy’s presidency had inspired him to enter politics.

President Carter’s Department of Justice proposed the reauthorization of two little-known federal statutes that sought to improve juvenile justice, prevent delinquency, and stem the problem of runaway and homeless youth. I worked with my Democratic Hill counterparts and Carter officials to contribute to a strong reauthorization bill that passed both houses of Congress with near-unanimous votes.

Sadly, such bipartisan cooperation is rare today. But in 1977, President Carter seemed to want to find common ground. Carter and his team, as well as the cooperation-minded Democrats on the Education and Labor Committee, made my job easy. Carter tried to work with Republicans even when it wasn’t necessary.

After the juvenile justice bill was approved by the House and Senate, President Carter signed it. A few days later, I received a letter from the White House, signed by President Carter, thanking me for my work on the bill. I had it framed, and it still hangs in my office.

I continued to work on bipartisan legislation until Carter left office, but that wasn’t my last contact with him. Later, in the early 1980s, I boarded a Delta flight from Washington National (not yet Reagan Airport) only to find President Carter seated two rows in front of me, accompanied by a pair of Secret Service agents. I nodded at President Carter as I passed his row.

I took my seat as the rest of the plane boarded. Then Carter did something unexpected. He stood up and asked the flight attendant if he could have a few minutes to greet the passengers before the plane backed off the gate. The answer was yes. Carter then personally greeted every passenger on the plane. Everyone was thrilled, especially me.

I followed Carter’s post-presidential work with admiration. No corporate boards for Carter. He preferred pounding nails for Habitat for Humanity, authoring books, and promoting fair elections in countries where voting fraud is a reality.

I will miss Jimmy Carter. I hope that as America prepares for the Carter State funeral on January 9, we will all think about his life. He deserved a Nobel Prize for his peace-building work, which resulted in the Camp David agreements. He also deserves respect and thanks for being a great man, including his work as our 39th president.

J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, and, too infrequently, other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s List on Medium and Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.  

Seasons Greetings, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Joyous Kwanza. I hope I did not leave anyone out.

I wish you safe and happy holidays, hopefully with friends and family who have not spent most of the last two days at the airport or stuck in snow waiting for a road to be cleared.  The winter holidays are meant to be enjoyed. That is why this column is about the holidays rather than about politics.

The past year has been a challenge, but let’s not go into that except to extend our sympathies and prayers to the people killed or injured at the Christmas Market in Magdeburg, Germany. We didn’t need a reminder that we live in challenging times, but we got one anyway.

In recent weeks, I have noticed that most of us want to move past the political acrimony of the last two years. I am among them but am reminded that, “Freedom is not free.”  It must be earned. Nobody is going to make America or the world a more empathetic, healthier, freer place as a gift. That is why giving someone the gift subscription to The Economist or some other objective, well-researched source of news and information is such a worthy  gift. It is a gift that, if used as directed, makes the recipient a better citizen.

The winter holidays, regardless of which one you celebrate, are not about gifts, or shouldn’t be. They should be a time of reflection and camaraderie. Families separated by distance or misunderstanding sometimes reunite during the holidays. Friends who have “lapsed” reconnect, a gift that, with a little luck, keeps on giving.

During the holidays, we get to celebrate the existence of good,something that we need to be reminded of these days. It is also a time to imagine a world without hate, greed, lying, war, disease, and hunger. I like to think of Christmas as the official start of a season of hope.

These days we are deluged by reminders that somewhere, over the last couple of thousand years, Christmas has becomecommercialized. This is not just since the cartoon Santa Claus became popular. It started with Christmas becoming just another holiday on the annual calendar. Today, I know of families—good families of loving people—who celebrate Christmas but don’t invite Jesus or any other hint of the religious origin of the holiday into their special day. I find that sad.

Today I am going to do my part to make Christmas something other than a day off from work, a day to watch football or a day to watch Uncle Bob drink too much wine. I am not going to write a list of what was on the president-elect’s gift list or, even more charitably on my part, what he deserves to get. I am putting my usual snarkiness on ice. I have also resolved not to discuss politics, at all, during Christmas dinner.

Let me close by wishing you, again, happy holidays. Let me also thank those of you who have regularly read these columns, especially readers who disagree with much of the stuff I write. Please know you are appreciated.  I consider your interest in my perspectives, and in the important political debates of our time, a gift.

J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, and, too infrequently, other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s List on Medium and Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.  

Donald Trump enjoyed what may be his second biggest win of the year last Friday when ABC settled Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the network and its best-known anchor. The suit related to George Stephanopoulos saying Trump was found “liable for rape.”  ABC, through its foundation, agreed to contribute $15 million to the future Trump Presidential Library, cover $1 million in Trump’s legal fees, and issue an apology. 

The settlement surprised many in the media. While Trump was not found guilty of rape in the E. Jean Carroll case, the judge in the case wrote, “The finding that Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was ‘raped’ within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word rape. Indeed, as the evidence at trial recounted below makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.”

Trump’s victory over ABC was followed yesterday with a lawsuit against The Des Moines Register and pollster J. Ann Selzer over a poll held shortly before election day that indicated Kamala Harris leading Trump by 3 percent in Iowa. Trump won Iowa by 14 percent. . 

Before the election and during his first term in office, Trump threatened “fake news” outlets such as ABC and NBC with revocation of their broadcast licenses. He has also routinely ridiculed media personalities who dare to criticize him.

Earlier in his “career,” in 2006, Trump sued Warner Books and the author of a book titled The Art of Being the Donald, who wrote that Trump was only a millionaire, not a billionaire. Trump’s suit was dismissed.

In October 2022, Trump sued CNN for $2.75 billion. In part, the complaint read: “CNN has sought to use its massive influence – purportedly as a ‘trusted’ news source – to defame the Plaintiff in the minds of its viewers and readers for the purpose of defeating him politically, culminating in CNN claiming credit for ‘[getting] Trump out’ in the 2020 presidential election.”

Trump alleged the term “The Big Lie,” was “uttered” more than 7,700 times on the network from January 2021 to the date of the lawsuit.

In May 2023, Trump sued The Washington Post for $3.78 billion for publishing news relating to the finances of Truth Social, the social media platform that has become the go-to news outlet for the Trump transition. Trump alleged the Post acted with malice to undermine him politically.

There have been other lawsuits filed by Trump or his campaign, including actions against a Wisconsin TV station for running an ad that suggested that Trump had called the coronavirus a hoax, Bob Woodward, and CBS.

After January 20, 2025, will Trump attempt to silence his critics with further attacks on the free press? That is a worry all of us should have. And it gets worse. As traditional news outlets have lost ground to social media sites, podcasts, blogs, and other non-traditional news-sharing, those previously unregulated sources of information (and misinformation) could find themselves subject to new regulations or lawsuits intended to intimidate them against speaking out against Trump and his policies.

Trump’s threats to the media and anyone else criticizing him should be taken seriously. In the case of the media, I wonder whether the nature of the threats will change from lawsuits to governmental action after Inauguration Day.  Will Trump or soon-to-be FBI Director Kash Patel develop an enemies list? 

I also wonder whether the threats themselves will suffice to hush many, or even most, critics, even those outside the media but who may be known in their communities as Trump-haters. If Trump fails to close the IRS, will some of these people find themselves subject to tax audits?

It is ironic that Donald Trump is pursuing “dishonest” media. The Washington Post has cataloged more than 30,573 of what it calls “lies” told during Trump’s first term in the White House.

Remember when Donald Trump said that Senator Ted Cruz’s father was with John F. Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, right before Oswald was shot? The implication was that Cruz’s father was somehow involved in the assassination. To my knowledge, Senator Cruz, today one of President-Elect Trump’s strongest supporters in the U.S. Senate, never sued for defamation.

J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, and, too infrequently, other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s List on Medium and Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.

 

Donald Trump won the 2024 election, so why does he remain fixated on the people who attempted to hold him accountable for attempting to overturn the 2020 election and for fomenting the January 6 attack on the Capitol? Can’t Trump just enjoy his 2024 victory and move forward?

Donald Trump sat down with Meet the Press host Kristin Welker last Sunday to discuss the Trump administration’s plans for the future. Those plans include the immediate imposition of tariffs on several countries, the start of mass deportations of migrant-criminals, extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts, and fighting crime. He did passably well in discussing those topics. Even if you disagree with Trump’s plans, it is appropriate for a president-elect to tell America what he plans to do.

Trump, unfortunately, was asked about January 6, 2021, and the 2020 election. As Welker likely expected, Trump repeated his false claim that he won in 2020, but, disturbingly, Trump called for the jailing of all members of the House Select Committee that investigated the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol. Members of the Committee include Senator-elect Adam Schiff (D-CA), who Trump called “a lowlife,” Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-NC), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Elaine Luria (D-VA), Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), and former Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY). 

Trump accused the “unselect” committee with falsifying evidence and deleting recordings of interviews. In part, Trump said:

“Cheney did something that’s inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the un-select committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps. So, the unselect committee went through a year and a half of testimony. Wait. They deleted and destroyed all evidence of — that they found. You know why? Because Nancy Pelosi was guilty. Nancy Pelosi turned down 10,000 troops. You wouldn’t have had a J6 because other people were guilty. . .. Now, listen, this was a committee, a big deal. They lied. And what did they do? They deleted and destroyed a whole year and a half worth of testimony. Do you know that I can’t get — I think those people committed a major crime.”

Trump later told Welker that Bennie Thompson and everyone on the January 6 Committee “should go to jail.”

Importantly, throughout the Meet the Press interview, Trump was careful to avoid saying he would direct anticipated Attorney General Pam Bondi or anticipated FBI Director Kash Patel to pursue political opponents. He repeatedly expressed confidence they would “do the right thing.”

Nobody who served on the January 6 Committee committed crimes. Any effort to prosecute Committee members will fail. Nobody will be convicted, even if parts of the Committee’s final report are found to contain errors. And it is all but impossible to jail a member of Congress for anything they said or did as a member of the House of Representatives short of accepting bribes or killing someone.

Despite the likelihood of exoneration, if the Trump administration pursues criminal action against Liz Cheney and others perceived by Trump as political enemies, they will incur millions of dollars in legal fees, face years of legal proceedings, and otherwise have their lives severely disrupted. That is unfair. Filing spurious charges against Cheney and others is a form of punishment regardless of the ultimate outcome of the cases. 

Last Sunday Trump announced another former member of one of his legal teams defending him in various criminal cases earlier this year, Alina Habba has been named Counselor to the President. Trump writes: 

“Alina has been a tireless advocate for Justice, a fierce Defender of the Rule of Law, and an invaluable Advisor to my Campaign and Transition Team. She has been unwavering in her loyalty, and unmatched in her resolve – standing with me through numerous “trials,” battles, and countless days in Court. Few understand the Weaponization of the “Injustice” System better than Alina, who has fought relentlessly against the full force of Lawfare with courage and an unshakable commitment to Justice.”

Trump continues to evidence an obsession with retribution against legislators, judges and prosecutors who sought to hold him accountable. He is surrounding himself with officials and advisors who will pursue Liz Cheney and others even if he never personally directs such actions.

America will be ill-served if the Trump administration fulfills Trump’s promise of retribution. Such efforts will represent an abuse of power—dare I say it—for which Trump should be held accountable. 

J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, and, too infrequently, other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s List on Medium and Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.

In June, Hunter Biden was convicted of three felonies for lying on a mandatory disclosure form while purchasing a gun. President Biden’s son lied about using or being addicted to illegal drugs.

Last September, Hunter Biden was convicted of three felonies and six misdemeanors for tax offenses, 

On June 6, President Biden announced he would not pardon Hunter or commute any sentence he might receive for his gun-related conviction. 

The President’s announcement in June was disappointing. While it was clear that felonies had been committed, the prosecution of Biden seemed motivated by something other than the pursuit of justice. And Hunter Biden was a recovering addict. His crimes, by his own admission, were the byproduct of his drug and alcohol abuse.

On Sunday, President Biden pardoned his son for all of  his felony convictions.  Biden’s grant of Executive Clemency also for “those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014, through December 1, 2024.”  As a result of President Biden’s actions, Hunter Biden will not be going to jail and no longer has to worry about additional indictments or criminal proceedings relating to crimes he may have committed in the past. 

Was President Biden wrong in pardoning his son? No.

The President’s justification rings true:

“The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure through the process. Had the plea deal been held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.
 
No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.”

Critics of the President’s pardon, and there are many, suggest that the prosecution of Donald Trump for offenses relating to the January 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol and for removing federal documents, including top secret documents, was also politically motivated. I disagree with this argument, but it doesn’t matter. The charges against Trump have been dropped. And, most importantly, two wrongs don’t make a right.

Critics of the pardon also suggest that Biden has made it easier for Trump to use the pardon policy inappropriately.  That is malarky.  Trump needs no help in finding friends and family to pardon.  One of them, Charles Kushner, father-in-law to Ivanka Trump, was convicted of tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions, and witness tampering before being pardoned by Trump.  Last week, Mr. Kushner was nominated to serve as U.S. Ambassador to France. 

There are dozens of other examples from Trump’s first term in office that demonstrate that Trump has mastered the Art of the Pardon.  On January 20, 2025, or shortly thereafter, Trump will pardon individuals he calls the “January 6 hostages,” meaning people jailed after violently assaulting the Capitol in a failed attempt to keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election.

Nothing—and I mean nothing—Biden could do could justify Trump’s past pardons and, I expect, his future ones. And even if you disagree with Biden’s decision to pardon his son, two wrongs don’t make a right. Period. Full stop.

President Trump will do what he will do. As of noon January 20, 2025, President Trump will be free to issue pardons, as authorized under the Constitution. Let’s let those actions be judged on their merits. 

 J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, and, too infrequently, other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s List on Medium and Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.

 

 

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I am thankful for a lot of things. I will get up early, send Thanksgiving Day greetings to several family members and good friends and get ready to celebrate this very special American holiday with family and with a 13-year-old Goldendoodle named Lucca.

When I sit down for dinner tomorrow, Lucca will be with me, sitting patiently at my side, hoping that I sneak her a piece of turkey. She knows I won’t do so immediately, but that eventually I will give in and offer her a small piece of turkey. Then she will saunter over to my wife where Lucca will repeat the drill. After dinner, Lucca will retreat to her favorite rug where she will listen to the conversation until she is ready to take an evening stroll and check out the neighborhood. I am thankful for Lucca. She is a family member and has earned the right to join our Thanksgiving dinner.

Lucca has been much loved since she first joined the family 13 years ago. She arrived as a puppy, an energetic 13-pound dog that was gentle from day one. She loves attention, even from complete strangers. Even at age 13, Lucca is occasionally stopped on walks by passers-by and told that she is beautiful. On occasion, Lucca responds by giving “kisses,” which are usually, but not always, welcomed.

Lucca demonstrates love and loyalty in the best possible ways. She senses If I have had a bad day and will lay down at my feet or next to my chair. She will patiently wait for me to rise and take her on a walk, immediately becoming excited and usually grabbing one of her many toys to play a Goldendoodle version of catch.

Like every Goldendoodle I have met, Lucca has a powerful nose and uses it. Walks are expeditions of discovery. She sniffs everything. When she detects the sign of another dog (you know what that sign is), she leaves her own sign for the other dog to discover on her own walk. A friend of mine who is a self-identified “dog-expert” told me that sniffing is one way that dogs communicate with each other.

Over the years, Lucca has had many adventures. Most of those have involved her running away. One might argue that we failed to train Lucca, but I disagree. Doodles of all types seem to be wanderers. She knows there is a world of scents waiting to be discovered and has seized every chance she has to seek them.

Some of Lucca’s adventures have been something less than fun for her masters. On a visit to Florida, she wandered into a pond and attracted a (fortunately) juvenile alligator that attached itself to her tail. Lucca shook off the alligator and was rescued by a neighbor who delivered her back to us for an emergency trip to the vet. (I am thankful this Thanksgiving that so far this year there have been no alligator incidents.)

Lucca also once saved my life one night when I became very seriously ill and passed out on the floor. I was alone in the house. Lucca used her tongue to wake me up. I called the skilled and resolute EMT team at the Oxford Fire Department who took me to the hospital.

Now that Lucca is 13, I know that this may be her last Thanksgiving. Despite having the best possible veterinarian, arthritis and other ailments are catching up with her. By this time next year, I may be thankful for the memories Lucca left us, but it is not next year today.

Tomorrow I will thank Lucca for being a good dog and will give her a generous serving of turkey. Later in the evening, I will encourage her to roll over on her back so I can give her a good tummy rub.

J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, and, too infrequently, about a Goldendoodle named Lucca. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s List on Medium and Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.

 

The writers at Saturday Night Live see the emerging Trump administration as ripe material. You know the drill. An old, obese, convicted felon with progressive dementia has won the presidency and starts surrounding himself with buffoons.

Although the president-elect doesn’t write much, he has a list of criteria to guide his selections. Nominees must be in your face, over-confident, inexperienced, 100 percent loyal to him, and have at least one skeleton in their closet.

 Such criteria for nominees ensure that, despite Trump’s personal decline, he will always consider himself superior to those who work for him. 

Since November 5, we have gotten a taste of the type of person who meets the criteria. People accused of sexual assault, with histories of substance abuse, who believe in conspiracy theories, and who don’t hesitate to call undocumented migrants garbage.

If Jeffrey Epstein were alive, one can imagine Trump appointing him to be Secretary of Education. 

Personnel decisions are not the only part of Trump 2.0 that is not funny. Have you read the social media posts of Trump’s new director of communications, former director of communications for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Steven Cheung? Mr. Cheung called Ron Desantis “a eunuch,” joked about President Biden needing his diaper changed, and ridiculed Nikki Haley for not ending her campaign against Trump when her defeat seemed all but certain. Cheung tweeted, “The Nikki Haley candidacy is just one giant masturbatory fantasy for Never Trumpers and Democrats.”

And Trump took time off from the task of building Trump 2.0 to attend a UFC fight — events where those lucky enough to be in front-row seats are sometimes splattered with the blood of bare-fisted fighters. Trump attended the event with Elon Musk (I don’t know if he was wearing an “Occupy Mars” t-shirt) and RFK, Jr. 

How many 78-year-old fans does “ultimate fighting” have? Will senior MAGA members start filling arenas? Will attendees get a choice between beer and Ensure?

The real comedy of Trump 2.0 will start when his underqualified team takes over on January 20, 2025. Screw-ups are all but certain, especially at the Departments of Defense, Justice, and HHS. And some may consider Tulsi Gabbard giving American secrets away to Russia funny. I don’t. And far from funny will be the damage that will be done to all parts of the U.S. government.

If we did not know better, we might believe that Trump remains so angry after being rejected by voters in 2000 that the retribution he promised to deliver, which will soon begin, will be directed against all of America, not just the justice system and media figures who criticized him. 

 J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, and, too infrequently, other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s List on Medium and Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.