PENCE IN THE PARK
After the election, with a Trump administration looming on the horizon, the stress relief provided by these walks became more important than ever. But then signs of Trump started appearing on my route. First, there were more MAGA hats. His followers seem to have suddenly become fans of the nation's capital, and they were there in droves. One guy in a red hat rather rudely interrupted my walk and asked how to get to the White House. I resisted the temptation to direct him across the Memorial Bridge into Virginia. Jumbo TV screens started to appear along the reflecting pool; obviously they'd be carrying video of the inauguration. I tried to tune this all out as I did my daily walk. But then, on December 7, 2016 I almost ran directly into the Trump administration.
I was heading back to the Lincoln Memorial, going along the south side of the mall. I was just passing the World War II Memorial when I noticed the security agents (after many years in the Foreign Service, you can spot the bodyguards pretty easily). What bigwig would be coming to the World War II memorial on Pearl Harbor day? As I walked, I glanced to my left and saw a white haired person getting out of an official sedan. McCain, I thought, it must be Senator McCain. (I later found out that McCain was also, in fact, at the event, but that was not who I saw.) I paused for second to watch, when to my disgust, I saw that it was not the war hero who had spent so many years in the Hanoi Hilton. No. It was Pence. Vice President elect Pence, VP to the draft dodger who had ridiculed McCain for having been shot down and captured.
This was one of those coulda-shoulda-woulda moments. I guess If I had been more prepared for it, I would have said something. But I was surprised to see Pence there and I kind of just froze as he walked past. That government ID card hanging from my neck might have had an influence -- it just didn't seem appropriate for a Foreign Service officer on his lunch break to heckle the Vice President elect outside the World War II memorial on Pearl Harbor day. So I kept my mouth shot.
As I continued my walk I thought about what I coulda-shoulda-woulda said. Fascism would have been my theme. I could have said something about how the men in the wheelchairs at that memorial had all fought against fascism, while Pence was getting ready to be the VP for a President who already seemed uncomfortably like Benito Mussolini, both in demeanor and policy. There was a lot of grist for a political heckler's mill, but sadly, I didn't use any of it, and just walked back to work.
DINNER IN TRUMP'S SWAMP
A relative was in town on Saturday, July 29, 2017. She had invited us to dinner at a Cuban restaurant in DC. At the last minute plans changed and she said we should eat at her hotel. We were already halfway to Washington when we realized that it was The Trump Hotel. But we continued to drive. We didn't want to hurt the feelings of our relative, and we figured the chances of crossing paths with Trump were very low. And we wanted to see what they had done with the old Post Office building.
We got to the hotel around 6 pm. The restaurant host seated us and remarked that we were "quite lucky" -- it seems the table next to ours (10 feet behind us) was HIS. Uh oh. But again I figured, what are the odds?
At 7 pm the Secret Service showed up. My wife -- prepared by many years of diplomatic social events -- spotted them first. Then I saw General John Kelly, obviously waiting for his boss.
Trump showed up about 8, just as we were starting to eat. I must say, from that point on it was an unpleasant dinner. It was really disturbing having him so close. I could almost feel the evil behind me. These were the people who were separating babies from their mothers, and putting small children in cages. Mothers who looked a lot like my wife, children a lot like my children. One of the people at that table -- John Kelly -- had told CNN on March 4, 2017 that he was considering separating parents from children as a tactic -- as a way of deterring migration from Central America. For the people at that table behind me, taking babies away from their mothers was an acceptable thing to do. No wonder I had trouble eating in their presence.
The Charlottesville "Unite the Right" demonstrations, and Trump's infamous "very good people on both sides" comment were a couple of weeks in the future at the time of this dinner, but Trump's racism had been apparent for many decades.
Although we were certainly within range, we didn't shout out or make any kind of overt political statement. I was tempted to do so, and my 19 year-old son was almost chomping at the bit, anxious to say something. But I told him not to -- his mother would be upset if he were dragged off by the Secret Service through the sea of MAGA fanatics by-then crowding the lobby.
"General Kelly -- How can you stand having dinner with that draft dodger?"
In the end, I was pleased that ours was the only table that finished dinner early, paid the tab and walked out without any form of acknowledgement. All the other diners were obviously sticking around in the fervent hope that their Dear Leader would grace them with an after-dinner handshake (which I understand, happened). We just walked out. We walked right past his table, and gave him absolutely no notice.
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An excerpt from an article in The Atlantic captured the atmosphere:
Bill, standing up to bullies is a tough thing to do and one that has the full force of the state behind him is another thing altogether. I recently read a book which explored the rise of fascism in Germany in the early 30's and the similarities to recent history in the US were quite startling. At first Hitler was considered a clown, but once he gained power the grifters and enablers showed up everywhere as they saw their opportunity to make money and influence the leadership. It seems it's not over yet as the Trump grip on the GOP remains in place. Good luck and 73! Phil in Darwin.
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