Vicarishame - 7

These are just my quick and raw thoughts on how deeply ashamed I am to be an American, especially living outside of the country now and looking at everything that is going on from a long distance.

I am second-hand embarrassed, vicariously ashamed, or vicarishamed for Trump's sycophants who engage in this level of obsequiousness and allow this to happen. I am ashamed for the the DOJ spokesperson who said the DOJ is "proud" to have Trump's mug giant banner on its building. They are all effing enablers.

I am not ashamed for Trump himself anymore because he is just a senile old dictator wannabe drunk on his own power and malignant narcissism. And we've known this for a long time. But I am ashamed for the people who indulge him and do stuff like this.

Imagine Obama did this. Or Biden? Or even Bush Jr? Well, the latter would have been just ridiculed because at the time he was crowned the stupidest president in the US history. But at least W was not malignantly self-absorbed and self-aggrandizing. And he had people around him who understood what governance was about. They had bad policies but at least they understood the idea of public service.

Trump's mug on federal buildings is beyond ridiculous. It's also actual malice. It's the North Korean realm and territory. It's designed to intimidate and shut up those who disagree with his policies and to remind them who the boss is. A convicted felon looking down at you.

Brought to you by the people who allegedly love freedom of speech and democracy. Shame. Shame. Shame.

And this one is next to Lincoln. To compare the greatness? To connect the invisible (non-existent) line of legacy? Lincoln is vicarishamed and rolling in his grave.

I wonder which taxpayer-covered government budget line covers this obscenity and assault on human visual senses, common sense, and dignity. I've read a banner like this costs anywhere between $1,5-2K. Peanuts for Trump, who uses government funds as his personal treasury. But there will be a lot more of them popping up around the city, so it will all add up to a nice chunk of money.

The money that could have been spent on something more useful, like educating people about why measles is back. Just kidding, no one would do that of course because we got the government of antivaxxers and imbeciles.

Don't tell me it's covered by private donors. Because if it is, the sycophancy is even worse than I could imagine.

In 1993, I was accompanying the UNICEF delegation to Turkmenistan for a feasibility study on how to spend $1 million of UN money for children's health and education programs. High-level meetings with heads of government agencies were involved. In every government building we went to, there was a huge portrait of president Niyazov who called himself "Turkmenbashi, the father of all Turkmens," the first thing you'd see. I cracked a joke to one of the local staff at the Ministry of Education about Turkmenbashi surveilling everyone who comes in, giving them a stern look so that they behave. She shushed me and said, "Quiet, please. Even the walls have ears here. You'll be gone tomorrow but you can get me in trouble."

Never in my life, half of which I spent in a leader-worshiping Soviet Union, could I have imagined that Trump's America would be steamrolling into this territory. That's what I was desperately trying to escape when I immigrated to the US. And now I feel deeply vicarishamed for this administration and the half-witted Trump's boot-lickers.

Personally, I like the version below better. Too bad it exists only on the internet and people in DC will still see Trump's huge mug shot everywhere.

I am so tired of their rage-baiting. And my visceral reaction to it. But this is where we are. Anything to distract us from his failures and blunders. And the Trump-Epstein files.