President Trump

Joshua said...

While in Italy on holiday:
- walking along the Corso in Rome, I overheard an American lady at an outdoor eatery declare "These g-noki are horrible": yes, she pronounced the g separately from the n in gnocchi;
- while in Savonarola's rooms in San Marco, another lady American declared smugly that "I guess he just didn't know the meaning of 'all things in moderation'" (by her girth, neither did she);
- I was rudely insulted by a waiter, until I pointed out that I was not an American, but an Australian, whereupon he smiled broadly and declared in English, "My cousin, he live in Melbourne".
BUT those three unpleasant moments were more than compensated for by an absolute gem that I and a German priest friend of mine overheard, and left us in fits of mirth, while on a tour of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria: in the throne room, the guide pointed out the mural of St Louis IX fighting the Moors, at which point a loud and broad Southern US male voice gloriously drawled out the words "Some things just don't change!"

13 January, 2018

Amateur Brain Surgeon said...

Dear Father. The rhetoric of POTUS Donald Trump is an unending source of delight and amusement to ABS and his political actions are even more appreciated.

Of course, ABS does not expect you to be amused at what Trump has to to say but you'll have to grow a thicker skin because he will be around another seven years and he is as shoot from the lip as Franciscus is.

As a country, America long ago ceased to exist (Thanks to the evil tyrant, Abraham Lincoln, whom ABS is sure got his nickname "Honest" for the same reason a 400 lb gangster gets the nickname, "Tiny") and so has England ceased to exist and so perhaps what feels wounding about his public comments is that such comments tend to spark memories of what used to be and his rebarbative rhetoric becomes conflated with the fond memories of what England used to be.

13 January, 2018

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A Daughter of Mary said...

Father, I speak from Canada, so like you, I observe what happens in the U.S. from afar. How did we get to a place where we are forced to laud this boor, Donald Trump, as a good man because his behaviour is in such positive contrast to the other side?

I'm of the mind that says the whole system of modern government is corrupt and can't (won't) be changed. Democracy is not the answer as is proved every day throughout the world. It has become mob rule, nothing more, no matter what party one belongs to. And when the mob is not ruling, the autocrats rule and are morphing into totalitarians before our eyes.

Garcia Moreno pray for us. Our Lady of Quito pray for us.

13 January, 2018

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mark wauck said...

I should add that when Trump's treatment of Britain strikes Brits as a bit churlish, they should remind themselves that perhaps Trump views the British government through the prism of that government's attempt to influence the 2016 US election by means of its Intelligence Services. Beyond the ongoing saga of the shady Mr. Steele, you do recall that the head of GCHQ resigned abruptly (understatement--3 days notice) immediately after Trump's inauguration? That wasn't coincidence, and it goes a long way to explaining why Trump has been willing to publicly chop May off at the knees (she seems to have gotten the message, at last). The leaders of small, insignificant countries really should consider the consequences of assuming they understand the politics of the US well enough to lend their own Intelligence Services to the illegal machinations of the Democrat party. Again, if Brits are unable to understand such matters, whose fault is that? A bit of humility would go a long way.

13 January, 2018