A-line dress

     I went to the Obama Presidential Center and Museum Monday, for an interview and to accompany my sister — it was the one place in Chicago she really wanted to see. I just was there in June, so didn't give the place the most careful once over.

   However, we did pause in front of the display of the First Lady's couture — I thought Debbie might like it — and noticed something I'd missed before. This sleeveless A-line dress that Michelle Obama wore at a public event while her husband was president. What makes it noteworthy is not the designer, but where it was purchased: Target. The dress cost less than $40, and she wore it several times between 20o9 and 2013.
     We are so far from that, with the Oval Office being festooned with faux gold crap and half the White House being ripped up, it seems, to satisfy whatever shrieking midget dictator-manque is crouched at the back of what's left of Donald Trump's mind, I figured, it might be worth remembering that not so long ago we had a president who wasn't a traitor servicing Vladimir Putin and betraying democratic Ukraine and long time American ideals and interests. You don't need me to explain why this is horrendous. The New York Times editorial page did a good job of that today. Here's the gist:
     "He is aiding an autocratic leader and dangerous adversary of the United States who is waging a brutal war against a democratic neighbor. Mr. Trump is doing so partly in the faint hope that gas prices, which have jumped because of his reckless war in Iran, will fall over the next two weeks and help Republicans avoid big losses in the midterm elections. He is damaging America’s national interest, and likely sacrificing Ukrainian lives, for his own political interests."

     Not much else worth saying beyond that. I have no idea if the elections are going to help, or if Donald Trump were merely declare himself king while a third of the country applauds like seals. But we weren't always like this — that isn't an opinion, but a fact. And I believe we won't be like this forever. That is an opinion, a hope really, but one that I'm sticking with because the alternative is just too horrible ton contemplate. We will not be like this forever, but oh boy, it sure fucking feels like forever right about now.