Day 1205 – Oh The Similarities

Wednesday, May 8, 2024

In listening to the news reporting on Stormy Daniels’ testimony and the attendant commentary I was struck by similarities in her story and that of Fiona Hill and E. Jean Carroll. Also, there was an SNL skit about the protests on campus that really hit home. Let’s look at all four.

Stormy Daniels was a top student in high school. She had a full ride to veterinary school. But she couldn’t go because even with a full ride there are incidental expenses. Those expenses were too much and so she didn’t go and became an exotic dancer instead. 

Fiona Hill, the woman from the State Department that testified in a House hearing to the first impeachment. I remember her talking about the shenanigans of Bill Barr where she said once she realized “they were on a political errand,” and therefore it had nothing to do with her duties and statecraft, she stopped being concerned in terms of what The State Department was doing.

In Hill’s book entitled There’s Nothing for You Here she wrote how she had been awarded a full ride to a prestigious high school in England, but she couldn’t go because her parents were so poor that they couldn’t afford to buy the school uniform. She also recounted how later she interviewed at Oxford where they made fun of her accent and her clothes. Reportedly, the most embarrassing time in her life.

Daniels spoke of the embarrassment of being trapped in a room with a man over forty years her senior. She had gone thinking that this was going to be a night out at dinner to discuss business opportunities. It turned out to be an uncomfortable sexual encounter. Not rape, but let’s call it an unwanted sexual experience. It was so … scary? Humiliating? that she had trouble strapping her shoes back on because she was shaking so much.

This is not unlike Carroll’s experience. She was thinking she was kidding around with a big time real estate magnate. It quickly turned into a sexual assault. This shattered her life. 

Lastly, there was a skit that had two white people and one black person (Keenan Thompson) playing parents of kids in college. They were being interviewed about the protests happening on college campuses. Both of the white parents were talking about letting their kids express themselves. When they got to Keenan he said (I paraphrase), “My kids? Hell no. It’s okay for your kids. But my kid is walking across the stage at graduation. I worked extra hours, did Uber, delivered Doordash. All so my kid could walk across that stage at graduation.”

I think Keenan’s dialogue was a microcosm on how people regard college. 

How did we get here? Part of the reason lies in the fact that 50% of our population gets there information from unreliable sources that lie, spout right wing nonsense, and Russian propaganda. Unfortunately, they believe it.

In other news the eighth Wonder of the World according to Donald Trump turns out to be a dirt covered lot. Like many Trump things, it was a press conference and then they moved on. 

Today, Joe Biden came to that dirt lot and actually did something that built something and created jobs. yeah, weird, huh?

Meanwhile, the judge in Florida has put the espionage documents case o eternal hold. This will clear the way for the other case, the one about trying to overthrow the government to go forward, provided the Supreme Court gets off their collective behind and rules Trump is not king (ie that he’s not immune from prosecution. Of course, if they rule he is immune then Joe can ready Seal Tea Six.)