His arrogant gaze at the solar eclipse

“Looking directly at the sun is unsafe except during the brief total phase of a solar eclipse (“totality”), when the moon entirely blocks the sun’s bright face, which will happen only within the narrow path of totality,” Nasa wrote on a webpage discussing how to view the 2017 solar eclipse safely.

“The only safe way to look directly at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed sun is through special-purpose solar filters, such as ‘eclipse glasses’ or hand-held solar viewers.”

 

But this didn’t stop the President, who has a reported tendency to act against the advice of his aides, from sneaking a peek after taking off his protective glasses. He squinted as he briefly looked up at the sun.

 

Donald Trump stares into solar eclipse without safety glasses,
while aides shout ‘don’t look!’

The Independent


His arrogant gaze at the solar eclipse with his unguarded eyes –
this was quizzical
His blindness perhaps is no longer just ethical – not only moral –
but physical!

© 2017 Dan Letwin

Oh, the Donald’s recall may be spotty

“If there’s one thing the internet keeps a sharp lookout for, it’s any indications that President Donald Trump is, well, confused. Whether it’s a matter of advancing political conspiracy theories without evidence, or citing false facts like his repeated claim to have won the presidency by a historic Electoral College margin, there’s plenty to keep track of. But those things are more serious and consequential than what transpired during Trump’s joint presser with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni this week: Trump called Luciano Pavarotti his ‘great friend,’ despite the fact that the storied singer died nearly a decade ago.”

 

Bustle

 


 

Oh, the Donald’s recall can be spotty
But does that give him pause? Oh no, not he
With no smidgeon of shame
He makes bold to proclaim
That he’s chums with the late Pavarotti!

© 2017 Dan Letwin

 


 

Ode to the Odious O’Reilly

“More than 50 advertisers had abandoned his show, and women’s rights groups had called for him to be fired. Inside the company, women expressed outrage and questioned whether top executives were serious about maintaining a culture based on ‘trust and respect,’ as they had promised last summer when another sexual harassment scandal led to the ouster of Roger E. Ailes as chairman of Fox News.”

 

Bill O’Reilly Is Forced Out at Fox News
The New York Times

 


 

I’d like to say we’ll miss you, Bill
But, truth be told, we never will
The way you paw the women-folk
Suggests you’re one repulsive bloke
(Though Donald Trump may think that’s cool
His moral sense is miniscule)
Farewell, O haughty baritone
TV is now a “no-Bill zone!”

© 2017 Dan Letwin

 


The Donald is too much with us

“Retreating from an unhealthy obsession with the latest outrageousness to emanate from Trump and his fellow travelers can be good for one’s mental health. Yet taken to its logical conclusion, this attitude leads to quietism—the belief that the world is hopelessly irredeemable and so one should not court frustration by struggling against it. And quietism by those who could oppose evil makes evil more likely to triumph.”

 

 

How to Survive Trump and Stay Sane
Michael Dorf, Opinion, Newsweek

 


 

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours; …

-William Wordsworth, 1802

The Donald is too much with us; boasting and sneering,
Ranting and tweeting, he lays waste our sanity;
Little we see in POTUS but his vanity.

– Dan Letwin, 2017

 


 

Ode to Alternative Facts

“A group of House Democrats is turning to legislation to call out President Trump and his White House for their history of false statements and disregarding the truth.

Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) introduced a resolution that calls for “opposing fake news and alternative facts.” Democratic Reps. Ted Lieu (Calif.) and John Lewis (Ga.) signed on as co-sponsors.”

Dems introduce bill condemning ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts’
The Hill


Well now, Kellyanne Conway has lately conceived
Of a new understanding of what to believe
When the truth gives you heartburn, don’t worry, relax
You can always resort to alternative facts!

Oh it works for the Donald and all of his hacks
As they go ’bout promoting their retrograde acts
Don’t fret if your documentation is lax
You can always get by with alternative facts!

Don’t fear all those women with signs on their backs
The straight and the queer, the whites and blacks
You can trivialize them with snide little cracks
And wash them away with alternative facts!

Just as loggers might swing an alternative ax
And fell a great tree with alternative whacks
When the truth won’t cooperate, try some new tacks
We live in an age of alternative facts!

© Dan Letwin, 2017

One of the winning entries in the New York Times Donald Trump Poetry Contest,
republished on Rhyming Resistance with author’s permission.