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Frank Bruni

Friday 26th of April 2024

2020 Presidential election Polls from mid-October showed that about 44 percent of voters approved of Trump’s job performance – and this was after he’d concealed aspects of his coronavirus infection from the public, shrugged off the larger meaning of it, established the White House as its own superspreader environment and cavalierly marched on. Forty-four  percent. Who in God’s name are we? Frank Bruni, NeW York Times, October 29, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Obituary notices “BIGOT, MISOGYNIST, HOMOPHOBE, CRANK: RUSH LIMBAUGH DEAD.” Those were the words, capitalized and adrenalized, that HuffPost splashed across its home page. Several other left-leaning sites took the same tack and tone. Of course, they were positively restrained in comparison with Twitter, which is basically talk radio's less windy bastard child. Frank Bruni,  New York Times, February 20, 2021, on obituaries about Rush Limbaugh © 2021 Kwiple.com
Partisanship Apparently no one in Trump's circle reached out, before the news became public, to tell the Biden camp about the president's positive coronavirus test, even though Biden had shared a debate stage with the president for more than 90 minutes. No one directly informed Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House. This is also the state of America. And it’s not right. Frank Bruni, New York Times, October 2, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Publicity stunt Smack in the middle of his cockamie interview with The Times last week, Ivanka dropped by the Oval Office so that her daughter, Arabella, could give Grandpa a kiss. How precious. How humanizing. How entirely choreographed. Frank Bruni, New York Times, July 23, 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
Snapshot At the sound of his voice, roses drop their petals. Rudy Giuliani portrayed by Frank Bruni © 2016 Kwiple.com
Snapshot For Trump, the whole point of political office is adulation, and adulation is the entire proof of a person's worth. Rectitude pales next to ratings. Ethics are a sorry substitute for applause. And the methods by which a crowd is fired up don't matter, so long as he can bask in the clapping. Donald Trump portrayed by Frank Bruni © 2016 Kwiple.com
Snapshot His words can be counterfeit. His gestures are genuine. Donald Trump portrayed by Frank Bruni © 2017 Kwiple.com
Snapshot I seldom feel sorry for President Trump – O.K., I never  do – but if I were going to it would be on account of his spawn and spawn-in-law. He has given them celebrity, fancy government titles, security clearances and entry into circles they'd never penetrate otherwise. They have given him humiliating headlines to go along with the mortifying ones that he already had in abundance. Talk about a trade imbalance. Donald Trump portrayed by Frank Bruni © 2019 Kwiple.com
Snapshot It's inadvertent but indisputable. He doesn't hide his pettiness, bury his petulance or successfully distract us from his vulgarity and bigotry. He's too needy an exhibitionist to wear a mask, too sloppy a manager to prevent leaks, and his universe is too chaotic for its mess not to spill ceaselessly into public view. Donald Trump portrayed by Frank Bruni © 2018 Kwiple.com
Snapshot That's Trump's edge over everybody. That's his gift. He can do no wrong because he's all  wrong. He never really shocks because he's a perpetual shock. When someone frolics at the nadir for as long as he has, there's nowhere to go but sideways. Donald Trump portrayed by Frank Bruni © 2018 Kwiple.com
Snapshot Winning the most powerful office in the world did nothing to diminish his epic ache for adoration or outsize need to tell everyone how much he deserves it. Donald Trump portrayed by Frank Bruni © 2016 Kwiple.com
Snapshot Both market bullying as bravery. Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson portrayed by Frank Bruni © 2021 Kwiple.com
 
Snapshot There's no corner of the world or cranny of existence that isn't enhanced by her presence. That was the joke in a Zelig-inspired, Gump-reminiscent meme that exploded in tweets over the past few days. Look: There's Ivanka between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee at Appomattox. And here's Ivanka teaming with Jonas Salk to develop the polio vaccine. She stretches out in bed with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. She peeks through a window in the background of the painting “American Gothic.” Ivanka Trump portrayed by Frank Bruni, July 2, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com