Greetings! Here come the Donald Trump books just in time for the last 90 days of the White House race. First up, Trump in Exile, by Meredith McGraw, which looks into his post-presidency life as the Count of Mar-a-Lago (my phrase). Maybe a better title would’ve been “The Man Who Wouldn’t Go Away.” The Donald tell-all I want to read is the one that peels back the covers on his marriage to Melania. I’d settle for a fictionalized version patterned after the excellent novel Rodham, about relationship between Bill and Hillary Clinton…Fifty years ago today, Richard Nixon slithered away from the White House. Just in time for this dark anniversary, there’s a new biography of Pat Nixon, Tricky Dickie’s First Lady. American Spectator’s Ben Stein, a former Nixon speechwriter gushes that it’s about “the Mrs. Nixon I have always loved”…Dept. of Surprises: The Wall Street Journal reports that Tim Walz and his wife Gwen have a net worth of only $330,000 based on his 2019 financial disclosure…The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan observes that Trump is showing his age and it’s become a campaign issue. Noonan writes, “For the first time this week I thought people were wondering about the impact of Mr. Trump’s age. He is 78. He hasn’t been able to focus, make his case. Is he, in another irony of 2024, turning into Joe Biden?” To quote singer Smokey Robinson: “I second that emotion.” And so apparently does The New Republic which referred to The Donald in a headline today as “Old Man Trump”…If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard
Aug. 9, 2024