Random Politics & Religion #08

Since self-mythologizing is a key part of Donald Trump’s brand, it is a near-certainty that the public will be hearing a few glowing anecdotes about the supposed greatness of the GOP candidate’s father, Fred, between now and November. But there is one chapter of this story that Trump is bound to skip right past, even though it denies him the opportunity to drop a famous name from American history. It seems that, for two years starting in December 1950, the elder Trump was the Brooklyn landlord of legendary folksinger and rabble rouser Woody Guthrie. Consequence Of Sound’s Collin Brennan has written an eye-opening piece about the “oft-contentious relationship” that existed between these two men. Since Guthrie’s whole deal was championing the disadvantaged and disenfranchised, strumming protest songs on a guitar bearing a “This Machine Kills Fascists” sticker, it is not surprising that he and the Trump family would not get along. But what is surprising is that Trump’s father actually merited mention in Guthrie’s notebooks.




Lots of people have grievances against their landlords, but Guthrie’s main point of contention with Trump’s father was the latter’s systemic racism. The singer of “This Land Is Your Land” was living at the time in one of Trump’s federally subsidized housing projects, a place euphemistically called “Beach Haven.” If nothing else, that name reflects the Trump family’s knack for marketing. After signing the lease, however, the singer was incensed to learn that his landlord was taking advantage of Federal Housing Authority guidelines that allowed real estate developers to keep black people out of such dwellings. He wrote about his frustrations in a poem entitled “Old Man Trump.” To wit: “I suppose/Old Man Trump knows/Just how much/Racial Hate/he stirred up/In the bloodpot of human hearts/When he drawed/That color line/Here at his/Eighteen hundred family project ...”

Chanti, I saw this earlier today and thought of you for some reason.

Donald Trump’s dad was Woody Guthrie’s racist landlord

Merely reposted from a post I saw elsewhere. I'm sure it's not going to change anyone's mind and people are just going to claim the analogy doesn't work and blah blah blah.

I merely thought it was interesting and shared it.

Not even half a minute before being paged. I hate you all!!

Of all the things that I don't care about a random folk musician is one of them !

That was the worst analogy I ever read and I feel stupider having read it.

AV club has as much credibility as TMZ

Nik, I thought we were pretty clear by now that I at least passively, if not actively, make that my goal with every post. I'm here to help ease/hasten your transition to full-blown dementia.

That explains a lot then.

It was not an intended effect from the start, but hey. When you find you're not bad at something, why not work it.

You stink!

That's not nice. I'm very insecure about my smells. I try very hard to always smell nice. ._.

This is just a poll wikilicks made on twitter, but almost 50k people voted, I think it's interesting at the very least https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/758855786806190080

Nik, I thought we were pretty clear by now that I at least passively, if not actively, make that my goal with every post. I'm here to help ease/hasten your transition to full-blown dementia.

best of luck to you in all your endeavors then I guess....

but could someone please... pretty please with cream and sugar on it point to something POSITIVE that hillary clinton has done other than enrich herself on the blood of the american taxpayer?

I don't twit...and stubbornly refuse to join.

who won the poll?

Trump 42%
Clinton 24%
Stein 19%
Johnson 15%

I saw an NBC poll yesterday with Johnson pounding the piss out of everyone by like 20 percentage points. Clearly online polling is problematic.

Are we still doing phrasing?

Johnson pounding

I saw an NBC poll yesterday with Johnson pounding the piss out of everyone by like 20 percentage points. Clearly online polling is problematic.