Missing the Point – Vulgar Times
There is a disturbance in The Force. His name is President Donald Trump. He has unleashed an unpleasantness, a latent meanness that isn’t the America we thought we were. There is anger and infectious vulgarity we didn’t see coming and are now struggling to moderate.
Goon squads – ununiformed, masked authorities, the precise affiliation of which is not clear, are picking up legal green card residents without charges or due process. For freedom of speech violations? Short of proving the intent to incite violence, how do you violate the First Amendment, which, by definition, protects even criticism of itself?
Our President and his political appointments are denying the obvious and persistently lying about it. What could be more vulgar, more disruptive and dangerous than disrespect for the truth?
Under false pretenses, our new government is lying about its reasons for making drastic, reckless cuts in essential services adversely affecting the health and welfare of our people.
We’ve turned against our allies in favor of imitating a Russian dictator and despot. What’s the difference between our seizing control of Greenland and Canada against their will and what Putin is doing to Ukraine? The only difference is that Greenland and Canada are our friends. Putin doesn’t have any friends, not really, except President Trump.
Some in France are asking for us to return the Statue of Liberty.
Indicative of these anxious and scary times, there is a new and unwelcome “expressiveness” – for wont of a better term – evident among our government leaders.
Times change, of course they do. It’s now okay to say, “What the hell?” in public speaking, and husbands and wives no longer sleep in separate beds on television sitcoms. Who am I kidding? We’re way, way beyond all that prudishness. I’m expecting nudity on primetime network television any minute, a line the streaming services crossed ages ago. But none of that is vulgar, certainly not the vulgarity I’m talking about.
No. What I’m talking about is the blatant collapse of decent and polite behavior that is the storm cloud hovering over our country, the chill in the air that is manifest everywhere in common and professional settings.
In an attempt to defend his grossly incompetent use of the Signal app to discuss, with other high-ranking officials, our recent attack against the Houthis, newly appointed Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth said the following, as quoted everywhere…
So, let’s [sic] me get this straight. The Atlantic released the so-called “war plans” and those “plans” include no names. No targets. No locations. No units. No routes. No sources. No methods. And no classified information. …Those are some really shi**y war plans.
Notice how, to be polite, I used two asterisks instead of the double-tees that would have completed his adjective at the end of the quote. At the risk of sounding like my mother, there was no need for him to cuss. He’s lying, of course. That’s the real vulgarity of it all. The cursing at the end just puts a point on it. Pins it to the wall as it were. Secretary Hegseth has been caught doing something very wrong and stupid and doesn’t know how to make it go away other than resigning. President Trump should fire him, but won’t because doing so would make Trump himself look bad. His reluctance to do the right thing is “permissive.” Literally, in that it allows, even encourages similar bad behavior by Republicans in Congress and by his ardent supporters everywhere.
Is this vulgarity strictly a Republican thing? Mostly, but the Democrats have their own problems. Consider this widely reported response by Illinois Democrat Senator Tammy Duckworth…
“Pete Hegseth is a f***ing liar.”
As for the asterisks in this notable quote? You can figure it out all by yourself. Is Senator Duckworth’s language impolite? Yes. Unprofessional. It lacks the decorum that we would hope for from our elected leaders, to be sure. But on point and nonetheless expressive. I don’t like it, but I get it.
Les Cohen is a long-term Marylander, having grown up in Annapolis. Professionally, he writes and edits materials for business and political clients from his base of operations in Columbia, Maryland. He has a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Economics. Leave a comment or feel free to send him an email to [email protected].
Missing the Point – Vulgar Times Postscript
Saturday, March 29, 2025
So, as a postscript to my “Vulgar Times” op/ed published yesterday in the Baltimore Post-Examiner, Vice President J.D. Vance gets off his plane yesterday at our Pituffik Space Force Base. That’s in northwestern Greenland, 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Indoors, in front of some media with cameras, his first comment is, “It’s cold as sh*t here.” How profound. He might consider a career in meteorology if his gig as Vice President doesn’t work out.
He then proceeded to criticize Denmark – one of our NATO allies – for having failed to develop the commercial and military potential of Greenland, a Danish territory. And then to threaten military action which he hoped we didn’t need to take over the country – which would be something he and President Trump can’t do without Congressional approval and public support, neither of which will ever be forthcoming.
Over 90% of Greenlanders favor independence, not just eventually from Denmark, but also and definitely from the United States. More to the point, both Danish and Greenland officials have repeatedly affirmed their willingness and enthusiastic support for cooperative commercial and security initiatives with the United States and other allies. No military intervention is necessary or appropriate.
By the way, both President Trump and Vice President Vance need to remember that Greenland, as a territory of Denmark, is a member of NATO. Denmark was a founding member of NATO when it was created in 1949. According to Article 5 of NATO’s North Atlantic Treaty, an attack against one member of NATO is an attack against all members of NATO who are, collectively, pledged to defend the country being attacked. In effect, should the United States use military force to annex Greenland – a decidedly Putin move if ever there was one – our county would find itself at war with all the NATO countries, including our allies in Europe and ourselves.
-Les Cohen