#inept

President Joe Biden looks at a note card referencing a reporter and the expected question during a news conference with the South Korean President in the Rose Garden of the White House last April. 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUAAAGHHHHHHHHH AAAAAUAYGGOOOUGHH

If you were alive during Trump's presidency and not completely submerged in the right-wing bubble, you should understand just how bad the Trump presidency was. Unfortunately, a lot of people somehow believe that it just wasn't that bad. Let me remind you of just a little bit of what Trump was like.

No administration lost as many people as his did because of resignations and firings. No administration has had as many of its people convicted of crimes. No administration had so many supporters commit acts of violence or mention the president as a reason why they did what they did.

Trump can claim all day that he had no new wars, but he sure did his best to start one. Remember how people were going insane when Trump was acting like a child while dealing with Kim Jung Un. Hell, South Park even did an entire episode about the stupidity. Trump assassinated one of the highest officials of Iran, someone akin to assassinating the Speaker of the House or leader of the Senate. If Iran had done what we would have instead of being diplomatic, we would be in world war three.

This is just a small sample of that time, but they exemplify why so many former presidents and administration officials have come out to say they will not vote for him. He is unfit for office. He is ignorant of how it works. During the debate, he said Kamala could leave the stage, go to the White House, and fix the border problem with a paper. Government doesn't work like that, unless you rule by fiat, which is something Trump did because he couldn't pass anything but tax cuts while in office.

People who know the rigors of the job know Trump isn't up to it. He is too lazy. He spent at least a year of his four year term on his golf courses. And yes, golf can be used to conduct diplomacy, but Trump doesn't have the temperament or personality to actually do diplomacy. During the debate it was proven just how easy it is to trigger him to say and do the stupidest things. Kamala baited him with crowd size, and he took it and ran. If it was so easy to get him to act like an idiot, how is he ever supposed to keep from doing the same when faced with Putin or Xi? The truth is, he can't.

Trump is a petulant and ignorant child who only wants to be president so he won't go to prison for his crimes. The only people who are supporting Trump are world leaders who would love to see us fall. Victor Orban was right about one thing. Leaders were scared of Trump, not because of actual strength, but because he was too unstable. Our allies understood he should never have been in power and that he was a puppet to foreign leaders who wanted to use him. Play to his ego and they got anything they wanted.

Israfel Various Artists 1997, Ape

A 1997 vinyl benefit compilation of mostly Middle American grindcore / powerviolence / emo acts, assembled in an edition of about 1000 by Bloomington-based DIY label Ape Records (active 1995 to 2002), in handmade sleeve with a recent release catalogue, a substantial zine, and a few priceless gag inserts (incl. YOUR HARDCORE SELL OUT DECODER RING). I’m not an aficionado of any of the genres Israfel covers by any means, but you’d have to be a real head to know most of these: in terms of notoriety, the Locust (who contribute a 47 second blast of lo-fi outrage) are basically Led Zeppelin compared to the rest of the acts, most of whom topped out with a couple of EPs and compilation appearances.

Of course, hearing music that would otherwise be basically lost to time is the appeal of taking a flyer on a comp like this. One of my favourite tracks is “Untitled” by Roanoke, VA’s the Weak Link Breaks, supposedly the first thing the band ever wrote (and, judging from their discography, nearly the last too). It begins with a very, very quiet spacy-Fugazi-style amble (the vocal harmonies couldn’t be more Ian and Guy) that explodes into a brief screamo-style D-beat section, and then some big heaving riffs that make me want to exaggeratedly lift and stomp my feet like a giant trying to keep his balance. I also dig Murfreesboro, TN’s Serotonin, an emo / post-hardcore act with a steely '80s shred band guitar tone who play like they want people in the pit to twirl around ecstatically instead of slam dancing. A lot of the other nasty yowling cat speedballs on Israfel don’t really catch my ear, but that’s okay—I’m weirdly proud of them 27 years after the fact for being themselves and getting out whatever they needed to get out through this violence.

The package’s tone is all over the place. The zine opens with a haunting description of the compilation’s beneficiaries, the family of a pair of little girls with spinal muscular atrophy (a common birth defect) whose condition worsened until they perished, leaving their parents distraught and financially ruined—and the 21-year-old compiler racked with guilt that he didn’t somehow do more to help. From there, it whips through his heterodox thoughts about the hardcore scene (despicably self-absorbed; unresponsive to requests from label operators); the state of emo (too abstract); the best way to bring about change (working within the capitalist system); rape (it’s bad; consent is black and white; can we stop litigating this in the scene?); calling the cops (fine to do); disrespecting the American flag (played out; tacky); and drinking/drug use (“when did self-destruction become rebellion?”). After he finishes up, each band (that got their artwork in on time anyway) gets a page to talk about themselves. This section is full of old school punk zine/leaflet treasures, with designs that mimic motel newspaper ads, postcards, messy handwritten perzines, and Xeroxed 7” grindcore sleeves.

It's funny reading his scornful words about pseudo-rebellious drunkards stumbling toward “the day when punk rock is shelved for an 8 hour workday, Budweiser, and television” and then finding his LinkedIn, where he describes himself as “driving omnichannel excellence” and as “whimsical (after coffee).” You wouldn’t believe it from the splenetic angst of the Israfel zine, but the guy seems like he turned out happy and normal, with a few kids and a successful career. I wonder how the 21-year-old would see the 48-year-old, if he’d call him a sell-out or feel relieved that things worked out; if the 48-year-old would pity his former self, or feel ashamed about losing his edge. More one-time zinesters and hardcore kids end up looking square from a distance than you’d think (I certainly do if you catch me during the workday), because you usually stop hearing about them when they drop out of the scene. For most, the quiet part of life is the larger portion by far. It’s your choice whether to embrace that, mourn it, or seek your own alternative. But if Israfel reminds us of nothing else, it’s the importance of having a good scream at least once in your life.