Scalzi Helps Me Out

John Scalzi says it for me on the Al-Gore-visited-with-Trump and maybe-Ivanka-will-save-us-from-climate-disaster scenario:

I’m not Ivanka’s biggest fan, and I find the basic trend of Trump installing his children (and children-in-law) into (unofficial) positions of power appalling. With that said,
a) Ivanka is clearly the smart one in that family,
b) She’s possibly the only one that isn’t 100% an opportunistic grifter,
c) she’s possibly the only one who is both vaguely liberal and capable of long-term thought.
In the nepotistic shit-show that will be Trump White House, if she’s the voice of sanity that will keep Trump from pissing all over the Paris Accords and otherwise hastening our global climate mess, well, work with what you’ve got.

Thanks, Scalzi — I didn't have time to write today. Glad you gave us this in your Four Weeks In post today.

Oh, and he also said:

...at this point I think I’ve got [Trump] pegged: Thin-skinned, crass, easily-persuadable, corrupt and contemptuous, all of which are confirmed on a daily basis by his personal actions and administrative choices. I’m not happy about a Trump presidency, but I think I’ve got most of the dance steps down.

There’s still huge uncertainty, of course — not in how Trump will react to things (horribly, because he’s horrible), but what things will be out there for him to react to. Friend and foe have the man marked, the same as I do, and soon we will find out how they play him, and by extension, play the U.S. Whee!

Which reminds me of something I read on Twitter but now can't find. It was on the day of Trump's phone call with Taiwan. The writer pointed out that other world leaders (non-allies) would be crazy not to test Trump the first week he's in office... heck, they should coordinate and do it at the same time. To which someone else responded by saying something like, Most of all, Putin taking troops into Ukraine.

So check your schedule for the week of January 20. Let's see if we're all still here on January 27.