OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2015
Donald Trump struts in his own pageant
Because Trump is so
strongman.
loud,
omnipresent,
multi-
“Trump is the prover-
Founded in 1873
platform and cutting, he’s
bial strongman,” David
Axelrod says. “There’s
$6+,1*721 6RPH shaping the perception of
STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher
no one more opposite to
blondes have all the fun. the other candidates. Once
Obama. Bush had been
he
blurts
out
the
obvious
—
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
$V+LOODU\&OLQWRQDQG-HE%XVK -HELVORZHQHUJ\+LOODU\LV
impulsive and reckless,
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
get more testy, Donald Trump gets shifty, Mitt choked — some
so voters wanted someone
more chesty. And more blond.
who was thoughtful and
voters nod their heads and
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
,W¶V
PLQGERJJOLQJ
WR
FRQWHP-
deliberative. Now they’ve
start
to
see
his
targets
in
that
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
plate a President Trump trying to XQÀDWWHULQJOLJKWDVZHOO
had enough of gray and
Maureen
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
they want to go back to
make peace between North and
Trump has trapped his
Dowd
black and white, and that’s
South Korea, even as we watch the Republican rivals into
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
pugnacious Candidate Trump troll- agreeing with his red-meat opinions Trump. He knows nothing else.”
,W¶VPHVPHUL]LQJWRZDWFK7UXPS
LQJSRRU-HERQ7ZLWWHUDQGSUHGLFW- on immigration or attacking him, nei-
ing that poor Hillary would have to ther of which are good options. Trump try to turn himself into a real candi-
run the country from Leavenworth.
bluntness only works for Trump, and date in real time.
He was mocked when he said that
But, as Trump would say, deal getting into a scrap with him is like
he got his national security advice
with it.
being tossed into a bag of badgers.
The pol who refused to identi-
Mike Murphy, the chief strategist from watching “the shows” on TV.
fy himself as a pol on his jury duty RI -HE¶V VXSHU 3$& ZHQW RQ WKH UH- But voters know that top diplomats,
questionnaire has utterly scrambled cord in a Washington Post story with spooks and generals led presidents
American politics. And he has trade- DYHLOHGPHVVDJHWR-HEWRVWRSWDXQW- down the tragic paths to the Bay of
3LJV9LHWQDPDQG,UDT-HE%XVKJHWV
marked the phrase “Make America ing Trump.
Great Again.”
“Trump is, frankly, other people’s his advice from Paul Wolfowitz, who
QDLYHO\EROOL[HGXS,UDTDQGJDYHXV
³,ZDVVXUSULVHGLWZDVDYDLODEOH´ problem,” Murphy said.
-HE VWRRSHG WR ,6,6 $QG +LOODU\ DQG WRS 5HSXEOL-
n the spectrum of terrorism’s sweep through Europe, last he told me.
Certainly,
conquer
Trump, cans say they get valued counsel from
The real
Friday’s events on a high-speed train mattered. Three Trump could ex-
echoing his use of Henry Kissinger, who advised Nixon
the phrase “anchor to prolong the Vietnam War for polit-
Americans and a Briton took down a man who was armed and plode at any mo-
estate
PHQW LQ D ¿HU\
baby,” only to have ical reasons even though he thought it
carrying 300 rounds of ammunition. Presenting them with the orange ball. But
the news spilled might be unwinnable.
developer
The neophyte pol belatedly real-
he
WKDW -HE KDG FR
French Legion of Honor in a ceremony at the Elysee Palace, meanwhile,
has turned a chaired a group that ized that he could not glide past the
has exploded the
French President Francois Hollande said the men prevented “a hoary conventions,
politicians horror of two Boston thugs accused
fetish for the advised
money-grubbing
not to say “anchor of laughingly beating a homeless His-
tragedy, a massacre.”
panic with a pole and peeing on him
biggest and baby.”
The two Americans brought on that plane. But it crashed in a advisers and fund-
raising
excesses
The real es- in Trump’s name.
their military training to bear on the 3HQQV\OYDQLD¿HOG,WDSSHDUVWKDWSDV- of the presidential
the best — in tate developer has He lives beyond parody. There’s
situation. Spencer Stone is a U.S. VHQJHUVWRRNDFWLRQDJDLQVWWKH,VODPLF campaign, turning
turned a fetish for very little difference between the
everything
Air Force Airman 1st Class. Alek terrorists who had commandeered the everything upside
the biggest and the old Darrell Hammond duck-lipped
down, inside out,
best — in every- impersonation of the Trumpster and
Skarlatos is a soldier in the Oregon MHWDQGFKDQJHGLWVÀLJKWSDWK
from
dinner
into
sauerkraut.
thing from dinner Trump, the presidential candidate.
National Guard. Gov. Kate Brown
7KH SHUYHUWHG YHUVLRQ RI ,VODP
Both dwell on how “huge” and
,WLVDIDEOHFRQ-
rolls to skyscrapers
rolls
to
noted the “swift and courageous that has created — according to re-
jured up in several
— into a presiden- “big” his projects are and how “great”
action” of the Oregon soldier, and porting by The New York Times — a classic movies: A
skyscrapers tial vision for “the his ratings are and how much square
she expressed pride that he was an system of widespread sexual slavery magnetic, libidi-
silent
majority.” footage he has.
— into a
(Unlike the Hammond imperson-
Oregonian.
has nothing to recommend it. Like the nous visitor shows
He’s tapped into a
hunger among those ation and Trump’s turn as “SNL”
Skarlatos told reporters that adren- UHJLPHWKDWUXQV1RUWK.RUHD,6,6LV up and insinuates
presidential who want to believe host, the presidential candidate shies
himself into the
aline kicked in. So did the soldier’s an extended crime family.
lives of a bourgeois
that America is not away from boasting about hot wom-
vision for
ability to be cool under pressure.
Over weeks and months, we will family. The free
a shrinking, stum- en.)
Their intervention on the high- learn more about the suspect — the spirit leaves, but
There is nothing that excites
‘the silent
bling power passed
speed train is reminiscent of what ap- man whose massacre was interrupted. only after trans-
like a pepper mill Trump the candidate more than crow-
majority.’
between two enti- ing that he has a great big crowd and
parently occurred on Sept. 11, 2001,
These men on the train did not forming the hide-
-HE KDV D WHHQ\ ZHHQ\ FURZG +H
tled families.
aboard a commercial jet that was wait for someone else to act. They bound family, so
sounded orgasmic as he described to
that
none
of
them
,QGHHG
LQ
LQWHU-
targeted for the U.S. Capitol. We will averted a bloodbath. That is no small
can see themselves the same way views, voters who like Trump often the New Hampshire town hall that
never know exactly what happened achievement.
again.
use an anatomical variation on the his Alabama event this weekend had
to be moved from a room that held
That is the profound metamorpho- word brass.
sis Trump has wrought on the race.
The shame spiral and money pit 1,000 to a room that held 2,000 to a
The Don Rickles of reality shows is WKDWIROORZHGWKHIDOVH,UDTQDUUDWLYH convention center to a stadium.
So Trump should appreciate the
weirdly bringing some reality to the W. and Dick Cheney put into play to
presidential patty-cake.
remove the strongman Saddam Hus- WDVNDKHDG,W¶VKXJH
$V$[HOURGSXWVLW³,QDSDUODQFH
The Donald’s strange pompadour sein — the identity crisis that came
and Hillary’s strange server have with the knowledge that America can Trump would appreciate: We’re still
eclipsed all the usual primary permu- no longer whip or outfox anybody — LQ WKH VZLPVXLW FRPSHWLWLRQ ,W JHWV
n Aug. 15 story in the Vancouver purse, healthy aging can translate tations.
has led many Americans to want a harder in the talent rounds.”
(Canada) Sun asks the question, into lower hospital costs.”
“What makes a city a good place to
America in general and our re-
grow old?” For a start, the answer it gion in particular are incredibly for-
provides is walkable neighborhoods tunate to have a substantial popula-
and feeling part of the community.
tion of robust and engaged citizens in
By JOE NOCERA
tioning in its warehouses.)
company; its peers, in-
&ROXPELD3DFL¿F FRPPXQLWLHV their older years. Among industrial
New York Times News Service
Last
weekend,
a
cluding Yahoo and AOL,
lengthy front-page story
are a shell of their former
can be somewhat self-congratulatory democracies, we have only to look
selves, even as Amazon
KH EHVW WKLQJ DERXW -HII in The New York Times
on both these counts, while we still DFURVV WKH 3DFL¿F 2FHDQ WR -DSDQ
has become ever-more
Bezos, the founder, chair- examined how Amazon
must strive to improve our towns for an example of some opposite ex-
important and powerful.
treats its Seattle-based
in a range of ways. Proliferation of tremes. A fascinating Aug. 23 story man, president and chief execu- white-collar
Some of Bezos’ tenets —
employ-
trail systems in the past decade has in the New York Times (tinyurl.com/ tive of Amazon, is that he doesn’t ees. Although they have
such as the importance of
been an especially welcome way of GhostHomes) tells of a rapidly aging give a hoot what anybody else air-conditioning — and
openly disagreeing, rath-
er than smoothing things
encouraging outdoor exercise, while demographic where the overall pop- thinks. The worst thing about make good money, includ-
over — seem admirable.
ing
stock
options
—
the
Joe
binding neighborhoods more closely ulation is expected to fall by a third -HII%H]RVLVWKDWKHGRHVQ¶WJLYH
Everybody at Amazon
white-collar workers also
Nocera
together. And there is a strong tradi- over the next half-century, leaving a hoot what anybody else thinks. appear to be pushed harder
is highly competent; the
tion of community participation here millions of “ghost homes” unoccu-
Practically from the moment and harder to work faster and faster. company doesn’t tolerate deadwood.
— thanks in part to a politically en- pied and decaying within depressing Amazon went public in 1997, Wall
Even when Bezos sent around an
,QWKHFXWWKURDWFXOWXUHGHVFULEHG
by The Times¶ -RGL .DQWRU DQG 'D- email last weekend about the Times
gaged citizenry.
suburbs of Tokyo.
Street has pleaded with Bezos to gen-
Quoting the Sun’s story both vali-
There are many ways in which HUDWH PRUH SUR¿WV +H KDV LJQRUHG vid Streitfeld, a certain percentage story, he didn’t exactly apologize. He
dates what has already been achieved we can make our towns and rural those pleas, and has plowed poten- of workers are culled every year. said that he didn’t recognize the Am-
,W¶VDQHQRUPRXVO\DGYHUVDULDOSODFH azon that The Times wrote about, and
around the Columbia estuary region areas more sustainable for older res- WLDO SUR¿WV EDFN LQWR WKH FRPSDQ\ (PSOR\HHV ZKR IDFH GLI¿FXOW OLIH that some of the incidents were so cal-
and highlights some subjects we can idents. The best ideas are likely to Bezos believes that
moments, such as lous they should have been reported
still make a better effort to address.
originate from residents themselves, if Amazon puts the
dealing with a se- to the human resources department.
He wants it rious illness, are But he didn’t say they weren’t true.
“Around the world, municipal who know what they need. But here needs of its custom-
offered not empa- That’s because they are true.
leaders are looking at ways to make are a few:
to always
HUV ¿UVW ² DQG QR
The real issue Amazon’s work cul-
thy and time off but
cities better for an aging population:
• Continue working to improve company is more
rebukes that they ture raises, for blue- and white-collar
have the feel are not focused employees alike, is: How disposable
New York has re-installed many of pedestrian safety. Especially as traf- maniacally focused
the bus benches it had removed to ¿FLQFUHDVHVZHQHHGWRGRPRUHWR on customers —
of a startup, enough on work. A are A people?
previous generation of Ameri-
normal workweek
stop homeless people from sleeping make sure that crosswalks are prom- the stock will take
cans
could
count on a social compact;
where
the
is
80
to
85
hours,
on them, this time adding strategi- inently marked and situated wherev- care of itself. That’s
if
you
stuck
loyally by a company, it
in
an
unrelenting
cally placed arm rests to make lying HUQHHGHG,QDGGLWLRQPDQ\RIRXU exactly what has
work pace is pressure-cooker at- would stick by you, providing you
down impossible. Walk signals at towns need better sidewalks.
with a good job and a decent retire-
mosphere.
happened. That is
frantic and
wide intersections have been length-
• We need to keep supporting the good side of
Until last week- ment. Long ago, loyalty fell by the
ened — or medians added — to give — and expand as needed — ser- Bezos’s indiffer-
the pressure end, Bezos was wayside, and longtime employees
unapologetic about learned that their loyalty meant noth-
VORZPRYLQJ SHGHVWULDQV D ¿JKW- vices offered by Sunset Empire ence to the opinion
intense.
the Darwinian work ing when companies “downsized.”
ing chance of making it across the 7UDQVSRUWDWLRQ DQG 3DFL¿F 7UDQVLW of others.
Amazon — and, to be sure, any
culture he created.
street.…
System.
The bad side is
³,W¶V QRW HDV\ WR number of other companies as well
“Characteristics of an age-friendly
• There is never a time to declare the way he and his company treat work here,” he wrote in an early letter — has taken this idea to its logical
city go beyond decent sidewalks. The victory in terms of parks and green HPSOR\HHV ,Q WKH $OOHQ- to shareholders.
extreme: Bring people in, shape
According to “The Everything them in the Amazon style of con-
WHO (World Health Organization) VSDFH:LWKWKH3DFL¿F1RUWKZHVW¶V town, Pennsylvania, Morning Call
suggests a wide range of amenities, overall population rapidly increas- published an eye-opening series 6WRUH´ D ¿QH KLVWRU\ RI $PD]RQ frontation and workaholism, and cast
including accessible green space, ing, we must do all we can to bank documenting how Amazon treated by Brad Stone of Bloomberg Busi- them aside when they have outlived
the workers at its warehouses. The nessweek, Bezos liked to say that he their usefulness.
health care, public transit and safe, these lands for the future — for rec- newspaper reported that workers didn’t want the company to become
For a data-driven executive like
affordable housing. Add social partic- reation, mental health and wildlife.
“were pushed harder and harder “a country club” where people went Bezos, this kind of culture is ap-
ipation, respect and the opportunity to
• Affordable senior housing, con- to work faster and faster until they “to retire.” His point of reference was pealing, because it maximizes the
keep working if desired.
tinued access to high-quality health- were terminated, they quit or they Seattle’s other tech behemoth, Micro- amount of work a company can
soft, which devolved from a ruthless wring from fundamentally fungible
“Why should we bother? Beyond care, ensuring that local boards got injured.”
The most shocking revelation predator to a sluggish bureaucracy. human beings. The question Am-
the notion of fairness for all citizens and commissions conduct business was that the warehouses lacked That is exactly what Bezos doesn’t azon’s culture raises is whether it
are the practical and even economic transparently and with ample public air-conditioning, and that during want to happen to Amazon. He wants is an outlier — or whether it rep-
reasons. Using the knowledge and participation — all these factors and heat waves, the company “arranged it to always have the feel of a startup, resents the future of the workplace.
Of course, Bezos didn’t have to
skills of older people in paid or un- more will make this a great place to to have paramedics parked in am- where the work pace is frantic and the
build Amazon the way he did. He
bulances outside” to revive workers pressure intense.
paid work is a resource that is wasted live for people of all ages.
And you know something? Give could have created a culture that
if they are excluded. The majority of
Deliberate planning and action who were overcome by the heat.
³, QHYHU IHOW WUHDWHG OLNH D SLHFH RI KLP KLV GXH ,W KDV ZRUNHG UHPDUN- valued employees and treated them
retirees also pay their own freight, can ensure that the attributes we trea- crap in any other warehouse but this ably well.
well. But that would have required
buying goods and services that em- sure in local communities endure for one,” said one worker. (After the
,W¶VZRUWKUHPHPEHULQJWKDW$P- him to care about what somebody
SOR\ RWKHUV ,Q WHUPV RI WKH SXEOLF generations to come.
exposé, Amazon installed air-condi- D]RQ LV D ¿UVWJHQHUDWLRQ ,QWHUQHW else thought. Fat chance.
By MAUREEN DOWD
New York Times News Service
W
Bloodbath averted
I
The cool response of two Americans
and a Briton on a high-speed
train exemplify courage
Making towns to grow old in
A
Walkability and community
engagement are key
-HII%H]RVDQGWKH$PD]RQZD\
T