Well done, Maureen! If only you and your brother and his friends had seen through the snake in 2016!
113
The power to heal is the power to hurt
Check your medicine before calling me dirt
My venom depends on the heart it reaches
Same as your stemwinder sidewinder speeches
So slither, or waddle, with forked tongue ablaze
Your evil should not by this time amaze
The devil has given us great work to do
So much hatred and fake news for us to spew
Let baselings applaud us, and cheer on our plight
They’ll help us to target the best place to bite
Our hissing eliminates snakely mistake
Just how much more can their democracy take?
27
Hey! This is offensive to snakes, who eat rodent and other pest species to the benefit of humanity, and generally mind their own business. A python has more integrity in its vestigial hind legs than Trump has shown in his entire life. The Serpentes suborder awaits its apology!
61
Amen!
13
Both human and truth, but behind it lies the serious reality that the American public will eventually see the truth and then what? Will there a violent popular uprising, just quiet resignation, action at the polls. The politicians in Washington are setting the stage for trouble with their feckless and corrupt do-nothing behavior.
36
Maureen, this is a great parody. I only wish it wasn't so true.
I had dinner with friends from Iraq last night who were so desperate to escape from Saddam Hussein's clutches in the 1970s that they carried poison capsules to take if they were caught. They are now successful people who have provided our country with great service and three American-born daughters who are also successful and productive.
I think that the greatest damage that DJT will do to this country is his legacy of chauvinism, hucksterism, belittlement, sarcasm, xenophobia, and self-absorption. Immigrants are the life blood of the US.
His pandering to the NRA with the absurd concept of arming teachers is just another
sign of his delusions. I served with a Marine battalion as a medical officer, and NO ONE carried a loaded weapon on base unless specifically trained and authorized. Arming untrained civilians is looking for trouble. Granted that many mistakes were made in following up on the Parkland gunman, but arming teachers isn't going to make students safer.
82
35 percent of Americans love his venom. That's the tragedy.
35
FINALLY! This was Brilliant!
An OpEd from Ms. Dowd that is truly worthy of her position at the NYT. If only she turned out stuff like this more often - without mixing in a dose of Clinton or Obama snark!
28
What frightens me the most is that people in the WH and the capital building are failing to recognize that his actions, words, and deeds are read daily not by or former allies (assuming we've one or two left), but by those country leaders whom oppose and wish for dispose of this nation.
I can no longer recognize leadership in this county by either the congress, more specifically by the POS who calls himself presidential...
18
Will it be only a matter of time before the Evangelicals in his base even consider they've been duped? Of course it is a Christian ideal to "forgive" past transgressions, but it usually involves some R-E-C-K-O-N-I-N-G or penance with bad behavior and deeds of the past.
I see nothing whatsoever in 45 to do with his own personal accountability with: any of his wives, his past business practices, and ALL his lies, Lies, LIES...!
23
I don't blame Maureen Dowd for Trump. I blame the voters for Trump.
40
Snake oil for sale - made of the finest oils in all the world.
15
I'm more familiar with the story of the frog and scorpion but the moral is the same. Embrace Trump and you will live to regret it..
35
Trump's behavior is abominable, but I sincerely doubt if equally visceral responses like this one will have the desired effect. Can't we step off the playground for a moment and participate in genuine public discourse involving an exchange of IDEAS?
7
Oh, Ms Dowd, why do you write such silliness about an illegitimate occupant of the White House who represents the biggest threat to our democracy and human decency? Now is not the time for nauseating attempts at cloying cleverness. More than one half the country knew Donald Trump was a lying, egocentric snake long before he fraudulently won the Oval Office prize for which he is not even remotely qualified to hold.
47
Why did Trump pick Manafort as his campaign manager and Gates as the deputy? Manafort had no relevant experience and offered to work for nothing. Could it be that Trump and Manafort had a 1 on 1 meeting at which Manafort told Trump that Russia had a pile of evidence of money-laundering and other sins and that he, Manafort, could protect Trump from that if Trump made him campaign manager.
Manafort was being pressed heavily by Russian creditors closely linked to Putin in the fall/winter of 2015 and appears to have engaged in bank fraud to raise money. Yet in early 2016 he offers to work for Trump for free? And after Trump accepted his offer Manaforts Russian creditors backed off completely.
Trump has refused to impose sanctions on Russia mandated by Congress a few months ago. He has never used a stern tone with Putin/Russia. Several weeks ago Russian mercenaries allegedly paid by the oligarch who was also behind the internet election scams attacked US troops in Syria. That oligarch was among the 13 Russians charged by Mueller 10 days ago. Trump has said nothing about this attack.
And Republicans will still on occasion shout "Benghazi" and "Lock her up".
From here, it looks like the fate of Americas democracy is in Team Muellers hands.
46
Donald Trump is doing a great job; employment in all democraphic groups are at historical highs, Obamacare is dead, Obama's legacy is in tatters (he never actually did anything constructive). A wall between the US and Mexico is going to be built so illegals can't flock across the border. Taxes have been cut, wages are up, companies are returning to the US. 4 more years !!
9
Yes, if Obama did not do anything, why are you all obsessed with undoing it. LOL
77
Nice autobiography.
15
A day late and a dollar short? NO. Two Years late and a heap of apologies short. Just saying.
64
The snake was always a snake when you were his personal friend Ms. Dowd . Wish you liberalized that a couple of years ago when you constantly ridiculed Madame Hillary Clinton.
She will never be the President again if she was a man she could run, but in America, even with the Me Too movement Women still takes the back seat.
And by the way this is a great column and appreciate your enlightenment !
36
Sorry, this just doesn't ring true.
3
I'm guessing everyone already knows that The Snake was written by the late civil rights activist Oscar Brown, whose family has vehemently denounced donald's use of his work to promote anti-immigration sentiments.
34
We have Trump because he made it acceptable to be openly racist. Before him political correctness demanded that we pretend to be tolerant: to hire token blacks and to have black characters on TV series. But it was obvious to anyone paying attention that much of the populace was blatantly bigoted. Politicians at all levels have been successful from the getgo by using racist dog whistles and subtle implications that they would punish minorities -- Welfare queens; tough on crime. Trump's call to make America white again resonated with enough voters to give him the presidency.
32
Disappointing from a literary perspective, surprisingly so, but right on the mark as far as the content is concerned. We are in the hands of a cretinous sorcerer. But there is an election in November!!
15
Such a defamatory besmirchment of snakes. Let's not forget snakes eat rats, so at least in nature they are ok.
14
Trump's Apprentice tv show highlighted his favorite line: You're fired! That is all one needed to know about the man going into the 2016 election. No empathy, no humanity, no compromise, no discussion. Just him and his word. Pure narcissism and hate. I'm not surprised that he can't find a "presidential" attitude or voice. He's a snake now, always was, and will eventually die that way.
32
Clever but makes me feel bad for snakes everywhere.
14
Incredible, this writer manages to employ a highly loaded and ethically questionable parable used by Trump in a manner even more ugly than Trump did, himself. But I guess you shouldn't take the high road if you don't live in the mountains. NYT has fallen very far.
What disturbed me most about the president's use of this devise, besides the way it reinforces negative cultural and gender stereotypes and the use of stereotyping, in general, it unfairly maligns SNAKES (who have been maligned to biblical proportion.) There are about seven venomous snake species in our state. THREE snake bite fatalities have been recorded over our state's, post-colonial history. Just compare this with fatalities from dogs, deer, ticks, deer ticks...
3
Takeaway here is, that after having the plot explained to him a dozen times, Trump still believes this is a story about a snake.
12
Meanwhile...
The Foxes stole all the golden eggs,
and drank toasts with fine champagne.
Old Goose they'd starved,
and longed to carve,
They danced to her cries of pain.
And the Sheep they'd fleeced,
did bah and bleat,
Oblivious to their chains.
9
Let's hope. Maybe the Dems can find someone besides Wall Street to help them light the way.
7
There are those while agreeing that Trump is a loathsome snake will continue to berate Dowd over Clinton & Obama. But the only legitimate criticism for me is that Dowd’s columns were snarky and somewhat exaggerated both’s failings. I’m sorry but both have their failings and excessive caution and a lack of a pugnacious advocacy for what’s right crippled them both. Also like much of the democratic leadership they are far to enamored with wealth, technocracy and the financial elite then is healthy for our democracy. Its not that they are as bad as the Donald, their not even close, its that their not nearly as good as they could have been or even could still be. Politicians, even ones we admire and support should be approached with caution and a deep understanding of their faults, otherwise we become mindless and inclined to knee jerk defensiveness of choices that are not defendable.
6
The frog and the scorpion redux. When comparing the acknowledged worst prior President in our Nation’s short history, James Buchanan, Trump establishes a new category, ‘worst President ever in our History by a factor of two’.
A weak, intellectually and emotionally stunted President in combination with a feeble, inadequate Congress gives us our worst Government ever. This is a debilitating situation that is creating much anger in this Country with more divisiveness than I could ever imagine.
21
Apropos nothing: it suddenly occurred to me that what this country needs is a good dose of Walt Kelly. Somebody in the Op Ed unit needs to research this mid 20th century humorist and cartoonist and spread the word, spread the word.
6
I've heard a short version of this story. The snake eats his victim. "Why are you doing this when I rescued you?" "Because I'm a snake."
6
As soon as I heard that he had read this "snake" song to malign immigrants, I wondered how he could be so blind as to not see that he was indeed the real double-crossing snake! During this last year we are finally witness to his authentic self and it ain't pretty!
15
Maureen, you are the best. Thank you for this op-ed without that name plastered on every medium of communication. You go straight for the jugular but I wish the story had a happy-ending with the snake being thrown into the fire and the woman having the last word without dying, I would want her to see that goodness and decency always triumphs over all the evil and poisons that snakes spout.
And I see, you are an ardent follower of Larry Eisenberg!
2
Very nicely done!
3
Dear Maureen,
As an admirer of yours for many years, who thinks Trump worse than a snake, please retake Writing 101. This is a silly, sophomoric piece. We are in a crisis. If TV can do it--comedy hosts have risen to this challenge--find a way to be intelligent and funny. And while I'm at, your piece on Uma Thurman was disgraceful. It trivialized her. Come back to the land of responsible journalists, please--we need you.
signed,
A reader
11
And the author was so snakebitten by her hatred of the other woman that she found comfort in the in the entangling coils of the snake. "He will shed his skin." she argued. "He will have wise snake charmers who will control his snake-like personality." she proffered. "Washington will no longer be a snake pit." she promised.
But alas, the bitten and poisoned casualty was not the author but the country once admired in the world- The United States of America.
24
There once was an American snake
Who duped us with a bogus tax break
But once we realized
That we’d been mesmerized
We were left with a big bellyache
6
Manafort, agent to Russian oligarchs, was the arranger of mass collusion. He will fight charges till the end, because he knows that the day he enters a jail cell will be his last day of freedom, forever.
6
Clever yes by half, and call me a cynic, but I'd rather see a tough attack on all this POTUS has done, does, and will do. A good Catholic girl, raised by a cop and no doubt a saint, Dowd places the Donald's travesty of a presidency into the Garden of Eden. Or the Jeffersonian notion of this country in the beginning, and others who look to the Lady of Liberty. Trump is such a sham, but we as a nation must swallow the pill and acknowledge that we took the snake in when surely all knew this snake could not shed his skin. Venom for one, but one snake has infected much more in the polity.
6
He is actually of himself.
2
Ms. Dowd, with her gen-whatever need for cynicism and ambivalence, WAS one of the folks who helped put Trump in office. Unable to define a bad man as a bad man, the snake charmed the charmer. And the woman in the story isn't Lady Liberty, it's Maureen Dowd.
31
Who knew that Donald Trump was a lying, poisonous snake?! Every regular reader of the NY Times knew, that's who, in addition to a majority of Americans capable of spotting an asp a mile away, knew long before the Presidential election.
Your fable column, Ms Dowd, will not change any minds of the snake's base, now euphoric on the snake venom already flowing in their veins. Since facts and common sense are no longer effective snake bite antidotes, it appears slithering will replace democracy and decency for the time being...unless snake charmer, Mueller can capture this rogue asp and relocate it where it will not be able to harm anyone.
16
Clever, yet flawed parable that should have and could have been written by Ms. Dowd in 2015 and 2016. Why would anyone take in a snake before determining whether it was lethal or not. To take in a gopher snake could be considered kind, to pick up an asp nothing but foolish. Ms. Dowd could very well be the woman in this parable. An extremely intelligent (feminist) woman, Dowd wrote a number of op-eds about Trump in 2015 and 2016 none of which stated the kind of snake he truly was. She played with a snake for 2 years and has also been bit. The difference is, she knew better. Our nation wraps itself around another motto pertaining to snakes: "Don't Tread On Me". I think about this any time I read a column from Ms. Dowd on Trump.
11
Dowd's fable does not ring true as Trump never disguised himself; he is too narcissistic and inept to do so. Americans saw a snake and voted for him. We are living in a world in which individuals can no longer distinguish fact from fiction and the truth no longer matters. We retreat into partisanship and tribalism which resulted in the election of the snake who is now leader of the free world.
There is a fairy tale in which an immoral and rude girl insults a fairy and the fairy punishes her by having snakes and toads come out of the girl's mouth every time she spoke. Trump is that person. He uses intimidation, bullying and dissembling to sow chaos and to disrupt democratic ideals and norms. Can you imagine if, every single time Trump uttered a lie, that a frog or a toad came tumbling out of his mouth? The world would soon be overrun by frogs and toads and his base would accuse the Democrats of a conspiracy. Now, that fable rings true. Very, very sad but very, very true.
11
A serious insult to snakes.
7
Maureen, you will never be a poet,
And alas and alack,
I think you surely know it.
Nevertheless, your words today
Add one more log to a raging fire
We all hope eventually will become
Our misbegotten President's impeachment pyre.
6
GWB was worse. Disastrous war, remember?
4
Very cool!
This is AMAZING!!! We want MORE!!!!!!
Always good to read you again, Ms. Dowd. You were the main op-ed writer who helped me get through eight years of W. and goodness but you can have a field day with Trump. I've missed your column!
There once was a man name of Trump
Less useful than a log with a bump
For collusion with Russians
And other corruptions
He may end up thrown in the dump.
7
As usual, Dowd tells is as it is, but in a memorable fashion. Well done, Ms Dowd.
3
I'm always amazed at all the NYT readers who blame Dowd for Clinton's loss. Clinton ran a terrible campaign, and Dowd's columns weren't responsible for her loss. Dowd gave Trump an even harder time, so why did he win? Because most people who voted for him don't read the NYT and most other serious news sources.
6
Every Garden of Eden has a snake.
In ours it is duplicitous Trump. (Definition: hypocritical cunning or deception; double dealing.)
At last we have the well-suited sobriquet (nickname) for this malicious entity.
Snake Trump.
He/It that deserves to be banished from the Garden this time around.
All together now ..... Lock him out.
3
It wasn't "Lady Liberty" who let the snake in. It was other snakes, recognizing one of their own and sure he would continue being a snake.
6
Truly enjoyed this. Thank you Maureen.
2
The great stories are always timely.
You tell a tale worth the telling.
In keeping with the tone of your narrative, the NRA has now unleashed another dispenser of poison, Dana Loesch, upon the remaining gasping populace. This Elphaba lookalike is morphing into the Wicked Witch of the West before our eyes --- her true intent revealed only when her icy exterior is marred by the baring of her teeth as she hurls insults and blames at everyone and everything except those who swim in the sea of guns the NRA and their funders are pouring over the country.
The great stories are always timely.
5
Now you write so eloquently about the snake Trump has always been, but when the time to out him for his unfitness to be president....you instead gave him a chance. You made him seem to be a better choice than H. Clinton.
We will have our chance to throw out this snake, to vote in people that will have the courage to impeach him, if Mueller's investigation shows that to be what has to be done.
Try as you might MoDo, the people who have read your column for years, and have not forgotten what you did to help the snake - will not give you a pass.
19
You can't fool all of the people all of the time; but, you can fool some of the people all of the time. Those are the Trump supporters.
7
Trump projects. The Snake was not about immigrants, it was about him. He is the snake, he knows he's the snake, and he's laughing at the gullible people who "took me in". They just haven't felt the bite - yet.
7
Excellent. Well said!!
2
A nice application of Aesop’ classic fable of the frog and the scorpion to the current scorpion in the oval office. Remember it in 2018 mid term elections when the voters can choose to either believe they can chang the nature of the scorpion or refuse to be beguiled by the Republican party’s “dear Leader” any longer.
5
There was once a saying, 'a snake in the grass.' there is now a 'snake in the Whitehouse'. It is time for that snake to return from whence it came - close to the Everglades, close to where the Whitehouse snake has his former residence and to.where many snakes have been let loose and sometimes captured.
4
This was well crafted political satire, and is especially on target because if immigrants to the US are snakes, then Donald is the son, grandson, husband, and ex-husband of snakes: a whole nest of vipers in one. In other words, viperarum e pluribus unum.
7
Brilliant, as usual.
3
Having a sneaky President and our athletes doing poorly at the Winter Olympics (America with some 350 people didn't get close to Norway with only 10 million) says it all: that snake is America as a whole and growing by the day. The Ugly American.
3
nice. too little too late. this paul revere cry in the night should have been made repeatedly before he was elected. silly woman indeed.
7
The harping on MO re Hillary is silly.
Nothing Maureen said about Hillary was not true -and well said. The whiners now should have spoken up then --- during the campaign --and insisted Hillary tell the truth, speak for others besides herself, and quit screaming about everything and nothing -- like an annoying ingrate.
Hillary lied was she was not being disingenuous when she was not lying.
Had good folks spoken up (and gotten out and voted instead acting like prima donnas) we wouldn't have Don Con causing us to wince on sight.
5
Spot on, Ms Dowd. Truth to power. Keep it up.
4
I've written some pretty ill-considered, juvenile things in response to endless Trump's affronts but then I don't write for the New York Times. I certainly appreciate Ms Dowd's intent; unfortunately, this piece is a quite lame, not very well composed parable. The silver lining here is that Donald is sure to provide Maureen with plenty of fresh material for next week's column - in the face of Trump's unremitting assault, all we all can do is keep trying.
3
Look at those eyes of the snake which are dead on a face of a congenital liar , poisonous and who is rotten to the core . They show no intelligence, no vision , on his way to oblivion.
Only one year have passed, with another three years left .
Be worried, I know I am.
3
A happy ending? Doubtful. This snake will pardon himself and his band of clumsy criminals. And his minions, like your brother, will applaud as the disaster unfurls. Without him they'd have to face their angst, their fear that their whiteness really isn't something special.
7
A fine doggerel, Ms. Dowd. And thank you for your many and consistent hit pieces on Ms. Hillary Clinton, which certainly must have swayed at least a few people who would otherwise have voted for "that woman."
8
Maureen—well done! Brava.
2
Wax lyrical all you want, Ms. Dowd, but we won't forget your efforts in this same column in 2016 to vilify the Clintons and encourage the Bernie Bros to stay home or vote for Jill Stein. And every little thing, Russia, Clinton's astonishingly incompetent campaign, and yes, your columns, added up to 78,000 votes in WI, MI and PA that put the snake you so eloquently denounce now into the White House.
26
We elected a poisonous snake as President of the United States. All those who voted knew this (or, at least, they should have known). Now, we have a case of "the pot calling the kettle black."
6
Hillary Clinton supported the Iraq invasion, but she has since apologized and admitted that it was a mistake. The political pressures were great and the falsification of WMD evidence were partly to blame, but some people were seeing through it. Hillary Clinton did not.
Maureen Dowd, are you ready to apologize for your support of Donald Trump, that you were complicit in helping him get elected? Your snake story is insufficient. We want to see you put your talents of prose into action and issue a formal apology and an objective assessment of our "commander" in chief.
23
It's a Lenten miracle. She managed to get through a column without s backhanded slam at Hillary Clinton.
21
If our Fake President were to evolve into "snakehood", surely he would appear as an anaCONda which, although non-poisonous, is a predator that squeezes the life out of its prey. How appropriate!
6
Mo. We need an apology, not a parody on The Snake. There is a better snake story in the Bible. Your relentless and snarky attacks on former President Obama and Candidate Clinton can't be taken back. But those two are now history and stand taller than the tall white yellow haired (actually bald) president you were enamored with.
I have learned that valuing good leadership style is always better understood when you are led by a really, really atrocious person in a leadership role. We are there Mo, and you helped bring him on.
21
All this talk of snakes makes me miss Walt Kelly and the denizens of the Okefenokee swamp.
In the prophetic words of a Pogo: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
True then and now.
109
Really? A fable? It's about fifty to a hundred years too early for this. That said, the media was about a year or more too late when they started calling him a liar, while a large number of us citizens were screaming it at the start of 'the deal.' This is no way to deal (again that word) with him. And the opportunist cowards that were on the stage with him during the primary debates had the opportunity to confront him head-on. They were afraid to lose what? Their dignity? He helped them lose that. Our commentators, the media as a whole and our politicians are way behind doing what was necessary. And now we have a fable.
73
This does make some sense - though the snake is a better animal than the one depicted here. Who is the She? not clear - the piece is in character of the writer.
No American journalist would ever have dared to call a sitting or past US President a snake and get away with it. But the way Trump has demeaned the office the presidency by his trash talk, treacherous treatment of issues of national importance and bald-face lies, it is no surprise that people nod their head in agreement with Ms. Dawood. I am afraid that Trump has tarnished the sterling status of the US presidency and replaced it with Trump’s hallmark fake glitter, and it will be very difficult to restore the respect for the US presidency. The history will take note that the decline of the US as a world leader and a power to reckon began with Trump.
110
Are you kidding? President Obama was called much worse! And he was brilliant!
3
It amazes me reading these comments that so many Hillary supporters still cannot see that their preferred candidate was her own worst enemy... and that's why she lost the election.
All the venom, deflection, and resentment in the world won't change that.
1
No on the contrary this was the truth and fun.
1
Ms. Dowd offers us an in-depth view of Mr. Trump. And so many of us agree with her assessment. But I would like to add that those many of us who shake our heads affirmatively with her column knew this already about this man, long before he was suspiciously elected.
The big question is: What has happened to our moral compasses as an electorate? Have we sunk that low as to vote for a known philanderer with past shady business practices and a narcissistic ego that surpasses, to my knowledge, any of our former presidents?
Trump merely reflects the mind-set of not only this GOP-led Congress but also us. A bigoted and racist society has replaced the equality written into a democracy. Christian hypocrisy has chosen the unborn over the already living, forfeiting our rights to good health and welfare. Blatant lies have replaced honesty and transparency.
If we want this snake to be banished from something that comes close to a Garden of Eden, we need to cut down that apple tree that represents more of the evil rather than the good of our present political paradigm.
8
The tree is ignorance. Without ignorance, there would not be a Republican Party. Ronald Reagan’s legacy.
8
That was awful. The poem stands on its own, as long as you realize Trump, not the immigrant, is the snake. I was hoping to read a well written piece on that theme.
3
Maureen, I have often thought of you as the snake, turning on unsuspecting and undeserving targets. But you have totally redeemed yourself in my eyes. You definitely are a fine writer and I hope someone can convert your parable to a hit song that would open and signify unity at all gatherings of the brave and sane.
1
Excellent, creative, insightful journalism. Did Trump just happen to wear the same suit he wore during campaign and find that poem in the inside pocket. What an easy job he has. Watch a bunch of TV. Tweet. Eat cheeseburgers. Never read. Give the same campaign speech wherever he goes, or read notes or the teleprompter of someone else's words for which he has no sincere understanding.
6
We Americans reap what we have sown. We have bullied and mistreated other, weaker nations. We have exploited them for their resources and manipulated and bribed their politicians to serve our purposes. Our federal, state and local governments have deliberately created segregated communities and schools through housing policies that can only be described as racist. Our Supreme Court has not only refused to uphold corrective actions, it has made America the most weaponized nation on earth, even though we have no meaningful reason to arm ourselves. And a large number of us religiously watch and/or listen to hate- and fear-mongers in TV and radio. So we should not be surprised or disappointed we have a man like Donald Trump as our President. We got what we deserve, nothing less or more.
15
Perfectly true.
4
Impeachment will require a balanced House to agree to Articles of Impeachment. That means this investigation can not end until a new Congress is sworn in come January 2019. It's up to us to vote in Democrats who will vote him out.
10
Yes indeed the snake is vain and duplicitous but he is the President only because his opponent was perceived to be more so. Give us a better choice next time DNC (and RNC). Please.
2
So glad you are now training your considerable writing talents on the Con Man in chief. This column provides a different take on Trump from the picture of the happy warrior you portrayed him as during the 2016 campaign. That portrayal, by the way, contrasted starkly with the dour picture you drew of Hillary whose ambitions were somehow warped and unhealthy. Now we have Trump as president, happily doing damage to the presidency and this country to serve his own corrupt purposes. I think you should have skipped the superficialities of Trump-as-candidate and focused more on Trump the shady Putin lover with his foreign interests, dependency of Russian money, cheating history (on wives and workers), and lies. Nicely written fable, though.
10
Thanks Ms Dowd, it is great art!
2
This lament is difficult to read remembering who wrote it.
8
Yes, a leopard cannot change his spots.
3
Trump sat in a room full of grieving students, parents and teachers, and wondered, "And I'm missing Fox News for this?" My son's gecko has more natural empathy than our President Lizard-Brain.
9
Hey, people: Don't blame Maureen. This was all the doing of the Electoral College. Blame Hamilton! Of course, in Hamilton's day (I have not seen the play, yet) there were more illiterates than hoi polloi, and he needed to ensure the we would have a president who was ...not... a ...tyrant..
From the Federalist Papers, Federalist No. 68:
"Hamilton viewed the [electoral college] system as superior to direct popular election. First, he recognized, the "sense of the people should operate in the choice", and would through the election of the electors to the Electoral College. Second, the electors would be:
"...men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice."
As irony would have it, though, we must be living in opposite land, because we have what we have. And we're stuck with him. Democrats unite! We must prevent a repeat performance of this spectacle.
*
I agree with commenters who've stated that Trump's playbook is right out of the DSM, for narcissistic personality disorder. A dangerous man. A tyrant.
5
I am 69 years old. I never imagined that I would read such a harsh image of a sitting president by anyone in the real news media let alone the venerable NYT. This is what trump and the Republican Party has done to us. We have as a nation hit bottom. We need a national 12 step program.
6
Is there a version where the snake bites his own tail? I think your snake comes off as too darkly wise, and organized to fit the bill. The entity you refer to is maybe more about banality?, (see Hannah Arendt).. or perhaps, incompetence ?(see the poem by Goethe (or Walt Disney!) "The Sorcerer's Apprentice").
Congratulations to Maureen Dowd for a beautifully written parable about how the president has very likely betrayed the United States of America and its people.
Now it's time that you and your colleagues muster the courage to actually call this betrayal by its official name, if you have not done so already.
And it's very important now and in the future to make the distinction between someone of low or no moral character and someone who is actually derelict in his most fundamental duty as President of the United States. The first set of acts is terribly obnoxious behavior, not befitting a President. The second is an impeachable crime.
5
Maureen cannot hide that she "took the snake in" - funny how we are blind to those traits we have ourselves - such as, say, an over-inflated sense of entitlement that manifests itself as dismissive arrogance. The parable says more than she knows: narcissism(hers and his) is a gilded prison, and the prisoner, no matter how rich, cannot buy the key that unlocks the prison door - humility.
12
As a humorous poem about our absurd contemporary political dilemma, I would say that this was an enjoyable read.
Now that the Olympics are over I believe he will try and figure out a way to nuke N. Korea and that will be the end of civilization as we know it! SAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
15
Funny article. Maureen Dowd is a Trump hater. It is evident. I love Trump! He does what he says unlike whiny apologizing liar Obama. Trump got a tax cut for middle class. People can see that with their own eyes., They see their paycheck bigger . What do Democrats offer? Transsexuals in ladies rooms, illegal Daca kids living on welfare and American benefits...long and costly health care. The Democrats do NOT want a middle class. They are socialists and want a permenant under class. ... like Venezuela ..MAGA Trump 2020!
1
Speaking of MAGA when is trump going to stop MTGA (Making Trump Great Again) and start making America great again for al American citizens. He can start by remembering the oath of office that he took. It's only 35 words to remember: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." So far, trump's done nothing but attempt to tear asunder the Constitution for his own personal gain. And by the way, your tiny tax break It's only a temporary crumb tossed at you to pacify you while the huge tax break for the 1%, and himself, is permanent. But then I would guess that you get conned almost every day by people like trump.
9
The poison will get you just like it will get the people who saw the snake for what he is. Nuclear war doesn't ask your political persuasion before it kills you.
Bigger paycheck? Dream on. DACA kids can't get welfare. Go back to school.
8
Oh my Maureen, such a delicious mind you possess.
6
Zombies are getting refined these days.
"You...you SPOKE for me. I was voiceless and you spoke for me."
"Oh, stop it. I just made you feel good. Genetically superior to all those blacks and Muslims. That feeling is still better than money, isn't it? Better than your health, safety, your welfare, your morals, your very life? Admit it. You're dying a happy woman."
"You're right," said the woman. Tears filled her eyes. "I'd vote for you again."
10
Careful now, you don't want to start stereotyping anyone. Interpreting twisted reasoning in those you disagree with shows little hubris and, not surprisingly, is often wrong. I live among Trump supporters and they are not the goose-steppers that you seem to wish they were. (I'm a progressive democrat, who also lived in Germanic countries for two decades.)
So, Maureen, my guess is that you are the gullible old woman?
15
Another clever column.Trump is providing not only material for lots of columns, but also the delivery to imitate. Column writing, thanks to Trump, has become
great again.
7
Many of us knew HRC was vile but voted for her given the alternative.Others voted for Trump, believing he may change once in office.They were so wrong.We now find ourselves with a snake in the WH and many more in Congress.Our only hope is that those in Congress turn on the one in the Oval when they see he is no longer an asset.This may happen when Manafort starts talking and it becomes clear his relationship to Russian money and that of the Trump organization are very similar.Whether the snake in the Oval survives or not will in turn depend on whether the Mueller effort is allowed to continue or whether the Nuneses of this country decide financial malfeasance in his business dealings present no issue with Trump being President.So the life of one snake ultimately depends on other snakes in the pit.Not promising.
6
Bernie (primary) voter here. No! Hillary was not, and is not, "vile" - not even close. She was not initially my preferred Democratic candidate candidate, but on the "vile" scale trump was, and is, at the extreme bad end - as he demonstrates daily.
14
There is nothing vile about Mrs. Clinton. The propaganda from Russia/GOP (which if you're paying attention is out enforce this week against the high school students!) did malign, lie, and attack Clinton with all they've got!
I was a Bernie supporter, who gladly voted for the MOST qualified candidate! The lies about Clinton were what was....vile and....evil!
5
no scale intended, simply vile in her own right.
My perception of the man you speak about is similar. But I think using your platform to pay him such negative attention oddly flatters him on one hand as it highlights his power, & continues to incite his disturbed and distorted inhumanity on the other.
What about using your smarts to rally fellow citizens - to learn more about each other (your role: HOW to do this with busy lives); to participate in the public dialogue (your role: HOW to do this given different abilities, opportunities, inclinations); and help move us to a collective place of greater public dignity and self-respect (your role: HOW can this be done after our society has turned its collective back on such values to our detriment and, at least partial, regrets.)
Such columns would be hung over my desk and read to re-motivate and refresh the spirit!
Thanks for your caring!!
7
The one thing I get from this piece is that the author may now regret her attacks on Hillary. Perhaps it is time to write a piece on how so many were fooled by the Russian infiltration of social media. On his own, Trump would never have fooled so many. Too many are still protecting their egos to admit that they bought into the lies about HRC. Bernie Sanders for one. Time to admit we were all conned. Until we do, we can’t heal. Until we heal we can’t take heroic action.
22
Exactly! Dowd was plying with Fire when she peddled Donald in her columns prior to the election!
1
All good points made on the only piece of 'literature', stolen material of course, that Trump can read with minimal teleprompter use. He loved being center stage at CPAC where so many people actually seem to 'adore' him!!??What is that all about, and WHY? The why would encompass all the wrong reasons, I am sure. Not every American is a good American which is a truism I find hard to swallow but have learned just how many are really, absolutely no good and within this WH administration and the GOP.
Unless we go to PAPER BALLOTS in November, we may not even be able to vote those members of the GOP we want out of the House or Senate. The NYT had an excellent article by Kim Setter regarding the corruptibility of the voting machines out there in our states and Politico followed it up with their own article. Every state machine needs updating and is vulnerable and even those off the Internet have a tally reporting mechanism or modem that leaves them open to hacking at the crucial point. The touch screen voting machines have not paper trail on votes.
None of these vulnerabilities or machine upgrades can be done in time for November. The states need to pay attention and avoid total voting chaos in November by going to paper ballots for now, and upgrading their systems later. Some are over a decade old and even I could hack them!
We can't change Congress or get rid of Trump if our votes are sabotaged.
12
Paper ballots is the only safe way to avoid hackers...do it for nov 2018 and , amazingly, the GOP will end its dominance; there is no such thing that 30% of the Americans supporting the stupid Trump,not at all...
3
I agree. When I lived in OR, everyone was mailed a paper ballot. You filled it out at home - plenty of time to study the position of the candidates, usually put out by the League of Women Voters. You then seal it in an envelope, and sign it with your signature. Next, you would put it inside a mailing envelope provided, and drop it in any mail box. Low tech, affordable, and easily verifiable. No standing in line for hours at a polling station, no game playing on voter suppression by cutting hours or polling places.
8
Thanks, but I’ll stick with Aesop.
2
Poetry aside, that was perhaps the worst presidential speech delivered since recordings became available. Trump looked and sounded like the old inebriated guy at the end of the bar talking to everyone and no one in particular. By one network's estimate, he touched on 31 topics in under 80 minutes but never once mentioned Russia.
Had he not been required to head back to Washington to meet with the Prime Minister of Australia, he probably would have yammered on to include such important topics as Hawaiian birth certificates and how much he misses Omarosa.
9
Maureen...you're a poet! Interesting and entertaining way to present an awful situation in our country.
3
I read this an hour ago, and was entertained by (and completely agree with) the allegory. I didn't fully realize the significance until I heard just now that our morally challenged chief executive used the same story to slam immigrants at CPAC.
Well played.
33
Trump's a charlatran and poetry is great.
But this is why college professors stop letting their students turn in creative writing in lieu of a paper.
10
Could not agree more.
The current circumstances in our country do seem tragic. Like all tragedies, there will probably be a messy ending. There is reason for hope; If we're all still here, we should see a change of power in Washington DC, and statehouses across the land. The resistance is strong. there is genuine outrage at Trump and "movement conservatism"... a movement that led us here.. where truth is fungible, the ethos is that of the mafia, power is to be used for self-dealing, and bigotry is de rigueur.
No amount of gerrymandering or rigging will stall it forever. The wave will come. The force of entropy is strong with this round of "conservative leaders". They will not be in power long. The nation will recover, but Lady Liberty has indeed been bitten by a viper here.
22
Goldfinger, beware of his heart of gold; that heart is cold!
12
Dear Ms. Dowd: In your eagerness to enjoy Mueller's triumphant removal of Donald Trump from the Presidency could you please reflect for a moment as to whether the next two men who would replace him, Pence and then Ryan, would be even more detestable reptiles? If Mueller & Co. are unable to concurrently remove Pence and Ryan from the succession and at least give us Hatch, then what do we actually gain from Trump's removal? Ever hear the story about the elderly Russian woman praying to God to save Stalin? Her earlier prayers to God to remove the Czar and Lenin were answered and she was horrified at who might appear if Stalin was removed. Please be more careful when praying for a politician's removal from office, or elaborate your prayers to protect us from their consequences.
19
The American "system" is not designed to lift the best-and-brightest to our highest offices. And, even it if did does not excuse the electorate from making poor decisions OR (somehow) demanding better as to whom is nominated to run. What CAN be changed is the manipulated "electoral college" and gerrymandering ~ such still all-but-falling on deaf ears notwithstanding noises from the Courts ~ themselves staffed by political appointment ~ and is another example where holding the power leads to corrupted acts.
It is certain Trump must be dealt out.
5
Totally disagree with Gene about Pence and Ryan.They have none of the animal charisma that repulsive reptile Trump holds for his foolish supporters. They would never get re-elected.
2
Maureen, I’ve been following the Donald Trump story, too, and I think I have figured out root of his problem. The disorder is known as manus minutulus extraordinarius (extraordinarily tiny hands). It is a relatively rare condition presenting most often as acute self-adoration, with narcissism, an excessive concern with one’s hair, incessant lying, exaggerated gesticulation of the hands when speaking (especially the tiny right hand, the effect of which may be to distract from unintelligible vocalizations), a complete absence of empathy, and the wearing of long red neckties, usually far too long, which the psychiatric community most often interprets as compensation for certain other physical shortcomings (this is not uncommon, as extraordinarily tiny hands are often indicative of other petite body parts). Manus minutulus extraordinarius is sometimes frequented by delusions of grandeur. Manus minutulus extraordinarius is frequently characterized by uncontrolled exaggeration of one’s personal value, both monetary and intellectual. It is infrequently found in the real estate development industry, exclusively with men who claim to be self-made tycoons but who in reality were staked to their careers by rich fathers.
24
Was not a Dowd reader prior to the election, so based on this piece I went back and read some of her previous writings. While most of the country saw Trump for the snake that he was, and the danger that he represented to this country, Dowd did not and she helped his candidacy. While I appreciate her admission and courage in this clever writing, it appears that she had to be hit over the head with Trump reality before reversing her position. In the meantime she contributed to the problem. When you have a position of influence as she does as a NYTimes writer, maybe better late than never is not enough.
51
All you had to do was spend some time in NYC in the late eighties/early nineties to realize that this little-boy-with-man's-head is nothing more than a charlatan and a fraud.
Too bad the rest of OUR country is just finding out ....
5
Ms. Down apologized to Al Gore in one of her columns way back in time. But she was the first only one who had the courage to do so. Maybe down the road this constant rethinking can be avoided. Then again the Russian Social Media hack caught fire to many alleged Progressives.
Does Al Wilson (who recorded the song "THE SNAKE") know about this analogy?
(albeit one that, to use a Trumpian superlative, "is terrific!")
Very amusing for those who didn't support DT. But none of anything that has gone on has changed the opinions of his supporters one bit. The only hope that the Democratic Party is not gerrymandered out of existence.
5
That's because they've been gobsmacked on the head or maybe dropped in infancy , sorta like that's my story and gonna stick to it , and exercising their first amendment rights , however seems the 2nd one is the one they really like.
Many who are younger in age do not, did not know about or remember the early-mid 1990's when both Clinton's were knee deep in early and subsequent earned controversy- and illegalities.
Many who voted in the last presidential election found the idea of Hillary as president a deja vue, and could not do so. These voters more so voted against her candidacy than for that of the current occupant, for whom they took a chance, and with whom we clearly all have lost.
2
Get your facts straight, buddy. Neither Clinton were ever charged with an illegality. Starr alleged perjury In his 1998 report to Congress, which was the basis for Bill Clinton's subsequent impeachment by the House and acquittal in the Senate. Mrs. Clinton has never been charged with an illegal act and even Comey found that her e-mail matter ultimately did not warrant a prosecution. Hate the Clintons if you need to, but stick to the actual history, As for purists such as yourself who voted for this incompetent sociopath, hope that you're happy with this disaster of a presidency and the long-term damage it's wreaking. YOU OWN IT.
8
What a shame that YOU didn't do research to dispel the lies and propaganda peddled by Russia on social media! Clinton's were attacked and attacked, over and over by the far right and were NEVER criminally charged with anything! Bill was impeached because he lied under Oath! AND went on to be re-elected!!!
Want to see a criminal with illegalities?! Look at Donald!
Those who did not vote in 2016 are RESPONSIBLE for Donald's win!
2
Somewhat entertaining, but empathetic dems didn't let the snake into the house, that was the self-serving snake pit of the party of trump, the gop. And they didn't let him in to help him; they let him in to help themselves.
12
So what was it that caused this epiphany? How can this be reproduced and multiplied and injected into the consciousness of the 33%?
12
So many people had such a gleeful time writing rhymes in response, clever lines, et al. Lest we forget, this President's thinness of character and thinnest of skin will not respond well to this.
I don't think one stands up to bullies by taunting them. I think bullies need to be addressed by sober adults, even kindly adults, and all the bluster and wind taken from their sails by maturity of response. I remember my Dem friends feeling so gleeful and making such fun of the Republican debates...such fun! So funny! And look where we are.
This is Maureen writing. Fine. But everyone else, please do not fall in line with clever responses. We need wise responses, mature responses. Ones that don't meet like with like, do not continue hateful speech, or put down Trump supporters. Understand them. And then give them something better to vote for.
Let's not waste energy by being clever. Let's get the job done...vote him and his Republican enables out. ASAP, next election, and the election that follows.
Mueller's work is excellent and sober. We should take a page from that book.
10
Isn`t it odd that Trump accuses others of being criminals (which they aren`t) of crimes that he has done or is doing ! The story of the poisonous snake that bites & kills his saviour is an example of how he has operated all of his whole life.
Why ? The answer is in the DSM-5: behaviour that defines Symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder(Formerly megalomania). The definition of NPD states that it comprises of a persistent manner of grandiosity, a continuous desire for admiration, along with a lack of empathy. It starts by early adulthood and occurs in a range of situations, as signified by the existence of any 5 of the next 9 standards (American Psychiatric Association, 2013):
1/ A grandiose logic of self-importance.
2/ A fixation with fantasies of infinite success, control, brilliance, beauty, or idyllic love.
3/ A credence that he or she is extraordinary and exceptional and can only be understood by, or should connect with, other extraordinary or important people or institutions.
4/A desire for unwarranted admiration.
5/ A sense of entitlement.
6/Interpersonally oppressive behavior.
7/ No form of empathy.
8/ Resentment of others or a conviction that others are resentful of him or her.
9/ display of egotistical and conceited behaviors or attitudes
One needs to exhibit only 5 of the 9 standards to be assessed as being NPD. Trump exhibits all of these behaviours in spades as a number of psychologists have posted.
26
“Justice. To be ever ready to admit that another person is something quite different from what we read when he is there (or when we think about him). Or rather, to read in him that he is certainly something different, perhaps something completely different from what we read in him.
Every being cries out silently to be read differently.”
― Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace,,,,
3
How dare you insult snakes like that!!!!!
27
I admire the anti-Trumpism here, but, jeez Mo, the writing in this column is abysmal. What were you thinking?
13
Yes, awful writing.
2
Of responding to the President's telling this very strange snake story at CPAC yesterday.
Maureen,
sounds too autobiographical to me.
12
Maureen.. Well, you tried.
4
Our paranoid, snarky, arrogant, hateful, ignorant citizens have the government and loser president a minority of them wanted and deserve. The rest of just have to suck it up- until the midterms.
14
Is this too much, someone already spit it out Dowd before you !
http://media.cagle.com/118/2017/05/03/195051_600.jpg
5
Shall I congratulate myself for having written a letter that was rejected by the editor? I reiterate: Ms. Dowd's piece is nether clever nor enlightening. It's pure venom,
3
Indeed! Such a dangerous simpleton has but one treatment for all: each to be stung, and then disposed of, leaving the resources to him for his designs. However, in the hell of self-enrichment and cruel schemes ... there is one or a multitude of others who had this dangerous simpleton in tow for some time. Such a scenario is the one against which self-defense was designed. And in this scenario, a gun is defenseless. Such a scenario requires alignment with strong resolve and resistance. Choose. Act. Care responsibly. Disarm the dangerous simpleton.
4
One snakey year and a half too late,
Ms. Dowd concedes he is a snake.
Dreamy drowsy Donald dear
Whispered in her bejeweled ear,
No snake, she's the snake, cupcake.
(Please accept my apologies for the quality of this doggerel.)
15
Dowd's rhythmical writing is a waste of time at this late stage. She allowed the snake to become elected by constantly bashing the person who was well qualified for the job.
47
Sorry you got sucked in, Maureen. But it was your own fault. You were so obsessed with Hillary that you blinded yourself to the snake right at your feet. You've got no one to blame but yourself. While the rest of us suffer. And you have yet to apologize. I won't even take the obvious step and compare you to Eve.
42
As my brother, a converted Republican, said when asked about his feeling towards a president who paid off prostitutes and grabbed women by the -----
"I don't care."
8
Well written sarcasm is fine, but I do have a problem with degrading porn stars. These are people who feed their families by working in this business. This work may not be to your elite taste, but it is an honest day's work none the less.
4
Love American workers while undermining affordable health insurance, home ownership, public education, public safety, farm product markets, Medicare, Social Security, clean energy industry, law enforcement and infrastructure jobs.
25
Trump and Pense are dangerous cobras hiding in a the trap of treason and disgrace. Off with their heads.
60
Ugh. This piece would constitute bad writing if it were published by a high school newspaper. I expect more from "The Newspaper of Record." I expect more from a Pulitzer Prize winner. You know, it's o.k. to sideline a columnist for a couple of weeks if s/he doesn't have anything insightful and/or literate to offer.
46
Steve missed the point and the obvious. Dowd mocked Trump and his all too frequent recital of that childish poem. The poem reveals Trump's literary tastes, not Dowd's. Good work, Maureen, I got a kick out of it.
1
Mo Dowd, no matter how hard she tries, cannot seem to shed the skin she displayed in 2016.
51
Hmm Got to wonder how much of that Hillary Bashing brought us This Snake?
63
I know. She has never explained her Hillary Hate, at least to know one's understaing or satisfaction that I'm aware. Thanks for mentioning it.
1
And you can't shed the snake, Maureen. Through your relentless attacks on Hillary Clinton, you helped make him who he is today -- our President.
80
WHA HA, BOO HOO, complaining president who cries crocodile tears for slain children and a Who me? Who could I have known he was a snake, column from Maureen. She might have warned us, but then there was Hillary to protect us from.
39
Not so very clever and way too late, Ms. Dowd. Once you had a headline:
"Will Hillzilla Crush Obambi?"
51
I enjoyed the doggerel but don't give up your prose job.
5
I find the irony almost too rich, after all the snarky venom you spewed against Hillary during the campaign. I'm sure all your caustic columns cost her votes, so please, spare us the sanctimony. Look in the mirror - you are one of the reasons this snake now resides in the White House. Or is it just taking cheap shots, no matter what the cost that sustains you? I prefer an honest enemy to a dishonest friend.
You can't have it both ways, Ms. Dowd, spare us.
80
The better of two evils is not always straightforward.
Getting upset at Trump is like being angry at a dog for being a dog. I'll reserve my ire for Rupert Murdoch, Fox News, and the tens of millions of Americans who watch it. We must never again underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
102
If Maureen Dowd really gave a hoot about children being massacred by assault weapon wielding maniacs don’t you think she would have not been such a willing shill for Donald Trump during during the 2016 election?
Sorry Maureen, but your mea culpa in this column is as “genuine” as anything that comes out of the mouth of your beloved Donald Trump.
68
What are you talking about?!
Perhaps Ms. Dowd could have been a stronger advocate for doing something in December or 2012 when all that Barack Obama could muster was attending a memorial vigil for those murdered in Sandy Hook, CT.
Did the snake ever figure out that the woman was a Russian Sex Doll?
Putin and Trump - Reptiles of a feather neoprene together! The word out on the street is that Mueller's been humming along with Dylan, "It's all over now, Baby Blue"!
10
You insult Velveeta.
13
Seriously? This went through an editor at the NYTimes and they used "poisonous," instead of "venomous?" Quick tip, if you get sick from eating it, it is poisonous, if you get sick from it biting or stinging you than it is venomous.
28
Clearly Trump has no idea how to govern. He came totally unprepared for the job, and has stuck to his reality tv persona as if that would be enough to be successful. Clearly, the guy is a fraud and a loser...while our democracy hangs in the balance. He'll be remembered as the chicken that tweeted...The Fog Horn Leghorn President...silly, meaningless, useless, dishonest, rude, crude, vulgar, inappropriate and incapable of changing....Our National Embarrassment.
37
10-4 Maureen! Please see Anthony Swofford’s piece in today’s NYTimes Opinion. He story illustrates vividly how much training it takes to feel comfortable with an M-16 and even then you never really do, thank god. “If you want a gun, join the Army!” “Tet” ‘68 RGM.
11
Oscar Brown would have been pleased
1
Too late, Ms Dowd. You even intimate that the country should have known what a wretch the Trumpster has always been and never elected him and yet when it was a choice between him and her you couldn’t do enough to discredit her. You know who her is.
And so you point out his dastardlyness in verse.
Too late Ms. Dowd, you helped elect him, don’t cast all the blame on Lady Liberty!
64
Never too late to begin to see the light and the truth!
Anyone taken in by Trump's talk deserves what they get. All one had to do is look at Trump University and Trump Taj Mahal and KNOW that they were the brain children of a corrupt, selfish and ruthless brat. Sorry, Maureen, you bought this one.
41
Yes, she bought it and now sadly we own it.
1
MD,
Don’t make the Parkland tragedy part of your comic strip column. Neither was funny.
20
Ignore the haters, Ms. Dowd, and keep loving liberty.
5
Oh Maureen, how soon you forget, you mocked his opponent. Do you have any regret?
62
65,844,610 voters clearly identified the snake before the election, were you one of them?
35
The racist, divisive, authoritarian and clearly anti-democratic comments at the recent CPAC meeting are a disgrace. The term "conservative" has become a trigger for Trumpian/Republican dissolution of democratic freedoms, quite contrary to the assertions of such right-wing zealots as Wayne LaPierre.
What used to signify, in a more civil, rational world, a fiscally responsible following with a moral compass has now become a definable threat to american Democracy.
The "Dotard/Blamer/Sociopath-in-Chief" is the poster boy for this. He encourages violence and division, blames anyone who disagrees with his views, supports ultra-right-wing fringe groups (Nazis, white supremacists, NRA crazies, etc.) and is leading them in what will be a violent and unsuccessful revolution to unseat sanity and Constitutional freedoms/rights. This, the CPAC does, while saying that the Democrats are guilty of THEIR crimes. They try to invert responsibility for their deviance and blame the rest of America for THEIR aberrations. It is the ultimate pot calling the kettle black.
CPAC's and Trump's policies would create an American Sharia State, but with the fake arrogance of "Christian" superiority and misguided, misinterpreted morals. They are co-opting whatever good exists in true Christian belief for their own authoritarian purposes.
WE AREA COUNTRY FOUNDED ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, and that clearly existed until Trump and his gang of thieves stole the Electoral vote.
25
I hear you.
3
That Ms. Dowd favored Trump and railed against Hillary Clinton was of no moment. Seriously. How many Trump voters read the New York Times? The anti-Clinton columns should have been notice to the Democrats that something was off. But no one wanted to see it.
That snake story was told better by a friend, who empasized the moral of the story by saying: "And snakes don't change."
19
A lot more Trump voters are readers of the NY Times than you are willing to admit, Stephanie.
Conservatives are not like liberals. We tend to read and consider a wide range of viewpoints before we come to conclusions.
It is the left that has the habit of dismissing the thoughts of other, not the right.
1
Yes, there are some Trump supporters who read the NY Times.
But they, like some Owl species, are rare birds indeed. And are becoming extinct.
We dismiss the conclusions that you come to after your exhaustive review of viewpoints.
3
So says the one who reviled and maligned the female who was attempting to eat the snake before it bit anyone.
49
Trump is a snake in the grass, a treacherous person who feigns friendship with evangelicals, Republicans, right to lifers, the poorly educated, and Vladimir Putin. I'm looking forward to Mueller Time.
21
What a wonderful story that brings out the truth. Sadly the person it was directed at couldn't possibly understand the meaning..........he is pretty much ignorant when it comes to the English language. Ranting and raving about the stupid wall and guns in the classrooms is more his style.
7
Wow! no mention of Clinton #nomo
13
Comparing Trump to a snake does a disservice to the snake.
23
This is just bizarre - and a lumpy, bumpy, overly wordy attempt at parody.
8
One of your all time bests, Maureen Dowd! Let's see Commander Snake ever gets tossed out of the Garden and ends up being hissed hissed hissed by his slimy sneaky snakie brethren.
[Only one problem with the snake metaphor: it brings to mind Trump's thoroughly revolting belly, on which he's been slithering insidiously through our democracy.]
10
Trump is America taking it's training wheels off.
2
This is a vicious slander of innocent snakes.
9
https://www.facebook.com/richard.a.koenigsberg?fref=ufi
Richard Koenigsberg is a psychiatrist who has given a good analysis of Trump's obsession with the "snake poem". Trump identifies with the "tender woman". You can find his audio interview discussing this link to his FB.
2
I read Maureen Dowd's pre-election column and still managed to vote for Hillary Clinton. Hillary lost the election and it wasn't Maureen Dowd's fault. There's a point to opposing Republican candidates, there's a point to working against voter suppression, there's a point to working to end gerrymandered Congressional districts, there's a point to supporting the Mueller investigation, and there's a point to opposing everything that Donald Trump is doing. But at this point there's no point to carping on Maureen Dowd. If you have time and energy to do that then please turn your attention towards something that might actually help the country. I'm sure Maureen has gotten your point by now. (And, apparently like you, I don't intend to stop reading her.)
7
Nonsense, Mr. Sutton, although I can clearly see why you'd like people to ignore M. Dowd's rank hypocrisy. It's worth pointing out simply because her stance here is misleading.
3
Too late.
18
Puffy Velveeta scales?
Good lord Maureen, the hideous hog already gives me nightmares and now I've got another image to haunt me.
13
You forgot to mention Maureen that Trump in his dastardly speech to CPAC went after my senior Senator who is dying of brain cancer. The worst president in American history without any soul, the heart of a snake! Hope can write down anything on a card for him, but 65% of the American population know we must vote against him this coming November!
30
While indeed there should be compassion for someone dying of brain cancer, but folding the tent and agreeing to his political viewpoint is a ludicrous suggestion.
1
Trump needs to have some common decency and leave McCain out of his speeches!
A snake named the donald did run
On race, isolation, and gun
A genius he claimed
One who Putin had tamed
Who is smiling, now isn't this fun?
6
I'd suggest that it's well past time for such clevernesses. Fact is, it's pretty simple: partly by accident, partly through stupidity, partly through indifference, partly through bigotry, we've elected a greedy, narcissistic fool and coward as President.
What he's up to is also pretty simple: giveaways to the wealthiest, dismantlng health and food support for the poorest, taking apart regulations that protect us all, kowtowing to Putin, wrecking our relations with the rest of the world, and calling all this progress.
No snakey parables need apply. But tell you what else is also pretty simple: Maureen Dowd didn't elect Donald Trump. We did.
And before you fire off that next little personal slur or threat about her job, maybe notice that gosh, you sure sound a lot like a trumpist.
5
"What he's up to is also pretty simple: giveaways to the wealthiest, dismantlng health and food support for the poorest, taking apart regulations that protect us all, kowtowing to Putin, wrecking our relations with the rest of the world, and calling all this progress. "
I don't think that's what he's up to, ultimately. That's what he's DOING, of course, but he's doing it because he got elected as a Republican, so he's playing the hand he was dealt.
Yes, he's a crook and a con man, and a person completely lacking in empathy for other human beings, but he doesn't PERSONALLY have an agenda to dismantle our social safety networks, etc. – he isn’t driven by any ideology other than self-promotion. He’s happy to go along with the Republicans’ most draconian attacks on the health and wellbeing of our citizens and our democracy, of course, because he doesn’t CARE about any of that.
What he's up to ultimately is getting himself free of whatever hold the Russians have over him. Hey, at least he'll now have Secret Service protection for life. That alone must be a comfort to him. Unless he winds up in prison, but I guess at least in prison the oligarchs' goons can't get to him.
1
Yes. Join Mika & Joe in the flip-flop on Trump column. Opportunism anyone?
10
None of these people EVER supported Trump.
1
That's Meeka and Mourning Joe.
1
A disservice to snakes. Only HUMANS are this awful.
4
America’s fake President
Says his name is Trump,
But records show his ancestors
Really were named Drumpf.
His father made a lot money
Through shady business dealing;
“Be sure you win!” He told his son,
“‘Cause winning’s a great feeling.”
“So at all costs to earn my praise,
Be the winning guy!
And if the chance of winning’s slim,
Claim a win and lie!”
The son has followed this advice,
And it has taken him quite far,
Though on his emotions
It has left a giant scar.
He lied his way to public power
But to voters he’s disdainful.
His wrath is very, very harsh;
The words he says are painful.
“Show me praise beyond all reason!
Because my ego needs it!
Not doing this at my demand
Results in shouts of TREASON!”
The Snake-in-Charge has lied so much
To cloud and hide this fact:
We need to make an all out push
To take our nation back!
340
What we all know is that both of the two that got hoisted to the masthead and we were asked to pick one, we got the one that would show most of the ugly underbelly of the hatreds of the national dirt hidden under the rugs.
While we are at it, maybe we can kill off the spiders in congress and the dead leeches there too, vote them all to the dustbin.
Those kids in Florida Know what they are doing, Young People everywhere vote the old gun lovers out of office.
As to the Grifter in the white house, if not a few year term then only one term he gets. Vote in his replacement in 2020.
16
Thanks for the confession, Maureen. Unfortunately, you recognized that the snake was a snake, a year and a half too late.
Maybe you should also apologize to Hillary Clinton. Also too late; but you owe her one.
87
We are in this mess because of HC! Her know-it-all, greed, and love of power attitude put the country in this horrible situation. History will judge her and it'll not be good for her. She has done a disservice to her party and to the country.
A lot of people have been hurt by the Manly Nation's delusional endorsement of our new snake-in-chief, not just Hillary. Not just you, RCT.
Excellent! Too bad neither the WH or his base have the intelligence to understand what you wrote. When a draft dodger exclaims that a security guard is a coward, or demeans a Vietnam War Hero, and is knot held responsible; we see the snake again.
18
Spot on. How is it so many cannot see the truth about this asp?
14
Obviously, the tenderhearted woman was a Democrat. It was the snake that did the good deed by giving her a dose of reality.
3
These comments cheer me up. To see how many people remember how Dowd fawned over the Donald and did all she could to diss Hilary and Obama, well this makes me feel that all is not lost.
29
Oh, we remember. Her personal and professional integrity is nonexistent at this point. It is a shame - years ago I loved her columns more than anything. Somewhere along the way, she went astray, I'm not sure how or why, but the personal bitterness in so many of the columns is certainly an indication of something wrong.
2
I suppose you'll hide behind a claim of "journalistic integrity, or perhaps even neutrality" when you claim that your Hillary columns were meant to demonstrate your integrity.
You broke bread with the serpent, but it was, as you reported his quote, the best bread in New York.
This column is pitiful if it is meant to be some type act of remorse.
25
Please do not insult snakes.
4
And with this column, I will allow my subscription to lapse. Farewell to thee NYTimes... Once the paper of record, now the paper of nonstop hate.
3
Spot on, Ms. Dowd. Best ever.
4
And how did you feel after your gushing interview Introducing Donald Trump? Congratulations on printing every one of his unsubstantiated points. Feeling a little tainted?
20
Snake or serpent?
2
Fear and hatred are not a winning platform. Neither is fake new or fake editorials.
2
This is a confession of disastrous dumbness.
7
Could be America elected it's first mongoose president who it seems have got the snakes in quite a stir.
2
Well done !!!
1
"An accident waiting to happen."
Until the vast majority of Americans accept they've done a lot to MAKE Donald Trump's "presidency" happen ~ which "in the heartland" is doubtful ~ opinion like Ms. Dowd's is just so much black crepe.
Unfortunately, there will be "no easy way out of all this" either, where the threat of America's nuclear aggression at his small fingertips looms large.
2
"The Snake" was written by Mr. Oscar Brown, Jr. and recorded for his third LP, "Oscar Brown Jr. Tells It Like It Is," c. 1962 (Columbia Records). His heirs were properly outraged when Trump started incorporating some of the lyrics into his campaign speeches. I feel very strongly that Ms. Dowd and The NY Times owe an apology to the Brown family and that a Correction needs to be published giving proper credit to the originator of the song.
12
A truly loathsome man, this Trump.
10
This is brilliant!!! Kudos Ms. Dowd!!!!
Clever! I can forgive you everything, Maureen, for this one. Love it.
1
Maureen, thank-you. Even in the Garden of Eden there was a snake. Now, we know it was a tangerine colored asp. May the torch of liberty continue to burn bright and show us the way to a better place and day.
4
It’s more than snake oil, Maureen Dowd. It’s a tragedy.
The Trump White House is Shakespearian, maybe even better than Shakespeare. There’s lust, Corey and Rob, inner sanctum suit and tie sycophants of The ensconced on his golden throne, King, having, we can only imagine, lewd but juicy political sex with the beautiful princess, a favorite girl of the King’s, Hope. There’s the porn star with the feisty name of Stormy being stared down with the kiss of death eyes of the King’s immigrant model wife. And, the two sons, we can’t forget them, two boys right out of the old man’s tower, two young men, elephant killers, no less, who could have walked out of King Lear’s bedroom.
Of course, the generals. There has to be a General in one of William’s plays, so here comes General Kelly suit weighted stiff with medals.
What’s missing from the muse-en-scène? Oh, how could I’ve forgot! The King has to be mad or go mad. He has to run through his White House screaming for fast food sandwiches and castigating his General for not telling him Rob was a wife beater, or defending him against charges Russians peed on his bed in Moscow, though the General did think wife beating a small crime and peeing just a frat boy stunt.
With Trump’s White House who needs Shakespeare?
15
I have long stopped being a fan of Ms. Dowd's politics but I enjoyed this column none the less.
4
Ms. Dowd, too little, too late.
29
Ho hum. Hope Hicks now? As the destroy-Trumpers see his star soar despite their every insult and contumely, their only viable protest is, well, self-immolation. So, get on with it.
1
“You really are an asp. Oh, vain and ignorant snake, you may extinguish me. But never my torch. Oh, Liberty.” (MD)
I’d not bet money on this proposition.
We’ve only just begun the long journey into the darkness, and there will be no light until we hit bottom.
Things will never be the same, or even close to the same. Thanks Bernie.
The Titan thinks we could easily, and are more likely, to slip into something akin to the tribalism of Syria, Iraq....... God knows we have the guns for it.
The GOP and DJT will not go down without a vicious fight. Votes will never be enough to defeat this snake. I have seen nothing that shows me the Dems are up for such a fight.
Dems play tee-ball; the GOP plays fast pitch
51
"Dems play tee-ball; the GOP plays fast pitch"
Correction: Dems play softball; GOP pitchers throw at the batters' heads. And no one on their team seems to think they ought to stop.
2
Maureen.......you are so smart........so witty.......and I love your columns.....but.......you do not represent ordinary people.......they may be crasser than you.......and Trump surely is.......but there are far more of them than you and your readers.......and that is why Trump won.......he represents the PEOPLE.......you do not!
1
Um, in terms of “people”, he LOST by 3 million votes
3
I'm sorry, but this is just a badly written screed trying to masquerade as some sort of pseudo-Greco-Roman parable.
The whole thing can be compressed into a single paragraph, and there is little point in even bothering to do that - much less write this.
Other OpEd folks have finally moved on; Bruni is off on a self-reflection exercise related to his eye issue, Douthat into philosopy today. But not Our Author. Nope, she just can't get past "I Hate Donald Trump".
Well, Maureen: B O R I N G
He won the election. Get past it.
To date there has been no credible evidence put into that public domain that Trump was involved in any conspiracy against the United States, and I doubt that anyone other than ancillary figures will get nailed by Mueller's investigation.
It will really get interesting, when Mueller starts running the ratlines of the denizens of the Clinton campaign, who are now definitively and publicly linked to the Russians.
3
The slow-motion demolition of our democracy is not a BORING thing, but a cause for alarm.
Truly patriotic, thinking Americans will not get over Trump's accidental presidency until he is booted out............. and the cowardly Republicans supporting him lose control of both houses.
2
Maureen
I have seen no Mea Culpa from you (and Kevin) for your help in putting this snake in office and defeating Clinton. Will we ever get it?
Jake Tapper apologized for his false equivalence
waiting for yours
28
Those were my thoughts. Amazing how she conveniently omits that she supported Trump by legitimizing him.
3
"...surrounded by porn stars and Playboy bunnies — just a tacky leech.”
Ms Dowd.
Surely he is leagues beneath porn stars and Playboy bunnies--who are service providers after all.
9
Seriously. At least they work for a living. Donald Trump apparently watches Fox News and tweets out insults for many of his waking hours.
Trump will try to be El President for life.
Will he be successful??
Ask his "red States"!
Save our Republic.
VOTE 2018
6
well done
1
Really Maureen? You write this now! Where was this pearl of wisdom before election. You vilified and excoriated Hillary six ways to Sunday. A day late and a dollar short. Can't undo the damage now.
36
What? Nothing about Hillary? Surely she is to blame for this. Oh and why doesn't the press (and you Maureen) own up to the part they play in electing this snake? The press never called out on any of the lies of this forked tongue demon but were always ready to feed into the narrative that Hillary was lying or hiding something or was unlikable or was whatever.
23
Haiku
Cobra's head held high---
Thought he was invincible...
Then mongoose Mueller....
5
The fault truly lies on the Deplorables who voted him in and continue to grin and say it's all fake news. This con man is a compromised pawn for Russian criminals.
13
and yet your brother will still vote for him over Hillary Clinton
5
Maureen, who are you? I and other citizens really want to know.
Where do you stand?
6
And all along we thought he was a toad. Who knew.
5
Actually, Maureen called him a Pig.
Watching his CPAC speech, you really get a sense of the man's mind and life. His speech revealed the method to his madness...how he's gotten away with everything for forty years. Forget forty years. Think about what's on his plate from just the past two weeks. His mind doesn't process it. Our minds can't process it. It's too much. He puts on a show. The show is for himself. He has no choice but to deny. He self soothes inside the glow. It seemed a little more pathetic - more desperate - this time. The Lock Her Up chants felt different too, as we watched, on split screen, Rick Gates walk into a courtroom two days after the Dutch attorney passed through the same doors. Jarred and 129 others don't have security clearance. A spouse abuser roamed the White House halls for 13 months. A porn star gets $130,000 to shut up. A playboy playmate spills her guts to Ronan Farrow. 13 Russians were finally indicted for how they attacked us. He does nothing. Then seven are gunned down in Florida. He wants to arm teachers so he can sell more guns. He tells jokes and tales of snakes and turns to show us his bald spot. He gets away with it. Sort of.
America, in the mean time, is being [cyber] attacked from the outside while its guts get torn apart from the inside. The GOP stand-by, brainwashed. The DACA kids sit waiting, terrorized.
The Parkland kids have decided to take matters into their own hands along with America's women. HOPE.
#neveragain #metoo #yeswecan.
Before it's too late.
24
een44 has got it correct, but whether he has planned it or not he is using the tried and true idea of divide and conquer. The only thing stopping his if we are lucky is Mueller. the wild card is the students from the florida school. I hope they are up to the task because it seems many of us are not, especially Congress it seems.
1
This all seems like a bad dream. I am stunned by each day's events. Where will this all end?
1
I'd enjoy this except Mo was a constant force against HRC. If she changed a few minds she is complicit in giving us this snake.
23
Dowd channels a Mad Dr. Seuss.
BRAVO!!!!
Please forward to your Conned friends.
2
So I just dug up this NYT article from 2005 when "The Apprentice" aired, in which the reality-TV president warned us he was the snake: "My name is Donald Trump. You know everything about me." #TrumpIsTheSnake
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/30/weekinreview/tvs-busby-berkeley-moment...
2
Sorry Mo, no matter how cleverly you try to wriggle away, some of us will never forget or forgive your years and years of maligning HRC.
You were happy to contribute to the election of "drowsy, dreamy donald".
22
How dare you malign the snake Maureen?
Snakes are imperative to our survival on this planet.
Not Trump!
8
Mayreen is a propagandist of the first order, but when hatred drives your writing, you burn away the compassion that marks great literature.
This American President is practically a social outcast who may very WELL solve the school shooting and immigration issues that have vexed the United states for a generation or two.
What will the angry progressive Democrats do when Trump has disposed of their two favorite issues which they pander so well with? And why did your fave Prez EVAR, Mr. Obama, never even consider really solving these things when he had Congress in his pocket those first two years?
1
Yeah . Right. Obama had a putative Democratic majority for 5 months - not sequential or even in session months. Not really, faced with Party of No and Blue Dog Dems, enough to get the gun laws passed. But you keep drooling out your pseudo-fact, not quite literate drivel. Ya can't even spell. Why should you be able to think? Old Mo is only a propagandist for, well, Old Mo. And to suggest that a couple of nubile porn stars aren't as classy as those old mutton-dressed-as-lamb socialites is a hoot.
5
L'osservatore:
History, in both short and long term, will regard Trump as an existential threat to American Democracy. He is a pathologic liar, a snake with no moral compass and a Dotard (thank you, Kim Jung Un - at least YOU have a decent command of English vocabulary). Trump is out for Trump - damn the consequences. If he actually does stumble upon a viable solution for anything, it will have been purely by mistake.
The Authoritarian State which he wishes to establish, with Fuhrer Trump at its head, will never happen as long as intelligent, free people WITH a moral compass exist here. Why do you think that the entire world despises him? It's not because he's doing something good, or"right" or humanitarian. He's a narcissistic sociopath, out of control. supported by a band of merry minions who falsely call themselves "conservatives" and "Republicans".
Move on from Fair Verona and try the real world for a change.
3
When will we get a poem from Ms. Dowd saying she was wrong about Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump during the campaign? For some reason Ms. Dowd had a vendetta against Mrs. Clinton and now we have a ... whatever ... in the White House.
24
once again the choice was binary you denigrated Hillary and in her place we have the snake.
SAD
51
I suppose the original idea was funny, but the execution of it was certainly lacking. I normally enjoy Dowd's essays and satire. But this was a dud. NOt funny at all.
16
Three years too late.
Every columnist that has worked for a NYC based paper since 1970 knew he was a snake. Every NYC (and State) politician knew he was a snake. Same goes for New Jersey. Forty years of history, drama, cons, and lies.
All of you could have, should have called out this snake in 2015. You should have screamed from your platforms. And, you did nothing.
56
I'm counting down the days to impeachment!
6
The first half of this column sounds like Clytemnestra's speech in The Oresteia.
1
The snake was nurtured by the media. Bigly. Hopefully the media will starve it and wither away.
12
Maureen, I'm confused. First you go out of your way to make sure Trump is elected and now you act as if you don't like him. What am I missing here?
50
This piece is childish and ill written. And yes I’m familiar with the source material. And yes I agree that this president is an abomination. But that no excuse for puerile writing. It is beneath the level of writing the Times should find acceptable. And frankly it sickens me to read empty juvenilia when there is the important work of resisting the dangerous agenda of this administration to be done. If you have a gripe against the man and his party, let’s read about the specifics and how to take a stand against what you don’t like. Enough with this childish filler.
34
Nailed it!
2
Brilliant take on the amoral great white snake in the oval office. The scary thing is he represents and has the support of a large chunk of gun toting white America and is now the NRA's and big military's darling and is floating the seeds for martial law in the USA by proposing a teachers militia with more armed members than the whole US army at present.
He wants more nukes now too. What a flip flopping wacky snake to boot. Democracy, what democracy?
3
Maureen, you are the best. Consistent, learned, and non- discriminatory. You get em, every chance you can.
This fable by Doud is spot on! When I heard Trump talking about the snake at CPAC I thought he was talking about himself!
5
You left out the part where you fed the snake yourself. For years, in fact - by hand.
Own that, and then maybe you'll have a fable worth telling.
50
Interesting... optimism in the face of annihilation. I am sure many read this with hope - that this despicable man will finally be recognized for the asp he is by his loving base. But after all we have heard - the porn stars and grabbing of private parts, the spewing of hate and abandonment of long held principles, the daily angry tweeting - they are more with him than ever.
This won't end well or easy, with a Mueller report followed by unity on impeachment. It will probably get uglier, much uglier. And if the Democrats don't find someone who inspires a clear majority, who speaks for the masses and connects with them, we could have this guy for another four. In which case, heaven help us.
5
WOW! Awesome.
The Con Exposed! Kudos!
3
From Maureen Dowd, her latest entry in the "How Much We Detest Donald Trump" contest. The nation's most prominent blood sport, prominent since November 9, 2016: Columnist after columnist, TV anchor after TV anchor, political analyst after political analyst, celebrity after celebrity, more, all trying to outdo each other in demonstrating their skills at dumping on Donald Trump. Now we have Maureen Dowd as Aesop, a writer of fables, in the "Can You Top This" mix.
Certain comments after every Dowd column assign some of the blame on Ms. Dowd for, Heaven help us, Donald Trump as president. Ms. Dowd, it is claimed, was nicer to Donald Trump than she should have been and nastier than she should have been to Hillary Clinton. Ms. Dowd could only wish that her views have the influence on voters that these comments attribute to her. In fact, her views have no such influence. Ms. Dowd has her place as a New York Times Sunday columnist, appealing to many who read her column, not so appealing to some others. Beyond that? How many different ways can one say zero.
9
May I remind you New Yorkers you made this all possible.
The Donald. Hillary. The Trump Organization. The Clinton Foundation.
Russians on the Twitter. Servers in the basement.
Bald spot hairspray. Bleachbit.
Joe Biden would have won Scranton, hence Pennsylvania, hence the White House.
I'm with him.
12
Once again Maureen, NY TImes readers wish to know: Having spent years denigrating Hillary Clinton; and working actively to portray her in the worst possible light-how is it that we should not hold you partially responsible for the nightmare in which we live?
58
Maureen,
You can really be quite entertaining when you choose to be. Finally, a subject truly worthy of your scorn. And not one reference veiled or otherwise to HRC!
5
Thank You !
1
Maureen, on a daily basis we are presented with new evidence of how incompetent our president is. Your editorials have become tiresome and amateurish. Instead of incessant ridiculing of Trump, use your platform to publicize alternative candidates and methods to countermand the damage being done to our institutions, planet and people.
11
Your readers would appreciate more Maureen and less pseudo allegory in your writing. You make light reading of a really bad time in Great American Experiment. A little more passion and a little less high brow would do you wonders.
1
What the heck is with you people? She was playing off of Trump's SNAKE reading on Friday.
Um, Mary, we get it.
1
Wow. Maureen Dowd straining sooo hard to be clever. How sad. But then, I'm firmly in the "too little too late" camp and don't feel charitable toward another effort by her for a "redo," without ever publicly acknowledging her part in the current kakistocracy (thanks, Paul Klugman).
34
She was playing off of Trump's SNAKE reading on Friday. Do you people follow the news?
Ms. Dowd, at first I thought the gullible lady in the fable was you, during the campaign.
21
Maureen you are brilliant. Although we have 3 more years of "the snake", your thoughts always offer some comfort.
It's not just this tender-hearted woman who has suffered the deadly bite of this colossal asp. There are the 13 million denied health insurance to provide further riches to him. That bite also will not heal. There are parents who will never see their children again under the Family Reunification Act that is being defamed as "chain migration" that is one of the Four Pillars of immigration reform this toxic snake has wrapped himself around. Oh, I'll give the Dreamers "a pathway to citizenship" that will leave them as political orphans. And, just who do you choose to hire? Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, and Rex Tillerson, the three amigos embraced by your mentor, Vlad the Impaler Putin. But, then we always knew there was no honor among snakes. So, let the back-biting begin as you squirm as the indictments rain down.
4
Bravo! Brilliant.
This snake was not in the grass he was plainly visible for all to see!
13
This is slander to the nth degree. Snakes deserve so much better than to be compared to Trump. Please, in fairness to the millions of reptiles out there, retract this article.
15
“We kept praying there would be pivots,
but instead there were only divots.”
-- Maureen Dowd
Ms. Dowd,
The Age of Burlesque called.
It wants its unfettered silliness back.
But I applaud your courage. Only you could have written this, which is as ambiguous and neutral as compliments come. But, anyway, you made some good and true points in a unique way, especially for the august NYTimes. Here is where I don't go for humor, but you made me laugh. Bet you're a hoot at a party: the Roseanne Barr of the NYTimes.
1
This again demonstrates why I think Maureen Dowd is a clever, smart, and classy writer. Keep them coming!!
Brother Kevin won't like this one bit. No Thanksgiving invite for you!
5
Will Manafort and his band of illegal foreign lobbyists be the straw that broke the Trump camel's back? ..."The truth hurts, doesn't it, Hapsburg? Oh sure, maybe not as much as landing on a bicycle with the seat missing, but it hurts!"
4
Ring-a-ding-ding! Rat Pack! I remember when you cozied up to Trump with moldering old references during the election. And I haven't forgotten.
14
Are you happy now, o tender woman who spent years attacking Hillary? You are at least partially to blame for this complete and utter disaster for our country. I hope you realize that. When will we hear an apology from you?
26
The US now is a doggerel-eat-doggerel world. Oh my!
2
Great column. Prime Dowd! Witty and satiric along with internal rhyme. A return to classic Dowd form.
Brilliant.
1
It rhymes but does not scan.
Its metaphor is grand.
Too bad Emma's not around.
She'd bury him in the ground.
The majority of comments deem you complicit for the election of DJT. You cannot have it both ways. Anyone with the slightest sense of right and wrong saw him as a con man. Your tacit support of him through you previous columns helped bring about this nightmare. You are complicit Maureen.
23
Me thinks Maureen is the woman in her story
1
I appreciate the sentiments, but verse is not Maureen's forte.
Now, Larry . . .
3
One wonders how much longer Melania can take it.
3
I enjoyed your column today Maureen, probably the most amusing I have read. What a shame you weren't aware there was a snake in your future about 2 years ago. I know, Hillary was not at all my first choice, but at least she did not have scales and a forked tongue.
L.O.L. about the Big Macs and shake.
119
Turnabout is fair play. The slithering, venomous creature in the WH has delivered a deep bite into our country. Mueller is the anti-venom.
5
I think this article is about there
C-O-M-P-L-I-C-I-T.
8
Dear Maureen, Nice shooting. What are you packing? I think it might be something the snake can't take, like the truth. Clueless in Oregon. RAW.
1
Am counting on Mueller to crush the head of the snake.
8
A script proposal: A loathsome creature runs for president. He reflects all that is worst about our nation and society and his character could hardly be more miserable. Ignorant, angry, base and bigoted voters, urged on by an undercover propaganda campaign launched by our enemy, put him over the top and into the White House
Am I supposed to believe that someone even imagined this?
2
It's OK, the evangelicals forgive the snakes and feel pity for it. He keeps the warn blooded humans away and invites its kind wherever they can slither. After all they are all creatures of God too...
2
Does anyone recall the original snake in Genesis?
Bravo Maureen, Not once did you mention Hillary! Well done!
4
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
4
Disappointed Maureen.
In your version the tender woman should have been the victor.
She should have had the antidote and chopped off the head of the snake.
Think Kathy Griffin.
4
Very lumpy, Maureen. And reaching.
Donald Trump as a snake. Not creative, huh? The woman being duped. Is that you? You were his friend, were you not, in times past. How about a group of white men being duped? How about a group of working class white folks on their way into church? How about a group of working class white folks carrying assault weapons into church and school while applauding about that wall? How about a group of billionaires laughing as the snake convinces all of them that he has a bridge in Brooklyn on sale cheap. Can you incorporate any of that into a fable?
You are down to just a few columns a month. If you don't do better than this, you won't have any. Hit the man hard, Ms. Dowd, and choose your metaphors carefully. Your campaign against Hillary isn't forgotten.
13
Too little, too late for Maureen's guilty conscience. Nice try.
But Mueller knows snakes and he knows what to do with them. He don't eat Velveeta!
8
We shall see. Are a rounding error number of white women able to vote in their self interest and the interest of their children and yes male partners and counterparts? Are these white women able to make the connection that the lying sexual deviant, policy pushing pedophiles, and blood lust barbarians they vote for as congress people a clear and present danger before they even had a chance to kiss the snake? We shall see. Maybe the children of a rounding error number of white women will make a difference in how they vote. I'm actually hopeful. Probably most hopeful though that the righteous anger of black women and young US patriots of all backgrounds know you don't go into the swamp/desert unless you are ready to defend your very life from the swamp/desert creatures, including snakes. This is not a fairy tale. No republican in any position anywhere that impacts the life's of humans. No reconciliation without truth. RESIST.
2
Alas Maureen...a little late...although the majority of us knew he was a snake
8
"In his inaugural address, Trump declared 'This American carnage stops right here...I'll be able to make sure when you walk down the street in your inner city or wherever you are, you're not going to be shot. Your child isn't going to be shot.'"
-Natasha Bertrand from @brhodes
Trump was lying to us. Trump was lying to the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He continues to lie to the survivors, their parents and to all the children of America.
The NRA spent more than $21 million in 2016 to elect Donald Trump.
The NRA owns Donald Trump. So do the Russians. Donald Trump is owned by anyone who will give him $$$. Ask Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev who paid Trump a premium of $50 million in 2008 to launder his money through a sleazy Palm Beach real estate deal.
Trump's the snake. Trump's a traitor.
#notmypresident
5
During the campaign, Maureen was the woman who petted the snake, but it was Hilary who died.
17
Wow! A really sorrowful ‘ballad’ if ever I heard one. Maureen, stop sugar coating your words and just tell us plainly what you think.
3
Snakes will not make unprovoked attacks -they are very shy, timid, secretive, and generally docile creatures that try to avoid conflict whenever possible. Trump is an idiotic, extroverted, creature that strikes unprovoked seeking conflict as much as possible. Please do not malign snakes.
6
Why is anyone surprised,
electing a brain of pint-size,
with America’s demise?
5
Snakes might be offended by this piece.
5
Better late than never doesn't apply, Maureen.
6
Ah, Maureen, Irish lassie, "how do you like your fair-haired lad" now? Where was your voice when we needed it...in the presidential race in 2016 when you daily and attacked Hillary Clinton in your columns? I couldn't understand your rants then (perhaps she snubbed you on some occasion was my guess as there really was no rational reason.) Where was your common sense then?
13
"You really are an asp." That was worth the read alone!
2
Really not worthy of Ms Dowd or the Times. Not funny, newsworthy or insightful. Certainly not literature. All true in a way but delivered in a way to trivialize the very real and historic problems with this president.
6
Dear Damsel of the Ditty
Thank you
for your columns of
No Pity
What an effort! And you didn't even mention HRC. Congratulations!
13
Well done!
6
Too much snarky snake talk Mo.
The old saw about knowing what you were getting into is cold comfort when so much, possibly our system of governance itself, hang in the balance. .
1
OK, Maureen,
A bit odd. Just call him out!
Truth is not poisoned.
2
Maureen what a masterpiece! If the Donald reads the NYT today, I would give millions just to watch as he fumbles with his Android seeking a coherent response to your witty rejoiner to his rambling, incoherent address at CPAC. If anyone believes Trump could ever be either presidential or trusted in honoring any promise he makes, they need to read you column today.
5
"...if the Donald reads..."
LOL
This senseless libeling of snakes must stop.
16
This is spot on, but where was that insight from Ms. Dowd when she was trashing Hillary Clinton as power hungry and unprincipled, or mocking President Obama as snobbish and enfeebled? Turns out, there are worse things than Democratic politicians, Maureen. And as the 'snake' says, he clearly was a snake all along.
37
Ms. Dowd...where was your anger, your conscience, your indignation, your outrage about candidate Trump before November 8, 2016?
Before the 2016 Presidential election you were just one of Trump’s many enablers. You used your barrel of ink to give a pass to Trump and instead spewed your venom against Hillary and Bill, whom with all of her faults was clearly the much better candidate and much better person and much better suited to be our President.
I applaud the fact that you have finally come to you senses and you now see that Emperor Trump has no new clothes but instead is the same flawed, inept, offensive, insensitive, bigoted bully that he was before November 8, 2016.
Your penance for your prior support of Trump is to write 1,000 times...”Trump is unfit to be our President.”
24
Reminds me of a Sarah Connors line from the Terminator II movie, "y tu siempre como una culebra." And you, always like a snake.
1
Fitting that a woman takes in the snake, since so many voted for Trump.
WHY WOULD ANY WOMAN DO THAT???!!???
9
When someone shows you who they are, believe them.
4
A story told by a an orange, fork-tongued snake at CPAC (Congress of Pythons, Asps and Cobras) the group that has eaten or poisoned the few remaining real Republicans left in the body politic. The howling crowd sounded more like an old time KKK rally as LaPierre and Trump stoked their hatred of moderate Republicans (war hero McCain) and Democrats (pretty much everybody else). "Lock her up?" I haven't seen any of Hillary's people in handcuffs yet. Which of course drives Trump and his minions nuts.
9
Maureen's mea culpa. Was she really that gullible where she thought at one point anything intentionally good could have come from Trump?
6
Unfair to snakes.
7
This could've been a stellar column for Ms. Dowd, had she not herself welcomed the tangerine snake to slither into her journalistic writings prior to the election. The snake romanced the scribe.
And still she managed to sneak in an Obama diss: "I've certainly put to shame that disastrous previous president," without a clear rebuttal.
We still do not understand why you were taken in by Trump.
20
The irony of the snake parable is that is based on lyrics written in the 1960s by Oscar Brown Jr., an outspoken black singer, songwriter, social activist, and former Communist Party member from Chicago. Trump never gives him credit.
See https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/02/24/the-snake-how...
The song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxVymZxekEw
11
I agree with Robert Bott’s comment. She borrowed heavily, almost word for word, from the Oscar Brown, Jr tune without attribution. Shame.
Doggerel and anti-Hillary screeds, are not among those things this liberal needs.
9
Has it come to this? Recasting an ancient tale (badly) to fill a column? Am I the only one who found it to be a painful thing to read?
Who among the readers of the Times doesn't know the reasons why DJ Trump was, and still is, uniquely unqualified to hold office? Who among readers of this column are unaware that Ms. Dowd's constant attacks against Hillary Clinton were part of the chorus that delegitimized her candidacy?
And this is how you express your regret Ms Dowd, with prose any eighth grader could have written? Talk about too little too late.
45
Some people have long memories. Your previous puff column came back to bite you like a python on the spot where you sit.
But nonetheless, it was enjoyable to read. You bit him better than the snake in the poem he read. And thank you exposing what thousands have been been asking themselves: "Is he wearing an orange tinted pancake makeup?" My tough talking, grab em by the blank, irresistible macho man? My combover vain glorious president?
He is one of a kind. He is to the presidency what a pair of brown shoes is to a blue suit. Please wake me when it's over.
4
This is an unfair maligning of snakes.
13
Poor snakes ...
This torch of liberty...may its light shine on...
2
As the Parkland teens have said, "we're young and will outlive these old men in Congress." Hoping we all outlive the dotard in the White House.
12
love it!
3
Remember when the snake said Mexicans were rapists BUT it turned out that he and his friends (oReilly,steve wynne, roger ailes, Porter, numerous republican congressman) ARE the abusers of women?
Remember when the snake said he would drain the swamp but then gave us Manafort,Gates,Flynn,Shulkin’s Wimbeldon Tickets,etc,etc)?
Remember when the snake said that Russian meddling was a hoax but then 13 Russians were indicted?
Remember when the snake said there was no collusion but then HIS FAMILY MET WITH A RUSSIAN OPERATIVE, A RUSSIAN HACKER, AND A RUSSIAN MONEY LAUNDERER IN TRUMP TOWER???
9
Beautifully written parody
2
Good stuff, Maureen. I was away for decades with some agent orange legacy terror. You have remained clear and clever. I would never bite your you-no-what. I only knew the snake by that apple tree ;) Liberty allows all to consider whatever they think is dangerous. Some choose falsely. Some know better. We all die.
The Snake wants to arm schoolteachers?
Here's one question: If an armed teacher who is black is pointing a gun at a kid when the cops bust in, who's going to get shot?
15
A delightful way Ms Dowd to give us all hope
1
Oh Maureen, we knew we were voting for a snake, somewhat tame but a snake. We wanted Trumpy......why? One snake was better than a pack of wolves with a few mad dogs and a pack of jackals waging around the corner. We are pretty happy at this point and feel we dodged a bullet with Hillary and Bernie.
Believe me we knew we were voting for a snake. He is our President and will be for a few more years.
Thank you Jesus for hearing our prayers.
You got him right Ms. Dowd, but I have trouble enjoying these columns without remembering how you contributed to the GOP's 15-year attack on Mrs. Clinton and how that helped this fool into the Oval office. Trump's base may have a short memory, but NYTimes readers do not. As hurtful as Bill was to Hillary and how distasteful it must have been to hang with him after his sex acts, your constant harangue about these ancillary issues of his presidency tarnished Hillary and contributed to this mistake you now chronicle so well.
10
This is an amazingly clever piece of writing - hats off to you Ms. Dowd. I'm trying to resist saying what everyone always says to you now - too bad you didn't warn about the snake before he was elected. Oops, I said it.
43
When he was a back page bad boy who courted and charmed the press you ate it up. He was a good quote and growing up in DC the daughter of a cop you got a kick out of him giving it to the upper east side old money swells. Maybe you never thought he actually would become president - it was just another exercise in branding. And you never bothered to really look into his and his father’s history of racism and obsession with master race genetics. You trained your fire on HRC during the campaign - no doubt a flawed and tired dynastic candidate. But qualified and deep down earnest and well meaning. Now, a year into this debacle, you take out the knives, employing literally devices while exposing his true nature. Guess what Mo? Too late. Too late.
42
While your snake column, Ms. Dowd, is right on, I still like Monty Python.
They were never verbicidal, and their boy named Eric was idle
I mean, Ms Dowd, hear what I'm sayin, they had a Michael, not a Sarah, Palin.
You write of a snake clearly a sleaze, yet the Python included the sublime John Cleese
If you write of snakes again, remember Monty had a Terry Gilliam.
2
As a poet, Maureen makes a great . . . third grader. The poem lost all structure about a third of the way through. Give her credit, though; she found a rhyme for each paragraph. Of course the point was not poetry but the deviousness of the snake, and Maureen managed to get in a good number of the the snakes sins.
I can't help myself. I have to jump in with the other comments that bemoan the fact that David Brody's Op Ed, "In Donald Trump, Evangelicals Have Found Their President" didn't invite comments. I don't know if that was Mr. Brody's choice or the editors of NYT. In either case it is too bad. The Op Ed was so pathetic that it needed responses. It too was a third-grade essay, backed up with a couple of questionable facts and often ending in an etc. (. . . and other things.)
Brody does not represent this Christian, nor does his fawning acceptance of Donald Trump reflect the morality and integrity of the One whom Evangelicals call their teacher and Lord. He, and those Evangelicals who have embraced the snake, will hear the words of the One whose teachings they have trampled, "I NEVER knew you."
11
If only Ms.Dowd and 63 million others had not been charmed by this orange-colored snake,
Then the rest of us wouldn’t feel like we’re living in a nightmare from which we can’t awake.
43
I knew Republicans had a different political philosophy as I but I never dreamed they were unpatriotic and willing to turn our Country over to the Russians. For what? Wealth? Allow trump to side with white supremicists? Allow our children to die in our classrooms because of his devotion to the NRA. Dismantle regulations that protect our people and our land. trump isn’t alone on this. The Republican Congress is complicit in all of his horrible evil, immoral actions. Yes. They are all snakes. They shall reap what the have sown.
2
Did you hear the one about the scorpion and the frog?
Playing in 2020 unless Mueller......
3
The FLOTUS is an naturalized immigrant as are her parents. When Trump points a finger at immigrants calling them snakes, he points one at himself.
9
This is so true!!
2
Oh Mo! Good show. The emperor wears no clothes, but the Republic party and his family are afraid to tell him for they are afraid to be bitten.
9
How True
we only appreciate Something when its taken from US
5
Good column by Maureen Dowd - who was once something of a Donald Trump enabler. But better late than never.
13
So witty, Mo, and so true. We are watching our democracy being consumed by the poison of his lies, his cheating, and his pro-Russia swoons.
You enabled this snake; you own him and what is happening to us.
13
I'm sure that's what he's told each of his wives!
6
In case you missed it, at the end of Trump’s rambling CPAC speech, he talks about bringing in immigrants, 25,000 or so, to work at a Chrysler factory, at Apple and at other corporations. I guess Trump feels many of these useful immigrants will be given temporary work visas, not unlike the 80 temporary workers currently working at Mar-a-lago, foreigners Trump’s company brought in to avoid hiring Americans.
The Trump administration in 2017 quietly increased the number of foreign workers with temporary work visas allowed into the US by an additional 15,000 workers. The Palm Beach Post has reported that from 2011-2014, Trump brought in over 3,000 foreign workers to staff his South Florida properties. The Palm Beach Post researched Trump’s bringing in foreign workers after hearing complaints from Palm Beach County residents that there were never any jobs available at his South Florida properties.
As President, Trump now has ICE to deport these workers when their visas expire. However, Trump is very quiet about how his company in the past handled sending back foreign employees when their work visas expired.
Since the main way poorer foreigners become illegal aliens is not by illegally crossing our borders but by over staying their temporary work visas, it’s very likely Trump is himself responsible for increasing the number of illegal aliens in the US.
11
To Sue DaNihm, with all due respect, The Christian Science Monitor is an international multi Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper with no connection to evangelicalism.
22
Maureen, you knew he was a venomous snake. Yet, you enabled, and urged others to empower him. We're all suffering from his attacks on Lady Liberty, and wondering whether the antidote (midterms?) will counter the toxin soon enough to be effective.
99
How did Dowd enable Trump? I don't really read her too much. Are you talking about her trashing Hillary during the campaign?
2
Nevermind--I went through her old stuff. Wow.
Put it to music--you gotta hit!
11
This article is so clever that I'm sending it to everyone I know. Well written, Ms. Dowd!
10
It happens to be one of the most misguided pieces of trashy writing I've come across and I've come across a lot. If you want to see snakes at work try looking at Python Robert Mueller, or Cobra Rob Rosenstein, or rattlesnake James Comey. God Himself put Donald Trump in office, and he is not beholden to the media who have in their misguided hatred have forgotten the mandate they have to inform the public. Calling the president names may make many feel good about themselves, but their opinion counts for little in the Grand Scheme of Things.
Trump is not the snake the Nagini. He is the dark force encouraging destruction. His voters think he got a lot done. So it’s like a gleeful dying of this woman. Us liberals don’t see everyone already sold their soul. They are not outraged since trump is “getting those illegals out” said my republican neighbor in SoCal and winning the culture war. Dark days indeed, Voldemort.
8
I think this is what they call "getting religion".
16
After that Trump tirade to CPAC do you really think there will be any gun legislation. Oh, by the way, dreamers pack your bags.
13
The majority of We the People of the United States knew the snake was a snake and voted against him. An enemy handed the snake to a minority of people who were willing to embrace the snake, to buy his snake oil hatred, to overlook his snake lies, and excuse his snake sexual predation.
Lady Liberty may be wounded, but she is not dead yet. We get to inject an antidote to the poison with the next election.
Give control of Congress to the Democrats in November.
The United States is US. We get the government we deserve.
41
Declare Maureen Dowd the "poet laureate" of real news, by summarizing now in verse...the rot at the heart of Trump & his minions.In her inimitable brilliant style she's made it unnecessary to read anything else today. She has caught him 'in flagrante delicto' not just in its usual meaning but even the rape of the planet. Now, seeing that Olympics go to Bejing & Xi Jinping has no term limits) I suppose he'll not only need a military parade but a coup that installs him permanently as dictator..generals + Mike, Mitch, Paul & foot soldiers Devon, Trey, and more..
5
Who will the Republican be that utters the words, " Have you no sense of decency?"
45
@jwgibbs- The ones not up for re-election.
Not one of them has a sense of decency. Not one of them cares about the country. They're all puppets, quivering with fear of their masters. (That includes Trump, of course.)
Well done! When I was listening to the news and heard Trump tell this repulsive fable at the CPAC this weekend, for a second I thought it was some kind of weird autobiographical bedtime story (Trump naturally being the self-identified snake). And then to find out it was about immigration, which those CPACers lapping it up.
How bizarre is that "man" (I hesitate to use the word), given that his current in-laws are the beneficiaries of "chain migration" and Melania never had her little press conference about her immigration status/green card.
14
This column is a nice parody of the tale Trump told yesterday, in rhyme, to the annual conservative shindig. Good job, Maureen!
4
“Take me in,” said the snake. “Taste my intoxicating venom. See how sweet my nectar it is. Delight yourself in my beauty and the flicking of my tongue,” she hissed.
2
I would love to hear it combined with Rap music and played 24/7 on TV/Radio and internet media. Any suggestions as to who might compose it and read it for all to hear? Atta girl. We love it.
Bill
3
Lin-Manuel Miranda
I am guessing Ms. Dowd used the snake instead of the scorpion because Trump told the story of a snake biting the person who saved it when Trump spoke at CPAC.
Trump said the snake was the illegal immigrants that came here.
1
Listening to the President tell his story about people who are *snakes" was was an extraordinarily low low point.
9
It takes a poisonous snake to know another poisonous snake. Hence the reason trump is "kind" to Putin and afraid of being poisoned by him, as trump poisons the nation and Lady Liberty for his own aggrandizement.
The unwitting and witless base knew what they were voting for and the resulting snake pit in the swamp it would create. Too bad the damage and consequences can't be limited to them alone, instead of inflicting the poison and guns on the rest of the nation and the world.
6
Why is it so easy to picture Trump in so many forms except those out of the past? In this re frame, he looks like the other actor in the 30’s; waving his piece of paper claiming “Peace in our time…”
3
Borrowed goods.
1
As my grandmother and James Comey would say, "Lordy, Lordy".
2
Maureen needs to explain her pre-election support of Trump
How can anyone take her seriously until then?
And more important: why should she be given the prime space in the Times given how she let personal animas towards Hillary blind her of the dangers of Trump?
41
Upon all the opines on the Chump Don Al Dough Trump we are columned out.
Ah, my sweet dreams of Ms 'Liberty' undressed; thy pen carresses yet Maureen thou art a pain in the spleen.
3
This fable is a metric mess;
I'd give it a C+, at best.
And, as for Trump -- give us a break:
He's far below your average snake.
34
Impressive.
No gratuitous swipe at Obama.
15
I think a skunk would have been a better choice than a snake. Snakes are traditionally crafty in fables such as the serpent in the Garden of Eden and stories such as Rudyard Kipling's "Riki-Tiki-Tavi." Trump is not intelligent enough to master craftiness. He constantly demonstrates his ineptness and absurd reasoning through his words and actions. Like a skunk, he mindlessly wanders through territory where his only capacity is to launch an odor to defend against enemies and pollute the environment.
20
Thanks Maureen. Which brings us to the awful stew American kids are in today: gun addicts, profiteers and warped fantasists who are willfully blind to the clear path to rational gun control that has been demonstrated by every civilized nation on earth; a party whose brand is fraud and enforced ignorance backed by the very suppliers of gun addiction; a public education system that has been gutted by the GOP, and now their brain trust figures guns are for teachers, not something I’d want a few teachers I know to get their hands on; fraudulent, scavenging health care; climate change denial in the face of death and destruction; a traitorous con named Trump and his pathetic followers; racist, misogynistic cave dwellers running the show everywhere you look; a marketplace that rains death, mental illness and addiction upon the young, not only in the form of guns, but drugs, porn, screen based mind rot, not to mention ‘smart phones’, toxic pop culture and ‘social’ media, but I wont go into that. The kids can’t help but think their country has gone insane. I agree and have no apologies to make for any of this and all sympathy as a parent. Individual ‘rights’ to an addiction can no longer trump community peace and safe haven for our children. It is time to bring down the Republican Party. It would be a service to the nation. Rally behind those kids. They can do it.
13
Maureen, you have outdone yourself. Of all the fun you have poked at others this is simply the best. What a joy to read. Keep up the good work.
2
Entertaining, if a bit stretched. But Maureen is not the the important subject, nor is it the snake. The tenderhearted woman deserves our attention.
Why was/is the tenderhearted woman blind to the evil of the snake? The evil was/is obvious. The evidence flows from his lips, was replayed on video and told by personal accounts. His first year in the White House leave no doubt. His biography is worthy of a criminal's wrap sheet. Was the tenderhearted woman seduced by the snake's tangerine skin and his enigma hairdo?
We live in a country which is in chaos generated by a snake. Some recognize the evil of the snake, others are mesmerized by and love the snake. The divide is not simply between blue and red, it is more a divide between the clear eyed and clouded eyed, the clear thinking and the easily flummoxed.
Our first imperative is to survive and dispose of the snake. Then we must get to the root of why so many have blurry vision and cannot think straight. There are many likely factors, but the one I believe is paramount is FOX and right-wing radio.
Anyone watching or listening to anti-reality propaganda day in and day out becomes indoctrinated to lies and struggles, even resents the truth.
We have a lot of work ahead of us and after securing our survival, the greatest challenge of all will be how to address legal propaganda outlets and the political party which is behind the propaganda.
117
Well it isn't Dante, but your descriptors and points stand well.
I enjoyed Dowd's poetry.
With apologies to most snakes, of course.
Where's Rikki Tikki Tavi? We need him.
2
He is in Mueller's team.
When he finishes privatizing everything and divides the goodies with his friends, he will waddle away.
5
Please don't insult snakes they kill because they need to survive they don't kill for vengeance or for ego.
7
Not knowing until later that immigrants were the intended victim of his venom, I thought he was slyly, proudly and with great delight referring to himself as The Snake, congratulating himself on having so easily charmed, fooled and bitten 63 million gullible, who are yet unaware of what he's done to them and the pain that awaits.
6
and, that what goes around comes around
1
I had never heard of “The Snake” until I saw footage from Trump’s performance at CPAC. It is a repellent story and he is a repellent man.
7
Where was this clever rhetoric in 2016, when it would have made a difference?
Where was this creative writing when Trump was lying about Ms. Clinton, immigrants, the press, climate change, and basically everything else on his quest to bamboozle enough gullible journalists (balance!!!) and ignorant white people to get over the top with Russian help?
Where was this fine story when Trump's admission that he assaulted women because he's a celebrity and thinks he can was made public?
Appalling.
21
Lucky for us Trump is the snake that keeps on biting himself, starting with Comey's firing and continuing with countless more self-inflicted wounds caused by his inability to control his own worst instincts and silence his self-defeating tweetstorms. The snake will eventually succumb to his own venom, his Republican enablers will be shamed out of office and we Americans -- those of us not too opiated or too stupid to fall for the snake oil -- will be left with the task of undoing the damage he has done and repairing our democracy.
7
Poetry doesn't allow for forgiveness of all the wrongdoings of the media that permitted this charlatan to become President. The non-stop coverage of his barker type promotion was abysmal and unforgivable. It existed for the single purpose of gaining readership .
What is needed is a Mea Culpa from the writers who pushed his bravado and not his quackery and fraud. If only this piece were written in 2015.
What is shocking is that many sites are now showing how clear it was that posts and twitter feeds were coming from overseas. These are the same news persons who dropped the ball on the Saddam Hussein and the non-existent WMD issue. "Go to war, protect us from the nuclear arsenal," they published and pushed on headlines and the media.
Afterward, out came the apologizes. Yes, Colin Powell was duped, and Rice was ill informed. But the media stood complacent while Cheney did his thing.
And now, the same media complains that Donald needs to face his flaws. But, for two years, they stood complacent and accepted his counterfeit appearance to gain a few more subscriptions.
It is time to accept the fact that the impostor in power is perfect example of the idiom, " “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”
3
You pay her for this?
4
In Aesop's cynical fable about the scorpion and the frog, from which Ms. Dowd borrows heavily without attribution, the murderous scorpion emerges as blameless because stinging fatally is just his nature. But the altruistic, good-hearted frog is a fool for being naive and idealistic. I suspect Ms. Dowd wants to depict Trump as heartless and duplicitous, but that's the opposite of Aesop's point, so the analogy is flawed.
It's not the money from the NRA that gets the homage, it's the rural vote.
That paragraph should read:
"Oh dying woman, you really don't get it," he said. "Give the rural man his guns and he will vote for you to do anything else. The NRA could make me king."
2
Rural votes cannot win, the numbers aren't there. So please stop blaming rurals.
1
Aw, Maureen! You cheated! You took "In Donald Trump, Evangelicals Have Found Their President," and just turned evangelicals into a silly woman.
First, allowing for the fact that "evangelical" is way too broad a brush--many real people of faith deplore the way the label became corrupted by becoming more political than an accurate description.... Trump will destroy real evangelicals with his poison (lies, lies, lies, lies.....) and his actual policies, which are ruinous.
And second, when you get to the heart of the matter, there's no one home. Trump, McConnell, Ryan, & Co. are all about opposing Obama and destroying whatever remains of his policies, along with the country (incidentally). But they have nothing whatever to offer. "War and destruction" don't qualify.... and there's nothing more.
The only possible message for evangelicals who support Trump is "Repent!"
2
Ms Dowd - I remember a time, not too long ago, when you were writing with particular delight and thrills - and I imagine a gaggle of school girl giggles - because this particular snake was returning your phone calls. He was never NOT a snake, Ms. Dowd, even when he was charming you with his calls. Most people saw that. After all, he never hid his vileness. In fact, he delighted in it - as did and do his supporters. Instead you used your column ....after column.... to voice your personal vendetta against Hillary and all that is Clinton. You still do to a degree - not sure what that is exactly about, decades into it. But you helped elect the snake that now sits in the oval office. Instead of trying to pretend that you're just seeing him for the first time, maybe you should write about how you could have and should have done more through your column to stand with those who tried to stop the Snake in Chief from happening in the first place.
67
I still say that that there's a reason why God allowed we smart Americans to elect trump....more shall be revealed. Because, we're normally too smart to elect an incompetent person to the highest office.
1
Who says it was god ?
1
This piece does accurately describe the Cheeto Mussolini that we have residing in(part time) and defiling (full time) our White House.
Rather than any, large or small, attempt to unite this politically fractured nation he, the orange golfer and, as stated in the piece, the titular head of state (Trump is far from presidential) continues to hold his pep rallies with the worn out "lock her up" chants and will give interviews to his favorite reality show stars masquerading as news media.
Indeed, he is threatening our Lady Liberty and what she stands for. I have hope that we, sans the rabid Trump supporter, will be able to insure she stands for a long time and her torch lights the way for us.
6
Nicely done Maureen. Like Victor Laszlo to Rick Blaine in Casablanca, "welcome to the cause".
2
I grow ever more hopeful each day and that the ay of reckoning will come sooner than later for this snake, and at least the November elections will provide the fundamental safeguards to our system of government designed into the Constitution. But the ever-present worry is that the Dems will squander it away as they did in 2009. Obama should have invited Pelosi and Reid to step aside to allow real change to occur at that time; Pelosi should have enough sense on her own to put aside her oversized ego and step aside now to not handicap the November elections and prevent a real sweep and bing in new leadership that will be ready to govern.
3
Super column. Snakes are good-they eat rats.
3
The line with the "fork" was a bit of a stretch. But otherwise, Brilliant.
If only it were actually a fable.
5
Enough with the bashing of this impoverished man on the defense. 'Tweeting for Dummies' has not been written yet, and the snake anecdote is not as good as what Voltaire had to say when a snake bit a man, make that a Nation, where the reptile was poisoned as a result of his ill-fated fangs.
Of far more import to some of us in America is whether this Government is planning to shake a leg and take action, instead of being in a stupor of denial and political paralysis. And, let no interference with Mueller's investigation come into this sorry State of Affairs, where angels fear to tread.
The National Clock is ticking away and we have long passed the hour of Midnight. Let us keep in mind that not all men are predators, sex-starved, or wolves on the prowl.
To Africa, my fair lady; to loved ones in Jerusalem and Europe; some of us are standing tall beside The Statue of Liberty at this time. She will invite you to visit again; invite you to visit your family and friends when our Land is once again free from the claws and grip of this Presidency and its weak Administration.
2
You mean the snake didn't pivot? That he didn't respond to warmth and kindness, nor behave like the Christians who embraced him! Hmmm....Christians EMBRACING the snake? Not the story I remember from Sunday school.
6
"Oh, vain and ignorant snake, you may extinguish me. But never my torch. Oh, Liberty."
Eh. It's happening no matter what you say.
It's happening because our Republican-controlled congress is happy with Mr. Trump's hawking of their conservative stances, as are our evangelical churches with his anti-abortion and anti-gay rhetoric, as are our undereducated masses with his position on guns and immigrants, as are our American oligarchs with the deregulation of our safeguards.
Between the Russian interference in the election, gerrymandered districts, the non-participation of black people, and the silly, self-involved posturing of Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein during the election abetted by trolls, the far better albeit flawed candidate lost.
3
Oh MoDo, how can anyone stay mad at you if you write like this?
Welcome back. I hope you have finally seen the light regarding the poison that is Donald Trump. Please never again turn your column over to your brother.
America will suffer near death for embracing this snake, but hopefully she will be resuscitated, and will become much wiser in choosing its future leader.
We hope, at least.
3
Even if the end result of Mueller's inquiry does not prove collusion, it will not alter the fact that Trump is coarse and common and an embarrassment to the presidency and the nation. Print and audio/video vividly illustrating these traits will be his legacy.
6
Thank you, Maureen Dowd! I just could not believe he was telling the story with such a supreme lack of self-awareness. Even if he could not apply the story to himself, is he so unaware that he could not see that the story might apply to some who have surrounded him? To turn everything outward to his so-called enemies--Oh to be so blind--sad!
3
Comparing Trump to a snake hurts my feelings. I like snakes! A more meaningful comparison would be to a tick, fire ant or chigger.
6
Chigger. Actually, a colony of them.
NYT readers, many of whom lived under the pinpoint eyes of Don the Con in his tower built for He for 30+ years, understand this parable. Which is why Manhattan voted 10:1 for HRH in 2016. But much of the rest of the nation does not get it. Big red swaths of low population counties in CNN's charts demonstrate that the less educated and the whiter the population is - well, they watched The Apprentice and They Just Don't Care to bother listening to arguments about Russia because that's the Deep State Blues. They don't care that he hired prostitutes - because their pastor thinks he's a man of God and is willing to lay hands on that orange dome.
LaPierre's wild-eyed ranting about "they will take your guns" sticks with these folks and we have to live with it.
It's not about him, Maureen. It's about being white, having no life experience except Walmart and the ammo you can buy there, and skipping the 12th grade to help keep the family out of the poor house. To many people, "The Apprentice" was a parable for politics in DC.
If the Dems can make it real for the rest of the nation in 2018, trump will be a lame duck for two years. I'm thinking our nation is in survival mode until that happens.
18
Unlike the many Americans who voted for this president, I never had any illusions about him or his inability to fulfill the highest elected office in the land. I know I'm not alone in this.
And that's no fable.
17
It's not so funny but when I heard Trump tell the story of the snake on the news I actually thought he was being ironic and talking about himself because it describes what he has done to this country in the past year. But he's not quite THAT ridiculous! Thanks Maureen for pointing it out more cleverly than I could have ever done.
5
Kudos to Maureen. Great article. My only question is who will be the Democratic Mongoose to shred the Trumpian snake and those in his snake pit of an administration.
5
Me. Dowd, a you tell a frightening tale.
I see not one glimmer of God's saving grace in this man.
1
The Marueen Dowd's of the day didn't like Lincoln either. Colorful and creative perhaps, but just more of the same - I can never bring myself to agree with Down. Perhaps she should teach creative fiction and leave real world politics to the pragmatists?
2
Can anyone even envision 45 leaving the WH? Ever? No, unless it’s feet first. He will not go peacefully. And he will use armed force and “his generals” to maintain his grip. He’s sick and we’re in really bad shape. The World is aghast. And yes, it’s come to this.
6
I believe that Ms. Dowd's story was a Lou Rawls song. You may also use some more direction with the story of the scorpion & the frog. So the story went the scorpion told the frog that he wouldn't sting him if he allowed him to ride on his back across the river. The scorpion promised the frog that if he were to sting the frog as they crossed the river, then both would die. The frog agreed. In the midst of their river crossing the scorpion stung the frog & they both died. Moral to the story, one's nature doesn't change.
Aside from supporting our kids, who get it, we need to support Mueller & get this group/administration including the cabinet, his family, Republicans, Conservatives, Tea Partiers & NRA donations out of our government.
We must vote & understand that many issues, i.e., prayer in schools, abortion, same-sex marriage, birth control are never relevant to the majority of Americans & our daily lives when there is separation of church & state or our Constitution promises equal protection under the law. Those issues are banged over our heads by the folks currently in power to persuade us to vote against ourselves & like the folks those currently in power love.
Rude awakening America, unemployed, injured on the job, fair wages, negotiating with your employer, fair housing opportunities, sexual harassment, discrimination secondary to disabilities, education, race, creed, color or national origin, good luck. Scorpion/Snake aka MAGA. You should asked whose America.
2
Masterful. The Bard's place is still secure, but nonetheless, masterful.
3
So, Maureen, explain why you didn't know all this from the day he announced his candidacy. It was clear to the rest of us.
17
One can understand having columns like this one, especially under present circumstances that are so outrageously disappointing and toxic. Getting even; lex talionis; push-back; etc. But, who has the power here? And what does this back-and-forth lead to, including in endless enablement? When one responds to Donald Trump in kind, doesn’t that person become unwittingly more like him in way of being? Deciding on what is wholesome for the nation’s sake and actually acting on that seems far more effective for moving forward, assuming that’s what’s wanted.
1
And to think, the Statue of Liberty was in his own backyard. He never even bothered to go there. Clearly, he has no understanding of it’s significance. But he surely hates it, like he hates everything. And it won’t be long before he sells it.
1
Although a bit disturbing, the dying female metaphor should be prophetic at the polls, but I still hesitate. Although ALL of the grown, voting ladies in our immediate family are planning to show Trumpism the door, there are many others who are still quite complicit. Whether it is with silences or comments, I still know some adult women defending Trump, deflecting discussion and willfully denying the legitimate pursuit of truth.
As televised widely, when a CPAC speaker on a panel recently mentioned the behavior of the current sexual predator in chief (along with the failed Roy Moore), she was heckled by loud, denouncing women in the audience shouting "Not true!"
After carefully reading the Mueller indictment, I now wonder if the CPAC hecklers were paid by Russians - truly the belly slithering serpents in our midst.
4
Every week these comments make me so sad. Can we all stop casting the blame with Mrs. Dowd for our new president?
In the days before the election this newspaper was strongly supportive of Clinton and (of course correctly) strongly critical of Trump. So I'd wager that not a single NYT reader in their right mind has been convinced by Mrs. Dowd's columns to vote for Trump.
Obama is by far my favorite president and I would have been happy to see Clinton take office. I nevertheless very much look forward to her columns every week. She offers a fresh and unique perspective, not afraid to criticize Obama where she thought he erred, rightly blaming the Clintons for their mistakes, and one of the very few places in the NYT where attempts were made to explain the appeal of Trump.
1
Every Garden of Eden has a snake.
In ours it is duplicitous Trump. (Definition: hypocritical cunning or deception; double dealing.)
At last we have the well-suited sobriquet (nickname) for this malicious entity.
Snake Trump.
He/It that deserves to be banished from the Garden this time around.
All together now ......... Lock him out.
Well Done, unfortunately quite true!
Ms. Dowd, a step in the right direction but I'd like to see go further into the eyes 'of the snake' you once called your friend and write an article that would bring this despot down-for the sake of democracy!
2
So cute. So twee. So very, very late.
5
Trump keeps telling us, "No Collusion", which proves his ignorance, Mueller doesn't care about collusion, it's obstruction that will hang the snake.
2
Maureen, if this is not the worst thing you have ever had published, I would like to see what is. Notwithstanding the truth and accuracy of the words written here.
2
Oh gosh Maureen. Don’t you get it? Colluding with Vlad is probably the one thing he didn’t do yet you too are placing all your bets on that card. You still don’t get him even though you’re practically his neighbor.
1
Still no apology from Dowd for her constant barrage of anti-Clinton, pro-Trump writing back when it mattered the most.
5
Maureen could gain such good will, recapture credibility and express such grace if she could do one thing in her next column, she could admit that she was wrong. She could tell us that she had some legitimate disappointments during the administration of Bill Clinton, and that this led her to make the worst look better then the better. Why is it so hard to say you were wrong? I wonder if the New York Times will post this?
5
1. What would you want me to know about your experience?
2. What can we do to help you feel safe?
3. Do you ______ see something____ ____somethng____ effective?
4. Resources? Ideas?
5. I hear you.
1
I think the woman is Maureen.
1
And you Maureen gave your best impression of mutton dressed as lamb. Acting all coy and kittenish around Trump during the campaign when you had the chance to write about his true character as a con man and grifter, which you had witnessed first hand for decades. Instead you allowed your anti Hilary derangement syndrome get the best of you. Please, bore off already.
9
The moving finger writes and having writ moves on, nor all your Piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line.
It's too little, too late, Maureen. When you weren't spitting your venom at "Barry" you were spitting it at Hillary.
With all your talent and influence you have placed yourself forever on the wrong side of history. How did Trump become president? God knows. I only know you and your brother helped.
4
Evangelicals knew he was a 'serpent' before they took him in. And now they have that same toxin flowing through their veins.
4
Isn’t it a pity what The Times mistakes for “witty”?
3
All you Dowd haters can't handle the truth.
Dowd criticized the Clintons, truthfully.
Dowd criticized Obama, truthfully.
Dowd criticized (and revealed) Trump, truthfully.
But you think that Dowd should have been part of the Hillary campaign rather than a journalist. You think she should have shut up about the Clintons and propagandized for them instead.
Shame on all of you.
3
Trump, a poisonous snake? This, at the price of insulting the snake, I would rather compare this despicable thug to a rabid dog! Unrepentant. Ans as you hinted, impervious to morals.
1
I think this article is insulting to snakes,
2
Clever by too half adding nothing but that is how Maureen rolls.
Maureen specializes in tearing down with no thoughts or guidance on how to build. I got over her after her OCD deconstructing of Hillary Clinton and find no joy in her shredding the easy despicable target of Trump.
2
Maureen, your opinion is redundant. Tell us something we don't already know. On second thought, maybe you should apologize to your readers for your previous efforts to undermine an excellent presidential candidate who would have placed the best interests of her country above her own.
You and Trump are a lot alike. You both place your own interests above that of anything else. Your trashing of Secretary Clinton was in service to yourself and your career..
Take a vacation and don't come back.
6
Dowd discovers Trump is a liying two faced snake. no one worked
harder to put him in the White HOuse.
What should never be lost is the abject cruelty of the man,
attacking war widows, gold star parents, and a dying John McCain
The man knows nothing lies constantly and is a clear and present danger
to this country.
this column is unfair to snakes
2
Yeah, nice fable. It showcases the stupidity and gullibility of the Lady from Liberty Island. And it's offensive to snakes everywhere.
1
The snake only exists because of the millions of stupid mice hoisting him up into power, not knowing he feeds on them.
5
considering your columns up to the presidential election Maureen
I feel it is high time to IMPEACH
You
4
Excellent, a bit Pope like, sums it up better than many a longer screed...will that awful reptile leave to sun himself on his Florida rocks?
2
Gail Collins' columns are funnier , smart without the snark and more entertaining. Mo yours fell flat , stick with the snark. We all know you know who is a snake but not a poisonous Taipan , nor a green or black Mamba (too African) . Heavens , but a garden variety Coral without red and yellow kill a fellow bands (he wishes), therefore a fake Coral amid all the fakery he can muster.
1
Anything better than Hilary the witch
or her old friend Obama, the jihadist snitch
When the country is righted and Trump is all done
Our country will be balanced, we all will have won
Times readers'll live through it despite their fright
When they see later in hidsight ole orangetop was right
They'll quickly forget all their anguish and fears
Once the fake news is stopped and the swamp is cleared
And most will sit back and say what the heck
As they cash that mighty HUGE 401k check!
15
Clever, but incorrect.
9
In your dreams!
5
Genius, Ms Dowd! Genius.
1
Liars lie !!! ???.... who knew, right Mo?
Now, if you're gonna join this fight, you have MUCH to make up for.... Otherwise, I'll throw this column away right now and save myself the pain of expecting better....
4
Very good Mo
1
Ms. Dowd, I'm to print this and hang it on the fridge. I'll move some of the great-grandkids pics as I want this front and center to remind me that my father's epithet for nasty people was "s/he was a snake in the grass."
1
Congratulations, miss Dowd.
In your story about the poisonous snake you didn’t pull in Obama and Hillary or may be you finally realized they are no match to Trump the snake. Keep it up.
I was born and raised in Chicago, the words in the article come from a song by Oscar Brown Jr. "The Snake" why didn't you give him credit. If one reads the lyrics of the song, you use them word for word. Please correct this omission.
3
Your Column Is Like A Red, Red Rose In That It Is Predictable And A Cliché
(A poem for Maureen Dowd)
Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Sugar is sweet,
There's a stunted, amoral, fascist manchild in the Oval Office and it's at least partially due to journalists like you.
5
“Oh, shut up, gullible woman,” said the reptile with a smile. “I can’t believe I fooled you all with my huckster’s guile.”
He didn't fool all of us. But he fooled the columnist for sure.
7
I always look forward to Larry Eisenberg"s clever
words, and you, MoDo are no Larry E.
3
What? No Hill/Bill bashing? No bemoaning O's careful ways?
Be careful what you wish for Maureen, you may get a snake!
Oops, too late.
8
Yep. He really is an asp.
1
I have no respect for Maureen Dowd. She spent 2015-2016 emulating Trump and disparaging Hillary Clinton. Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama every chance she had. Talk about a snake...
19
At least you admit now that you were gullible and got taken.
Oh, wait... I thought this was about you, Maureen, until the last line.
6
Maureen a poetry genius it would not be abstemious of me to say that you are.
1
Is this the same self-righteous Maureen Dowd who rained continual diatribes against the Clintons? My distaste for you is greater than the Donald, if that's possible...
20
Oh, so very clever, of Ms. Dowd intoned the choir,
While on a separate opinion page,
Thumpers set the world on fire,
Blissful in their psychic cage,
Their savior serpent liar lifted ever higher.
4
Dowd’s just like Trump. Turning on her pal, now almost fully exposed to be the snake. She pretends like she did not know all along. Isn’t that something just like Donald?
19
Very cute. But totally lacking in substance and insight. Maureen you can do better.
1
? -What's this babble?? Are we in freshman creative writing? ugh...
3
"...She clutched him to her bosom...
Sounds consensual to me...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scorpion_and_the_Frog
...and metaphorically plagiaristic
..........................
But you do bring out my inner minstrel, Mo....
Twas the night before mid-terms and all through the house
Not a staffer was tweeting, just an orange-haired louse
The stock-ings were bumped, and hair-triggered with care
In hope that that change would be gone from the air
The children were nestled all asleep in their manses
After supping with Vlad - doing shots, Cossack dances
Except, this mamma doesn’t do kerchiefs – and would
Pop him with a cap and rip his head off, if he bit
You all may not like the book, but the bookends are
A pair of the most empowered women I’d never like
To meet in an unlit alley
Go figure
2
The snake deal was the most coherent part of that, whatever it was. He doesn't have screws loose, they're completely missing!
2
Any real political poet would bite your head off for writing this drivel.
I wish you would just retire--but look, you get scads of attention for
writing this junk.
Just like our President.
7
Maureen, you're to blame.
6
Oh Maureen, if Tony Perkins can give the Donald a mulligan or two, why can’t you?
Maureen, you helped poison us all with this snake.
And, thanks to you, we may soon get Pence.
How do you look in the mirror every morning?
20
And yet the flimflam man in the white house has a 40% approval rating. Let's break that support down. Racists and really stupid white people. The racist, one can understand. As long as he keeps insulting people of color and non christians he is their man. The really stupid white people are another matter. They can never admit they were wrong to put a pig in the white house. They are too dumb to grasp the fact that the flimflam man has nothing but disdain for working people. They cannot grasp the idea that technology has taken their jobs not foreigners. Ask any sales person what is the biggest obstacle to closing a sale, ignorance, you cannot sell against ignorance.
5
So Maureen, are you the tender hearted woman?
1
He creeps, sneaks, cheats, and he makes my skin crawl.
Our Snake-in-a- Suit prez.
I'd like to see this snake eat his tail, but that's not possible as long as his head is up his keister. Maybe if he shed his skin? The scales of justice will eventually deal with he who speaks with forked tongue. Oh rattle and prattle you slithering asp! 'Tis nuance and empathy that you can't seem to grasp. Squeezing the life from whoever you touch, you just don't get it, you don't think very much. Your venom is potent, though some are immune, yet you keep on trying to lay us in ruin. It's not just emotion and thought that you lack, it's the common sense and dignity found even in Big Macs. Slither and crawl, go back in your hole! You'll never convince me that you have a soul.
2
Tender woman is Maureen Dowd.
1
I simply cannot believe, in it's quest to publish anything anti-Trump, the NY Times would stoop to publishing such childish drivel.
5
Is this plaguerism?
A pathetically small snake, right?
2
"A six (6) for a nine (9)" or "a basket to carry water" are two sayings which represent the kinder side of this apt snake tale. Hitler is said to have lost WWII in his wintry attempt at a Russian invasion. Racist, misogynist xenophobes are doomed by this garrulous mammal with a thought center located in some unfriendly region of his person. Vispera aspis-like also describes Ms. Dowd's humour in this piece.
Is this Maureen's apology. If so, accepted--kind of.
1
If we'd just met you Mo we'd say
We'll written and perfected (but)
We remember when you kissed his asp
And got this snake elected!
www.newyorkgritty.net
9
Do you even try anymore?
3
I thought we had Larry Eisenberg in charge of the versifying for this column.
4
Trump's ascendancy is more the result of the intellectual decline of the Left than any talent or competence on his part.
Nice job of getting in the dung hill with the dung beetle, Dowd Reptile brains and insect brains fighting it out, that's America today. Thanks to a near complete absence of intelligent reasonable people with any clear ideas on what to do about our real problems, we Americans are all stuck standing in pile of ...
2
Benjamin, I think you may be onto something, but please start thinking yourself...do you have some clear ideas on what to do about our real problems? Starting small is fine, starting locally is fine. We have a generation coming up which is very interested in helping others.
Also Bernie Sanders had some clear thinking ideas. They just got labelled as socialist, and that freaked people out because we are thinking ideologically rather than clearly.
1
I fear that it is too late for us to be saved from the reptilian one. Any one who challenges him will get bitten and will bow down to him. Just ask Omarosa! Sad but who will challenge fangedman?
1
Pretty hypocritical to write this now, Ms. Dowd. Your adulating columns before the election helped give this poor excuse for a human being his victory in the election.
12
Autobiographical doggerel by the pundit who took in the snake before she realized, too late, that she had been taken in first.
7
My earlier comment included, but I have to wonder how many 'small snake' comments the moderators had to sift through :)
1
Snake, snake? Orangutan more like.
Hard to take Dowd seriously, anyway. She's been just as vicious with Clinton, Obama, Bush etc. It's not unlikely that Secretary Clinton lost a few votes and Don the Orangutan won a few hearts because of Dowd.
Now this article makes sense. Trump's the snake in Dowd's bosom.
3
Ms. Dowd, you really must learn to subdue these impulses. The bar for fabulist political satire in English verse is set pretty high, and you don't need to be clever in order to be effective. I am sorry, but this is doggerel and boring doggerel at that. The NYT deserves better.
4
Ms. Dowd, we really don't need you to help us recognize a reptile. This is not your best effort. You need more focus.
3
Oh Maureen Dowd! Most of us have not forgotten that you were quite sweet on that Snake aka Donald! You were coy, but you supported a known misogynist, predator and chronic liar! I will never understand how any educated woman could support such a vile.....Snake!
10
Too bad no one extinguished your toxic writings about Hillary. Look in the mirror Maureen, you have to see those guilty lines of love for attention seeking musings that brought down a much more decent even if imperfect candidate. Now you’re complaining about the outcome? Please, the Trumps only give you all that much fodder for your silly rants. And you can’t get enough.
7
This piece is not funny. It is a broad, banal, burlesque demonization. What's worse, it is perfect fodder for right wing extremists to say "look, here's what they really think of you." Shame on you Maureen and NYT editors. We and you can do better.
4
It is really too bad that you disliked Hillary so much that you backed this snake in the grass--all your moaning now is not going to change the fact that we have a Liar in Chief who is venal, incompetent and incapable of empathy or common sense. Thanks for your help in "draining" the swamp.
18