May 9, 2025

I’m still trying to figure out where I’m going with these journal/blog/substack entries covering the age of Trump. They aren’t really book material. They aren’t changing the world in any meaningful way. I feel a certain amount of bleakness at the never ending barrage of destruction of any societal institution that does not bow in fealty and at the unfettered joy expressed by those of opposing political opinions at unleashed vituperative anger masquerading as public policy. We’re more or less undoing the Enlightenment values upon which Western civilization has operated for the last three centuries or so and I don’t much like the look of what’s rising up in their place. A society based solely on being against concepts or ideas rather than one trying to use the gifts of reason and intelligence to move us forward just doesn’t seem like a swell idea.

The nominee for surgeon general, Dr. Casey Means, holds no medical license. She completed medical school and entered an ENT surgical residency. She did not complete it, dropping out in her last year, claiming a disillusionment with modern medicine. Nobody drops out of a residency at that stage of training for that sort of reason. I’ve been around long enough to know that she was likely asked to leave the residency as she wasn’t up to scratch and they weren’t going to be able to grant her credentials. Someone will do some sleuthing and uncover the truth. Since then, she has become a wellness guru and fixated on better nutrition being a better source of health than modern medical treatments and has a long association with RFK Jr. I have no objection to wellness. I have no objection to alternative and complementary medicine – it’s very useful in helping a lot of people maintain homeostasis. I have an objection to the rejection of medical treatments that have been tested and proven for feel good ideas with no science behind them.

I am no fan of big pharma and its stranglehold on much of the health care system and I’ve been present for much of the rise of overpriced blockbuster medications of dubious utility being directly marketed to consumers. I try to work with tried and true generics that have been around for decades and which have a good track record and it takes a lot for me to write a prescription for some drug with an unpronounceable brand name full of Zs, Xs and Qs that’s being advertised repeatedly on 24 hour news channels. But I approach every patient I care for as an individual. Some will be helped more by pills, possibly simply from placebo effect. Some will do better with a lifestyle modification. Some just need to come see me and have me do some active listening. Being a good doctor is understanding one size does not fit all.

If the MAGA reformation of the health system dubbed MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) is the way forward, I’d like to see at least some consistency. Where are the federal dollars reducing grocery prices of nutritious foods. When Michelle Obama made healthier eating habits for children her signature movement, she was pilloried by the right wing constantly and the Trump administration wasted no time in plowing under her White House kitchen garden during their first administration. I don’t see a sudden shift of course back this direction. This is the administration gleefully planning to cut SNAP and other nutrition programs. Where are federal initiatives to reduce food deserts and return us back to more thriving independent grocers. Consolidation in that industry over the last four decades has led to more and more markets closing in ‘unprofitable’ neighborhoods. Is the federal government going to work to reduce high fructose corn syrup in the food supply (the ingredient most strongly tied to obesity). My shorthand in terms of reducing ultra processed foods is ‘if your grandmother wouldn’t recognize it as food, maybe you shouldn’t be eating it’. What are the plans to reduce these? They are often the cheapest and most shelf stable alternatives. How is the government planning on reducing burdens on families so that there will be time to cook and prepare food more routinely at home rather than running through the drive thru? Slogans are nice but if they aren’t backed up by actionable policy, they get you nowhere.

In other news, the Catholic Church has selected a new pope. Leo XIV, the former Robert Prevost of Chicago, becomes the first American pope. The fact that he is of European, Latin and African heritage makes him a living symbol of what has made this country strong over the centuries, taking in people from all over the world and allowing them to contribute in their own ways to a stronger and more resilient nation, the antithesis of what the current administration is trying to achieve. I can’t help but wonder if the selection is a major rejection of the cardinals of authoritarianism as personified by Trump. I think it’s also a strike back at the US Bishops and Opus Dei who seem to feel that the church lost its way sometime around the Spanish Inquisition and wants to head back to some sort of draconian patriarchal past. Pope Leo’s time in Peru gives him a strong background in Liberation Theology and he appears to be relatively young and vigorous for a Pope so I can see him steering the Vatican into a much stronger position for moral justice in international affairs. I’m not sure where he stands on LGBTQ issues but as long as he at least leaves us alone, I’ll give him a pass. I found it interesting that a man in a dress appeared on a balcony and asked to be called by a new chosen name and no one in the world had any difficulty with the concept.

The administration seems to have spent this week firing Democrats from any position where they could be found including the Consumer Protection Board, the National Holocaust Museum Board, the Library of Congress, and various other agencies. We’re getting close to a one party system at the top. It does not bode well. Previous mass firings seem to be coming home to roost. Newark Airport appears to be non-functional due to a lack of air traffic controllers (I haven’t flown in or out of it in forty years so it doesn’t affect me much but it is indicative of the complete lack of planning that appears to be going on at the top). The national weather service isn’t able to provide its usual data as we head into hurricane season. There are inadequate staff for most of the National Parks as we head into summer tourist season. And yet there appears to be plenty of money for high ranking executive branch members to golf and vacation on the public dime and for a vainglorious military parade that seems to be more appropriate for North Korea than the USA.

Other people write much more cogently about all of these issues than I do. I’m trying to figure out where to start taking these essays so that they just aren’t a lukewarm rehash of the last few days political headlines or a regurgitation of someone else’s ideas. I haven’t figured it out yet. Should I concentrate solely on health and performing arts topics, the two areas I know well? Do I do deep dives into specific policy issues? I just haven’t figured it out.

On the personal front, I celebrate my 63rd birthday in just over 24 hours. That makes me ten years older than either Steve or Tommy ever got. I’m feeling a bit strange about that. I’m also beginning to feel somewhat old for the first time. If you buy into the medieval concept of life entering a different phase every seven years, I’m heading into a new one. The one I’ve just completed is what I’m referring to as second widowhood, Tommy having been gone for seven years now. So what’s next. Preparation for old age I expect. Or possibly my age of exploration – the seven years in which I’ll get to do most of my adventure travel. We shall see. I just can tell that my physical stamina is declining and the memory isn’t quite as sharp as it once was. I’m dropping lines in my current show more than is usual for me which bothers me some. It makes me think that I have perhaps five more years of being able to do the stage thing and then I’ll have to hang it up except for select projects. I’ll still be able to direct.

If you want to see me on stage hopefully not dropping lines that anyone will notice, two more performances of Second Samuel this weekend – Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 and then four next weekend. East Lake United Methodist Church.