docbobdocs

TRUMP BITS: (a) In the Ring / On the Stage       "I'm a total act", Trump told Anthony Scaramucci, "and I don't understand why people don't get it". [Insights from BS Day & A Wedderburn, 2022, 'Wrestlemania! Summit Diplomacy and Foreign Policy Performance after Trump',  International Studies Quarterly , <doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqac019>].      "Trump gravitated towards wrestling throughout his business career. Indeed, in a life marked by vacillation and inconstancy toward everyone except himself, the recurring presence of the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) is a striking anomaly. Trump's resorts frequently hosted WWE events, Trump himself regularly lent his celebrity to WWE promotions, and he even performed in prominent wrestling storylines. The association not only survived Trump's political ascendancy but thrived during his time in office. In 2016, WWE's majority owners Vince and Linda McMahon ― contemporary pro-wrest...

       It is probably too neat to say that Henry VII (father) built up political and economic capital during his reign and Henry VIII (son) spent it. It makes the 'spendthrift' years seem more exciting and leads the history reader to overlook the preceding years of good governance. Being careful is a bit dull.      However, there exists at least a couple of contemporary London chroniclers whose writing suggests their relief at being able to get on with their lives during a period of relative calm. They seem to have been genuinely thankful for the first Tudor monarch and his rule of Quiet. Robert Fabyan wrote that, "consydering the contynuall peace and tranquylete whiche he kept thys his lande and comons in", the seventh Henry "ever ruled so Myghtly hys subgectes & mynystred to them such iustyce that ... they loved and drad hym .." It is an interesting feature of medieval kingship that a good king is to be regarded with love and dread. Real respect ...