One unmistakably unique site on New York's Fifth Avenue is Trump Tower on 57th Street, home of The Trump Organization, founded in 1923 as E. Trump & Son by Elizabeth Christ Trump and her son Fred, grandmother and father respectively of You-Know-Who, who changed the name some fifty years later. Since You-Know-Who took it over, he's been CLAIMING it's one of the best managed real estate companies in North America, if not the known universe. Countless bankruptcies, employee resignations, and news reports, many referring to You-Know-Who's many romantic conquests and attempts thereof, will prove him wrong. I need not rehash the 2016 presidential election, but suffice it to say, the Trump White House has been as organized as the Trump Organization, which is, in three syllables, NOT VERY. And not just he, his nearest and dearest, and the whole world is suffering for it. Trump Tower, located on the former site of the Bonwit Teller department store, is assumed to be a monument to El Trumpo's grandmother and father and their American Dream. It would be more accurate to call it a monument to his gigantic ego.Those who have nothing better to do are encouraged to take a picture on the escalator he used on the day he announced his candidacy, a day that will dwell in infamy. Yawn at the appearance of classic marble and contemplate the day laborers who lost their lives in the name of Trump's "New York landmark." I WOULD recommend Trump Bar, Trump's Ice Cream Parlor, Trump Cafe, and Trump Grill, but I assume no responsibility for any stomach distress that may occur.
Leave Trump Tower (If you MUST, get something nice at Gucci, snag some Joe at Starbucks, or, if you don't care about being publicly embarrassed, pick up one of Trump's books, which he barely wrote and most likely can't read, at The Trump Store, or, in case you're really suicidal, a Trump Pence T-shirt at the campaign store which, by all accounts, is STILL open.) through the atrium at 598 Madison Avenue or the 5th Avenue exit, proceed to 65th Street, and you'll find a more spiritually uplifting sight, Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York, founded in 1845 and a flagship Reform Jewish synagogue, gracing a landmark building larger than many of the best-known European synagogues.Its long and glorious history is worth addressing in a later blog, which we will at the appointed time, but one of the most vocal opponents of You-Know-Who in the Jewish community in general and at Emanu-El in particular, is its senior rabbi since 2013, Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson. To the benefit of many, he has ignored the old wives' tale that you should not discuss religion and politics in polite company, and taken any opportunity to tell anyone who would listen about how the current administration has undermined trust in important institutions such as the Executive and Judicial Branches of the United States Government, and especially the news media, which the administration has dismissed as "fake." He greatly abhors the lack of ethics and morals which, sadly, has become the norm.(Since Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, is right around the corner, I would like to ask your indulgence as I digress from this narrative and admit to my fellow Emanu-El members, Rabbi Davidson, and CNN President Jeff Zucker, who is also an Emanu-El member, that the last weekend of this past July, as the country in general and New York in particular, endured one of the hottest summers in recent memory, I stopped en route to Emanu-El's Sunday Lunch Program, where I volunteer, once a month, at the studios of FOX News, or, as MSNBC personality Chris Hayes calls it, as will we for the rest of this blog, TRUMP TV, because, according to "TRUMP TV & Friends," and this was one of the only truly honest things they said all weekend, that particular Sunday was National Water Slide Day, and the families that made it to TRUMP TV Square at 49th Street and Avenue of the Americas were obviously having a great time on the Slip and Slide, in the outdoor pool, and in the dunk tank, and I thought, so what if the Sunday hosts were Pete Hegseth, the former executive director of a conservative veterans' advocacy group funded by the Koch Brothers, Griff Jenkins, who tried to prove his media colleagues who reported on the hellish conditions at Texas border camps wrong, and Jedediah Bila, a darling of the conservative community in general and TRUMP TV in particular,it was AITCH-OH-TEE and I needed to cool off. With my gym shorts and a strong amount of resolve packed, I headed over to TRUMP TV Square, only to see the little water rats and their parental units monopolizing the various aquatic attractions, and hear the hosts talk about the "Socialists" who had debated over who should take on THEIR beloved President. I yawned so loudly it could be heard in China and, wondering WHAT and IF I was thinking, vacated the premises with haste. I ask the forgiveness of Rabbi Davidson, Mr. Zucker, my fellow Emanu-El members, and, of course, the Lord Himself, for taking the bait. I have also since apologized to my friends at TODAY. In the interest of fairness, I have had the pleasure to be associated with The Wall Street Journal, which is also headquartered at that particular 6th Avenue building, but I also have had the DIS-pleasure to be limited to picking up and delivering clothing samples. Whose posterior do I have to kiss to work on a major news story? Be that as it may, we now return to the blog already in progress.) This past Rosh Hashonah, the Jewish New Year's Day, Rabbi Davidson announced a major initiative, an ANTI-Trump Organization, if you will,dedicated to undoing the moral damage caused by the current administration. Among the avenues this new effort will be pursuing are after-school programs, a new prayer book, (For more on THIS, visit http://www.emanuelnyc.org .) courses in Jewish history and culture, and, one cause I especially support, courses in journalism. I have every confidence that unlike TRUMP TV, the stories that will arise from this venture will not reflect the policies of any one political party and unlike Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network,it won't use journalism as a method of proselytizing, but honor the tradition of reporting the news without fear or favor.
I wish Rabbi Davidson and his colleagues at Emanu-El and its partners all the best of luck in this venture, and if they succeed, Trump Tower will become nothing more than another gaudy building where wannabees, especially the Wannabee-In-Chief, can entertain their fantasies of achieving their American Dream.
A blessed New Year to Rabbi Davidson and all involved,
Steve
P.S. I would like Mr. Zucker to know that I have been a supporter of CNN since the inception, and I refer him, and you, to http://www.stevesspecialblog.blogspot.com , and the following essays:
"Who Ya Calling Chicken Noodle News?"
"Who Ya Calling Fake News?"
"Certainly Needed Now"
