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Democrat-Gazette online
Charlie Sheen is back in the news for a Netflix documentary, “aka Charlie Sheen,” and a memoir, “The Book of Sheen.”
Donald Trump never went away. But he is lately in the news for winning, which Sheen only thought he was doing in 2011. Even Trump’s critics, a noble group among whom I proudly remain, must acknowledge his wins in recent weeks.
I want a cease-fire between Israel and Palestine. I prefer free markets in America’s and Trump’s image over economic melt-down in Argentina. I am encouraged to see that the Chinese are willing to talk about buying American soybeans again, even if it would convey some sort of validation to Trump’s policies of tariffs by testosterone.
I regret that some people I otherwise admire greatly have seemed to root for Trump to lose on all that. We must be happy for advancement of peace and gains for prosperity and progress. It’s for the good of man, no matter who gets the credit.
My mom, who taught me more goodness than I could learn, much less practice, told me to hate the sin and love the sinner. I can’t always quite do that. With Trump, for example, I hate the sins and merely acknowledge the sinner in the way I acknowledge the guy who just beat me in tennis or pickleball. I avert my eyes and vaguely swipe the paddle that the smug creep extends.
Years ago, some of us were watching LSU and Arkansas play football. LSU lucked out. As LSU’s silly coach Les Miles came in for a hearty “good game” handshake, Bobby Petrino brushed him off. The room erupted in unison: “Hey, look, Petrino gave Miles the Brummett.”
So, anyway, I’m seeing a presidential biopic, “Trump–Winning,” starring Charlie Sheen as Trump. They look at least as much alike as Bruce Springsteen and the Bear.
Right away, I must rush to the disclaimer. I’m not saying the Sheen of public madness in 2011 and the Trump of prolonged megalomania lingering still are the same, or even alike. They merely remind me of each other–the meltdowns in public of Sheen then and the self-worshipping delusions of Trump over the last decade.
Both behaved erratically in public. Both were given to grandiosity. Both insulted others with fierce abandonment. Sheen surely has been slugged. Trump surely has never been, by the way he persists.
Sheen now admits wrongdoings. Trump never admits to anything except perhaps implicitly lately in his ruminations about whether he’ll get into heaven. My mom told me once not to judge lest I get judged myself. So, I’ll not say what I think of Trump’s heavenly prospects. Those odds aren’t mine to set.
Sheen acknowledges heavy substance abuse and sex with men. Trump is not a drinker. The most charming thing he ever said was that he couldn’t imagine himself drunk, considering the way he behaves sober. Trump’s sexual relations as far as we know were exclusively opposite-sex and conventional, at least as described by a porn star, who, in Trump’s undeserved defense, might have had a high bar for unconventionality.
Trump never said he randomly and without invitation grabbed women’s private parts. He said someone as celebrated as he could get away with it.
I suppose it’s a favorable comparison for Trump–that of saying Sheen was under substance influence when he was wildly erratic, but that Trump’s offensiveness is just his permanent natural manner.
P.S.: I figure Trump will win the shutdown, too. Republicans really don’t want to help people with their Obamacare health insurance premiums, and they’ve managed to rope-a-dope Democrats into taking as least as much blame as they get. A stalemate on health care is a winner for Trump.
John Brummett, whose column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, is a member of the Arkansas Writers’ Hall of Fame. Email him at [email protected]. Read his @johnbrummett feed on X, formerly Twitter.
