Volume 2, Issue No. 53
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . .
Our latest as of Tuesday, January 19, 2021
~ At 12 noon Eastern tomorrow (Wednesday, January 20), Donald Trump would have faded into history as a lawless president, the only one in the annals of the United States to have been impeached twice, the latest one just days ago for inciting his supporters and diehard loyalists to storm the U.S. Capitol in efforts to overturn the results of the election that had rejected him in favor of rival Joe Biden. Countless accounts of his deception, outright lies, and criminal activities have been preserved in books - I got 12 of them, by the way - by former cabinet members, aides, and journalists who covered him during his presidency. Reading them one by one is a good way to spend time while in lockdown because of the pandemic.
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THE 45TH U.S. PRESIDENT FADES AWAY
Immersing in Books About Donald Trump
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body". - Richard Steele
TORONTO - Something I had not done for a long time - and I put the blame on the current health situation - is this once-in-a-blue-moon favor to myself to indulge in a little bit of a book-buying spree online, thus far the most convenient, safest, and fastest way to shop.
I'm not much of a book collector, but I do gather volumes that arouse my interest. To me, happiness is a book of poems, non-fiction novels, autobiography, law, military tactics, politics, and history.
Books are handy sources of knowledge, comfort, and wisdom. One could easily count on them to walk you through the past, or to let you catch sight of moments with love-struck writers and poets of another generation like the Brownings, Robert and Elizabeth, Emily Dickinson, and many others.
In my growing collection, I have 40 hard-bound poetry books, plus the novels by Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Once during a visit to Manila, I bought a dozen books by noted Filipino writers and brought them to Canada to add to my small library.
Priceless gifts from my daughter are the famed novels of Jose Rizal - Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo - which occupy a special place in my bookshelves along with the three volumes of A Cup of Kapeng Barako by a dear friend in Seattle, the journalist Jesse Jose, who gave me the honor of writing the foreword.
The pandemic and the lockdowns it triggered have pushed reading to new heights, and this is just about the best moment to enjoy the written word.
Pre-pandemic, I would spend hours at Indigo browsing through bookshelves, the bestsellers first, then work my way through history, autobiography, non-fiction, politics, and finally, the collection of poems from old to the new.
I also bought books that were put on sale in public libraries, usually costing $1 to $2 apiece, which is much cheaper than would find in thrift stores. Thrift shops are a real haven for zealous bookworms with a limited budget.
Well, the coronavirus pandemic ended all that. From the comfort of home, one can really go binge-buying at the fraction of time one normally spends in book stores. Having no alternative choice, that's what I did . . . at quite a cost! No regret there though.
When Mary L. Trump's book about her uncle Donald Trump Too Much and Never Enough subtitled How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man came out six months ago, I was one of the first to buy it online.
However, I grew impatient waiting for its home delivery so that when I had the chance to go to Costco, I saw copies there and bought one. I had been aching to read her personal account so I could write about it.
My articles from that book are here:
1. https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/08/mary-l-trump-i-cant-let-donald-trump.html
2. https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/08/donald-trump-gets-bashed-by-his-sister.html
3. https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/08/trump-family-allies-throw-caution-to.html
The insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, has renewed my interest in Donald Trump as the 45th U.S. president. I already have a copy of his 2004 book Trump - How to Get Rich co-authored by Meredith McIver, and it provided a superficial view of him as a businessman.
One week after the siege, the House of Representatives voted 232-197 to impeach him for inciting his supporters and right-wing followers to attack the Capitol and stop the proclamation of Jose Biden and Kamala Harris as the duly-elected president and vice president of the United States.
Now, as he reluctantly bows out of government (officially, his tenure ends at noon tomorrow, Wednesday, January 20, 2021), a slew of books chronicling news accounts, personal anecdotes, and work experiences with him has been published and readily made available in bookstores.
The books may be able to provide new insights - other than he lost the election to Biden - to fully understand why Trump would stir up unrest, as he did on January 6.
Books are nourishment for the brain. That's the underlying reason to justify this little indulgence which ended in buying six more books about Trump, in addition to the six others I had purchased previously.
Now I have 12 books regarding his conduct in office - Impeach by Neal Katyal; Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump, and an Epic Trail of Destruction by David Enrich; Front Row at the Trump Show by Jonathan Karl; Compromised subtitled Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump by Peter Strzok; Donald Trump and His Assault on Truth by The Washington Post; The Room Where It Happened by John Bolton; Disloyal by Michael Cohen; Rage by Bob Woodward; Siege by Michael Wolff; Undaunted by John O. Brennan; and Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff.
To finish all the books would require setting a schedule between writing. The swearing-in of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on Wednesday means reading would take a back seat. Of course, the transition of the presidency from Trump to Biden is one single moment of great significance.
Before I could even settle and start serious reading, Trump would already be a historical figure who has scored a first - the first U.S. president to be impeached twice! A new chapter in U.S. history is unfolding. (Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved).
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