Thoughts of a Common Man

One of my friend’s said: “Enjoy the down time.” Yeah. That’s not going to happen. I started to get massively annoyed in the early afternoon. As we’ve discussed plenty of times, I need a plan for the day! I need to know what I have to do and then I do it. There’s nothing on the schedule! I can’t do anything! Can’t run to the store... ...can’t clean anything... ...can’t even get up and let the dogs out because I feel like garbage. But every hour appears to be passing like a month... ...and it’s early on. This has to keep going for some time, and I don’t want to whine about it because there are millions of people just staying home. But I had been getting out. Up until today I could still plan a few things because I could get to the store or go to a couple of jobs... ...and I had felt all right. I don’t know about you but I can’t watch the ticker roll that counts the number of cases and the growing number of the dead. I certainly don’t want to hear anythin

We watched all of Ozark season 3 on Saturday. We got a late jump on television on Sunday because I was feeling lousy but eventually watched the Tiger King - that’s some story! And then... ...we ordered pasta! From Olive Garden. It was pretty not great. But I wasn’t all that hungry anyway. And then... And then... And then? “I’m going to go to sites,” I said as I was leaving the couch for the bed. “Yeah, good luck with that,” Kathy said. “You’re grounded.” And of course, I know that... ...I have some symptoms and would never compromise anyone. (Shocked how it all came on so sudden). But so far so good. Just a little off so far...temp hasn’t creeped much higher than 99. Cough is okay. Energy levels are low. “For two weeks or so,” Kathy said. “You can’t venture out for at least that.” “I’m pretending,” I said. “Sites, grocery store, dinner and feeling great!” “All. Righty. Then.” It’s gonna’ be a tad slow.

Not the easiest time, peace of mind wise, to come down with a bug. The scratch in my throat wasn’t just a laryngitis thing after all. It’s kinda’ weird how things seem to coalesce at night, but on Friday I woke up a little before 4 a.m., and I immediately knew that I’d be waking up sick. By the time I dragged myself out of bed around 7:00, I was officially worried. The beginnings of a head ache, sore throat, nasal drip, chest congestion. Uh yeah, just what they’re talking about. I read a lot of case studies. Men and women who felt like this and then it all went downhill. “I don’t want this!” Chatted with some friends and it dawned on me that I couldn’t be making a run out into the public. I can’t be infecting others... ...and if I’m grounded... ...bigger problem... ...’cause Kathy still can’t move around very well. Checked for a thermometer. We had one but the battery was shot. And then an amazing friend decided to be simply amazing. Kim dropped off a ther

I woke up on Friday morning with a scratchy throat. My first thought was: “Oh no.” I was heading to a job site where one member of the crew had gone home with a fever. My task was to convince the rest of the crew that they’d be just fine. Just wash those hands. Thought two: “This is insane.” I caught the news of the day. The United States has more confirmed cases than either China or Italy. Both of those nations had been devastated. We are on track to obliterate their numbers and we had advanced warning. We chose to undersell what might happen. My third thought: “Why aren’t more Americans angry that we were totally unprepared? Why did we not order the necessary equipment? This is criminal.” Stumbled upon Trump doing a briefing. He’s bright orange. His eyes are disturbing. He can hardly breathe. He can barely read. He has a hunch that we won’t need so many ventilators. Is that the same hunch that told him it was no worse than the flu? Or that churches would be fi

Here are some of my favorite things. Television shows: 1). The Sopranos 2). Breaking Bad 3). House 4). Better Call Saul 5). Homeland Favorite Sports Teams: 1). 1998 Yankees 2). 1990-91 - Buffalo Bills 3). 1996 Yankees 4). 1977 Yankees 5). 2009 Yankees Favorite Actor/Actress 1). James Gandolfini 2). Robert DeNiro 3). Claire Danes 4). Bryan Cranston 5). Hugh Laurie Favorite Sit-Coms: 1). The Odd Couple 2). Seinfeld 3). Family Guy 4). Cheers 5). Modern Family Favorite Musicians: 1). Really? You’re wondering? Bruuuuccceee! 2). The Rolling Stones 3). Mark Knopfler 4). John Mellencamp 5). The Beatles So, there you go. Thought a little about some good things. Because this is truly becoming exhausting. Stay healthy. Stay hungry. Stay alive.

Who do you know who is disposable in your life? Someone who has lived too long? Someone who is sick and you think has suffered enough? Your crazy aunt? The mad neighbor down the road? Here’s the thing, I can’t think of anyone... ...who I believe should be sacrificed... ...or who should have every chance to not suffer respiratory distress, and have their lungs filled to the point of drowning. Easter Sunday? That’s the day being bandied about as the day when America should be up and running again. Any idea how we arrived at that day? It’s a beautiful timeline. Know why? So the churches can be packed with people!! During a pandemic!!! While the curve is steepening!! Damn, that’s terrific. Thank God it’s been declared over after Donny T. evaluated the data, decided that the scientists and doctors were just being too careful... ...and, oh yeah, Larry Kudlow was there too. He agrees with the huge, orange menace because we need the money! I can’t even h

My brother Jim has taken over as the family chef. Now that Trump has declared the virus over on Easter, cause it’s “beautiful” we can all leave the packed church during a pandemic and have our final meal at Jim’s place. Come on by... ...he cooks enough for 100 when 8 people are showing up. And today is Jim’s birthday... ...like Kathy he will be pretty much confined for the celebration. This is certainly a weird time to celebrate. Yet, I’m looking forward to the long talk we’ll have because like all of my siblings, Jim can make me laugh. There’s no doubt that Jim is the son who was most like Dad... ...a tad off! And as Jim grew, he was always right on top of Dad. A chip off the old block was a saying that was started for Jim and Dad. We called Jim a lot of names (we all had a bunch of nicknames). Chimp, Pet (he was on Dad like a loyal pet), booger (Dad said, ‘this kid is like a booger on my finger’) You get the idea. But here’s the thing... ...Jim was also

Back in college I played a series of backgammon against my buddy, Gag. We played every single day. I lost the series on the very last day... ...as my Mom stood there and watched me lose. So, two days into the weekend, I broke out the backgammon board and decreed that we would be playing 5 games a night using the betting dice. As I write this, I currently have a 13 to 12 lead after losing a 6-point game by 1 chip. I’m still heading out to jobs and have had a pretty steady flow of calls, but I’ve yet to work the usual 10-12 hours a day so I have time to plan and make dinners. I even cut up a pineapple today. More fruit! Yet, each morning, it hits me. “What a mess.” The number of cases. The faces of the dead. Haunting my thoughts. And the message of the day.. ...was tinged with absolute stupidity. An all caps tweet in the middle of the night set the tone: Trump and his team have run the numbers and the whole social distancing thing that 2 days ago was cru

The early warnings came in late December. By January, the word ‘pandemic’ was being thrown around. I didn’t pay any attention and neither did you. That’s above our pay grade. You know who also did t pay attention???? The head of the CDC. Because it was defunded in 2018. “I don’t want people sitting around doing nothing. We can get them back if we need them.” We NEEDED them in January! But no! On January 24th we all read a reassuring tweet on it. China had it contained. We learned again that President Xi is a friend of Trumps. “Thank you, China!” So, we moved to February. News reports were coming in from other places. The United States was warned again. The senators sold off their stocks!! Before they warned their constituents. Many downplayed the virus claiming that the flu was just as dangerous! It’s not. They knew it wasn’t, but the tweets are all there. Rush Limbaugh called it the common cold. Trump called the media hyping of it “the new hoax.” Peop

Caught up with an old friend yesterday. We sent a series of texts, just catching up a little. It made me smile. My job was still going last week, but it felt weird. Like 75% of the usual calls, which made it a normal work week instead of 60 hours plus. I was able to plan and make dinner. I put together a turkey dinner for Kathy’s birthday, made linguini and clams on Wednesday and then a chuck roast with amazing gravy on Thursday. The boys were around, of course, and we talked some football and all about the virus. We weren’t fearful, but we covered a lot of ground. It’s always better when we have the time to just chat, and make each other laugh. My sister sent out a thread that included only the siblings. We all entertained one another for quite awhile. I checked on my writing notes and put new pages down. Watched a few movies. The dogs are happy that we are all here. The thing is, it seems a little like a huge timeout. It’s a scary time out, but it’s pretty much

California issued a shelter-in-place order on Thursday and it was pretty safe to assume that New York would soon follow because the numbers of sick and dying in the two states is crazy. Matt texted me first. “Cuomo shut everything down. Now what?” A couple of immediate calls from clients. “Does this mean that construction is shut down?” “I don’t know! It just happened. I haven’t even heard anything yet.” Turns out: Construction is considered essential. Construction safety guys are essential as well... ...but it does me little good because I feel that the game plan is to work until I finally catch it... ...and I don’t want it! Which brings me to the second half of Friday. I started feeling weird. Headache, nausea and I had to open the windows wide to catch some air. “Is this it?” I wondered. I worried about bringing it to Kathy and the boys. That’s the big worry, to be honest. I stopped. Laid my head on a pillow for an hour, took a Tylenol. Felt much be

I was scrolling through Facebook. There’s a little too much of that going on, but I stopped on a quiz that had Tony Robbins name on it. “Why not?” It was 10 questions about personality. A ‘What is the best option?’ type of thing. I did the quiz without thinking and it came back to say: “Your driving force is ‘certainty.’“ Then it went on to say a whole bunch of things about me... ...how being too rigid is bad, but having a set plan has allowed me to get things done. After the overview alternated between complimenting me and bashing me, I got this sentence: “You don’t need to know the ending of every story that you are writing.” Which kind of made me stop. Because I do need to know the ending. It’s the one basic strain in our marriage. I need to know the plan... ...Kathy doesn’t have a plan. Ever. “I wanted to surprise you,” she said “Have we just met? I don’t ever want to be surprised.” And I’ve always been the way I am. I wake up and I immediate

There are moments when life almost seems normal. Those moments pass quickly. A lot of jobs are still going... ...a lot of guys are asking me questions. I’m their safety guy, who else would they ask? “I don’t know much,” I’ve said a lot of the time. “Should we still be coming to work?” One guy asked me. “I’ve asked myself that each morning,” I said. “I guess we keep coming until they tell us not to.” “Is that safe?” The guy asked. “Probably not,” I answered. “Who knows?” And the scary part of all of it is that no one knows. No one REALLY knows! “There have only been a hundred deaths,” another guy mentioned. “So far,” I said. “The number is going to get bigger, and it’s not just a number. It’s people!” People who are dying. “More people die in car accidents,” the guy said. “And we try to stop those.” I’m not quite so sure how people are so breezy when it comes to the deaths of people they don’t know. And don’t get me started on the thing that’s really ge

It was crazy weird. I’d listened to the news on the way to a job about twenty minutes away. They were talking about closing restaurants, bars and all other places where people like to gather. Then I arrived. Took out my hard hat, and eye protection and walked down the road. Birds were chirping. The sun was shining. And I felt a certain peace because there was none of the outside noise getting through. For a few minutes, I forgot about all of it. Just another day. Because all that really matters, right now, is that we are healthy at Camp Clifford, and we would like to stay that way. The first guy I saw was bitching. “This is all a media creation,” he said. “Really?” I asked. “You really think that?” “They don’t want Trump to win.” I actually laughed. “You don’t think they hate him?” He asked. “Of course they hate him,” I said, “but how did they get every other country to go along with this? They talked people from China and Italy to die...to trip up Donny

Hasn’t been the year my poor wifey had desired. She’s been recovering from a nasty car accident and a horrific injury and surgery... ...and now? The world is going to stop, evidently, for a little while. “I guess I can just sit here for my birthday,” she mentioned. Well, dinner is out. A bar for a couple of drinks is out. A movie? 👎 “I can make dinner,” I said. “Turkey breast, rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy and an ice cream cake,” she said... ...immediately. “Thought about that, huh?” “A little.” I’ll be cooking tomorrow after work, I guess... ...if there actually is work tomorrow. Who the hell knows! Well, anywhoha... ...all together now: Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife. It can only get better from here! Right? Right? Ah hell... ...it’ll be all right. We love you!

I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I’ve lived my entire life trying to make sure that I have a plan for the coming day, and I’m all screwed up with this thing. I don’t know if things will be changed. I have to be ready for virtually anything, I guess. Therefore, let’s talk about something else. The sauce was really good yesterday and the meatballs were about perfect. We watched the latest episode of Homeland and then Kathy decided that we were going to go back in time and she put on the 1990’s Claire Danes series, ‘My So Called Life.’ I laughed when I saw the opening scene because my baby, Claire, was so young!! Here’s the thing: I remember being sick for a couple of days back when the series came alive in the 90’s. I binge-watched it on MTV before binge-watching was a thing... ...and it was such a ‘girlie’ show that I didn’t tell anyone (except my brother, Jeff) that I was watching it. He made fun of me. But it was a great show...and it holds up! Here’s the

Little pink houses for you and me. A whole bunch of people are out there looking to make massive profits off of people’s fear. I think a whole lot of people read the article about the brothers from Lexington, Kentucky who bought up all the hand sanitizer and wipes from every store they could find and then sold everything for obscene prices. A $1.00 bottle of sanitizer was being sold for $70. The brothers were selling plenty of it too until Amazon pulled the plug. I can’t even imagine thinking of doing such a thing. The one guy quoted in the story made it seem as if doing that very thing...selling items at a gigantic profit when seeing fear or a trend in the marketplace was how he made his living. The man who appeared to be the bad guy in the story said that his price gouging was actually a public service. He was sending things that are needed in a community from his town where the goods were easily accessible. Price gouging. To a vulnerable public. I didn’t really see

Have you had many conversations that have not had the word ‘coronavirus’ in it? I know I haven’t. A few people have actually extended their hands to shake. “Get that filthy hand away from me,” I’ve said. And here’s the funky part... ...what happens if you start feeling a particular symptom. Your mind goes directly there, right? That’s the weird part of this. It’s going to play with the psyche of the entire nation. It’s like the old ‘Twilight Zone’ episode where the guy gets the next day’s paper before everyone else and he makes a fortune betting on things and making predictions. It’s all going great until he sees his name in the next day’s obits. He locks himself in his apartment but begins worrying about dying and winds up jumping out the window. I can’t think of a single reason why we might need a hundred rolls of toilet paper. I saw a photo of a grocery store and all the cheese was gone. If you eat all that cheese... ...you won’t need the toilet paper, right?

...I’ve had enough! I always think of the Tom Petty song when that phrase pops into my head and I also thinking of my brother kneeling on my chest, playfully slapping me. “Let me up! Mom!!” That’s what this week feels like. The virus and the constant anxiety that comes with knowing that it’s been absolutely bungled. The stock market going in the tank and the bailout in the form of more than a trillion to keep the rich rich... ...as those of us here in the valley wonder if we are equipped to stay alive if the worst of it all happens... ...and all people can think to do is stock up on freaking toilet paper. Let me up! There will be no sports for quite some time. People are keeping a distance. No one knows what might happen and my least favorite of all the people are the ones who are acting tough and saying things like: “This is made up by the Democrats because they’re scared of losing to Donny T. again.” That would be a hell of a trick, first of all... ...gett

My boy, Sam, loves the Villanova Wildcats. I’m not talking about my love of the Yankees even... ...his love of ‘Nova is like the love of a thousand suns. He NEVER misses a game. When they win he’s happy. When they lose he sulks and figures out reasons why and how they can fix it. He’s watched them win two National Championships and he wants more. He’s also seen them play live four times and they lost three of those games... ...he wants more there. The buzz started over the weekend. He could possibly score tickets for the Big East Tournament games at MSG this coming weekend. Kathy helped him and his buddy find a hotel room and he paid good money for courtside seats. And then... ...Wednesday afternoon happened. The Coronavirus hit home. The NCAA announced that games would be played in empty arenas. One tournament after another chimed in. “They better not!” Sam yelled. “I don’t care about getting sick!” “It might be more serious than what they’re saying,” I said.

Monday was like a movie. Not a comedy, either. I woke at 3:45, believing that I had to be at the airport by 5:00 for a 6:00 flight. I got through security and arrived at a empty gate at 5:09. Checked the board. Boarding at 6:40. Departing at 7:00. “What?” I had read the itinerary wrong. “Idiot!” I read the paper and moved on to a book. Then it dawned on me. It was 6:50 and no one was boarding. I saw the guy grab the microphone. “We’re sorry for the inconvenience, but we are having a computer problem on your plane. We will update you again at 7:30.” At 7:30 he said, “Sorry for the inconvenience. I have nothing else to tell you. We will try to update you again at 8:00.” At 9:00, I went to where he was standing. He pretended he couldn’t see me! At 10:00, “Sorry for the inconvenience but we ain’t leaving anytime soon. We have a part arriving from NYC to fix this plane. This flight is canceled and rescheduled for 1:30.” The beat news is that we all had to get in line to

Woke at 4:00 to be ready for my flight out. (Actually misread the itinerary and could’ve slept until 5:00). Texted a liberal leaning buddy of mine and he answered, at that ungodly hour - he rises at 4:30 every day - and it was then that I considered this 🐀 race. Up before the sun and I usually don’t wrap up my work day until after 5:00 - which gives me about 4 hours before I take Melky up to bed to read for an hour. So, 5 total hours a day that are mine each day of the work week... ... seems like a lot of work for a lazy, liberal loser who wants everything for free, right? Thing is, I have not been without a job since about 1977. Yet, there’s a true line of demarcation in the sand when liberal leaning people think about conservatives and vice-versa. I’m of the opinion that the line is thinner than most people believe. Fox News sells the “lazy liberal” lines and CNN and MSNBC tell us that conservatives don’t care about anyone but themselves... ...and I find both thi

On Saturday afternoon I watched the “We Are the World” video. It debuted 35 years ago. I loved it when it came out. I was only 20 then... ...and I really enjoyed it on Saturday. It was great to see all of those musicians gathered and especially cool to see them as younger men and women. Bruce was the highlight for me then and now... ...he belted out his lines, singing backup for Stevie Wonder, and then nailing his main lines. But after watching it... ...I grew a little sad. “We Are the World” was a song to raise money for the starving people in Africa. I’m afraid to think what might happen now if all those artists got together and tried to do something similar now. Trump would call them scumbags. People would boycott them and send out hate tweets and posts because: “We have starving people here!” And the beauty of the moment would be gone. “We are the world. We are the children. We are saving our own lives. We can make a brighter day, so let’s start giving

One of my favorite days this year was when Carrie sent me a series of texts talking about my book, “Small Town.” I’ve talked about it before, but back when I was starting out as a book writer, Carrie was my sounding board. I believe that we worked out the plots for “Desperation”, “Waldorf & Juli” and “In Real Life” in informal meetings where every sentence began with: “What if?” And I write each book in the same way even now... ...I set it up on Sunday...doing the “what if?” all week long before getting it down on Saturday. “I learned about my writing by reading those stories,” Carrie said... ...and that’s a great compliment because she can really write! And today is her birthday - I’m not even sure of the number! I just know that I miss seeing her around... ...at our little meetings where we played the “What if?” Game. Happy Birthday 🎈 kid! You’re brilliant, funny and a great Mom... ...that I know for sure! Have a great day. We 😍 😘 ❤️ love you!

We chased down a movie... ...kinda’ by accident on Friday evening. “Still Mine” starring the great actor James Cromwell. I enjoyed every single minute of it about an old guy, his ailing wife and his desire to still take care of her. The couple is in their late 80’s. They own a lot of land and have a lot of money. When the wife can’t manage stairs anymore, he decides that he’s going to build a new home across the street. The dialogue is great. The acting is even better. Not too many times when I’ve watched a movie and anticipated every single line. The thing about it is that it’s achingly beautiful about aging, dying and never giving up. It’s the kind of story that I wish I would’ve written, and I don’t see a whole lot of things anymore where I can’t guess the direction of the plot. “This is okay, right?” Kathy asked about halfway through. “It’s amazing.” And the thing about it is that every single time the main character gets some hard news he says, ‘Fair En

Trump, at 72, is the youngest possible next president. Like the other two remaining candidates he’s an old, white guy. The most diverse field of candidates in the Democratic field yielded either Bernie or Biden. Two old white guys. Like every other president ever. Now it’s possible that either Joe or Bernie taps a woman for the VP slot, but maybe not. I was sort of sad to see Elizabeth Warren go, and I’m not quite sure what happened to Mayor Pete or Kamala Harris... ...but the voters spoke out on Super Tuesday. Biden seemed to rise from the ashes and I barely followed it. I can’t much handle the speeches and the promises that all sound the same to me. They all seem to say that they will help the hard-working Americans who deserve affordable healthcare and college and blah-blah-blah-freaking-blah. But this is most certainly an important election. There’s a huge difference between the white guys who remain, or so it seems. Know what I want? Peace. I don’t want t

My nephew, Johnny, sent me a song to listen to: “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel. “Don’t forget to listen to this today,” he texted. He had read about how Jeff and I had sang the song over and over and over again until we could sing the song without even hearing it. “Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnny Ray, South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio.” I can still do it... ...all the way through. “You really got cheated,” I told my young nephew. “I’m trying to do good so he sees me from heaven,” Johnny said. And I gave him a lot of answers, but none of them were any good. “It sucks,” I said. “He was my favorite person ever, and he loved you so much.” Our conversation went on like that for a little while and then I tried to make him laugh by telling him what I might do to St. Peter when I finally meet him. He laughed and then had a very Jeff-like response that made me laugh. So, perhaps the answer is hidden somewhere in the life that we still ha

It’s a date that I’ve grown to despise: March 4th. Eleven years since I last saw my brother. And there are so many little things that still pop into my head. Every day. Just yesterday I heard, “Nothing Man” from Bruce’s “The Rising” record. The day it was released we discussed the lyrics. “The guy is going to kill himself,” Jeff said. “No way. Where you getting that?” “The pearl & silver on my night stand. I’ll show you courage you can’t understand.” He was right. I never put it together that way. I heard that song yesterday and recalled the entire conversation. Lots of those talks just pop into my head... ...and of course, it’s better to have loved, but 11 years without my brother seems like a rather tough punishment to endure for that love. I still feel cheated... ...out of all the laughs I’ve missed... ...out of all that love that I still felt but I’m not sure he has been able to recognize. We were talking about Sam and his love of the NCAA To

I don’t watch a whole lot of the talking heads news shows. I mostly get my news from reading, but of course, I was aware of Chris Matthews and his show Hardball that aired on MSNBC. Well, it did air there. Matthews quit last night... ...two minutes into the show because there was an article printed about how he inappropriately talked to guests on his show. He asked one guest, as she was in the makeup chair, that he wondered why he hadn’t fallen in love with her. The woman explained that she was uncomfortable. Now, I’m sure this isn’t the popular thing to say, but I read all the allegations and it’s lost on me how a comment like that can destroy a woman who hears it. I wasn’t there and perhaps Matthews was a creep, but it seems pretty unbalanced to me. Franken resigned. Matthews resigned. Others are going to jail for far worse things and they deserve it, but still others, call the women liars and stay right where they are. Matthews final statement dealt with how

We celebrated Melky’s 14th birthday yesterday. She moves a little slower and she has a few growths on her, including one on her lip, that was bleeding a little yesterday, but she amazes me every day. We grabbed Melky from the last cell at the YMCA back in the early summer of 2006. She was a little smaller back then, and she was certainly a lot more hyper, but all-in-all, she’s the same dog. And, man oh man, she loves me. I was in Kansas last Sunday through Tuesday. “She hardly moves when you’re gone,” Kathy said. “She eats, goes outside and then sleeps, and sleeps and sleeps.” “Isn’t that what all of you do?” I asked. “We don’t have to go out,” my beautiful wife said. Yet, when I’m home! I walked through the door at 8:00 on Tuesday night. Melky didn’t hear me come in. “She’s deaf as hell,” Sam said. I actually went to her spot on the couch and touched her shoulder. Her eyes opened slowly. She took in that it was me standing before her. And then she started

“It’s a Democrat hoax!” And people cheered. That was at a South Carolina rally as they were speaking about the Coronavirus. Then the first USA death. A 50-something male in Washington state. “It’s all under control. We lost a life here. She was a great woman.” Yeah. Someone didn’t properly brief the Orange menace. And that’s the thing about lying all the time... ...no one trusts you to tell the truth. “We have a lot of medical elements going on. It’s going good.” What are ‘medical elements’? Thankfully, Michael Pence is on the job. He of the ‘evolution isn’t real’, gays can be prayed away, and God will provide if we pray hard enough. What could go wrong there? The CDC guy? He’s being stopped from appearing. The real shame here? The Coronavirus is a hoax speech is being slapped on every MAGA social media post. So, China, Italy, Europe, Japan, Denmark, Sweden, etc... ...have all decided to join with Pelosi and Shumer to conspire against Trump? He sho