Justify wins Belmont Stakes. Image via Forbes.
Gee, do you think Justify will be going to the White House?
The massive chestnut colt – huge, as a certain American president would say – secured the Triple Crown in decisive fashion Saturday with a win in the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in New York. Schooled by Bob Baffert, 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah’s trainer, Justify is the 13th colt to win the Crown and only the second to do so undefeated (behind Seattle Slew, 1977). Neigh-sayers (I couldn’t resist) note that the other Baffert colt in the race, Restoring Hope, ran interference for Justy, that he wasn’t as great as his ancestor Secretariat, that he was slower than AP, blah, blah, blah. Look, Justify beat the field and like the great Citation (Triple Crown, 1948) and, my favorite, Affirmed (Triple Crown, 1978), he ran just as fast as he had to in order to win. That’s how smart he is. They’re all great champs – and they’re great in their time.
Horses, however, are not aware of politics – or what President Donald J. Trumpet calls “political correctness” but what is actually nothing more than good manners – yet Baffert, jockey Mike Smith and the international syndicate that owns Justify certainly are and, we hope, won’t be going to the White House any time soon. I’m sure Alex Ovechkin – captain of the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals and supporter of Russkie President Vladimir “Vlad the Lad, Rootin’ Tootin’” Putin – will be at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. with bells on. We know Steph Curry and the rest of the Golden State Warriors will not be going, because the team said as much even before it won the NBA Championship.
So many joyous sporting events and yet so little joy. Philadelphia Eagles, Golden State Warriors, the G6 Plus (or minus) 1 feels your pain. People – OK, the libs on MSNBC – keep wondering why Donnie Two Scoops disses his own constituents (football and basketball players vote, you know) and his friends in Europe and North America while pushing for this June 12 summit with “L’il Kim” Jong-un, now sporting vanilla-colored “Great Gatsby” suits, and advocating for Russia to be back with the G7. (It was the G8 until the Russkies annexed Crimea but hey, the Donald says the Crimeans wanted to be part of Russia, so there.)
Yes, Donnie has a strongman complex. We know that. Damaged ego that he is, he equates toughness, brittleness, meanness and a whole bunch of other nesses with strength, so he gravitates to other puffed up, weak egos who measure their worth in the size of their nuclear arsenals. But there’s something else going on here. As a narcissist, Donnie doesn’t just need an audience; he needs everyone to be an audience. He can’t bear being unloved – which is ironic as he does so little to be loved. (This would help explain why he’s pardoning everyone left and right, including Muhammad Ali, whom the United States Supreme Court exonerated long ago for refusing to serve in Vietnam.)
So, he has to seek constantly what he doesn’t have. He has Europe and North America. They’re a known quantity. Whereas he hasn’t yet performed for Kim. He’s the shiny new toy that baby wants. Once he gets it, Kim will be in for a dissing. That’s why, as any Rules Girl knows, the way to deal with a narcissist is to withhold, withhold, withhold. Right, Melania?
Or you can, as Fleetwood Mac sang, “Go Your Own Way.” That’s what the G6 appears to be doing.
Someday, Donnie Two Scoops will be all alone with the only one he loves – himself. Just like Charles Foster Kane in “Citizen Kane.”
Until then, Justify, I’d keep your phone on “Silence.”