I possess several idiosyncrasies. One of them is that I love using one-liners. I have quoted my maternal grandmother in many articles, who often told her grandchildren, “I love me. I think I’m grand. When I go to heaven, I’ll hold my hand.” It was her way of telling us not to act holier than thou.

Another oddity is that I want to know the name of the person who created that pithy saying. So, I googled it and found only a couple of citations that used that quote, all of which were essays I wrote for my website. Hence, my grandmother was the author of that saying. She was both insightful and loving.

This is another one-liner that has fascinated me, “...and a sickness too took root.” Before looking it up, I assumed I would discover it was in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Nope. It wasn’t in Macbeth or any other of Shakespeare’s writings. As with my grandmother’s saying, my other oft-used one-liner, I was the one who created it.

This is a large tree with equally large roots.

My one-liner, “...and a sickness too took root,” is an excellent literary example of Trump the felon. He has an inferiority complex, which causes him to want to be seen as a winner. Can you name something in Trump’s life in which he was a winner? He is genetically predisposed to be a loser.

Trump ran against Hillary Clinton. Clinton beat him by three million votes. However, he became president via the Electoral College. He has never amassed a majority of the vote in either of the presidential elections.

Trump’s inferiority issue was the root of his mantra regarding the stolen election. If reelected in November, Donald, the felon, states, “We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.” Trump’s use of the royal we means that he and some deity will make America great again. If he doesn’t win, he will maintain that it was stolen from him again. When Biden won, no federal or state court found that the election was rigged. Nonetheless, my one-liner, “...and a sickness too took root,” reflects what is happening in America, starting with Trump.

The sickness isn’t limited to Donald the Dumb. Two members of the Supreme Court, Thomas and Alito, suffer from a similar sickness. Thomas’s tenure in the Supreme Court has been quite lucrative. For example, he bought a luxury RV, a Prevost Marathon Le Mirage XL, for over a quarter million dollars.

On the road again with Justice Thomas

To be accurate, Thomas’ RV was financed by a wealthy friend of his, Anthony Welters. After borrowing the money, Welters forgave the loan.

Thomas has been a justice for three decades and, most of the time, was a good friend of Harlan Crow. Crow has given Thomas trips on private jets and yachts all over the world for decades. One trip in 2019 was essentially Crow’s $500,000 gift to the justice.

When confronted with a litany of gifts, Thomas said he didn’t think he had to report “personal hospitality from close personal friends.” These personal hospitality gifts included Crow buying a house where Thomas’ mother lived and allowing her to live there rent-free. One would have thought that a justice on the Supreme Court would have known a half million dollars wouldn’t be personal hospitality. It would be considered a bribe.

The issue of “a sickness too took root” also applies to Justice Alito. He has enjoyed significant monetary gifts that were never reported. Harlan Crow and Paul Singer have tipped Alito with gifts.

However, Alito has discussed how to run the Supreme Court. It is better not to comprise. Part of Alito’s attitude concerns Christian nationalism, which informs Alito’s mindset. It has to do with various ideas like returning to an all-white conservative nation.

When the news broke about the flags at his home and his summer beach home in New Jersey, he said it was his wife’s idea. So, Alito deems it okay to allow women to make decisions about flags but not their reproductive rights.

We have a condescending white guy allowing his wife to decide what flags were important to her, like the American flag flown upside down and the “Appeal to Heaven” flag.

The upside-down American flag at their home and the “Appeal to Heaven” at their beach home

Alito would allow women to play around with unimportant and trivial matters like flag choices. However, men will deal with important issues like women’s reproductive rights. While I lack a law degree, even I can see that mindset is blatant sexism.

While proofing this essay, I got an email from ProPublica about three more trips that Thomas flew in Crow’s personal jet. The sickness is spreading further.

In closing, I remember a video of Thomas talking about being an ordinary man who likes Walmart parking lots over resorts. Methinks that is called blatant bullshit.