Hal Brown's Substack (fomerly Hal Brown's Blog)

October 24, 2025

I fear that we will look back at today as a prelapsarian time once Trump is so entrenched in power that elections, Congress, and the courts are irrelevant. If only we had a president like some of the characters in NetFlix hit show "The Diplomat."

First, lest you think I am more erudite than I am, I didn’t know the meaning of the word prelapsarian when I heard it on a season three epsisode of the excellent NetFlix show starring and produced by Keri Russell (of The Americans).

The British Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge was talking to his Foreign Minister, Austin Dennison, who he hated. I can’t find the exact line but the PM was talking about having to put aside their past animosity of prelapsairan times.

All this has nothing to do with Trump except to say that we’d be lucky to have someone like Trowbridge as our president. For that matter, if you’re familiar with the show, there are at least six other characters who I’d trade in an instant for Trump. For fans of the show I include Grace Penn and William Rayburn. I don’t want to give a spoiler (especially for season three). If you are reading this and haven’t seen the show I reommend you do. If, like us you watched seasons one and two and you forgot lots of the plot I suggest you start at the beginning.

“The Diplomat” joins a long list of television shows and movies which are about fictional presidents and world leaders who the country, really any country, would be lucky to have.

Here are 15 fictional American presidents in TV and movies. Everyone has their favorite. Mine is Kiefer Sutherland’s Tom Kirkman in “Designated Survivor.” I know lots of people like Martin Sheen’s Jed Bartlet (“The West Wing”) but I enjoyed seeing how the Kirkman character evolved from being an obscure “designated survivor” into a highly capable leader.

Here’s a much longer list from Ranker. It puts Kirkman as number two after Jed Bartlet.

October 23, 2025

Trump needs a ginormous gilded ballroom fit for a king. Who are we mere mortals to deny him such a royal presidential perk? “It was never thought of as being much.” Trump about the East Wing

See animations I added yesterday

New here? Read previous posts.

(Correction: An earlier version of this described what turned out to be a fantasy about my neighbor and toddler girlfriend’s house having an attic ballroom. I checked with her and she said it didn’t.)

I want to share a bit about my childhood. We weren’t rich, anything but. We were the poorest family, not only in the neighborhood but among all of my friends. My father was a self-employed upholsterer and we only lived in a neighborhood with what could be called McMansions because when he married my mother he moved into her parent’s house.

My house is No. 42 with the star over it. You can see how big some of the other houses are in this current image from Google Maps.

I did get to see lots of really big mansions on acres of beautiful grounds. This was because my father had many rich customers in upscale Westchester County, NY, and I went on deliveries with him when I was old enough to help. I saw the mansions of the owner of Revlon, Charles Revson, and William F. Buckey. My father made custom furniture for both of them and other very wealthy people.

Do you get where I am going with this yet?

Of course Trump lives in a mansion. After all he’s the American president. Before being president he had a mansion in Florida and a triplex penthouse in New York City.

Even our governors live in houses called mansions (see some of them here). Typically, rich people and others who live in mansions have large rooms for entertaining. They generally don’t live in homes on any national registers of historic homes so if they decide to demolish part of their homes to enlarge a ballroom they don’t find their efforts thwarted.

If Trump gave two shits about rules about such things, this would be one more shit than any normal person could crap out on their bathroom throne.

Trump wants the power of a dictator and the few kings left who aren’t figureheads and exercise absolute power. Whether you liken him to a king, dictator, despot, or tyrant Trump relishes the trappings and the pomp and circumstance of power.

He probably visited Al Yamamah Palace, the official workplace and residence of the King of Saudi Arabia and the seat of the royal court. He may have seen articles like “Tour the World’s 15 Most Opulent Places” in Architectual Digest, a magazine I wouldn’t be surprised if he subscribes to….

… although he may not appreciate the article “This Architecture Firm Wants to Build a Wall Around Trump’s Mar-a-Lago” published in 2019.

Trump is about as patient as a golfer who gets red ants into his pants is to get to a water hazzard and jump in. I have no doubt that if he could have his ballroom finished earlier by ordering the existing building dynamited he’d do it. Spokespeople for the president say that the project will be completed before the end of his term but there are those who beg to differ that it can be done this quickly.

You know that Trump will do anything to make sure he gets to hold the grandest party that puts this one to shame.

October 22, 2025

There was no Super Glue for Trump's fascistic "I'll only be dictator on the first day" boast to make it happen, so he's slowly adding fixative to Dictator Epoxy. Some glues are made for special purposes like for fabric, glass, and metal. None are made for metaphors.

I was inspired to write this after I read Jennifer Rubin’s Substack on The Contrarian this morning and added this comment:

Combine the White House demolitiion with everything else Trump has done and it is akin to adding fixative to the epoxy of fascistic control and we see it hardening before our eyes. That is MY metaphor. For more examples of the way I think, and how if differs from the relentless attempts at optimism from The Contrarians like Jennifer and Norm who I admire see my Substacks. I hoped for reality and less wishful thinking when I shelled out $500 to be a founding member. Please don’t dismiss me as a cranky 81 year old from the besieged city of Portland,

Epoxy glue works by mixing two components: an epoxy resin and a hardener. When combined, they undergo a chemical reaction that causes the mixture to cure and harden, forming a strong bond that can withstand heavy loads and resist environmental degradation. (From AI)

If Trump could have pulled off his dictatorship in the one day which he promised it would have been like him using Super glue. There are lots of them on the market:

This was the original and is still the best known:

Some are made for special purposes like for fabric, glass, and metal. None are made for metaphors.

They work by using a chemical called cyanoacrylate, which rapidly forms strong bonds when it comes into contact with moisture. This process, known as polymerization, creates long chains of molecules that effectively hold surfaces together almost instantly. (More AI)

(The two videos on the top of the page were made using Grok.)

He notes that Trump and his minions Peewee German Miller and ICE Barbie Noem are helping turn our Democracy into a fascist state. He doesn't mention Pam Bondi, Pete Hegseth, Steve Bannon, and Russ Vought. The later is often referred to as the key “toady” in Project 2025. He serves as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget though seems to be as much of an influential Trump whisperer as Miller.