Jerry, at the outset, let me say I’m a big fan of Seinfeld. We never watched your show when it was in prime time, but always heard good things about it. However, three or four years ago I started watching the episodes. I’ve seen every one and find the characters and plots hilarious. I put your show up there with MASH and the original Star Trek; no matter how many times I’ve seen an episode, and know what’s going to happen, I always enjoy it as if I’m watching it for the first time.
I read your New York Times August 24th op-ed in response to James Altucher’s August 13th LinkedIn article about the decline and fall of New York City. His account of the current state of Manhattan is sobering, at least, if not outright depressing. While I am not a lifelong New Yorker like him, I lived in Manhattan for two years after school and commuted into the City for 25 years from northern New Jersey. For years my wife and I went in the City in November for her birthday. When our kids were young, we frequently took them to see the tree at Rockefeller Center early on a Saturday or Sunday morning in the weeks before Christmas. I ran six NYC marathons (many, many years ago). Yankees and Mets games, and the Big East basketball tournament, also brought me into New York frequently.
I only point out my exposure to New York to show that while I don’t have the familiarity with New York City of either of you, I have some knowledge of the state of the City for the past three decades and an appreciation for the problems the City, its businesses and residents are facing during the Wuhan pandemic.
You seem a little miffed (and you are not alone) at Altucher that he hasn’t hunkered down to wait for Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo to decree from on high when New Yorkers will be able to open businesses, go to restaurants and gyms, attend religious services, etc. He recounts the instances of people he knows who have left or are preparing to leave the City for good, the jobs that have been lost and aren’t coming back. I can’t imagine how the small delis and pizza shops, shoe repair shops, dry cleaners and barbers/hair salons can survive with the extended loss of the workers who populate Manhattan during the work week. I doubt that many of the owners of small businesses and their employees have savings equal to a year’s salary that they can rely upon to make rent or mortgage payments, clothe and feed their families, etc. After all, Jerry, celebrities like you, and, let’s say, Alec Baldwin and his Spanish wife (heh, heh), don’t have to worry about diminished income, or no income at all, until Cuomo decides he’s going to let his subjects get back to work.
I agree with you, Jerry, that the “stupid virus will give up eventually.” Moreover, thanks to President Trump and Operation Warp Speed, the public will be vaccinated over the next few months and this “herd immunity” we keep hearing about will kick in. Or so the “experts” tell us.
But I see other problems facing New York City (and many others across the country). Namely, Jerry, the policies of progressive politicians, prosecutors and government bureaucrats are killing the cities over which they rule. Thanks to the “defund the police” movement, de Blasio cut $1 billion from the NYPD budget. The result? A reduction in the number of cops patrolling high-crime areas-and fewer cops. 3,000 fewer police officers, as a matter of fact.
Jerry, while the overall crime rate in 2020 was down .89% from 2019, murders went up 41% compared to 2019, from 317 to 447 (as of December 27th). The number of shooting incidents increased 97.4%, from 769 to 1,518. The number of shooting victims went from 914 to 1,855, a 103% leap.
This is the highest level of violent crime seen in New York in fourteen years.
Of course, New York is not the only major city experiencing mounting murders.
The million dollar question for you New Yorkers, Jerry, is after they contain the Wu flu, will the violent crime spree dissipate and the quality of life in Gotham return to normal? Altucher and many of the people who have deserted New York have apparently determined that the answer is “no.”
Why is the answer “no?” Could it be that many New Yorkers look at New York politicians and don’t feel that the problems that currently plague New York are going to be remedied anytime soon?
Jamaal Bowman, newly elected to Congress from New York, says that capitalism is “slavery by another name.” He is looking forward to becoming a member of the Squad. Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez was not happy with de Blasio’s $1 billion cut to the NYPD budget- it wasn’t enough: “defunding the police means defunding the police.” The New York legislature passed a bail reform law that, even after it was later amended, forces judges to release violent criminals into New York neighborhoods. The mayor has said the “mission is to redistribute wealth.”
Comforting, isn’t it?
The de Blasio administration moved hundreds of homeless people into three hotels on the Upper Westside, including 10 sex offenders to a hotel one block from a playground. “Everyone who can move out is moving out.”
Just this past week, a marauding pack of approximately 25 kids on bikes attacked a taxi driver and a 36-year-old man who was driving his 70-year-old mother. On 5th Avenue. At 4:30 in the afternoon. Violent crime is surging in the subways. A Cuomo aide in midtown was attacked with a piece of cement by a homeless guy at 2:15 pm on Christmas Eve. In October, Rick Moranis was assaulted on Central Park West at 70th Street at 7:25 am.
I could go on.
At least de Blasio will leave because of term limits. Is there relief in sight for New Yorkers? Another Rudy Giuliani or Mike Bloomberg on the horizon?
I also disagree with you about working remotely. I can see how you, as a performer, thrive in an environment surrounded by writers, other comedians, production staff and audiences. However, there are many other professions where workers can efficiently carry out their job responsibilities from their living rooms or home offices. They also may enjoy the benefits of not commuting into a city, such as eliminating related expenses and adding commuting time back into their daily routine.
Even if workers go into the office one or two days a week, that means 60% of the time they don’t have to fight rush hour traffic and can turn off their computer at the end of the workday to immediately play with kids, have a drink with their spouse, etc.
I think many people will adjust to that.
New York has had the largest population decline in 2019-2020 in the country. I don’t think that means that New York is going to die. But it will change. It may not change much for wealthy entertainers, lawyers, doctors and Wall Street types. But I think New York will have to attract a new population of small business owners, servers, repairmen, etc. Maybe apartments will be more affordable for the middle class. What will the commercial real estate market look like if workers don’t come back? When is the teachers’ union going to agree to in-person schooling?
Lots of questions for New York City in 2021.
Hmm, it is indeed a good thing that vaccines have been developed and, admittedly, they were developed under Trump’s presidency. Did he otherwise have anything to do with them? Would any responsible leader not seek a such a solution to a pandemic? Nonetheless, the pandemic is surging and the keys to preventing the spread are social distancing and masks. Every epidemiologist agrees on this. Yet our leader not only eschews both but openly and repeatedly mocks the concept. Come to think of it, other than lauding the vaccine, he really hasn’t said a word about the raging pandemic in months. It’s all in his actions. He does spend an inordinate amount of time claiming electoral fraud without presenting any evidence at all and summarily losing every case for lack of same. Back to the vaccine, he bragged about 20 million being vaccinated by the end of the year. He barely hit 10%. More importantly, no national plan for distribution or inoculation. That’s where that Defense Production Act would have come in really handy but there is none. The 50 states are left to compete with each other in a national emergency. Thanks Mr. President.
Meanwhile, he did spend a solid 6 months before the election claiming there would be election fraud. As President one would think, if that were the case, he of all people would have the power to prevent it. But no, he just banged that drum regularly and loudly. Now, lo and behold, he claims election fraud sans evidence except, wait for it, him asking Georgia, inter alia, to just give him the votes necessary for him to win.
Meanwhile, my conservative friend, I was under the impression that conservatives favored law and tradition. Is it not traditional for the losing side in an election concede defeat and cooperate in the peaceful transfer of power. That is clearly not happening here. It’s not because there are “allegations of fraud”. Any evidence behind those allegations? Nope. So why can’t we actually do the patriotic thing and accede to the will of the people? There are 73 million people who are disappointed but there are 80 million who voted for the guy that won. That’s why they call it an election and the winner gets the office. That’s the American tradition. This is a bad production of King Lear. Thanks Mr. President for thoroughly diminishing the Republic for which you care much less for than your infinitely fragile ego.
As to the vaccines, yes, the doctors and scientists at the drug companies created the vaccines. But President Trump’s administration set up Operation Warp Speed, which sent billions of tax dollars to the drug companies. So, yes, on a macro level, President Trump was responsible for the vaccines.
There are delays in people getting vaccine injections. But you say that is the president’s fault? The federal government paid and prodded the drug companies to develop the vaccines and other pharmaceutical therapeutics. The federal government delivered the vaccines to the states. Are you saying federal workers are supposed to be doing the actual injections? Have you ever heard of “federalism”? I saw on the news several weeks ago Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo in West Orange at a shopping center where they were setting up a vaccination center in a vacant store. Isn’t that how this is supposed to work? (I did not see any federal workers scurrying around). It’s the states’ turn to step up to the plate.
BTW, what is it with some of these governors? Cuomo decrees that jailed inmates are a priority? He’s threatening to fine hospitals and/or take away their stores of vaccines if they deviate from his vaccine distribution plan? He truly is a petty tyrant. And others saying that healthcare workers should get vaccinated before the most vulnerable population, the elderly, because there are a lot of minority healthcare workers and most seniors are white? Give me a break.
President Trump did invoke the Defense Production Act to have more ventilators and PPE manufactured. That worked. As an aside, for all their public spats, even Cuomo went on Howard Stern’s radio show in April and praised President Trump and his team for their responsiveness to New York’s pandemic needs.
As for the election, I remind you that under our federal form of government, states run elections, not the federal government. If the federal government ran elections, I’m sure President Trump would have precluded mail-in voting, the form of voting most susceptible to fraud.
I must confess that I am coming around to your view-not completely, mind you- that the president’s efforts to overturn election results were futile. I won’t go in for bad faith, but the fact that every case was thrown out because they couldn’t provide factual support for any of the public allegations is disappointing. I still don’t see how Trump lost. Biden didn’t campaign and is in obvious mental and physical decline. Compare this to the successes of the Trump administration, the economy’s performance pre-Wuhan pandemic and the enthusiasm of Trump supporters. What about the fact that the Republicans gained seats in the House?
I am coming around to the view that (1) Trump is hated -not just disliked, but hated- by a significant part of the country and (2) there are a number of Republicans who may not hate him but dislike him, find him divisive and therefore won’t vote for him.
Trump is Trump. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about him in 2024 after what happened this week. We’ll talk about that after my next post in a few days.
Thanks again for taking the time to read and comment on the post.,
You imply heroic efforts by the president. Leading the fight in a pandemic is his job. I did give him credit for encouraging vaccine research and, thankfully, multiple companies worked on it with all due haste. Some received federal dollars some didn’t. Here’s the issue with Operation Warp Speed. He never put it under the Defense Production Act. Never put all the might of the federal government behind it in planning ALL the medical needs in a pandemic. He, again, spiked the football on creation of the vaccine but logistics were left to 50 competitors aka the individual states of America. Not to mention the other requirements for treating the Covid victims. The virus is currently peaking, more people catching it and dying from it daily than ever. Rather than getting a handle on it, he has exacerbated it with his abject failure to encourage what medicine knows is necessary, ie Social Distancing and masks. Not only does he not encourage them he mocks them. Ya think that may be why the virus got the most protected man on the planet and his coterie?
I got my shot at Korvettes/K-Mart on Friday. Coincidentally Joe D and the Gov were there at the same time. Had a nice chat with Joe D. As of Friday Essex had done about 8,000 vaccinations. There were at least 50 volunteers and it was relatively seamless. That is the end use. The logistics of getting to that point are daunting. That is where the federal government, such as FEMA, needs to organize and coordinate on a WW2 level. They simply haven’t. That’s the failure. At the current rate it will take 10 years to inoculate every American. Can we wait that long. And, incidentally, has he said a word about the RAMPANT PANDEMIC since the vaccines were announced. Has he said anything of substance about it in 6 months? Has his VP who’s in “charge” said anythig at all?
As to the election. Biden did campaign. He was smart enough not to have rallys during a pandemic. They are really bad disease spreaders. The fact that republicans gained seats in the house is one element proof that it wasn’t rigged. The fact that not one of roughly 63 Lawsuits regarding the election succeeded is further proof. Some of the scathing opinions by republican appointed judges is icing on the cake.
Trump is Trump committed political suicide on Wednesday. That was sedition. He encouraged it. Giuliani encouraged it.
On Wednesday Rudy Giuliani urged the rallly crowd to do “trial by combat”. Then the president said, “Together we are determined to defend and preserve government of the people, by the people and for the people,” Trump said, adding that “we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
He said “we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue – I love Pennsylvania Avenue – and we’re going to the Capitol and we’re going to try and give” Republicans “the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I want to thank you all. God bless you and God bless America. Thank you all for being here, this is incredible.”
Now, imagine a BLM rally on Wednesday instead of a Trump rally. Imagine what you’d think of them disrupting a joint session of Congress. Imagine how many more dead people there would be.
As to the economy. It went up at a (slightly) greater rate during the Obama administration and, of course, was supposed to crash if Biden got elected. When was the last DJ record set? I see.
The rats are deserting the ship except Cruz and Hawley. You can have them.
There will, and there should be, hell to pay for Wednesday and it is at the feet of Trump and his sycophants. They are not patriots. The election ended 2 months ago. It was not stolen. Biden won by 7 million votes. Patriots work with the democracy. They do not encourage rebellion against it.
P.S. Cruz is loathsome yet smart. He keeps saying we need to hear these “allegations” as opposed to evidence or proof of election fraud. As a lawyer you know he’s not going to offer phony evidence. As the republican Krebs said, the election wasn’t rigged. For that Trump fired him. I do agree any political future for Trump went into the shitter on Wednesday. A very stupid, very narcissistic display. I almost feel sorry for him except he has never shown a scintilla of empathy for anyone. Won’t miss him.
I am not implying the president’s efforts on the vaccine was “heroic.” As you say, it was his job. But he did a great job and I’m not sure who else would have done it as well.
Now we’ll see now what type of a job Biden does. God help us.
Are you sure social distancing and masks are going to save us? Is that the science? Then why are California and New York in such bad shape? Why is Florida, with limited lockdowns, performing better than New York?
Would Cuomo countenance any interference from the federal government in the vaccine distribution? He said weeks ago he wasn’t even going to distribute it until his own people had the opportunity to test the efficacy. You are the only person I have heard blaming Trump for the poor rollout of the vaccine. I know you’re smarter than the rest….
You left out the part of President Trump’s speech in which he told his supporters to march to the Capitol “peacefully and patriotically.” He encouraged them to go to the Capitol to show themselves and have their voices heard. He did not tell them to invade the building, fight with the police or damage property.
We don’t have to imagine what would have happened if it had been a BLM rally January 6th- we saw it all summer. Cars on fire, rich white kids yelling at and cursing black police officers, Trump supporters being manhandled, broken store windows and looters.
I’ll reminded you that last three times Republicans won the presidency, Democratic politicians challenged the electors, just as the Republicans did this election. What about the riots that occurred when President Trump was inaugurated? 200 people were arrested. Last Wednesday was pretty bad-but Democrats do not have clean hands.
Peacefully and patriotically?
I watched it live. These are quotes:
Donald Trump Jr., warmed up the audience by warning of challenges to Republican members of Congress who did not back the pro-Trump efforts: “We’re coming for you,” he said.
Rudy Giuliani urged the rallly crowd to do “trial by combat”.
Then the president said, “Together we are determined to defend and preserve government of the people, by the people and for the people,” Trump said, adding that “we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
I’m missing the love peace and happiness.
As for BLM, some got out of hand and I don’t condone violence and rioting. There were 2 sides in much of that which is irrelevant at the moment. However, as unfortunate as they were, to equate them with a violent and directed attempt to overthrow the US government is a bit lacking. The Congress of the United States was assaulted in joint session by a mob incited by Trump. That is inescapable. Even Mitch McConnell admits it. Much as everyone, but Trump, knows and admits he lost the election fair and square and by a significant margin. No president, republican or democrat, ever exhorted a mob to fight for them. No president, republican or democrat, refused to admit defeat when it was clear to all. No president, republican or democrat, refused to take any responsibility when things go awry. Remember Truman, “the buck stops here”. No president, democrat or republican, ever had his followers assault the US Capitol leaving 2 capitol police officers dead, one officer forced to shoot dead a rioter trying to enter the House Chambers. This wasn’t just a riot, this was a ridiculous attempt at a coup. This was sedition. This was treason. There is no where else to point the finger of blame.
As to masks and social distancing. Yes! That’s the science. It’s needed because it’s an incredibly contagious virus that has spread worldwide. The areas that observe masks and social distancing have done significantly better world wide. Proven and commonly known. Trump doesn’t like his face covered so he pooh-poohed it and called it “fake news”. Incidentally “fake news” is anything that doesn’t cast him in a positive light. Not to repeatedly encourage the best first line of defense and exhort the country to unite in fighting the pandemic is and absolute dereliction of his duties and responsibilities as President of the United States and Leader of the free world.
Telling people all the time to were masks all the time-isn’t that what Cuomo and Newsom do? And how is that working out for Californians and New Yorkers? We hear that from local officials all the time. Why do we have to hear it from the president? And Kamala Harris said she wouldn’t take the vaccine if President Trump recommended it. How is that for leadership and unity during the pandemic?
Peacefully and patriotically?
I watched it live. These are quotes:
Donald Trump Jr., warmed up the audience by warning of challenges to Republican members of Congress who did not back the pro-Trump efforts: “We’re coming for you,” he said.
Rudy Giuliani urged the rallly crowd to do “trial by combat”.
Then the president said, “Together we are determined to defend and preserve government of the people, by the people and for the people,” Trump said, adding that “we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
I’m missing the love peace and happiness.
As for BLM, some got out of hand and I don’t condone violence and rioting. There were 2 sides in much of that which is irrelevant at the moment. However, as unfortunate as they were, to equate them with a violent and directed attempt to overthrow the US government is a bit lacking. The Congress of the United States was assaulted in joint session by a mob incited by Trump. That is inescapable. Even Mitch McConnell admits it. Much as everyone, but Trump, knows and admits he lost the election fair and square and by a significant margin. No president, republican or democrat, ever exhorted a mob to fight for them. No president, republican or democrat, refused to admit defeat when it was clear to all. No president, republican or democrat, refused to take any responsibility when things go awry. Remember Truman, “the buck stops here”. No president, democrat or republican, ever had his followers assault the US Capitol leaving 2 capitol police officers dead, one officer forced to shoot dead a rioter trying to enter the House Chambers. This wasn’t just a riot, this was a ridiculous attempt at a coup. This was sedition. This was treason. There is no where else to point the finger of blame.
One more thing. Jan. 6 was a planned ceremony to accept the electoral college votes. A pro-forma joint session of congress. Who would ever contemplate a presidential rally in opposition to same? The theme was “ take back the stolen election”.. Just how do you think that crowd would think they could do it? They weren’t going in to vote. They were exhorted by Trump and his minions. Who does that? It’s not democratic or republican, its unhinged. Many of the rally goers planned in advance and were armed and ready. The death and destruction was practically inevitable and the, not unexpected, culmination of a ridiculous presidency. It has long been obvious he wouldn’t go away quietly or respectfully. It’s not in him just as admitting defeat despite an avalanche of evidence.
Are you saying President Trump didn’t say “peacefully and patriotically?” Because he did.
There’s one major problem with your assertion that the president, his son and Rudy Giuliani incited the crowd to storm the Capitol. That is, the attack by these dirtbags began before the president’s speech ended. I didn’t realize until a day or two ago that there was a large group of Trump supporters that never went to the speech. They massed the Capitol Hill and began storming the barricades before the president ended his speech. The speeches by the president and others had nothing to do with the riot at the Capitol. Check out the NYT timeline.
There are reports now that the assault on the Capitol building was pre-planned. That makes sense since those two pipe bombs were found, one at the DNC HQ and one at the RNC HQ. They weren’t made by someone who decided to plant them after he heard Giuliani speak. Also, I notice on the videos of the attackers there are always a few with Kevlar helmets and protective vests. I saw one guy breaking a window with a baseball bat. They came to the Capitol with that equipment. That sort of deflates the argument that the president’s speech incited the rioters.
I continue to believe that the President urged the crowd to peacefully protest and demonstrate their support. He did not encourage or expect violence.
The rally was planned, I believe, to show support for the Republicans who were opposing the certification of the electoral college votes. Which, by the way, Democrats have done the last three times Republicans won the presidency. As I said in an earlier response, there is no history of Trump supporters rioting at his rallies (although this was not a Trump rally). The people who invaded the Capitol should be prosecuted, unlike many of the rioters who destroyed property, killed 26 people and wreaked havoc across the country last year.
You say yourself that it was done by a large group of Trump supporters. Of course it was pre-planned. We both saw all the tactical gear. I watched in real time and the craziness on TV occurred after the speech. Investigation may well show it started earlier. There are indications that it was, at least in part, organized white supremacist Trump supporters. Time will tell.
Trump has been banging the stolen election gong since well before the election and amped the rhetoric through last Wednesday. There is no question that it was done by Trump supporters.
As to the “stolen election”. We knew it wasn’t stolen on November 18 when Chris Krebs, the Trump appointee, announced that it was free and fair. He got fired for that. Then they filed over 60 lawsuits with “allegations” of fraud. They had no evidence to offer and all the lawsuits were dismissed.
Now there is nothing wrong with challenging election results, it happens all the time on all levels, but there comes a time when it’s over. In this election that was December 14 when we got the electoral college results.
Despite this clear and convincing evidence of lack of fraud, Trump continued to bang the stolen election gong. In fact he continued to maintain he won in a landslide. He didn’t.
Rather he continued to whip up his supporters and held a counter-programming rally while the joint session of Congress was in session. Nobody does that. Not democrats. Not republicans.
Challenging election results is one thing. Exhorting violence is another. He and his minions, unquestionably incited violence and violence came to pass. However, it wasn’t just a riot. It was an assault on the US Capitol. It was an assault on the US House of Representatives. It was an assault on the US Senate. 5 people died as a result. There is nothing to compare it to. It is not equivalent to any other protest or riot in our lifetime. Legally it was an attempted coup d’etat.
Yes, they should be prosecuted. They should all be prosecuted and it was unquestionably a Trump rally. Hopefully the last. 😉😘
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