Editor’s Notes: i) We have divided Part One of Thomas Gotowka’s essay into three parts. This is Section 2—we will publish Section 3 on Thursday, Sept. 5. Read Section 1 at this link.
ii) This is the opinion of Thomas D. Gotowka.

“Mein Kampf” at the Claremont, NH Rally

In a nearly two-hour rambling speech on Saturday, Nov.11, 2023, Trump addressed a rally crowd in Claremont, NH and promised that “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.”

He accused these groups of doing ‘anything’ “to destroy America and to destroy the American dream;” and he then went on to repeat his old and baseless claims of election fraud.

Trump spoke at length about his criminal indictments. “I am being indicted for you. Never forget, our enemies want to take away my freedom because I will never let them take away your freedom. In the end, they’re not after me, they’re after you; I’m just standing in their way.” He said, “The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from within.”

Trump’s dystopian rhetoric has drawn significant criticism and concern from historians and political analysts, who noted the dangerous parallels between Trump’s language and the antisemitic propaganda of Nazi Germany. Historian Jon Meacham said. “To call your opponent ‘vermin,’ to dehumanize them, is to not only open the door but to walk through the door toward the most ghastly kinds of crimes.” 

Yale University professor Jason Stanley, author of “How Fascism Works,” said “It doesn’t echo ‘Mein Kampf.’ This is textbook ‘Mein Kampf.'” 

Huyen “Steven” Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, responded with threats to the criticism. Cheung rejected the critics as “’snowflakes’ suffering from ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome, and threatened that their sad, miserable existence would be crushed when Trump returns to the White House.”

In keeping with the rally’s theme, Cheung may have been mirroring Josef Goebbels, chief propagandist for Adolph Hitler’s Nazi Party with his threatening language. Cheung also worked in communications for “The Ultimate Fighting Championship” organization.

In addition, Trump faced outcry from critics after an interview with “The National Pulse,” a right-wing political news publication, when he said that immigrants, who are in the country without authorization, are “poisoning the blood” of America. He also repeated his longstanding claim that terrorists, criminals, and those with mental illness are coming in through the borders. Trump went on to say his criticism is of immigrants from all over the world, including Asia and Africa.

“Birther” Redux at the National Association of Black Journalists Conference

At this July 31 Conference, Trump released a volley of vicious attacks on Kamala Harris, absurdly questioning her Black identity.  “She changed her identity from Indian to Black for political gain.” His ridiculous claim is reminiscent of the birther nonsense he unsuccessfully attempted on President Obama in 2011 (see Part 2)

Trump said, “I’ve known her a long time, indirectly, not directly very much; and she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage;” After being asked whether he thought Harris was only on the Democratic ticket because she was Black, he responded, “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black,” he continued. “So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”

To set the record straight, Harris’ mother, born and raised in India, was a biomedical scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, whose work in isolating and characterizing the progesterone receptor gene stimulated advances in breast biology and oncology. Her father, Jamaican-born Donald Harris, was a professor of economics at Stanford University, joining the faculty in 1972, retiring in 1998. He also served as an economic consultant to Jamaica’s government. 

Trump bragged that he had been “the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln.” He repeatedly targeted one of the moderators, ABC News’ Rachel Scott, calling her “nasty” for her line of questioning, a word he usually reserves for women.

Harris summarized Trump’s remarks very concisely at a campaign event a few hours after Trump’s appearance at the Conference, and said “It was the same old show.”  

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, once a Trump ally, said that Trump is retreating to his “greatest hits” by attacking Vice President Harris on her race; “and as the presidential race gets tighter, he may revert to more personal attacks.”

Burning Bridges in Atlanta — “I just want to find 11,780 votes”

At an Aug. 3 rally in Atlanta, Trump spent 10 minutes ranting about Brian Kemp, Georgia’s popular governor, blaming him for his loss to Biden in the 2020 election, and for not stopping the district attorney from prosecuting him and several associates for his efforts to overturn Georgia’s election results. 

Trump was already fuming over Kemp, offended by the Governor’s absence from campaign events and fundraisers, and probably other perceived slights. After all, Trump had “helped him get elected.” Kemp had skipped a fundraiser and a Georgia rally weeks earlier; and his wife, Marty, had told a local television reporter that she planned to write in her husband’s name for president, rather than vote for Trump. 

In addition, Kamala Harris had a very successful and enthusiastic rally just a few days before at a packed Georgia State Convocation Center, where she told the crowd “The path to the White House runs right through this state, and you all helped us win in 2020 and we are going to do it again in 2024.” Trump claimed that Harris had an unfair advantage from participating entertainers.

Earlier in the day, Trump took to social media to blast the governor, who he referred to as “Little Brian Kemp. Bad guy;” and former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan for being disloyal to the GOP, after Duncan announced that he was endorsing Harris, despite his party threatening to ban him from running for office as a Republican. Remember when Trump reserved “Little” for Senator Marco Rubio?

Trump continued to falsely claim victory in Georgia, stating that he won the state twice. He also attacked Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who had refused to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump suggested, without evidence, that they were working against him in the 2024 election.

At the rally, Trump said “Your Governor, Brian Kemp, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, they’re doing everything possible to make 2024 difficult for Republicans to win.”. “What are they doing? I don’t know. They’ve got something in mind, you know, they’ve got a little something in mind. Kemp is very bad for the Republican Party.”

He continued, “They don’t want the vote to be honest. In my opinion, they want us to lose. That’s my opinion. And we can’t let that happen because if we lose Georgia, we lose the whole thing and our country goes to hell.”

Harris did admit that she wants Trump to lose.

Trump also tried to paint Harris as an extreme leftist, attacking her positions on the southern border, guns and public safety.

“She was the worst border czar, she was the worst czar in history,” he said, repetitively referring to an informal and unofficial title. “Kamala’s radical ideas belong in a San Francisco commune filled with far left freaks, but they do not belong in the White House. They do not belong in the United States of America. This November, Georgia is going to tell Kamala that we will not let her turn America into a communist country.”

Back Story

On Jan. 2, 2021, a panicking and flailing Trump initiated an hourlong phone call with Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, who included his office’s General Counsel Ryan Germany and Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs. Trump was joined by several lawyers and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

“We won Georgia easily,” Trump said. “We won it by hundreds of thousands of votes.” He listed a litany of phony fraud allegations: e.g., close to 5,000 dead people voted; there were 18,000 secretly counted ballots for Biden; criminal removal of election machinery or machine parts; and dumped ballots, unsigned ballots, forgeries, and shredded ballots in totally corrupt Fulton County. Trump asked the Georgia officials to investigate his allegations about voter fraud. He framed his requests to state officials as a mission to ferret out criminal wrongdoing.

“And you can’t let it happen, and you are letting it happen,” Trump said. “You know, I mean, I’m notifying you that you’re letting it happen. So, look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.”

Finally, Trump asked Raffensperger, “What are we going to do? We won the election, and it’s not fair to take it away from us like this. And it’s going to be very costly in many ways. And I think you have to say that you’re going to re-examine it, and you can re-examine it, but re-examine it with people that want to find answers, not people that don’t want to find answers.”

Raffensperger replied, “We have to stand by our numbers. We believe our numbers are right.”

Size Matters

On January 21, 2017, the first full day of Trump’s presidency, hundreds of thousands of people crowded into the Nation’s capital for the Women’s March on Washington, aimed largely at the Trump administration and the threat it represented to reproductive, civil, and human rights.

Trump was already upset with what he felt were undercounts of his inauguration the day before, and falsely accused the media of lying about the size of the crowds at his inauguration, saying that when he looked out from his podium, “it looked like a million, a million and a half people,” and that the area “all the way back to the Washington Monument was packed.” 

Crowd counting experts said the Women’s March in Washington was about three times the size of the audience at Trump’s inauguration, and drew over 470,000 people in the Capital; and between 3,267,134 and 5,246,670 people in marches across the U.S.

A few benchmarks: The annual Lollapalooza 4-day music festival in Chicago’s Grant Park draws 400,00 each July; as did Woodstock in August, 1969.

About the Author: Tom Gotowka is a resident of Old Lyme, whose entire adult career has been in healthcare. He will sit on the Navy side at the Army/Navy football game. He always sit on the crimson side at any Harvard/Yale contest. He enjoys reading historic speeches and considers himself a scholar of the period from FDR through JFK. A child of AM Radio, he probably knows the lyrics of every rock and roll or folk song published since 1960. He hopes these experiences give readers a sense of what he believes “qualify” him to write this column.

Editor’s Notes: i) We have divided Part One of Thomas Gotowka’s essay into three parts. We will publish Parts 2 and 3 on Monday, Sept. 2 and Tuesday, Sept. 3, respectively.
ii) This is the opinion of Thomas D. Gotowka.

We are almost at the final stage of the two dueling campaigns leading to the 2024 presidential election; which initially had all the hallmarks of being just another nasty election featuring two old white guys fighting to demonstrate the other’s incompetence and inferior intellect; but now, it’s gotten awfully weird.

I begin this “View” below at the first debate and review the remarkable events that occurred right afterwards; which led to the emergence of Vice President Kamala Harris as the strong and popular Democratic candidate for President of the United States (POTUS); and then continue through the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, where an again-confident President Biden passed the torch to his VP in an enthusiastic keynote address to the delegates.

I will consider a few of Donald J. Trump’s campaign events and his recurring themes to get a sense of what’s on, or in his mind — quoting his often-bombastic rhetoric.

In Part Two of this Epic, “Content of Character,” I review several political and legal events in Trump’s life that illustrate his character —  i.e. his moral and ethical principles Note that the title is derived from Martin Luther King Jr’s August 28, 1963, “I have a Dream” speech, which includes the line “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

This will be the most consequential presidential election of my lifetime The country is divided and it will be a very tight race.

I do not support Trump’s candidacy. I feel that the repeated insults he has directed at our veterans and military heroes; and the praise he has directed at authoritarian despots like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un make him particularly ill-suited for the President’s concomitant role, — Commander in Chief of America’s Armed Forces. Trump has posted that he trusts Putin more than the U.S. Intelligence ‘lowlifes’; and has bragged that he knows more than the generals.”

The observations and opinions presented in these two, and all my “Views” are mine. 

I am not privy to the DNC’s talking points; and assuming it matters to anyone, Christina and I have five children and our family’s pets have always joined us as rescued kittens. No miserable, childless cat ladies in our household, Mr. Vance! 

This “View” is long and complicated; but provides a perspective on an evolving period of American history. 

Candidate Harris

President Biden announced on Sunday, July 21, that he would not stand for re-election, evidently unwilling to withstand the increasing calls for his withdrawal that were coming from within his own Party; which intensified after a poor performance in the June 27 debate; after which concerns were raised regarding his physical and cognitive health. 

Paul Choiniere noted in The Day that Trump “lied from start to finish” in the debate, while Biden did little to counter the lies and little to present his record as President. After he announced his plan to withdraw, the President endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Devi Harris to become the party’s nominee, which was incredibly well-received by the Party and the Nation.

Key Democrats rushed to endorse her; and she raised a record $81 million within the first 24 hours of her campaign launch. The AFL-CIO endorsed Harris’ presidential bid, following endorsements by many individual unions.

Note that I regularly refer to the candidates as “Harris,” or Trump;” and the President as “Biden” in these two essays. I mean no disrespect; it just makes for better flow and easier editing. 

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, risking Trump’s wrath, offered strong praise of Biden: “While we have political differences, I appreciate his lifelong service to our nation, which he dearly loves,” “He has devoted his entire life to public service for the people of Delaware and the United States, and I wish him and his family well as this chapter in his life comes to an end.” Harris then hit the campaign trail with energy, enthusiasm, and an articulate message.

Conspiracy theorists, right-wing commentators, and some Republicans immediately cast Biden’s withdrawal from the campaign as evidence of something sinister. Trump tried to portray Harris’ replacing Biden as the nominee as nefarious, likening it to a “coup;” and in recent days claiming it may somehow be unconstitutional, although he could not specify the Article in the Constitution that was violated. 

There is real concern that he could be laying the groundwork to contest his electoral defeat, as he did in 2020.

Trump is now the old man in the race, and after turning 78 last June, became the oldest presidential nominee in U. S. history. Decades older than Harris, he is a convicted felon who has adopted “Hitleresque” themes (see below), and vowed an administration of retribution and televised military tribunals for some of his political opponents.” 

Anne Applebaum, Senior Fellow at the Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, who co-leads a project on 21st-century disinformation has said, “Now it is the Republicans who are saddled with the elderly candidate, the one who can’t make a clear argument or finish a sentence without veering off into anecdote.” 

In reaction, Trump immediately morphed into his “Biff the Bully” persona. As you may recall, Biff Tannen is the bully from the “Back to the Future” movie trilogy; and he had some  memorable lines. — perhaps his most quoted and worthy of an appearance at a Trump rally: “Make like a tree and get outta here!”

Trump is again relying on the insults and personal attacks that characterized his earlier campaigns, and has returned to the distasteful rhetoric for which he’s well-known — second rate and seventh grade insults and ridiculous nicknames. My four-year-old granddaughter, Maddie, sums it up nicely, saying, “That’s stupid!”

Trump, who now appears to be “running scared,” called Harris “dumb as a Rock,” “crazy,” “nuts” “low IQ;” and even repurposed an old insult he had aimed at President Biden; labeling her “Lyin’ Kamala.” There’s more, but you get the picture. 

However, Harris clearly has his measure. On the day after Biden endorsed her, she reminded her campaign team, “I was a courtroom prosecutor.” I took on perpetrators of all kinds; — predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So, hear me when I say: I know Donald Trump’s type.” 

Trump’s allies fear that Harris’ momentum has thrown their candidate into a panicked fury, and are urging him to focus on the policy debate. “I know what I’m doing.”

Harris’ VP Selection

On August 6, 2024, Harris announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. Walz was selected from a pool comprised of state governors, sitting U. S. Senators, and a member of Biden’s cabinet. Trump claimed that “He’ll unleash ‘HELL ON EARTH’ and open our borders to the worst criminals imaginable.” (Trump’s caps)

Soon after Harris announced her candidacy, Trump and his running mate began accusing her of antisemitism, calling her, “Totally against the Jewish people.” On Fox News, Trump attempted to present the Harris’ choice of Governor Walz over Pennsylvania Governor Shapiro  (and others) as driven  by Gov. Shapiro’s Jewish heritage. “I think it’s insulting to Jewish people.”

Vance, expressed similar thoughts at a Philadelphia rally, and said that he, “Felt bad for Shapiro, and that the fact that “the vice-presidential race on the Democratic side became so focused on his ethnicity” is “absolutely disgraceful” and “insulting to Americans.” Vance went even further with “Democrats made Josh Shapiro ‘run from his Jewish heritage.’”

The Trump/Vance duo made no mention of the religious heritage of the other candidates in Harris’ VP pool.

Outrageously Trump has also said, “Jews who vote for the Democratic party “should have their head examined.” 

Governor Shapiro released a statement congratulating Walz. “I know that Governor Walz is an exceptionally strong addition to the ticket who will help Kamala move our country forward.” He added, “Lori and I consider Tim and Gwen to be good friends of ours and we are excited for them and for the country to get to know the great people we know them to be.”

Shapiro generated Trump’s wrath with his “freedom speech” at the DNC, where he said that voting for Harris and Walz was not simply a vote of confidence in two candidates, but a vote against “A threat to our freedoms.”

Weirdly, Trump posted, The highly overrated Jewish Governor of the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, made a really bad and poorly delivered speech talking about freedom and fighting for ‘Comrade Kamala Harris’ for President.”

Note that Harris’ husband and stepchildren are Jewish.

About the Author: Tom Gotowka is a resident of Old Lyme, whose entire adult career has been in healthcare. He will sit on the Navy side at the Army/Navy football game. He always sit on the crimson side at any Harvard/Yale contest. He enjoys reading historic speeches and considers himself a scholar of the period from FDR through JFK. A child of AM Radio, he probably knows the lyrics of every rock and roll or folk song published since 1960. He hopes these experiences give readers a sense of what he believes “qualify” him to write this column.

Dateline: July 31, 2024 (less than 100 days to the election)

Last May, LymeLine published a “View” wherein I detailed my quest to determine the origin of the expression, “Let’s blow this popsicle stand;” which I began to satisfy my nine-year-old grandson, Will’s curiosity. I did not determine “popsicle’s” absolute origin for Will; but did help him begin to appreciate idioms and colloquialisms.

I followed up on a few “leads” that suggested the expression came from a Bogart movie from the 1940s and ‘50s, and watched the six Bogart films that were released in that period, a few with Christina; but did not find the exact phrase, although there were several points in each movie when I/we were certain that it would come up in the next scene. I also introduced Will to regionalisms like “wicked,” “ya’ll,” and y’ins.”

I continue my review of figurative language in this essay and present idioms originating in sports and the military, some that boomers will deny ever saying, and a few deserving of retirement.

Today’s “View” is an effort to provide a bit of nostalgia to serve as a backdrop to another divisive and frightening election and an unusual period of bad political theater in America; where the GOP candidate appears to rely wholly on second-rate and seventh grade insults and nicknames.

I will try to not stray into my observations regarding the events and threats that have occurred in that party’s campaign, although I anticipate that, with Madam Editor’s forbearance, the subject will be covered in a future “View;” well before November. However, there is an important public service announcement in the penultimate section of this “View.”

I begin with a consideration of the title’s origin, which has morphed unintentionally into a profile of an iconic star of the cinema. Note that like last May’s “View,” I have “peppered” this essay with familiar idioms to illustrate just how frequently they appear in conversation.

Origins:

“Wassup?”, sometimes, “Waddup?”, is considered by some as a  “cool” variant of the phrase, “What’s up?”, which appeared in O. Henry’s short story, “The adventures of Shamrock Jolnes,” (1904) and Jack London’s “The Sea-Wolf”, also published in 1904. Remarkably, “Wassup?” may be one of the most common, first texts sent by many teens.

Beyond O. Henry and Jack London, you should also reflect on Bugs Bunny’s characteristic greeting, “What’s up, Doc?”; which he used to surprise his two heavily-armed nemeses, Elmer Fudd (shotgun) and Yosemite Sam (two “six-guns.”)

According to CBS News, Bugs made his debut in theaters on July 27, 1940 in an animated short film (a ‘short’), “A Wild Hare;” marking the beginning of a fabled career where he starred in over 160 shorts that aired between 1940 and 1964.

Warner Brothers reports that Bugs was born in a burrow beneath the turf of Ebbets Field; which was, of course, the home field for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1913 to 1957, when they were forced to “get outta here” by team owners; who relocated them from Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood to Los Angeles’ Chavez Ravine. 

Voice actor, Mel Blanc, gave Bugs a Flatbush accent; and so, Bugs is a bona fide Brooklynite, not unlike Tony Manero, who was played by John Travolta in the 1977 movie, “Saturday Night Fever,” or poet Walt Whitman, who wrote for several Brooklyn newspapers and was editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle from 1846 to 1848.

Bugs starred in several WW2 propaganda shorts and the USMC named him an honorary Marine Master Sergeant in 1943, following his performance in “Super-Rabbit,” in which he donned a Marine uniform and sang the Marine Corps Hymn. In “Herr Meets Hare,” Bugs disguised himself as Hitler, encountering Goering in the Black Forest.

Despite Bugs’ impact on popular culture, “Wassup?” did not gain broad popularity until it was featured in an Anheuser Bush Budweiser commercial campaign that first aired on Monday Night Football on December 20, 1999; where the actors appeared to slur “what’s up?” as “Wassup?” on the telephone.

Bugs was no stranger to controversy; and in 1997, became the first cartoon character to appear on an American postage stamp, sparking angst and anxiety with philatelists, who were  concerned that Bugs would cheapen the commemorative stamp program and other more historically significant subjects might be displaced; although the USPS did issue its first triangle-shaped stamps, featuring a sailing ship and a stagecoach that same year. 

Nevertheless, a second series of the Bugs’ commemorative was issued as “forever” stamps in 2020, celebrating the 80th anniversary of his debut in “A Wild Hare.”

Warner Bros. disarmed Fudd and Sam in their new “Looney Tunes Cartoons” series on HBO Max in 2020; responding to concerns over gun violence in the United States. 

There was a somewhat heated response from guns’ rights groups regarding this “violation” of the Second Amendment. 

The show’s executive producer, Peter Browngardt, stated that, “Even though those two characters have been disarmed, viewers can still expect some cartoon violence. Elmer Fudd will be more “creative” in his attempts to catch Bugs Bunny, using a scythe instead of a shotgun; and there will be sticks of Acme dynamite exploding in characters’ faces.”

Especially relevant today is the children’s book “Daffy Duck for President,” which was published in 1997 by Warner Bros. and the USPS. It explores Daffy’s entry into politics in an attempt to change the law to favor perpetual rabbit season over duck season. During his pursuit of office, candidate Duck learned about the U.S. Constitution, the separation of powers, and our system of checks and balances. In 2004, a four-minute animated short, based on the book, was released, coinciding with that year’s Presidential election, in which incumbent George W. Bush defeated Senator John Kerry.

Although I promised above not to “stray,” readers may want to assess their level of comfort with the Heritage Foundation’s / Trump allies’ Project 2025, a collection of ultra-conservative and right-wing plans to reshape the federal government and consolidate power in the presidency, thus allowing Trump, should he be elected, to use that power to go after his critics. Project 2025 will certainly be included in my next “View” in a play-by-play of the presidential campaign(s). 

I return now to my review of idiomatic expressions.

Idioms from Sports:

A “game changer” refers to an athlete or decisive play that suddenly changes the outcome of a game or series. I illustrate with Willie Mays’ amazing over-the-shoulder catch of a 425-ft. drive to center field by Cleveland Indians’ first baseman Vic Wertz during Game 1 of the 1954 World Series at the Polo Grounds; which stopped a Cleveland rally. The New York Giants then went on to sweep the series in four games over highly-favored Cleveland, securing their first championship since 1933. 

More significantly, the segregated Jim Crow policies of baseball changed forever on October 23, 1945 when Dodgers GM, Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson of the Negro League’s Kansas City Monarchs to a minor league contract that would bring Robinson into the majors on April 15, 1947 in Brooklyn.  Robinson went on that year to become baseball’s first “Rookie of the Year;” and the Dodgers went on to the World Series against the Yankees.

Staying with baseball, if “you “hit a home run” in business, you do something that is very successful. 

Notably, an American trucks manufacturer recently began touting its new EV model as a “game-changer in the pickup truck segment.”

More broadly, Henry Ford revolutionized the automobile industry in 1913 when he installed the first moving assembly line at his Highland Park, MI plant; significantly reducing the time it took to build a car; and so, making cars more affordable for the general public.

The term will certainly be used by analysts in reviewing key election events.

If you are a fan of basketball, you are probably familiar with the “slam dunk,” a scoring play where the player leaps in the air, and jams the ball straight through the basket while touching the rim with one or both hands. 

Off the court, “slam dunk” is often used as an expression of confidence and to describe a situation or action that is expected to be successful or easily accomplished. In other words, the action is a sure thing or a no-brainer.

Idioms from the Military:

The expression, take a “deep-dive” into the data,” suggests a more comprehensive analysis that goes beyond surface-level observations or assumptions; and can be traced back to a diving technique used by USN deep-sea divers during World War II, who would descend to great depths to inspect and repair damage on the ship’s hull from enemy attacks. In addition, contemporary submarines will take a deep dive after maintenance to confirm the integrity of the pressure hull. 

The British will use the expression “Everything’s gone pear-shaped” to describe situations that end badly or go awry or to indicate that a scheme has not been perfectly executed. My research suggests that the phrase originated in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during WW2, where it was used to describe the difficulty that pilots in training faced when attempting to perform aerial maneuvers, often resulting in pear-shaped, rather than perfectly round aerial loops. Note that “loops may be employed by a skilled fighter pilot as an evasive maneuver used in aerial combat; aka a “dog fight.” 

It was also suggested that “pear shaped” was RAF slang describing, in exaggerated terms, the shape of an aircraft that crashes in a nose-dive.

The expression, “in harm’s way,” is often used to describe a dangerous place or situation, particularly when applied to members of the armed services in war. It is attributed to America’s Revolutionary War naval hero, and founder of the United States Navy, John Paul Jones (JPJ). 

In 1778, while seeking a ship from the supportive French government, he wrote, “I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm’s way”.

JPJ is also credited with another important USN expression: “I have not yet begun to fight;” which was his response when asked by Captain Richard Pearson of HMS Serapis if he had struck his colors (i.e. lowered his flag as an indication of surrender), after Jones’ ship, the Bonhomme Richard, had sustained significant damage during the Battle of Flamborough Head on September 23, 1779. This defiant response has since become a symbol of determination and resilience for the United States Navy. 

“I got your six” originated with WW1 pilots and refers to the rear of an airplane as the six o’clock position. The pilot sits directly in front in the cockpit at twelve o’clock. On a battlefield, your “six” is the most vulnerable; so, when someone tells you that they’ve “got your six,” it means they are watching your back.

The phrase, “Stay frosty,” means to stay alert, while keeping one’s emotions under control. People in the military, particularly those in combat, may need to be reminded by their fellow soldiers to keep a cool head when things get rough. However, the popular term now means “Keep cool,” and can be used as a farewell between friends.

A “Snafu” is a military acronym that stands for the expression “Situation normal: all fouled up.” — i.e., the situation is bad, but that’s the normal state of affairs. The acronym originated during WW2; and “Private Snafu”  was a series of instructional cartoons created by director Frank Capra, chairman of the U.S. Army Air Force First Motion Picture Unit; and produced by Warner Brothers. Remarkably, most shorts were written by Theodor Geisel, aka “Dr. Seuss.” (Note that there are other coarser definitions for “Snafu.”)

Author’s Thoughts: My goal in this “View” was to provide a bit of distraction for those of us losing sleep over the rhetoric produced by one of the candidates in this election, which is one for the history books with a former prosecutor versus a convicted felon. Next time, as mentioned above, I will dig deep into campaign events and associated rhetoric and provide a play-by-play of how we arrived at this point, less than 100 days from the polls. Ironically, given the section on pronunciation above, both Project 2025 and the 2024 GOP platform propose eliminating the U.S. Department of Education.

Public Service Announcement (PSA): The GOP candidate repeatedly botched Kamala Harris’ name while speaking recently at the “Believers Summit,” an event held by in West Palm Beach, Fla., by the conservative Christian group “Turning Point Action.” “Some people think I mispronounce it on purpose, but actually I’ve heard it said about seven different ways.” “There are a lot of ways.” “I could not care less if I mispronounce it or not. I couldn’t care less.” 

For everyone’s information, “Kamala” is pronounced “COM-mah-lah,” with the emphasis on the first syllable. It sounds like comma-la when said correctly and aligns with the Sanskrit origins of her name — meaning lotus. She released a PSA during her 2016 Senate run where a cast of kids explain which pronunciations were incorrect for her name.

This is especially bizarre because J.D. Vance’s wife, Usha Vance, whose maiden name is Usha Chilukuri also has a name that can be difficult to pronounce. Her first name is pronounced “OO-shah,” and her maiden name, Chilukuri, is typically pronounced “chee-loo-KOO-ree,” with the emphasis on the third syllable.

Editor’s Note: This is the opinion of Thomas D. Gotowka.

About the Author: Tom Gotowka is a resident of Old Lyme, whose entire adult career has been in healthcare. He will sit on the Navy side at the Army/Navy football game. He always sit on the crimson side at any Harvard/Yale contest. He enjoys reading historic speeches and considers himself a scholar of the period from FDR through JFK. A child of AM Radio, he probably knows the lyrics of every rock and roll or folk song published since 1960. He hopes these experiences give readers a sense of what he believes “qualify” him to write this column.

A Disclaimer:
Despite the title, this “View is not about politics. Rather, I am responding to the report from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that, “Nationwide, cases of consumer fraud are skyrocketing;” and review the magnitude of the problem. I also discuss some of the most common and recent forms of consumer attacks, and add a few personal cyber-war stories, which—in trying to recount them for this essay—compelled me again to ask myself, “Just how dumb do they think we are?”

Access:
Americans are hyper-connected via email, phone(s), texting, social media, and even old-fashioned USPS “snail mail.” Regrettably, our hyper-connectivity provides abundant opportunity for scammer attacks.

The Data:
The total dollars lost to fraud in the United States are daunting and growing.

In 2023, American consumers reported losing more than $10 billion to fraud, an unprecedented benchmark—and of that, $4.6 billion was from investment scams. Looking farther back, the FTC reported consumer losses of only $1.9 billion in 2019, increasing to $3.3 billion the following year, and still growing. 

Americans were scammed of $5.9 billion in 2021, and $8.8 billion in 2022. “… and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.” (usually attributed to Senator Everett Dirksen (R-IL).

The FTC received fraud reports from more than 2.8 million consumers in 2023, with the most reported category being imposter scams, e.g., you receive an urgent call from someone masquerading as a business official, a government agency, or even “on behalf” of a family member, requiring immediate payment of a bill, maybe bail. 

Online shopping followed “imposters” as the second most frequent scam. I have included an example of an imposter scam below.

Connecticut residents reported about $41 million in losses over more than 21,000 reports to the FTC, with about 1 in 5 Connecticut fraud reports involving “imposter scams.” 

Somewhat reassuring, Connecticut currently ranks 27th nationwide in fraud and other reports per capita—“other reports” include deceptive claims related to new and used cars and predatory lending. 

Gallup reports, “Financial scams were among the most common crimes affecting U.S. adults in 2023, with 15 percent saying at least one member of their household has fallen prey; including 8 percent reporting that it has happened to themselves … No subgroup of Americans is exempt from being scammed, but the rate is higher among non-college-educated adults and those in lower-income households.” Editor’s Note: The elderly are also susceptible. “In 2022, there were 88,262 complaints of fraud resulting in $3.1 billion in losses from people age 60+.”

The Classics: 

• Waiting packages” was an early pandemic-era scam, often targeting college students displaced by shutdowns and traveling away from school, e.g., “Thomas: we came across a package in our warehouse from January, still pending delivery to you; but it cannot be conveyed due to incomplete address information. Please follow the attached link or contact us at our customer service number to prove ownership and confirm your address.” In December, 2022, FedEx issued a warning regarding this sort of email and/or or texting scam.
• “Mister Mxyzptlk-type Scams”: “Mxy” is a character who appeared in comic books published by DC Comics. He is described as a “mythical trickster from the fifth dimension, possessing reality-warping powers, with which he enjoys tormenting Superman or making his life difficult. 
  
  You can recognize this type of email scam from its strange email address, awkward grammar, and misspellings. I kept a few of these. One came from: “growthxanlacapganvrgb@pouryourartsout.com;” and another from:  “obeisantiawquivuhbwhovzkplgk@pickupto.com.” Both told me, “You have won an Ninja Neverstick cookware.” Open the email and the offer increased to include, “You have been chosen to participate in our Loyalty Program for Free.” Of course, all one had to do to claim these valuable free prizes was to “Follow the link or contact us at our customer service number.”
  
  Note that these emails are included only to illustrate the issue and are totally bogus. This week, another came from: “cactusryigofxprtpvzwmxxuqw@informationsrevise.com”, notifying me that “You have won an Rachel Ray Cucina Cookware Set.” 

Phishing:
The above examples are known as “phishing” scams, which are attempts to steal personal information or break into online accounts using deceptive emails or sites that appear like sites you may already use. The scammers’ objective is to trick you into clicking on a link or opening an attachment. The term was coined in the mid-1990s by hackers stealing AOL accounts and passwords, i.e., “scammers were using ‘e-mail lures’ and setting out ‘hooks’ to fish for passwords and financial data from the sea of internet users.”

Note, a good rule of thumb is never click on links or make any calls to a “customer service” line in emails if you are unfamiliar with the source.

Our Imposter Experience:
My wife Christina answered a call in February from a woman, who identified herself as a social worker affiliated with the Old Saybrook Police Department; and signaled me to get on the extension. The caller informed her that our son had rear-ended a car driven by a pregnant woman while on his way to work in Old Saybrook. She said that the officer at the scene suspected that our son was distracted because he was texting.

The woman was rushed to “the infirmary” and her prognosis was unknown.

The caller expressed concern that the woman will lose the baby, which “would be really bad for your son.”

She informed us that OSPD had impounded his car and transported him to Hartford. She provided a dollar figure estimate of what we would need to bring, in cash, to a Capitol Avenue address in Hartford by 3 p.m. that afternoon to free our son.

Having been sensitized by a scam attack in January (see below), I called his work phone number at the beginning of what was the ersatz social worker’s fake story, and confirmed that he had reached work on time and without incident. We ended the call with two words. 

If you receive this type of threat, and they are common, call the individual, who is supposedly in trouble or try to confirm independently whether the business, utility or agency is indeed trying to reach you before taking any action.

It is not impolite to hang up.

Paypal User Scams:
PayPal is generally considered to be a safe and secure system for online transactions. I have been an occasional user of Pay Pal for several years and without problem. It has a huge presence, and as of the third quarter of 2023 reported 431 million active users worldwide, processing an average of 41 million transactions every day. 

However, on Jan.18, 2023, PayPal reported that a data breach had occurred between Dec. 6 and 8, 2022, during which the attackers had access to the accounts of tens of thousands of users and were able to access transaction histories, credit and debit card details, invoicing data, and account holders’ full names, dates of birth, addresses, and social security numbers.

PayPal took action to mitigate the breach, but unfortunately, in 2024, scams targeting PayPal users have become prevalent. I do not know whether users whose accounts were compromised were the most likely targets, or it was just because of the sheer number of users. 

The most common type of scam employs fake emails that appear to have been sent by PayPal. Many state that you need to verify your information or dispute a questionable transaction; or may claim that they have noticed unusual activity on the credit card that is linked to the PayPal account.

Note that the Bluvshtein article in “Sources” provides a good review of the different PayPal scams that occurred in 2024.

My PayPal Scam Experience:
I received an email from PayPal this past January that asked me to verify what appeared to be an unusual charge on my account. The email had the look and feel of PayPal. I called the phone number included in the email and reached a member of their “support team,” who indicated that they had already made payment, but their audit system had kicked it out as potentially fraudulent, based on my purchase history. It then got bizarre. 

The caller said that my account had already been reimbursed, but the reimbursement amount was wrong, and much greater than what was contested.  The conversation then became aggressive and urgent. They asked me to log into my bank account to verify that it showed a $20,000 deposit from the World Bank into my checking account; and informed me that I needed to return the money; and if I did not, they were prepared to take action.

They gave me instructions on how to avoid international wire transfer fees, which, as I recall, were to wire the money to an individual on their team in Hong Kong (really!). “Just tell your banker that the money is going to a friend and you are assisting him with his relocation to the United States.” I asked them to email the instructions to me because they were so complicated.  and they refused. I did not log into my account while on that call. 

I met with the branch manager at Liberty Bank in Old Saybrook within an hour of the call and described the incident. She told me that over the past few months, the Bank had already been working with customers, who had fallen prey to one of these scams—at one point, almost one per day.

She reviewed my accounts and there was no deposit from World Bank. However, there was evidence that they had gotten access because of one suspicious transfer of $20,000 within my accounts. We “froze” the checking account and set up new accounts with the existing assets.

I arranged for a thorough scrubbing of my hard drive. Afterwards, I had to make certain that I did not bounce any recent checks written on the frozen account, arranged for deposits and any monthly billing “draws” be routed to/from the new account. 

I also consulted with my youngest daughter, who is in the business—i.e., cyber security, not consumer scamming. She said that “attackers are getting smarter and more sophisticated and everything is easier with AI (Artificial Intelligence). This problem will only get worse. At the minimum, immediately set up “two-step verification,” aka “two-factor authentication,” which will add a second layer of protection to your account, alongside your usual method of logging in.

I set it up on all my accounts.

Reporting A Scam:
In 2020, the FTC introduced “ReportFraud.ftc.gov,” a platform for filing reports with the agency. They use that as the starting point for many of its law enforcement investigations and shares the reports with about 2,800 law enforcement users across the United States. Although the FTC does not itself intervene in individual complaints, the reports are an important part of the agency’s law enforcement mission.

The FTC has tracked fraud through its Consumer Sentinel Network since.1997.

Some Thoughts and Disclosures:
I am a Baby Boomer and a digital immigrant. I hardly ever do social media; and as far as I am concerned, “tik tok” was the last sound that Captain Hook heard before being swallowed by the crocodile in Walt Disney’s 1953 animated adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan; the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up.”  

I think of the “Wayback Machine” as the time-travel device that Mr. Peabody and Sherman used to transport themselves back through time in the 1960s on “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.” 

However, I now also acknowledge the Internet Archive, which was created in 1996 to provide “universal access to all knowledge,” and launched to the public in 2001 with a nod to Peabody and Sherman  as the “Wayback Machine.” As of January 3, 2024, the new “Wayback Machine” has archived more than 860 billion web pages and over 99 petabytes of data

In closing, my essay on consumer fraud in the digital age, I will pass on the advice that Sergeant Phil Esterhaus provided to the assembled law enforcement officers each morning at the end of roll call at Hill Street Station: “Let’s be careful out there.”  Note that “Hill Street Blues ran on NBC from 1981 through 1987.

Editor’s Note: This is the opinion of Thomas D. Gotowka.

About the Author: Tom Gotowka is a resident of Old Lyme, whose entire adult career has been in healthcare. He will sit on the Navy side at the Army/Navy football game. He always sit on the crimson side at any Harvard/Yale contest. He enjoys reading historic speeches and considers himself a scholar of the period from FDR through JFK. A child of AM Radio, he probably knows the lyrics of every rock and roll or folk song published since 1960. He hopes these experiences give readers a sense of what he believes “qualify” him to write this column.

Sources:
American Association of Retired Persons. “Impostor Scams.” AARP Bulletin. 03/30/2022. 
Barrie, J.M. (1911) “Peter Pan and Wendy.” London: Hodder and Stoughton
Benton, J. “ After 25 years, Brewster Kahle and the Internet Archive are still working to democratize knowledge.” Harvard University. Nieman Lab.02/02/2021. 
Bluvshtein, C. “15 PayPal Scams in 2024 and How to Avoid Them.” VPN Overview. 12/30/2023.
Byrne, J. “The Name Game: Mister Mxyzptlk meets Superman.” Superman Vol. 2 (11). 11/1987.
Dautovic, G. “How Many People Use PayPal? 20+ PayPal Statistics for 2024.” Fortunly.com.10/23/2023.
Federal Trade Commission. “New Data Shows FTC Received 2.8 million Fraud Reports from Consumers in 2021.” 02/22/2022.
Federal Trade Commission. “Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book” 2019 – 2023.
Lazarus, A. “Heard about the “waiting package” phishing scam?” FTC Consumer Alert. 09/21/2020.
Geronimi, C. Jackson, W. & Lusk, H. (1953) “Peter Pan.” [Animated Film]. Walt Disney Productions.
Kay. R. “Sidebar: The Origins of Phishing.” ComputerWorld. 01/19/2004. 
Mc Gurran, B. “Is It Safe to Use PayPal?” Experian.com. 02/09/2022.
Saad, L. “Scams: Relatively Common and Anxiety-Inducing for Americans.” Gallup.com. 11/21/2023.
Skayhill, P. “Victim of fraud in Connecticut? New data show average consumer lost $460.” CT Public Radio. Morning Edition. 02/22/2022.
Federal Trade Commission. (Thur. 02/23/ 2023). “New FTC Data Show Consumers Reported Losing Nearly $8.8 Billion to Scams in 2022.” [Press Release.]
Federal Trade Commission. (Fri., 02/09/2024). “As Nationwide Fraud Losses Top $10 Billion in 2023, FTC Steps Up Efforts to Protect the Public.” [Press Release.] 
Winder, D. “Thousands of PayPal Accounts Breached— Is Yours One Of Them?” Forbes. 01/19/2023.