MORE FROM THE NEW YORK SCENE: A MID-JUNE 2017 IMAGINARY EAVESDROPPER'S REPORT

---"Leave it to Donald Trump to completely rewrite the famous warning about 'Entangling Alliances' that President Washington offered our country. With Donald Trump as president, the reality is that we're facing disaster every day from 'entanging enemyships', with every day of Trump's presidency adding to the number of nations that declare themselves to be enemies of the United States. If we get invaded at some point, it will be from the combined alienation toward the U.S. by just about every nation on this entire planet, including France and Germany and Canada. It would be impossible to say which country would NOT agree to participate in any such hypothetical military invasion of the U.S., unless the exceptions would be neutral Sweden and neutral Switzerland."


--"I'm so grateful no one has asked President Trump yet whether he believes that Washington Square should be renamed. Trump would probably tell the 'New York Post' that he believes George Washington was a simpleton, so it makes no sense to honor him, in Trump's view. It is hard to know what President Trump would recommend for an alternative name for that square, once George Washington gets booted from that famous landmark in our city. Maybe Trump would want it renamed as 'America First Square' or 'America's the Greatest Square', only to raise the question of whether this 'America versus the World' attitude is going to hurt our ability to sell goods and services to foreign countries. Our balance of trade could definitely suffer a lot during the Trump Presidency, since Trump alienates  and offends the businesses and people of foreign nations."

---"Trump alienates so many foreign countries every day that I can't even remember Trump's ancestral homeland. You would think he would do very well as a visitor to that foreign country where his ancestors were born and raised. But the only foreign country of heritage I ever hear about in connection with Trump is Russia. So the tendency is to assume that Trump's ancestry is Russian. But I know that's not correct. A Russian-American would never get elected to the White House."

---"I find it ironic that Germany is one of the countries Trump has offended the most. Trump's ancestry is German on his father's side of the family. I recently discovered that fact about him on Wikipedia. Instead of honoring Germans, Trump hurls insults at them.  If the Germans don't buy American companies' manufactured goods as much as he would like, Trump should insist on greater excellence of products from American companies. And his current policy is just adding to the reasons why German retailers won't buy American-made products. He slaps in the face of the German people, every time he speaks to Germans. His ancestors in Germany must be turning over in their graves!"