"As the United States reaches the one-year mark in its increasingly dysfunctional and abuse-laden political marriage with Donald J. Trump, though the President has made it clear that he will take almost any sort of gift-even, and maybe especially, someone else's Nobel Peace Prize medal. The Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado offered hers up to him last week, in a large gold-colored frame, ready for hanging."
"Although something of a pathetic gesture, given that the Trump Administration seems to have cut a deal with the remnants of Nicolás Maduro's government (while Maduro himself is in a Brooklyn jail), it did earn her an upgrade. After Maduro's arrest, Trump said that Machado was " a very nice woman, but she doesn't have the respect"; post-medal bestowal, she was "a wonderful woman" and her gift "a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.""
Paper and clocks function as anniversary metaphors for a one-year political union with Donald J. Trump. The President accepts varied gifts, including an offered Nobel medal from María Corina Machado, and publicly shifted praise for her after Nicolás Maduro's arrest. A desk clock presented by Swiss businessmen coincided with a tariff concession. The country is in a countdown to January 20th, with 365 days elapsed and 1,096 remaining, including a leap year. The political environment has accelerated public weariness, made previous administrations seem more distant, and produced episodic alliances and performative gestures.
Read at The New Yorker
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