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A few weeks ago I came across an article about a kid who watches television at 1.5x speed so he can cram as much viewing in as he can. It seemed that his unquenchable desire to get through shows in the Golden Age of television meant he’d sacrifice the entertainment value of the show just to get to the end.

“Man, this guy would have been crucified in 1993,” I thought.

As a 45-year-old card-carrying member of Generation X (those born between 1965 and 1979), I remembered a time when nobody bragged about the amount of TV they watched. In fact, they bragged about not owning a TV. “I don’t watch TV, man,” people would say. “It only exists to sell you stuff.”

This complete reversal on the social acceptance of gluttonous TV viewing made me wonder what happened to the values we were raised on as Gen Xers? We were taught that sincerity was for simpletons, everything corporate is evil, old school is always better than the latest and greatest, authenticity is king, conformity is death and there is nothing worse than being a sell-out or a poser.

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Nobody would have ever referred to themselves as an “influencer” in 1991—that’s the definition of a sell-out.

“After writing this book, I’m back in the mindset of ’90s thinking, which is that nothing is worse than selling out,” Chuck Klosterman, author of “The Nineties: A Book,” told Esquire. “Nothing was more embarrassing in the ’90s than trying to convince people to like the thing you made.”

Deep inside the heart of almost every Gen Xer is a deep-seated feeling of nihilism. We didn’t trust the corporations that laid off our parents or gutted their pensions in the ’80s. In fact, everything corporate was predatory. We didn’t have a lot of faith in family values because we were the first generation raised by single parents or in daycare. We didn’t care much about politics either. Back in the ’90s, Gen X’s aversion to politics was historic.

Of course, these are all generalities about a generation of nearly about 65 million people, but studies show that there are some definite hallmarks of being a Gen Xer.

According to a generational differences document circulated through the business community, Gen X’s core values are “skepticism,” “fun” and “informality.” They’re described as “self-reliant,” “independent,” “unimpressed with authority” and motivated by “freedom.”

In the young Gen Xer, the culture of the era “instilled a wariness and skepticism, and a kind of ‘figure it out for yourself’ mindset,” Paul Taylor, author of “The Next America: Boomers, Millennials, and the Looming Generational Showdown” told The Washington Post. And with that came a sense “that you don’t have to shine a light on yourself. You’re not the center of the universe.”

But things have changed since the ’90s when Gen X was coming of age. We live in an American culture that is fractured by political partisanship, fueled by a constant culture of outrage, crippled by a preoccupation with technology, plundered by greedy boomers and annoyed by overly sensitive millennials. All of this is happening while we face the greatest challenge of our times, climate change.

The answer to all of these problems is simple: admit that Gen X at one point had it right and if we followed its lead, we could reverse these terrible trends. OK, it might not fix all of our woes, but the way things are going now surely aren’t working. Plus, weren’t the ’90s great?

Also, with hat in hand, I must admit that this message is for Gen Xers as well. Many of us have lost our way by forgetting our disdain for authority and skepticism toward institutions. This is a call for us to remember what we once stood for and to fight back by doing what we do best—staying above the fray.

Gen X, it’s time to strap on your Dr. Martens boots and get back to fighting the “Battle of Who Could Care Less.” It’s time we collectively got our “whatever” back and showed the other generations how powerful dismissiveness can be.

Here are the top five Gen X values that we need to embrace again.

5.  Buying vintage items

Nothing was less hip in the early ’90s than wearing mall clothes. If you had any style you shopped at a thrift store and bought used duds from the ’70s and early ’80s and remixed them into something awesome. If you were into hip-hop or skating you shopped at the surplus store and rocked some super-durable Dickies or Carhartt gear. The mood of the times was totally anti-fashion. These days, we live in a world where fast fashion is killing the environment. By embracing the Gen X value of old-school cool, we can help the planet while looking much more fashionable in the process.

4. Corporate skepticism

In the early 2000s, people fell head-over-heels in love with smartphone technology and social media so quickly that nobody stopped and said, “Hey, wait a minute!” Now, we have a world where kids are depressed, the culture has become divided and nobody talks to each other in public anymore, they just stare at their phones. I can totally understand why young millennials and Luddite boomers would fall for the big-tech ruse, but sadly, Gen X was asleep at the wheel and fell victim, too. The generation that embraced the notion that TV rotted your brain needs to remind everyone to go outside and play in the sunshine or read a book. And if you read a book it should be by Bret Easton Ellis.

3. Just say “whatever”

Two of the most popular Gen X phrases were “whatever” and “talk to the hand (because the face don’t give a damn).” These may seem to be flippant responses but they are the correct way to deal with other people’s nonsense and in 2022, we have to deal with a constant barrage of it.

Somewhere along the way, people forgot that it’s even more powerful to ignore someone than to admit they got under your skin. In the world of social media, we unintentionally amplify the most wretched voices by subtweeting, commenting and liking the posts from the army of grifters fighting for our attention.

We also live in an era where many seem to be addicted to outrage. The quickest way to stop fanning the flames of outrage is with a simple, “whatever.” Like dogs distracted by squirrels, we’ve got our heads on outrage swivels these days. Throwing around the occasional “whatever” gives us the time and energy to focus on the problems that really matter and take action.

These days “whatever” matters more than ever.

2. Bring back snobbery

Good taste used to matter. In the 2000s, millennials decided that people have the right to like what they like and that it’s worse to judge someone’s personal taste than to have bad taste. Gen Xers based their entire personalities on taste and demanded integrity from artists and were rewarded by living in a time of superior films and music. These days, no one listens to new music and we’re stuck in a world dominated by comic book movies because no one stood up and shamed people for liking low-effort culture.

1. ​Political apathy

America’s political divide has calcified over the past decade because more and more people are basing their personal identities on their politics. This has created a culture where the dialog between liberals and conservatives has become a shouting match that only makes people dig their heels in further. It’s also created a culture in Washington, D.C. that has attracted a more debased form of politician and led to the gridlock that has halted any sense of progress. Sadly, Gen X has also been sucked into this vortex.

Things were a lot different in the ’90s. Back in 1999, Ted Halstead at The Atlantic noted that Xers “appear to have enshrined political apathy as a way of life.” He added that Gen Xers “exhibit less social trust or confidence in government, have a weaker allegiance to their country or to either political party.”

Compared to what’s going on in America in 2022, this type of apathy seems welcome. Back in the ’90s, taking a “chill pill” could solve everything. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone took one, and then we could open our ears and hearts and have some constructive discussions?

There was a common lament in the 1980s that the boomer hippies had sold out and became boomer yuppies. They went from being concerned with peace, love and the planet to stocks, bonds and conspicuous consumption. Gen X is now in its 40s and 50s and it’s fair to say that we’ve moved from being the outsiders to creating technological and political machines that are generating the type of conformity that we once railed against.

Now that Xers are at the age where we get to run the world for a few decades, it’s time to recommit to the core values that make us well … us. The great news is that as Gen Xers, it’ll be easy to get back to our roots because we were raised to ironically love the past.

This article originally appeared on 03.10.22

In December of last year, the estate of the late Mark Linkous shared a posthumous song from his band Sparklehorse called “It Will Never Stop.” The fuzzy track captured the group’s skill for balancing troubling content matter with mesmerizing melodies. His brother Matt said in a statement that “great care has been taken to archive and preserve Mark’s music.”

Now more releases are coming. On Tuesday, June 13, ANTI- Records announced the forthcoming release of a new album Bird Machine and also released the song “Evening Star Supercharger.” It’s a twinkling ballad, showcasing Linkous’ spellbinding, unmatched lyricism. “Peace without pill, gun or needle or prayer appear / Never found sometimes near but too fleet to be clear,” he lulls.

“It’s the hardest decision I’ve ever made,” said Matt. “It’s difficult making a choice about someone else’s art, even if you’ve known them all your life and worked with them, even if they were your brother and best friend. We had long conversations about not wanting to take this into a different direction. We wanted to bring out what was there.”

Listen to “Evening Star Supercharger” above. Find the album artwork and tracklist below.

1. “It Will Never Stop”
2. “Kind Ghosts”
3. “Evening Star Supercharger”
4. “O Child”
5. “Falling Down”
6. “I Fucked It Up”
7. “Hello Lord”
8. “Daddy’s Gone”
9. “Chaos of the Universe”
10. “Listening to the Higsons”
11. “Everybody’s Gone to Sleep”
12. “Scull of Lucia”
13. “Blue”
14. “Stay”

Bird Machine is out 9/8 on ANTI- Records. Find more information here.

Prior to the 2022-23 NBA season, a clip from a Philadelphia 76ers practice showed then-head coach Doc Rivers talking to James Harden about how he can help the team become unbeatable. Of course, the Sixers were decidedly beatable this year, as the team blew a 3-2 series lead in the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Boston Celtics and went into an offseason that saw Rivers get fired and questions pop up about Harden’s long-term future in Philadelphia.

In the aftermath of the Game 7 loss to the Celtics, Harden sure made it sound like his relationship with Rivers wasn’t in an excellent place, as he simply said their bond was “ok.” Rivers hadn’t spoken about much since then, but during an appearance on Bill Simmons’ podcast, the now-former Sixers coach broke down how “challenging” it could be to coach a player like Harden.

“It was challenging, more because we were fighting two things—and not like visually fighting—it was James is so good at playing one way, and the way I believe you have to play to win, in some ways, is different,” Rivers said, per Bleacher Report. “Because it’s a lot of giving up the ball, moving the ball, coming back to the ball. I would have loved to have him younger, when that was easier for him because giving up the ball and getting back the ball is hard. It’s physical, it’s exhausting.”

Rivers went on to break the year down into the first and second half, and said that Harden’s play was the biggest differentiator in Philly’s success during the former and struggles during the latter.

“So, yeah, at times, to get him to move it and get him to play the way I needed him to play — I thought the first half of the year, we were the best team in the game,” Rivers said. “I thought James was playing perfect basketball. He was the point guard of the team. He was still scoring, but he was doing more playmaking and scoring. Then in the second half, he started scoring more, trying to score more, and I thought we got stagnant at times. I thought we changed.”

Rivers was replaced by former Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse as the head coach of the Sixers.

The first time Donald Trump summoned a crowd to protest, or maybe even stop, some bad news coming his way, it didn’t go so well. During his first arraignment, he tried again, but that one fizzled, probably because his base were afraid they’d be treated like a certain Mr. Show alum. Was the third time — in Miami, for his second arraignment — the charm? Nope.

A report by The Daily Beast details the scene outside the federal courthouse in Florida’s most famous city. Trump had beckoned his supporters the other day, taking on social media to declare, “SEE YOU IN MIAMI ON TUESDAY!!!” The turnout was exponentially better than the one in New York in April, which only drew about…three, maybe six. But though it attracted hundreds, not the hoped-for thousands, it was still, as Beast reporters reported, “modest.”

But at least it was colorful. Those that braved the Miami protest, unable to resist Trump’s siren song, were MAGA eccentrics. There was Osmany Estrada, who emigrated to the U.S. from Cuba on a raft when young, paraded about the courthouse grounds wielding a pig’s head on a pike.

Was it a reference to the pig’s head in Lord of the Flies? Something else? Estrada didn’t have a good reason, though he assured reporters the head was…quite real. “Sometimes you just have to be bold,” he explained.

Some of the attendees were well-known about Trumpworld. There was Forgiato Blow, real name Kurt Jantz, a novelty MAGA rapper, who couldn’t coax the masses to show up. There was Vivek Ramaswamy, the long shot Republican presidential candidate, who has yet to incur Trump’s wrath. There was “Baked Alaska” and Laura Loomer and associates of Nick Fuentes (but not Nick Fuentes).

There was no storming of the courthouse. The most exciting occurrence was when the crowd was asked to leave part of the grounds as police investigated a mysterious TV with writing on it, evidently planted by Trump fans. All in all it was (happily) a nothingburger day. After Trump’s arraignment, the big guy even celebrated his milestone — first U.S. president ever arraigned on federal charges! — by swinging by a local eatery to soak up the vibes.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Last month, ANOHNI announced her new album with ANOHNI And The Johnsons, titled My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross. She also shared the lead single “It Must Change.” Now she’s back with a new song, “Sliver of Ice.”

“A friend of mine expressed to me in the final months of his life that the simplest sensations had begun to feel almost rapturous; a carer had placed a shard of ice on his tongue one day and it was such a sweet and unbelievable feeling that it caused him to weep with gratitude,” ANOHNI said about the track. “He was a hardcore kind of guy and these moments were transforming the way he was seeing things. I wrote ‘Sliver of Ice,’ remembering those words of his.”

The song is dreamy and free-flowing as she waxes poetic: “Now that I’m almost gone / The sliver of ice on my tongue / In the day’s night / It tastes so good, it felt so right / For the first time in my life,” she sings. It’s sprawling, immersed in an eerie, melancholy atmosphere.

Listen to “Sliver of Ice” above.

My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross is out 7/7 via Secretly Canadian/Rough Trade. Find more information here.

There’s no shortage of advice for getting through difficult times. Unfortunately, most of that advice is either painfully unrealistic or reeks of toxic positivity. Solid advice that is both helpful and comforting is hard to come by, which is why this advice is going viral for all the right reasons.

The advice comes from Elena Mikhalkova—or rather her Mikhalkova’s grandmother—and it goes like this:

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My grandmother once gave me a tip:

In difficult times, you move forward in small steps.

Do what you have to do, but little by little.

Don’t think about the future, or what may happen tomorrow.

Wash the dishes.

Remove the dust.

Write a letter.

Make a soup.

You see?

You are advancing step by step.

Take a step and stop.

Rest a little.

Praise yourself.

Take another step.

Then another.

You won’t notice, but your steps will grow more and more.

And the time will come when you can think about the future without crying.

Can we all just pause for a minute to take a deep breath and maybe wipe the tears from our eyes? Because I don’t know about you, but this advice is just what I’ve needed to read almost every day lately.

See on Instagram

I suspect I’m not alone in this either because Mikhalkova’s advice is being shared all over the internet.

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With COVID-19 raging again and many of us (dare I say, all of us?) struggling with one thing or another, this quote hits. Unlike the clichéd “one foot in front of another” advice that can seem both demeaning and overwhelming, this advice offers concrete steps to take.

Wash the dishes. Make soup. Rest, and praise yourself.

These are things I can do. Well, maybe not soup, per se. But cookies. I can make cookies. And maybe you can make soup. Or knit a scarf. Or sweep the kitchen floor. This is enough.

What this advice taps into that other tidbits lose sight of is that when we’re in the midst of a calamity, even the most simple and everyday tasks are more difficult. Making lunch can seem monumental and the mere thought of doing virtual school for another few weeks can make us take to our beds, sobbing in the fetal position. Advice to “look on the bright side” can be patronizing and counterproductive. This advice does none of those things but, instead, acknowledges that even a small step matters. It doesn’t dismiss the pain, but recognizes that even thinking about the future can be painful and that progress sometimes looks like making it through the day without crying

This advice also goes beyond the “sun will come out tomorrow” reminders and acknowledges that things might not be better tomorrow or the day after that. It will take time for wounds to heal and difficult times to pass, but we need not passively wait for this time to come. We can make soup, rest and be kind to ourselves.

In the early days of the pandemic, I remember feeling like there was so much more I should be doing with all this extra “at home” time. Yet I found even the most basic tasks to be more difficult. In turn, I felt guilty for not being more productive. But what I’ve learned—or rather am learning—is that allostatic load and decision fatigue are very real. Productivity looks different on different days, and sometimes being patient with ourselves is the most productive thing we can do.

Mikhalkova’s advice taps into a mantra that I often recite when I’m struggling: Just do one good thing. Unload the dishwasher. Return an email. Fold the laundry. Hug my kids. Then do the next good thing. Eventually these things add up. Time passes and small steps turn into something bigger.

What I love most about Mikhalkova’s advice—and what is easy to forget in difficult times—is the reminder to praise ourselves along the way. Because sometimes that pat on the back we need the most is our own.

This article originally appeared on 02.07.22

Christine Organ is a writer who lives in the Chicago area with her husband, two sons, and rescue dog. You can find her on Facebook and Instagram.

Brian Cox sure is opinionated. If he doesn’t like you — or if he doesn’t like the acting approach you use — he’ll say it publicly. Even if he profoundly admires you, he might say the opposite. Just ask Meryl Streep.

As caught by Entertainment Weekly, the erstwhile Logan Roy did one of Variety’s “Actors on Actors” sit-downs with Emily Blunt. Fun fact: The two have worked together once, on the 2005 BBC biopic The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle. Cox, meanwhile, has never acted with Queen Meryl. Blunt has, thrice. Cox was clearly jealous and shared an anecdote that is very him.

“I met her once, and I said, ‘I never liked you.’ And she went, ‘What?’” Cox told Blunt. “I said, ‘I never liked you because I was jealous.’ How can anybody be that good?”

They then discussed one of the films in which Blunt acted alongside Streep: The Devil Wears Prada. (They also appear in Into the Woods and Mary Poppins Returns.) Is Cox too cool for Prada, in which Blunt plays the more seasoned assistant to Streep’s Anna Wintour stand-in? Nope.

“I loved it,” Cox confessed. “And to work with one of the greatest screen actresses of all time, I so envy you. One of my ambitions, before I snuff it, is to work with Meryl.”

Blunt assured Cox that he will, describing her as “amazing” but also “slightly terrifying on that film.” Blunt also recalled that Streep it was “one of the first times she’s tried Method acting. But it made her so miserable, playing Miranda.”

Of course, Cox once again weighed in on his fellow Succession alum Jeremy Strong’s acting approach (which is technically not Method, for what it’s worth).

“I’m all for whatever gets you through the day. But the great thing is how you transmit energy,” Cox explained.”If you hit it right, it just works. That’s the most important thing that we have as actors, that ability to go into something very quickly and come out of it. Not to dwell.”

That led Cox to once again both praise Strong and tell him to chill. “Strong is talented. He’s f*cking gifted,” he said. “When you’ve got the gift, celebrate the gift. Go back to your trailer and have a hit of marijuana, you know?”

Meanwhile, Cox didn’t say whether or not he’d finally watched that bombshell Succession capper.

(Via Variety and EW)

I love boba milk tea. Like, to an unhealthy, perhaps-obsessive degree. Not only do I try and make a point of having a drink loaded up with boba at minimum once a week (at one point even going as far as having boba every day — don’t do this!) but I’m intimately familiar with most boba tea shops in the greater Los Angeles area. Name a neighborhood in LA (hell, throw in the OC too) and I’ll point you in the direction of the best boba shop to spend your money at.

We can even go granular here — do you like powder-based milk tea or the real brewed stuff? Do you have a preference re: boba size? Do you want to add aloe or lychee to your drink? I’m telling you, I’m obsessed.

So when I found out that Jack in the Box was adding boba to the menu I was intrigued. Notice, I didn’t say “excited,” because adding boba to a menu as an afterthought rarely goes well. Boba tea shops do it well, but restaurants, smoothie shops, and fast food joints jumping onto a trend tend to disappoint. Even between boba shops, the quality can vary widely — so I wouldn’t say my expectations for Jack in the Box’s boba drinks were high, exactly.

Still, I was certainly going to try the stuff and report back to you. I sampled Jack’s iced coffee, vanilla shake, and milk teas — each loaded up with brown sugar boba. Check mt review of each below.

Jack in the Box Boba Review

Price: $6.24 (Vanilla Boba Shake), $4.74 (Iced Coffee Boba), $4.74 (Milk Tea Boba)

Tasting Notes:

In terms of what boba drinks Jack in the Box offers, all three are in line with what you might find at a typical boba tea shop. The Vanilla shake is a bit of an outlier — usually tea shops have more interesting blended drinks, like matcha, red bean, taro, or something fruit based — but the iced coffee and milk tea are tried and true standards. So good on Jack in the Box for not doing some weird sh*it like giving us boba-infused Red Bull fountain drinks.

Since the boba is the same in all three drinks, I’m going to talk about the flavors of the drink themselves and then talk about the boba at the very end. Let’s start with the shake! The Vanilla shake is JiB’s stock vanilla shake base with a layer of brown sugar boba at the bottom of the cup, topped with whipped topping. Presumably, JiB can also make an Oreo Shake with Boba — why they don’t seem to think that’s an obvious winner is beyond me!

The shake is delicious, it’s thick and creamy, like a drinkable version of vanilla soft serve. Jack in the Box makes great shakes, this is the foundation that all of those shakes are built on, so unsurprisingly it’s good. The brown sugar syrup the boba lives in also adds a nice earthy molasses character to the shake when it works its way up the straw. I’d suggest stabbing the shake a few times with the straw to distribute some of that syrup throughout the shake.

Let’s talk about the coffee. JiB’s coffee isn’t great — it’s a bit watery. There are hints of roasted coffee flavor, but overall it mostly comes across as dull and characterless. Most of the flavor comes from the sweet cream and vanilla syrup that is added to the drink.

Overall, it’s way too sweet, and the brown sugar from the boba makes it even sweeter. Hard pass on this one for me!

JiB’s milk tea features a mix of freshly brewed black tea, sweetened cream, and vanilla. That’s in keeping with most of the milk tea you’ll find at specialty boba shops, the drinks tend to be sweetened with some sort of non-dairy creamer rather than actual milk. Actual milk tea exists, and it tastes luxurious and rich, albeit a bit less sweet. Having said that, I’m not going to hold it against JiB for not using actual milk here.

Flavorwise, I’m surprised by the quality of the tea. It really does taste freshly brewed, it has a soft non-bitter flavor with some caramelized, nutty, and roasted qualities. It tastes more like Oolong tea than straight black. The sweet cream and vanilla are a bit much though, all of that natural tea flavor is drowned out here by the intense vanilla-focused sweetness. I’ve certainly had worse milk tea, but considering JiB’s tea is so flavorful, I think a less heavy hand pouring the cream and vanilla would serve the drink better.

Now we have to talk about the boba, which JiB totally fumbled. As you may have noticed in the above photos, none of the drinks were served with a wide boba straw. That wasn’t for lack of trying, I asked the drive-thru employee if they had boba straws available, and they told me regular straws were all they had. Now, judging from JiB’s promotional photos which show a different straw, that seems to be a location-specific issue, so I won’t hold it against them, but be warned that you may not always have access to a boba straw.

Oddly enough, that’s a blessing in disguise. Once I fished out a few boba with a spoon I instantly regretted it. This is hands down the worst boba I’ve ever had. I’ve had my fair share of bad boba, and a lot can go wrong with boba. It can be stale, over or under-boiled, under-sweetened — I’d take any of those over what I experience at JiB. The boba here was hard and almost crunchy. Great boba is soft and squishy. Chewy, but not laboriously so, the best stuff almost melts in your mouth. This boba had the texture of a refrigerated gummy bear.

The boba is also suspended in way too much brown sugar syrup, leaving a puddle of mushy sweetness at the bottom of your drink. That works in the shake’s favor, but for every other drink, it ruins the experience.

The Bottom Line:

The worst part of JiB’s new boba drinks is the boba itself and that’s a major problem. You may find yourself tempted to add a milk tea or a boba shake to your usual order just because of the convenience and novelty but resist that urge. Especially if you’ve never tried actual boba from a proper boba tea shop. Because if this is your first experience with boba you’ll never understand what the hype is all about.

Find your nearest Jack in the Box here.

Vinyl Me, Please have a lot in store this year. Earlier this month, the label shared the new VMP Rock selections, featuring The Strokes, Sublime, and more. Now, they’ve announced the 18th edition of VMP Anthology: The Story of Waylon Jennings.

The collection will feature eight albums: Lonesome, On’ry and Mean (1973), This Time (1974), The Ramblin’ Man (1974), Dreaming My Dreams (1975), Are You Ready for the Country (1976), Ol’ Waylon (1977), I’ve Always Been Crazy (1978), and Leather and Lace (with Jessi Colter, 1981). It’ll be limited to 1,000 copies. It’s available now and shipping this fall.

“After we did our VMP Anthology devoted to Willie Nelson (The Story of Willie Nelson), I knew immediately that our next country-focused box needed to be focused on Waylon,” said Andrew Winistorfer, Story of Waylon Jennings executive producer and liner notes writer, and VMP Senior Director of Music and Editorial. “So many of his albums haven’t been reissued in forever, and the copies you can find in record stores are among the most beloved, played, and ultimately beat up records you can find. I wanted to present arguably the best run of studio albums in country music history in this audiophile, high-quality way, and it’s been an honor to work on this project with Waylon’s estate to try to capture Waylon’s essence and wild mercurial sound in just eight albums in a box set. I think we’ve done it.”

Find more information here.

Donald Trump may have celebrated his second arraignment — and his first over a federal indictment — by hobnobbing at a local Miami eatery, but he’s not taking things lightly. The former president knows he faces serious jail time. Indeed, were he found guilty on all 71 (!!) currently charges against him — with more likely en route — he would receive a staggering 400-year sentence. Trump is so worried about his gloomy future that he’s even morbidly fundraising off it.

As per Mediaite, the Trump team sent out a fundraising email around the time he and his Diet Coke guy, Walt Nauta, were scheduled to be arraigned in Miami.

“Friend, Reports state that I could receive a maximum sentence of 400 YEARS IN PRISON despite being a totally and completely innocent man,” the email began.

It continued, in a vein at once grim and overwrought:

I honestly cannot believe I just typed those words to you.

It sounds like something Stalin or Mao did to eliminate their opposition.

But instead, it’s happening here in America. Communism has finally come to our shores.

We are no longer living in the country of Washington and Lincoln.

For the first time in American history, the federal government has used its prosecutorial powers to charge the leading opponent of the current regime.

While today is certainly grim and dark, do NOT lose faith!

As I said once before…

“With a dark cloud over our beloved country, I have no doubt, nevertheless, that we will Make America Great Again.”

It ended with Trump begging for money: “Please make a contribution to peacefully stand with me and SAVE the greatest country in history – for 1,500% impact.”

The language in the email hinted at one of the angles Trump and company are using to defend him, namely that the government was coming after him because he’s Joe Biden’s likely opponent in the 2024 election — not that he may have committed some truly bizarre crimes.

(Via Mediaite)