1. It’s Friday, June 17, 2016.

2. Earlier this week, former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe tweeted out the following: It is not enough to simply beat Trump. He must be destroyed thoroughly. His kind must not rise again.

I don’t know Mr. Plouffe, so I can’t say which Trump outrage sparked that particular reaction. Was it patting himself on the back for “predicting” the Orlando nightclub massacre? Was it reiterating the proposed restrictions on Muslims? Was it the implication that his former boss – you know, the guy who had the guts to get bin Laden when the evidence wasn’t overwhelming – was implicit in this terrorism?

Or was it all of the above, and maybe even more?

There are times when I ask myself why this makes as angry as it does. I’ve been following presidential politics since I was 6 years old and rooted for JFK. I’ve lived through Nixon, Agnew, George Wallace, Reagan, George W. Bush, Cheney and other miscreants.

But I think I’m coming to understand.

We live in a nation that elected an African-American President and Indian-American governors in Louisiana and South Carolina, and saw an Italian-American woman become Speaker of the House. Its heroes include Oprah Winfrey and Muhammad Ali and Lin-Manuel Miranda. It celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision a year ago that marriage is a right guaranteed by the Constitution to anyone regardless of the gender of their partner.

But there are those who aren’t crazy about all that. Because none of the above could have happened when I was born 62.2 years ago. The 1950s America that was so great it needs to be made that way again was exclusive and available to a few.

Here in the suburbs, I live around those people. They’re angry about losing privilege, and can’t brook the idea that they need to share the bounty of this country who don’t look or sound like them. They’ve refused to see change as good and necessary for a nation to flourish.

Trump taps into their anger. Big time. He gives it license. The horrific reports of the behavior of people at his rallies, with their misogyny, racism and out-and-out hatred – behavior he stokes rather than quells. 

Trump’s fan club might have some legitimate beefs about the impact of trade on their jobs. Their opinions on real issues, while I agree with not a single one – have the right to be heard.

But the rise of this jackass has brought out the latent hatred in our country. It’s been dormant, not dead, after all we think we’ve been able to celebrate.

It’s pathetic. And it needs to be shown that it’s irrelevant to 21st century America – a country that whose majority with an amalgam of what we now call minorities. Being white will become one of them.

Change is coming. These folks can either learn to adapt and make peace with it, or get stomped with it.

So I more than second David Plouffe’s sentiment. I take it further.

I don’t merely want Trump to lose. I want his defeat to be historic.

I don’t want to see Trump win a single state. In fact, I would love if we could admit 10 more states that he could also lose. Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, at least temporarily. East Dakota. Old Jersey. We could borrow New Brunswick from Canada and Chihuahua from Mexico.

I’m willing to have Hillary Clinton only take enough electoral votes to be elected President for sure. I’d give states to Gary Johnson of the Libertarians and Jill Stein of the Greens and even some write-ins.

As long as Trump and his ilk get nothing. Nothing but the scorn of the majority of the American people, and consignment to the sections of history books where this country’s worst enemies reside in infamy.

3. I’ll try to go back to talking about real issues next week.

1. It’s Thursday, June 16, 2016.

2. David Wright has been the face of the Mets since pretty much the day he stepped into the uniform in 2004.

Alas, his long string of injuries – including his attempt to play through spinal stenosis that might cripple other people – seems cruel to both Wright and fans who root for him and the team.

The announcement that he is undergoing surgery to repair a herniated neck disc is one more blow to a man who has represented the Mets with strength, pride and class.

I would love nothing better than to see David Wright back on the field for my favorite team, and I’m sure he’ll give it his best. He always does.

3. A British member of Parliament was killed today while meeting with constituents in Birstall, about 200 miles northwest of London.

A 52-year-old man is under arrest, the BBC reports.

The incident involving the Labour MP, Jo Cox, comes amid the heated referendum campaign over whether or not Britain will withdraw from the European Union. Cox, who was 41, supported Britain remaining in the EU.

The campaign is an echo of what we’re seeing here with the Trump phenomenon – it’s surprising that the supporters of Brexit don’t wear red baseball caps reading “Make Britain Great Again.” In this case, the ease in which people can immigrate between EU nations is making Britons – especially the English – anxious.

The Brexit vote is a week away. Much as it would be a tragedy if the United States disengaged with the world by following Trump, it would be bad for Europe and the World if the United Kingdom acts out of fear and does the same.

4. As a liberal Democrat, the idea of filibustering in the U.S. Senate is unsettling. The filibuster has most famously been used by racist Southern senators to kill civil rights legislation in the 1950s and 1960s.

But then there was yesterday. And while it might seem hypocritical to some, there certainly were differences to the talkfest staged by Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and other Democrats – and, yes, one Republican.

For one thing, yesterday’s filibuster was aimed at advancing, not stopping, legislation. In this case, it was an effort to get a vote on two measures that would at least try to stem some of the mass shootings we’ve seen in this country.

For another, instead of holding the floor by reading recipes or “A Tale of Two Cities,” the Democrats actually spoke to what they believe about the epidemic of gun violence. 

5. Murphy and a lot of other people are revolted by the notion that “thoughts and prayers” are the only thing Congress can offer after an atrocity such as occurred Sunday in Orlando.

Congress can actually try to do something. It can pass legislation to try to keep weapons out of the hands of people who would commit such acts. And while I don’t think it seems like too much to ask, it can also limit the type of weaponry available to that which you wouldn’t use in a war zone.

The two measures Murphy and the Democrats want a vote on would restrict sales of weapons to people on terror watch list and would expand background checks for buying a gun. They’re pretty weak compared to what’s needed, but, hey, you gotta start somewhere.

The Times’ story on the filibuster took a very skeptical tone. Murphy ended his filibuster after nearly 15 hours when he said there was an agreement for a vote on the proposals. But the Times says there probably would have been votes anyway, since it’s impossible for the Republicans leading the Senate to vote on anything without Democratic complicity.

But while the filibuster went on, it was a sight to behold. Murphy and most of his colleagues offering the arguments for why something needs to be done. Why it’s unacceptable that this country hasn’t acted to curb these mass killings.

Orlando is the biggest so far, with 49 victims. Because it took place at a gay nightclub, it reeks of homophobia. Because the shooter’s ancestry was Afghan and he claimed allegiance to ISIL, it hints at terrorism.

But what it really is is some warped mind who got his hands on a semi-automatic weapon and killed people because he couldn’t think of anything else worth doing.

6. The filibuster was great. But I’m still skeptical.

We talk a lot about doing something when these killings occur. Yet, if the nation didn’t do anything after the killing of elementary school kids in Connecticut in 2012, it won’t do anything when the victims are at church, a holiday party, a college or a nightclub.

I’m hoping to be proven wrong.

1. It’s Wednesday, June 15, 2016.

2. I was just in a dentist’s chair, undergoing a procedure requiring 20 shots of Novocain.

I’d still rather endure that than sit on a bus stuck outside the Lincoln Tunnel for over an hour, as apparently happened this morning when a truck overturned on the helix entering the tunnel.

3. Every time I’ve been to Disney World, I’ve heard hotel workers, golf course workers, lifeguards, pool attendants and boat operators warn about the possibility of alligators. In particular, they advise not wading into ponds, lagoons or lakes. There are even signs posted warning not to go into the water.

But not everyone gets the word. Last night, a 2-year-old from Nebraska got dragged into a lagoon near the Grand Floridian, one of the most lavish of the hotels around the Magic Kingdom.

It seems unlikely that this story will end happily. I feel for the family.

4. I didn’t know that anyone harbored the idea that soldiers – American or Iraqi – got rich taking U.S. money earmarked for the effort to topple Saddam Hussein.

It doesn’t matter if Trump meant that American soldiers took the money, as it first sounded to those reporting it. Or that he meant Iraqi soldiers – our presumed allies – as he later had his mouthpiece try to explain.

He’s basically maligned people who put their lives on the line in support of the United States. If he really meant Americans, I wonder how that plays with those who believe he’s an advocate for veterans. And with so many real issues in this country, why would anyone sane raise this now?

It used to be that casting aspersions on our people in uniform, even accidentally, was a death blow to someone running for office. Welcome to the bizarre world of 2016.

5. Many years from now, I hope American history classes watch President Obama’s comments on terrorism yesterday to see how a real leader acted in the early 21st century.

The President took his critics to task in so thorough a way that, in the 24 hours since, their only whine can be that he seems more angry at them than the guy who murdered 49 people in an Orlando bar Sunday morning.

In particular, the President went off on the ridiculous notion that he doesn’t understand the terrorism problem because he refuses to use the term “radical Islam.” As if, as he pointed out, just saying those words will make the problem go away, or the forces combatting terrorism stronger.

“There has not been a moment in my seven and a half years as President where we have not able to pursue a strategy because we didn’t use the label “radical Islam,” Obama said, according to a transcript from The Washington Post. “Not once has an adviser of mine said, “Man, if we really use that phrase, we’re going to turn this whole thing around.” Not once.”

He said the implication that not saying “radical Islam” is hampering the fight against ISIL, as the President calls it, or al-Qaeda, would surprise those who’ve been involving during his administration – including the guys who nailed Osama bin Laden five years ago.

6. And why won’t the President use the phrase? Maybe because the phrase itself implies that the nation’s 3.3 million Muslims and the world’s 1.6 billion are complicit with the action of people who hide behind the mantle of the religion to commit murder, rape and other despicable acts.

“That’s their propaganda, that’s how they recruit,” Obama said of terrorists. “And if we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush, and imply that we are at war with an entire religion, then we are doing the terrorists’ work for them.”

7. There was so much more to his comments – his blasting of Trump for proposing a ban on Muslims entering the country, the idea that some Republicans have proposed putting Muslims under special surveillance. And his pointing out that such ideas are completely counter to both our values as a nation and the fight against real terrorists.

His anger showed in his expression and voice. It was a masterful putdown of people who have been trying – and failing – since 2009 to delegitimize this president.

Obama’s bet is that his critics will be consigned to the ignominy that others similarly short-sighted and foolish endure in our history. The silliness of his critics will be their shame to bear throughout time.

Hopefully starting on Nov. 8, when the Republican presidential nominee gets his ass kicked.

1. It’s Tuesday, June 14, 2016.

2. It’s Flag Day. On this day in 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the 13-star version of the flag we use today.

3. Of course, by order of President Obama, flags that can be have been lowered to half-staff to commemorate the 49 people gunned down early Sunday at a nightclub in Orlando. I’m not sure if this is the first of the 240 anniversaries of the flag’s adoption that it’s been flown at half-staff.

But I’m sure it’s not the first time the flag has been lowered to commemorate a mass shooting. In fact, it seems to happen all the goddamn time.

As Trevor Noah pointed out on the Daily Show last night, President Obama has given 16 briefings following mass shooting events during his 7 years and 5 months in office. He’s only given 12 state dinners for visiting leaders. 

Noah was one of the late-night comics, including Samantha Bee on TBS and John Oliver on HBO, who gave somber-with-a-touch-of-bite opening remarks on their show. Their general message was the same as the President’s, asking if these shootings are an indication of the kind of country we want to be.

4. But the only thing different about Orlando is the nature of the target.

And let’s face facts – this country let 26 children and teachers die in an elementary school classroom without doing a whole lot to change the ease in which sick people get semi-automatic weapons.

What’s another 49 people, most of them Hispanic and gay. Whose fatal flaw was having a good time on a weekend?

5. When I thought over the past week about issues, I was trying to think what to me is No. 1 in this campaign. And folks, it’s the same one it’s been since I was 10, the year after President Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas.

It’s gun control. It’s the ease in which people – some of them mentally ill – can get weapons.

It is crazy to me that there are people who believe the Second Amendment of the Constitution protects the right to weapons that killed scores of people in minutes.

It is crazy to me that every time you go out in public, every time you’re on a highway with guys driving like maniacs, every time you’re sitting at home minding your business, you need to be aware of the possibility that someone nearby has a gun that they might feel inclined to use for whatever purpose.

6. So is Orlando the tipping point? Is the sheer number of those killed enough to get some sort of change that killing elementary school kids in Connecticut or office party attendees in California or moviegoers in Colorado couldn’t affect?

Nah.

I am really skeptical. There will be hand-wringing for days. Memorials. Thoughts and prayers.

But the strategy of those who believe guns are part of the natural order of life, like breathing and eating, is to wait it out. That’s what they’ll do – a perverse variation of the North Carolina four-corner defense in basketball in which you try to run out the clock. And in a week or 10 days, we’ll give up trying again.

I’m wracking my brain for ways to change that. A boycott of some kind. Some social campaign that would force the gun nitwits to go along.

I’m stumped. For now. But I won’t stop trying.

1. It’s Monday, June 13, 2016.

2. It’s hard to think about much else after the horror that occurred early yesterday in Orlando. I can’t fathom being a member of a family who learned with horror that he or she would never see a loved one alive again. And why.

It seems small to say that your thoughts are with those who lost loved ones. The pain must seem like an abyss. I hope there’s a way to peace for all affected.

3. On June 3rd, I made a promise that I wouldn’t mention the name of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for 10 days. I kept the promise – check last week’s blog posts if you don’t believe me.

If such a moratorium seems silly or arbitrary to you, let me explain my rationale.

There’s a school of thought among people perversely egomaniacal: There’s no such thing as bad publicity. As long as they spell your name right, whatever is said helps keep the name out there.

So saying a judge is biased because of his ancestry or saying Muslims should be barred from the country or mocking a disabled reporter accomplish your goal. So would saying unicorns are turquoise, let’s have demo derby days on interstate highways and puppies are delicious.

4. The idea is to be in the news every day. Every day. It doesn’t matter what the news is. It doesn’t matter how outrageous it is. Just be in there. If not, there’s a risk you’re no longer front-and-center in the public mind, and then there’s the risk that, God forbid, people forget about you.

But the rest of us have a country whose present and future are at stake. And that’s what an election is supposed to be about.

5. So, for the past week, I’ve tried to think about issues. About what needs to be done. Because that’s what the candidates for president should be talking about.

For all the intensity of the Democratic primary campaign, neither Hillary Clinton nor Bernie Sanders ran a negative ad about their opponents. More than 200,000 TV ads ran, not one of them talking about personal matters.

Yes, American history is replete with elections that focus on the personalities rather than the issues. But the 2016 horse race is out of whack with reality.

6. There are things Americans really care about. Three of them rose to the surface yesterday in Orlando, and with a fury. Terrorism. LGBT rights. Gun control.

The Republican presidential candidate tweeted this on the Orlando incident: “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don’t want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!”

It isn’t enough that he tries to capitalize on people’s fears after a horrific incident. He also wants us to believe that others are telling us how great he is for understanding it as an important part of his reaction to the tragedy.

An election should be about the issues. It should not be about an overgrown tumor of an ego stoking fear.

I’ll go back to saying Donald Trump’s name in this blog. And yes, because it matters so much to the fate of our nation, I’ll call out the times I think he’s more of a horse’s ass than usual.

But there are matters I want to see addressed in the 2016 election. In the next few days, I’d like to share my thoughts (and hear yours) about them.

We would all be better off if that’s how we looked at this campaign. What kind of a country do we want? And how do we get it? 

It’s June 10, 2016. I haven’t done a Friday Yes or No in months, due largely to the fact that I had to teach a class on Fridays up until a month ago.

But that’s over, and so is the hiatus for Yes or No. Here goes:

Q1: Are these the best days of the year, being both long and warm?

A1: Yes

Q2: Has the Stanford Rapist case been blown out of proportion?

A2: No

Q3: Is that because it’s about time that people understood the consequences of violence against women, and that’s what the letter written by the victim in the case helps to show?

A3: Yes

Q4: And because the cluelessness of the rapist, his family and the judge in the case is staggering?

A4: Yes

Q5: Are Americans paying enough attention to the Brexit vote scheduled later this month in the U.K.?

A5: No

Q6: Is Brexit, Britain’s exit from the European Union, a good idea?

A6: No

Q7: Will I write more about that as the vote draws near?

A7: Yes

Q8: Do I generally like the players the Mets drafted last night?

A8: Yes

Q9: Do I care who wins the NBA championship or Stanley Cup?

A9: No

Q10: Is there any surprise in President Obama’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton?

A10: No

Q11: Is there any surprise in Elizabeth Warren’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton?

A11: No

Q12: So these developments aren’t a big deal, right?

A12: No

Q13: They are?

A13: Yes

Q14: Is that because it’s a sign that the Democrats are putting their best battlers together for the tough campaign ahead?

A14: Yes

Q15: Does my 10-day moratorium on mentioning the name of Clinton’s opponent end next week?

A15: Yes

Q16: Has it been easy to maintain this?

A16: God, no!

1. It’s Thursday, June 9, 2016.

2. Both of my journalism classes at William Paterson heard me expound this past semester on what’s bad about social media and the Internet in general.

One flaw I pointed out is as obvious to them as it is to me – the anonymity afforded people when they comment on stories or post tweets.

That anonymity is seen by its availers as a license to spew hate.

3. That point is hammered home by The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, a journalist whose work includes the insightful exit interview with President Obama on foreign policy. 

In his latest piece, Goldberg writes about the anti-Semitism he’s encountered online, particularly on Twitter. And he explains why he has added multiple parentheses to his name in his Twitter handle – he’s appropriating a tactic the haters use to signal that someone they’re writing about is Jewish, as if the parentheses diminish them somehow.

Goldberg’s piece demonstrates his talent. On the one hand, he treats the haters like the lowlifes they are and shows how they twist themselves into pretzels to make their case.

But he’s hardly dismissive. Goldberg sees the danger these crackpots pose to the world and understands that fighting this crap is a job for all thinking people. And while I see the anonymity the jerks hide behind as a negative, he sees some hope in it – if people were more brazen about their anti-Semitism, it would signal more acceptance of such sentiment.

Since Goldberg started using parentheses in his Twitter handle, other writers who are Jewish have done likewise. They’re taking their stand against the hatred that, I still believe, the anonymity of the Internet gives a home.

4. Jews are not alone in this. Women, African-Americans, Hispanics and others who don’t conform to some dopey preconception get trashed by people hiding behind what they think are clever handles.

I applaud Jeffrey Goldberg and other journalists of the Jewish faith who stand up to anonymous hatred. Perhaps neo-Nazism is the cockroach of hatred – it keeps getting stomped and yet survives. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep on stomping.

1. It’s Wednesday, June 8, 2016.

Yesterday, I lamented the early declaration of Hillary Clinton’s becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee. I thought the Clinton people would have the steam taken out of a planned celebration that would come after New Jersey’s voters put her over the top in the state’s primary.

Instead, it was some superdelegate that the AP and other news organizations called Monday and found out how he or she was voting at the July convention.

So the early declaration was going to spoil what should have been a momentous occasion for the Democrats and the nation, right?

2. Nah!

Hillary Clinton and her people did their darnedest to capture the moment. There was the video putting the accomplishment in historical perspective. The huge flag-waving crowd at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The dramatic entrance of the candidate. The technical glitches (all right, they’re not something the Clinton people wanted).

And the speech.

It was a good combination of exhorting her supporters, reaching out to Bernie Sanders and his supporters, excoriating her opponent, telling listeners what she stands for.

And reminding folks of the history. It was especially touching that she mentioned her mother, who had a difficult start in life and who she wished could have seen the moment.

3. It was a great moment for our country that this step forward finally came to pass.

And it’s testimony to the candidate, who is at the same time the most hated and most respected woman in this country. Which, when you think about it, seems about right. Because this a very deeply divided country, and it’s changing in ways that make a good portion of it extremely unhappy.

The next president is going to have been as tough as the problems that are coming our way. Hillary Clinton is.

4. By the way, let me repeat my one criticism of Hillary Clinton’s speaking style.

I know she’s not the orator President Obama is. Who is?

And I don’t have any use for the criticism of her that she shouts. That’s stupid.

No, what drives me crazy about a Hillary Clinton speech is how she tends to step on her applause lines. She has little concept of letting her supporters contribute to the moment.

One of these days, I’m going to take the time to show this on a clip. Because she can sometimes kill a big moment for her by plodding away at the speech. It’s as if she feels as though she has to complete the speech in a certain amount of time or else she loses points or something.

Clinton doesn’t have to watch Barack Obama to see what I mean. She used an Ann Richards clip in her introductory video. Ann Richards knew not to say anything after she delivered a great line. It’s not a big flaw, but I wish she’d solve it.

5. As for Sanders, it really isn’t as hard as pundits make it seem. He’s lost and, since he’s not an idiot, he knows it.

The question is how to end this in the best way possible. It is in his interest to take his time. It is in his interest to say that he wants his delegates to the convention to represent his positions on the platform.

It is also in his interest to say that he is unequivocally backing Hillary Clinton for President and wants his supporters to join him.

I expect him to do that sometime next week, if not sooner. It’s the only way he maintains the victory he’s won by exceeding expectations and raising the importance of issues such as income inequality and campaign finance reform.

And if, as former Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin predicts, Sanders delivers a stemwinder in Philadelphia in support of Clinton, that will be a sweet, sweet moment for the Democratic Party.

6. Sanders can be part of a dream team of powerful advocates for Clinton. Besides him, it’ll include President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Not to mention whoever she picks as a running mate and her husband, who’s done this before. 

Clinton’s victory speech was delivered in the place where the U.S.S. Missouri, the ship on which Japan surrendered to end World War II, was built. With Sanders on board, she’d take a pretty powerful battleship of a campaign into the fall contest.

1. It’s Tuesday, June 7, 2016.

2. AP says Hillary Clinton is the presumed Democratic presidential nominee. CNN says Hillary Clinton is the presumed Democratic presidential nominee.

I worked for both of those organizations. So it’s got to be true.

3. And yet, could there have been a less satisfying declaration of a winner than last night’s?

About the only people who could like the way this happened are the folks at the AP and the person, if he or she knows, who became Clinton’s 2,383rd delegate.

Other than that, it’s kind of meh.

Bernie Sanders and his people don’t like it for obvious reasons.

But Clinton and her people can’t be thrilled either. There’s six primaries today that, except for the District of Columbia, end the process. The plan was that sometime tonight, probably after New Jersey’s polls close, that 2,383rd delegate would have been captured.

I’m sure they had a whole hullabaloo planned. Balloons, confetti, maybe even fireworks. And it would have come after the satisfaction of somebody in Perth Amboy or Piscataway going to the polls and filling in the Hillary Clinton bubble on their ballot.

Plus the element of uncertainty, though a facade, was going to help turn out voters in California. That’s a primary Clinton really wants to win, if only to give Sanders a graceful way to bow out of this campaign.

Last night’s declaration was no great moment for the networks. Why bother watching the coverage tonight if it’s all over? It’s a gasping end to the record-setting amount of punditry seen by Americans since last summer.

Worst of all, the anticlimatic declaration of Hillary Clinton’s victory seems to obscure the momentousness of the fact that, for the first time in 228 years of electing a President of the United States, a woman is one of the last two standing.

4. Perhaps it will sink in more when she’s standing at the podium in Philadelphia. But it’s a big deal.

Hillary Clinton isn’t the most popular presidential candidate the Democratic Party has ever nominated. And, yes, she has her faults.

But a lot of the negative vibe involving Hillary Clinton stem from the fact that she is a she. That she’s smarter than the guys she has been and is running against. That she brings experience to a job that requires it, big time.

Her qualifications are unquestionable. Her politics can be debated – I happen to agree with her most of the time.

But her gender should not be an issue. We will now see how America treats its first female major-party presidential candidate – and whether this, as in 2008 with the first African-American, will be a moment everyone can look back at with pride.

5. If you want to get an anger fix, read Frank Bruni’s New York Times column about Cassandra Butts.

She was President Obama’s nominee to be ambassador to The Bahamas. But she died recently of an unsuspected case of leukemia, never having received a confirmation vote 835 days after her nomination.

One idiot, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, put a hold on the nomination in a fit of pique with President Obama. Cotton is the same jackass who organized the letter that Republican senators sent to Iran in an effort to scuttle the nuclear agreement that we eventually reached.

In the Bruni column, a Cotton spokeswoman says the senator had respect for Butts and her career as an activist, but that he wanted to inflict maximum pain on Obama.

What this coward didn’t have the guts to do is put the nomination to a vote. He could have voted “No” and railed about all the evil he believes Obama has visited upon the world. Maybe he could have gotten his fellow Republicans and Obama haters to join him.

But instead, he used this wussy way out.

As I said – if you need to get angry today, reading Bruni is a good way.

1. It’s Monday, June 6, 2016.

2. It’s the 72nd anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy. Thousands lost their lives on the beaches and surrounding area as the U.S., Britain, Canada and others began the difficult task of wresting France back from the Nazis.

As important as Memorial Day is, this anniversary soon after is something Americans of all ages should never forget. The bravery of the men and women who took part in the invasion is worth a thought or two this otherwise beautiful day.

3. Ramadan officially started last night when the thin crescent after a new moon was spotted.

As someone who used to make work schedules, Ramadan is quite the wild card. You know when Christmas is. And you have a pretty good idea when Easter or any of the main Jewish holidays or holy days fall, generally within the late March to late April timeframe.

But Ramadan’s start gets progressively earlier each year. When I last did a work schedule to accommodate it, it was in July. It will get to the point that, in 2030, there will be two Ramadans in one Western calendar year – one beginning a few days after New Year’s and the second starting the day after Christmas.

4. While Ramadan is a generally joyful event, its main feature is fasting during daylight hours. And Muslims don’t fool around when it comes to this — fasting means you can’t have anything, period. That includes water.

So this year seems to be a tough one for Muslims, especially those who live in the Northern Hemisphere. Because Ramadan 2016 or 1437 (that’s the year according to the Islamic calendar) straddles the summer solstice.

During the next month, there’s more than 15 hours of daylight every day here in New York. If you’re going to fast for 30 days, you couldn’t pick 30 longer days than these.

Therefore, here’s hoping this isn’t an especially hot month and that my Muslim friends get down as much liquid as they can at 5 a.m., in the suhoor meal before dawn.

5. The more I became aware of Ramadan, the more curious I became.

For instance, imagine being a Muslim in Alaska or somewhere else closer to the North Pole, where there is almost no night. Sunrise in Fairbanks today was 3:17 a.m. Sunset will be at 12:22 a.m. tomorrow.

What I’ve learned is that the folks who issue decrees in Islam tell people in these areas that they can go by sunrise and sunset in Mecca. Which gives them a little bit of a break over the Muslims in New York – while sunrise in the holy city is 5:38 a.m., sunset is a little after 7 p.m.

The daily payoff for such devotion is the iftar, the meal that breaks the fast after sunset. It’s supposed to be pretty elaborate – a banquet with rich dishes and a celebration of family and friends.

6. To all who celebrate this holiday, my hopes for some great iftars, the strength to get through long days, and a Ramadan kareem.

7. I’m not a religious person. I respect your right to your beliefs. I expect you to respect my search for whatever the truth is whether it’s what you believe or not.

But I feel strongly that ignorance about religious customs is, as all ignorance is, not cool. We keep hearing Muslims put into one classification as if all 1.6 billion of them are a monolith and believe exactly the same thing. But that’s not true of any other religion – as Christians should clearly understand.

The more we know, the less stupid we are. That seems obvious, but in 2016, it’s a thought that bears repeating.