Here we go, another episode of La Famille Trump, the Etiquette Show From Hell. In this latest episode, Donald has decided he should act like a human being. None other than Letitia James gave him the signal for appropriate behavior by canceling today’s depositions in New York, but he decided to ignore her lead and go to Arizona on Saturday anyhow.

Trump was scheduled for a rally in North Carolina tonight, but James’ deposition notice forced him to cancel. Early reports said that the money would be refunded but subsequent reports say it wasn’t and people lost a lot of money. Ouch. In any event, on to Arizona Trump planned to go, but the fact that social media has been going bonkers since yesterday after Ivana’s sudden death was reported must have finally persuaded him that the optics of abandoning his three children, who just lost their mother and his grandchildren who lost their grandmother, were horrific. Oh, and the fundraising email accompanying the death announcement didn’t exactly go over well, either.

If you’re new to reading this blog, I had a full hip replacement back in 2019. The difference between Ivana Trump and myself is that nobody told me that I needed a hip replacement. My doctor was a quack and malpracticed me. He literally watched me shuffle into his office with a cane, once in a wheelchair and never suggested I get any tests. And I was too stupid to seek the opinion of another doctor. It’s incredible to me in retrospect that I was that dumb but I was. I had been raised to trust doctors as gods and if this one couldn’t figure out how to fix me, I just thought I couldn’t be fixed.

But the time came when he got in trouble with the medical board (due to the fact that I was far from the only person he malpracticed. He killed one of his patients) and they restricted his license and he was no longer able to prescribe even the small amount of pain pills (three per day) which made my life tolerable. I got to another doctor and she wanted me to get tests and I told her I couldn’t physically get around well enough to get the tests and could she just check me into the hospital? Which she did. The doctors there informed me I needed a hip replacement. I was thrilled with the diagnosis because now I was going to be well. Point being, if Ivana Trump didn’t want to have hip surgery, there was something else going on.

I’m going to tell you what I really think here. I think she had a doctor giving her pain meds and so she wasn’t all that bothered by needing an operation and not getting it. She was able to stay stoned. I was not. I needed the operation to get rid of my pain. And if I had had the option to stay heavily medicated I still would have gotten the operation because believe me, it’s better to get rid of chronic, debilitating pain. That’s a no brainer.

If I’m right and Ivana decided to forego what is really a life saving operation, she absolutely was not thinking straight. Why stay housebound and not be able to move when you can get a surgery and be out walking again, doing what you want to do? I can’t ride a horse anymore, but I can still swim, do other things.

Ivana was a competitive skiier at one point. She was no slouch athletically. So why she would decide to take this path is beyond me. She could have had the best surgeons. I had a good surgeon and I was on Medicare. I got great care. I have nothing but praise for the surgeon, staff and hospital that did all this for me.

I normally don’t interject myself into an editorial like this, but in this case, because I had the exact same medical issue as this woman and it was so freaking easy to fix, I can’t help but wonder if Ivana had a death wish. I’m serious. Because I was up walking on the new hip the next day, out of the hospital and walking with a physical therapist for a few weeks and then I walked on my own with a walker and then a cane and then nothing at all.

That Ivana chose to stay crippled when she didn’t have to, not for one minute, means there’s more here than meets the eye. At least to me. All she needed was a hip surgery. There is no way I would have made the choice to stay in that pain and forego the surgery, even if my doctors said they would give me pain meds, and I assure you they would not have.

There is something wrong with an otherwise able-bodied person who doesn’t want to have a surgery. I remember being housebound and that was not much of a life. Ivana was a woman who had the means, financially at least, to go anywhere she wanted to. Why stay housebound? I have to assume that it’s because she didn’t want to go anyplace or do anything with people — a sort of Howard Hughes scenario. There’s plenty of money there, but everything else is screwed up.

As much as I despise the Trump children, I do sympathize on a human level with anybody who loses a parent and especially if that loss is sudden, and a blunt trauma.

And as for Ivana, according to conventional wisdom she had a lot more to live for than me. She had a 45-room mansion in Connecticut, an apartment in New York, children, grandchildren. She was a millionaire. She got $14 million from the divorce settlement, (which was granted on the basis of “cruel and inhuman treatment.” Trump treated America the same way, too, we relate.) Anyhow, Ivana was a high roller, I only have this blog. But I’m the one who decided, glory be, give me that operation. I was thrilled to finally be diagnosed and have a solution given to me. And Ivana decided to stay crippled. What’s wrong with this picture?

We’ll see what the medical examiner says. There’s more here than meets the eye. And again, whatever really happened, on a human level I feel bad that Ivana didn’t value her life more to take care of herself better and I do feel bad for her kids experiencing the blunt trauma of her loss.

 

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27 COMMENTS

  1. I find it hard to believe she would forgo a needed hip replacement, when she’s had many cosmetic procedures. So it wasn’t a fear of surgery. I doubt we’ll ever have the full story. She wasn’t really that old at 73. Absent a chronic disease, most people that age do not die of natural causes. And as you stated, she certainly had to means to get the best possible medical care.

    I wonder how many times TFG’s aides had to explain to him the optics of having a rally when he is supposed to be grieving. Passing on that sweet grift had to rip him another one. I heard they didn’t refund the NC rally, merely told ticketholders the tickets would be honored at his rally in Wisconsin later this month.

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    • 73 is nothing. I turn 70 in January. So that means that she and I were in college at the same time. I can’t believe that would prefer to stay in pain and not have a hip surgery. I’ve been there. I can’t tell you what a drag it is. And yes, if you have pain killers it’s not as bad, but even then, you’re masking the pain rather than eliminating the source of it. That is nuts. That explanation makes no sense to me, unless she just had a death wish, as I said, and didn’t want to take proper care of herself physically.

      As to Trumpty, I’m confused: you’re saying that he told people in North Carolina they could travel to Wisconsin if they wanted to see him? Then he ripped them off. Because going to see a show in the same town and travelling several states away are two different things.

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      • Most of his attendees aren’t local. He literally has the equivalent of DeadHeads. I don’t know if it’s true but I read/heard they weren’t refunding tickets, and it just had the ring of truth, because TFG does not easily part w/ “his Money”.

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        • So they travel the circuit from concert to concert. That makes a hell of a lot of sense to me. That explains why he’s got these adoring people no matter where he is, Alaska, or Georgia, you name it.

          Not a cult though, right?

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      • As noted below he has a group of goobers that travel around to wherever he’s appearing. MAGAheads or whatever you want to call them. They sure as hell aren’t as cool and fun as Deadheads! Still, for those that drove hundreds of miles in their gaz guzzling (we’re talking about people who make a point of not doing “lib-rul” shit like getting fuel efficient vehicles after all) it’s a bitter pill to have spent that money and maybe even have spring for a night or two at some no-tell motel for the sudden cancellation. However, I recall seeing a blurb on the local news (I didn’t catch it all) as I live in NC and apparently some of those tickets not being refunded had cost over three THOUSAND bucks! That’s a different level of gullible goober – folks who have halfway decent jobs and can’t just go following Trump around. And it seemed they were kinda pissed. Again, I didn’t catch the whole story and then other shit came up and I didn’t get to watch any more of Spectrum News.

        I actually wrote something earlier about how appearing at that rally tomorrow would give Ms. James all the ammo she needed to force his and his kids asses up to NY for those depositions pronto. I think if there was anything that convinced him to pass on the AZ payout (and it’s likely he’s got cash flow problems so postponing could be an issue for him) and risk another dose of ill will from his traveling mob of goobers without whom his rallies wouldn’t give him that sweet fix of crowd worship it’s that. Someone got it through his thick head that James would be in front of a judge first thing Monday as her office was reaching out to reschedule by say the end of next week.

        That makes the most sense to me. Trump can try and play the my first trophy wife and mother of three of my “wonderful” kids died suddenly. We were all soooo close and we need time to (cough, cough) grieve.”

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      • Gillian FitzgeO turn 73in November. I climb stairs justvfine, whichbis good since our apt is on the sevond floor of a 190s house. This is in New,England, with very sterp stairsrald

        I turn 73in November. I climb stairs,fairly easily, which is good because our tiny apt is on the second floor A house built circa 1900–and in New,England,,stairs,are steep as hell. So far so good.
        Ivana,was likely the only wife who loves him and according to reports, was devastated when he traded her in for younger, thinner, blonder Marla. 14million was small potatos, when you consider that she worked in his hotel.businesses. I always felt sorry for het for the way he treated her. The Euro no as my husband calls Melanoma, better not expect much when he finally croaks because he will.have blown it all on legal fees trying to.keep.himself out of jail. If she is smart, she will divorce him, collect what she is owed in the ptenup, and demand the 3floor penthouse in NY. Either that or move back to Europe and remarry an oligarch who has had to flee Putin!

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        • I think it’s pretty obvious that Ivana was not having a good time with her life. When you have a surgery, that is life affirming. You’re fixing yourself and making yourself better to live better. When you refuse a surgery, that’s sickness and death affirming.

          People age differently and everybody’s old age is different. I’m having a terrific time in my old age. I love writing. I love this blog and I am working on a couple of scifi/fantasy stories I want to publish. So for me, this is the life. But for Ivana, maybe her best years were being some glamorous diva in New York and if she can’t be that anymore, screw it. I don’t know, I’m speculating.

          And maybe she was starting to lose it mentally. I had a friend who insisted her mother move to a place without stairs because she was starting to lose it, both physically and mentally. We can guess all day. I’m sure we’ll never know.

      • And your left leaning daggers, swipes, snarky comments, and overall bias does not show here. No, just first class reporting on the life of said mother, grandmother, and all her accomplishments. You Dems are still so full of hate for Trump, you can Penn some garbage like this. Chalked full of your obvious hate if Trump. Throughout the entire piece. You do Ivana an even bigger disservice by using her death and not yet known cause of death. Bathed in “all about poor you and what you do not have” Ivana’s “weakness” in letting herself obviously fall down those stairs on purpose, because she was tired of living. Are you on drugs at 70. You have not one ioda of any kind of info that any part of your speculation is true. Yet your out in left field. Then you run over to right field. With more about you nobody gives a damn about. And your ” me” speak is overshadowed by your constant knocks trump. Giving the reader with no horse in this race whatsoever. (No I’m not a Trumper, certainly not a Democrat, nor a Republican. Who believes Trump is just as big a paid actor as Joe Biden who’s doing exactly what they have been told to do. Which is to keep us all focusing on the division they feed us to keep looking at the bon fire as our country is being burnt down behind us by those truly in charge of the world. Just so you know and don’t come at me with your book of Trumper hate propaganda and to show legitimate discuss with your left blabber.) Indigestion. Single minded brainwashed, Trump hater trash, siezing on the unfortunate death of his ex-wife. Praising her in one breath to placate the femanatzi movement. And then knocking her for basically being weak because she’s not the socialite she’s once was, therefore wanting to, and ultimately dying on cue. With subtle hints of your jealousy if the property and money she had. So your audience is left with an overall sense that you are calling her a bimbo. And without saying it, it’s because she has a connection, or had a connection to Trump. And deserving of death much too early. And that’s what you get folks when you are ever connected to whom my thoughts are consumed with. Pitiful. Whoever approved this did so because your assignment was to take Ivana’s death and doing a Trump mini hit piece, without letting anybody know your actual goal. Your editor should be fired. And you never allowed to have a national piece ever published again. Hate Trump fine. Let it run your life and blog. Man you have to be better than that. You gave me no story. Nothing. Just horrible. And very disrespectable to Ivana. Just the fact your offering your opinion nobody ever has asked for, on how she died before the M.E. has submitted even a preliminary report. Ivana’s dead. Her children aren’t. But their Trump blood they don’t deserve respect. Although you sure can point out how Trump is not showing any. And that may be true. So write about that. Don’t ride the coattails all the way down those stairs, jump off the body and scream Trump Sucks. It does not take much deduction to understand why you only have a blog. At 70. You’ve been letting your left side handlers tell you what to think for far too long. One of these days you liberals are going to wake up and realize there’s more of us who do not support either side of your senseless battle. Look at you, and think of you, exactly the same as you look at Trump. And when you factor in the fact that Trump had no power. Except over you. And then you realize that Trump, Biden, and the rest of the cast, are all on the same team. And that team considers you, The trumpers and me enemy’s. And the only way to withstand the evil on its way, that will have you forgetting Trump’s name, is for all of us to get on the same page and act. An impossible task. Because the Trumpers are standing in their stadiums worshiping the ex president. Waiting for his son Q, to save their world. Instead of using the guns they demand they have to fight this exact form of Rogue govt. As if Trump can have them circle the enemy, blow their horns 7 times, and defeat them all. Worse they still have you fighting an imaginary enemy who didn’t even have the power to stop an election he foretold would be rigged. Blabbering about a fake insurrection to keep all enthralled. Actually trying to make us all believe that it was the worst day in American history. As you all pile on. God forbid you ever get past the mind games they play with you. And your singleminded Trump hate to see the enemy’s hate for us all. For Gods creation. For children. Their vile vices they cannot hide. The pure evil they now admit exsists. True destructive intentions. And hate. For all. And you cannot even turn on the wipers and clear the Trump off your windshield and see the road. Happy to be in the fight. Your assisting them with your obedience. Trust me there is no plan to keep you around. Any more than me. 7 plus billion down to 500 million. And only a blog. No your going to starve just like me. If we don’t get on the same page. Stop hating Trump so much. He’s their puppet. Trump and Biden, Abbot and Costello. Hope and Crosby, Penn and Teller. Siegfried and Roy, ENTERTAINERS. ACTORS. SATANISTS. WAKE UP LIBERAL. or your gonna die just like me. Soon and ugly. You have to be smarter than this..

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        • You’re a complete moron and you’re one to be calling the kettle black by twisting words to make your cult leader come out smelling like a rose.he will do whatever it takes to brainwash a-holes such as yourself to think whatever..can’t afford to pay back the money he’s ripping off people like you to speak words of lies..ho ahead and get into your Tundra or Celica and drive to good Ole Wisconsin to hear yet more lies from this man of no grief…stop twisting words of truth from others to suit your own political satire of hatred for Biden…I may not agree with all he has done but to think of years of presidency with Trumpty would be hell…go find a wedge a cheese while in Wisconsin pointed end up and spin on it….

        • There was no disrespect to Ivana. It’s widely known that she fell down the stairs. You saw my reference to her needing a hip operation. The entire point of this piece — marked OPINION — is that having been in her exact same position medically, I found it astonishing that she would refuse medical treatment. The piece is my speculation, based upon my own experience. That’s it. You can read whatever else into it that you want to. I stand by my views.

        • Gosh, thank you for the your honest, frank reply. I too have now come to believe Dems/Rep are 2 sides of the same coin. We are the food/workers for Zombies(Dems/Rep).
          My heart breaks for our childrens future.

          We as believers see the unfolding of Revelations. Look forward to meeting you in the days/years to come. I wish I had your gift of communications. Thankful to stumble upon this interesting site.

      • I’ve had two hip replacements – it hurts for a year and then you have to be proactive to get your hip replacement – because orthopedic surgeons are very, very busy. During Covid the operating rooms were closed to hip replacements because they were not considered an emergency. My legs feel stiff and a little puffy sometimes. I’m 61.

        • You might be right. In my case, surgery was scheduled immediately because my hip was destroyed by arthritis. I should have been in there years before, I was told by the surgeon.

    • Hip replacement to many people means they’re getting old. Sure, Ivana has had cosmetic procedures performed on her but look at those kardashian fools-18 and they’re getting lip injections. One can surmise Ivana considered cosmetic procedures as something anyone at any age might get. It gets a lot harder to rationalize away the fact that most people getting hip replacements are no longer spring chickens. It might have been a vanity thing and admitting she was old was something she just didn’t want to do. Pity she paid with her life for such foolishness.

  2. Age shouldn’t be a problem, either. One of my aunts had a shoulder replaced last spring. She’s 90. (It’s the second one; the first was nearly 10 years ago.)

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    • There’s something that makes no sense here. Why stay crippled when you can have an operation that will uncripple you? And a second question, if she was going up and down stairs, and that was so difficult, then all the more reason to get the operation. So why live that way?Or live on the ground floor, one or the other. Something is screwy here.

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      • Maybe Ursula but think about this: to Ivana, her looks and apparent youthfulness was important. It had to have been-did you see her lips after those injections she’d get? Monstrous.

        I kept putting off knee replacement surgery for years until I happened to see myself in the glass of a door when I was walking–one let bowing out was not a good look and I am not particularly vain. lol. The pain was less of a push to surgery than that weird looking leg of mine.

  3. I’m 76, have an annual checkup including labs, and have been told by my doctor that , barring a car crash or something, my most likey cause of death within the current year would be a fall. Falls are seriously dangerous for seniors.

    • Right you are. And therefore, it makes sense if you’ve got a bad hip to get a titanium replacement and have one less thing to worry about.

  4. I am a home health Physical Therapist. I have had numerous patients that needed and would have benefited from either a hip or a knee replacement and absolutely would not even discuss it. I dont understand it. People that were in real pain and as you say, their life was very restricted as a result and they would not even discuss it.
    FYI these joint replacements keep getting better and the recovery time keeps improving. Also, if you are a surgical candidate today, you may not be in the future. I have seen people who have health conditions such that no surgeon would even consider doing the surgery irregardless the pain.

    • Wow. Thank you for sharing a professional perspective. I had no idea that people would turn down those kinds of surgeries. As stated, I was thrilled to get an answer and have it be so reasonable. If they had told me I had cancer or something I would have believed it, because things got so painful.

      I find it incredible that people would prefer to live in pain than have a simple surgery. I have no words. But certainly I believe you if you say there are people like that. We live in strange times.

  5. I still cannot get past the suspicion that this “accident” was so terribly convenient, given all that is going on. Yes, I am a cynic, but knowing the Dumpf and his spawn for the freaky people they are, I have to suspect that there is nothing, NOTHING, they would not resort to if it is to save their own asses. I just wish I could prove this gut instinct.

    • In all fairness, you are not the first person nor I’m sure the last to say this. My issue is not so much “did somebody off her?” My issue is, why in the world didn’t her children reason with her to get better medically? I’m wondering if she had fallen off mentally if she didn’t want to get a simple procedure that would have given her such a higher quality of life back and immediately.

      • As Patty Bingham pointed out above, it is also possible to have concurrent medical conditions that disqualify you from getting major surgery. Maybe there’s more to the story there, too.

        • You could be right. I’m relying on the story that said she “didn’t want” the surgery. But maybe the truth is more complicated and it was risky for some reason.

          It does make you wonder what the big secret would be, though.

  6. As Patty Bingham pointed out above, it is also possible to have concurrent medical conditions that disqualify you from getting major surgery. Maybe there’s more to the story there, too.

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