Further Dispatches from Idiot Nation

The silliness compounds itself with the passing of each day. The president of the United States is now saying that the media is intentionally hiding reports of Islamic terrorism. Predictably, this cheerful disregard of reality is being left unchallenged by the true believers, the so-called "base". Let me repeat myself: Sending this "Arrogant, demagogic man/baby" (Thank you, Randy Rainbow!) to the Oval Office was not a particularly neat idea. This is going to end very badly; We'll just leave it at that.

 

I cannot see this train-wreck of an administration making it all the way to 20 January 2021. The air of corruption and incompetence - not to mention good old-fashioned psychological instability - is so pronounced that, should the Democrats take control of the House and Senate in two years, impeachment is not out of the realm of the possible. We'll just have to wait it out and see what transpires. It's going to be an excruciatingly long two years, though. Look on the bright side: At least it won't be boring, ay? It's my job to give you something to look forward to. You're welcome.

With a mere eighteen days into this horrific term, one could be forgiven for imagining the worst-case-scenarios possible. When a nation's "ruler" (I just can't bring myself to say "leader") is as completely deranged as Donald Trump, it's not difficult to imagine all sorts of hideous incidences crashing down. When he was being briefed after the election by various intelligence and military officials on the state of international affairs, he was reported to have inquired, more than once, about the possibility of using nuclear weapons to settle various scores. If that doesn't give you the dry heaves, nothing will. This is going to be an interesting four years, don'cha think?  

Is the damage done already irreparable? Possibly. It's difficult to imagine the world ever again looking at America through the same lenses when so huge a segment of the voters were unwise enough to elect the Donald on November 8. And it is not a salve on the national consciousness to attempt to rationalize this electoral catastrophe by reminding ourselves that Hillary Clinton did, in fact, win the popular vote. That doesn't matter. It should have been the biggest landslide in the history of the republic - bigger than Dick Nixon's still inexcusable victory over George McGovern in 1972 when he won every state but Massachusetts and the District of You-Know-Where.

This one should have been a no-brainer, kids.

One of the more heartening turn-of-events during the last two weeks has been the reemergence, after a long and blissful slumber, of the American left en masse. If as many of them had bothered to show up at their polling places on November 8, 2016 as I saw out in the street, I suspect that all we would be dealing with today is a wishy-washy moderate in the form of Hillary Clinton rather than what we have now: an obviously reactionary and disturbed guy with the vocabulary of a fourteen-year-old. I would only remind a lot of them that apathy is not the answer. They might want to jot that down on their things-not-to-do list. Just a suggestion.

And while I'm giving away all of this sage advice (free of charge mind you) the Democrats might want to go to where the energy is next time around. A man in his seventies had the people about as fired up as any candidate since Bobby Kennedy nearly half a century ago, while Hillary had them yawning and embarrassed. Every poll had Bernie Sanders defeating Trump decisively while Hillary was barely neck-and-neck with him. Next time around, they ought to see which candidate is generating the most passion and go with him or her. The fact is she is not a true progressive. Hillary Clinton was a genuinely terrible candidate. Lesson learned? I doubt it.

So this is where we find ourselves; it's not a good place to be for sure, and we're going to have to roll with the punches. Late last night  received this extraordinary message on Facebook:

"You Tom Deagan were raised with a silver spoon in your mouth. If you don't like the president or respect him get out. See the rest of the world and how it lives."

 

I've known the person who sent this communication for over forty years. It would have been nice if, after all this time, she might have learned to spell my name correctly - but that's beside the point. The point is, I've never considered this woman to be of below average intelligence. That's the kind of astonishing ignorance we now have to deal with: a population that has allowed itself to become so completely brainwashed, that otherwise bright people have swallowed the Kool-Aid gladly.

 

This is going to end badly. I'm sorry, I'm repeating myself.

 

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

Not since Stan Freberg has a musical satirist come along as on point and wickedly funny as Randy Rainbow. He is the perfect tonic for dealing with the stress of living in Idiot Nation. Randy takes no prisoners. We laugh to keep from weeping. Artists like this are to be treasured. If you are not familiar with him yet, you will be. The guy is a legend waiting to happen. Here is a link to watch his latest piece.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLaYDmJYE8k

Riot: Thy name is Randy Rainbow