Back in the late 1960s, there was a movie called Putney Swope. The title character was a token black guy who was on a board of directors of a Madison Avenue advertising firm. The chairman of the board suddenly dies, and they have to elect a new one. The by-laws prevent the members from voting for themselves, so each votes for Swope. Some do it to show how fake-liberal they are, while most figure that it’ll be a safe vote since they assume that nobody else would vote for a black guy.
Swope wins the election and the next day, the board is all African-American. It was a broad satire, one that served as an inspiration to Louie C.K. and Jim Jarmusch. (Odd fact: Putney Swope was written by Robert Downey Sr.)
I remember thinking about Putney Swope on Election Night. I wondered how many people had cast their ballots for Donald Trump, thinking that it was a one-off, screw-you vote. I mean, there’s no way that giant pustule was going to win, right?
But win he did, fair and square, under the arcane rules of the American electoral process. After the shocking results, people such as I were encouraged to climb down off our smug pedestals and go out and talk to real people, perchance to find out why they voted the way they did. I tried that—I really did—but there was no epiphany, no moment of grand revelation.
I talked to right-wing radio talk-show hosts who had to twist themselves into pretzels claiming that there was no bigotry involved whatsoever. Do you realize what a ridiculous argument that is? If even one person voted out of bigotry, then that stance is bogus. Longtime political friends of mine were honest enough to say that they held their noses and voted for the misogynist in hopes that they could gut health care and give tax breaks to their rich homies. (To be fair, they didn’t use those exact words.)
I had neither the time nor the inclination to travel to the Meth Belt to ask people if they really, really, REALLY believed that an East Coast hundred-millionaire gave even the tiniest crap about them. And I didn’t waste even a second on Trump voters who also think that climate change is a hoax. Those people are a special kind of stupid, and I’ve got no time for stupid.
All that remained was to see just how big a mess he could make and how far his voters would go to support him. I figured that I would lay off him for a while. I even went all of Lent without saying anything negative about him. That was the toughest Lent since the one when I gave up soda and fried chicken at the same time.
Six months have gone by and my self-imposed moratorium has expired. But there is a sense of disappointment in the air. Back in the 1980s, there was a suicide cluster at Plano (Texas) High School in the upscale Dallas suburb of the same name. A kid would go to the funeral of a classmate who had committed suicide and go home and try to do the same thing. The school’s football team made it to the state playoffs and fans of the opposing team put up a big banner that read, “Don’t Kill Plano! They’ll Kill Themselves!”
It’s sad, but there is nothing I can complain about that he won’t have already said about—or done to—himself. It’s almost impossible to keep up with his blunders and self-inflicted wounds. And they keep coming so fast that it makes writing about them seem ill-conceived and positively antiquated.
As I write this, he’s getting ready to embark on a trip to distant foreign lands. God only knows what trouble his ill-informed brain and undisciplined mouth is going to get him in. His first stop is Saudi Arabia. He’ll probably see some Saudi prince in a long robe, think it’s a woman, and grab the guy by the crotch. Interestingly, according to Saudi tradition, that then establishes a special bond between the two men and allows them to go out and try to find foreign-born hotel maids to molest. Then he’s going to Israel, where his aides have been instructed to refer to the Jerusalem landmark as “The Western Wall.” If they called it “The Wailing Wall,” you just know that the Doofus-in-Chief would scan the desert landscape wondering where the orcas are.
I have to say that I’m in awe over the way his supporters are sticking with him. We all have those embarrassing family members, teammates or friends that we remain loyal to, even though it’s cringe-worthy to do so. His voters and media sycophants are hanging in, acting just like the Orange Messiah, unwilling to admit to having made a mistake. (Orange Messiah should be the name of an Eegee’s Flavor of the Month.)
Anyway, it looks as though the long national nightmare might not be as long or as nightmarish as I had feared. He’s self-destructing at an incredible (and accelerating) pace.
I’ll leave you with this: Quinnipiac asked 1,078 Americans “What is the first word that comes to mind when you think of President Trump?” The clear winner: Idiot (followed by Incompetent and Liar). Yeah, that’s about right.
This article appears in May 25-31, 2017.
I’m sure the comments will be civil and well-reasoned.
If they were it wouldn’t match the hate and ignorance portrayed in the article. Is it not enough to realize Clinton is a flawed candidate? That’s why they torpedoed Sanders.
Too bad Lent doesn’t last longer.
Thanks for another liberal rant, maybe next time we can have a non political, tired, Trump bashing column.
Don’t count on it. However, I’ll give Tom this much. Putney Swope was a great movie. One of the best satires ever. ” How many syllables, Mario? How many syllables?”
Is it possible that rather than attempting to judge “unspoken” thoughts, that you entertain the possibility that you are a flawed low information voter?
After 8 years of Obama one could list all the failures that were so ignored by you, because of his skin color. This thing cuts both ways. Why not adhere to MLK’s “I have a dream” where you judge people on the content of their character?”
Here is a great place to start your rehab, from 2014.
By now, nearly five and a half years into the Obama presidency, objective people can draw reasonable conclusions, among which are these: Barack Obama was among the least prepared men to ever serve as presidency. It shows. He has been overmatched by events right from the start. He is an excellent campaigner but unusually inept when it comes to governing.
By temperament and experience, based on skill set and ability, Mr. Obama is much better equipped to be a community organizer than to be president of the United States.
For the sake of our nation and much of the world, I wish he had stayed on Chicagos South Side.
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/american-society/obamas-staggering-record-of-failure/
And then you must admit, this past week Donald Trump has looked like the world leader we have been waiting for. Brilliant, simply brilliant!
Dave W, Prepare to be called a racist.
Yeah that’s what the ultra left does, and once again it wouldn’t be true. But at this point, when confronted with facts, it is all they have.
“Donald Trump has looked like the world leader we have been waiting for.”
Well, I wouldn’t call you a racist as CW13 predicted. I will say that the last paragraph of your comment has to be the stupidest thing that I’ve read on this site in a while though. Quite the opposite of “Brilliant, simply brilliant!” in fact.
The existence of God has resurfaced as many people wonder how the Twitterer-in-Chief could visit the wall in Jerusalem without the All Mighty dropping it on him, or how he could visit the Vatican without being instantly struck down by lightening.
On a side note, did the “prayer” he slipped into the Wailing Wall whine about how he is the worst treated president ever?
CW13, you have been quiet since you moved to Krupets from Dubna.
You will never get the much wanted Order of Lenin with silence. Your young man – servant David W. will be a shoo in for the Order of Disinformation.
Obama was a good, not great, president. Given the nature of the disloyal opposition’s obstructionism and thinly veiled contempt, he did a decent job and left office with higher approval ratings than Trump will ever enjoy. That said, I notice similarities in the policies of both these presidential polar opposites. If you (on both sides) can cast aside your selective outrage, consider:
Both Obama and Trump set out to deport millions of undocumented with the assurance “only the criminals will be targeted.” Both lied, and to date Obama holds the records for deporting the most undocumented without criminal histories – a number in the high hundreds of thousands if not millions.
Both Obama and Trump administrations brokered arms deals to our enemy in Saudi Arabia to the tune of over $100 billion. Remember 9/11 and the Saudi export of virulent radical terrorist ideology through an expanding network of madrases.
Both the Obama and Trump administrations actively engaged in an assault on US public schools under the premise of school improvement with funding going largely to private sector leeches. Remember Arne Duncan? I do. Like Betsy DeVos? I don’t.
So if we take a moment to set aside our partisan-based disgust with either the former or present president, it might be a good idea to begin considering what forces propel two presidents who could not be more different in style and demeanor from pursuing the same destructive objectives.
Right Joel. Whatever that meant.
Try listening to AZ/DC. He’ll show you how to disagree making intelligent points without being a moron. If that’s possible.
*standing up and applauding Rick Spanier’s post*
When I consider “what forces propel two presidents who could not be more different in style and demeanor from pursuing the same destructive objectives” — all I come up with is “follow the money.”
Who is being enriched? Who is being impoverished? Mainstream Democrats are bought and paid for by big corporations and untraceable campaign donations (dark money). Mainstream Republicans are bought and paid for by big corporations and untraceable campaign donations (dark money).
The whole system is corrupt, and us regular folks are suffering in so many ways.
blaze. I don’t see how anybody could dislike your post. Very well said.
But you need to remember that politics is a money business and these whiners have no money. Corporations do. And sometimes it benefits everybody. Sometimes it doesn’t.