Irony is Dead

 

This past Sunday, the Washington Post did a “Lou Dobbs” (he asked back in 2004 why the birther questions about Obama wouldn’t go away); he repeatedly asked this question while on his Fox program.  He often used the trumpian trope:  "Lots of people are asking these questions."  Or:  "People are asking...."

I refer to the Post headline: “Democratic Campaign Can’t Shake the ‘Court Packing’ Question”, (which was asked by the Post in their widely read newspaper).  

The newspapers fired most their editors a few years back.  Now they rely on hacks like me who write on the internet.  

Irony is dead.

I guess I'm just not empathic enough

 Look, I know that one is supposed to be wistfully pleased to be reminded of a past loved one especially when unexpectedly coming upon something, an object, a reminder, something that we shared back when we were both alive.

Oh! Fuck You!  I did that today.  I came across something my brother left here for me in my disorganized and messy shop.

 I’ve tried to do that wistful thing, and I have felt nothing except pain because my brother did not have to be dead now.

My experience is but a microcosm of what more than 200,000 people here in the USA are feeling. 

 I guess that we’re supposed to be so much better and absorb:  “It is what it is”.

Trump is insane.

Think for a little while

 I had an epiphany today; I finally felt compassion for Trump supporters.  They have missed their chance to follow Jim Jones, drink the Kool-aide, or die in flames with David Koresh.  They’ll never put on their special tennis shoes and meet the mother spaceship with Marshall Applewhite and the Heaven’s Gate people They will never be invited to a Trump Tower or to Doral Country club.  

I came to this moment of understanding as I confronted my own weakness.  I was standing naked before my little fish pond and I was considering what the 50 degree water and the tangle of pond weeds would feel like if I jumped in as I had intended when I stripped off my clothing.  I stood there a long, long time.  What have I gotten myself into?  Is this right?   I've come this far, should I turn back?  I had to think.  I thought of the Trump supporters.

I considered their position of standing on the brink of their intentions.  They too, might be looking at what they’re about to do and what their future will bring.  Some of them can imagine a plunge into the deep end of their commitment to Trump’s three terms as president or his dictatorship, or they may wonder if they have the courage to follow up on their naked Rambo fantasies of what will really come next if they commit to a civil war to make that happen.  I imagined that a few of them were wondering who their enemies are.  Some surely realize that their participation in a Rambo movie might not include happy endings for them personally.  A few may have looked at their overweight wives and thought what Trump would have to say about them.  If you stop and think for awhile, lots of things come to mind.

My compassion was for those people who have those doubts about their rhetoric, bluster, and their actions to this point.   I hope that they'll think for a little while.  I don’t know what they will do.

But I jumped in to that cold, cold water.  After having thought for a while, it seemed like the right thing to do.

Then again, a few minutes in very cold water isn't anything like more years of a Trump presidency.