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16 January 2021

Trumpian Tragedy

The tragedy of Abraham Lincoln was that he went to the theatre. It is tempting to be sorry that Donald Trump didn't himself patronise the theatre. He has, nevertheless, spent four years creating his very own style of theatrical performance, and we are currently watching the tragic finale.

This failed businessman (who managed to persuade nearly half of the USA that he was successful) has provided a deluge of inappropriate behaviour, a fountain of religious hypocrisy, and a cluster bomb of personal insults. He ran roughshod over hitherto accepted norms of behaviour: 

  • Demeaning women
  • Applying insulting epithets to colleagues and political opponents alike.
  • Calling fallen veterans suckers and losers; 
  • Making fun of disability.
  • Telling a presidential competitor that he had an ugly wife.
  • Demeaning a high-profile war hero because he'd been captured.
  • Sucking up to tyrannical dictators whilst insulting his international allies.
  • Disrespecting the British Head of State by walking directly in front of her. 
  • Standing next to the British Prime Minister at a press briefing and publicly belittling her. 
  • Making it OK for Americans to hate each other. 
  • Instilling into the national psyche that the free press is the "Enemy of the People". 
  • Organising grandiose Mussolini-style photo ops.
  • Surrounding himself with crooks and sycophants (any one of which could be "A great guy" one day and a fired "Loser" the next.) 
  • Telling well over 20,000 documented lies, the very first one being about the number of people attending his inauguration.

All of this was deemed as acceptable (and even enjoyable) behaviour by what became known as his "Core Base" .. that section of Republican voters who were happy to accept as 'Facts' anything their Dear Leader told them were facts. Some even thought Trump had been sent by God! Their slogan was "Make America Great Again", the irony being that in their approval of their saviour's behaviour they were in fact making America an international laughing stock (which is not my definition of "Great"). The other slogan .. "America First" coined by Trump was made worthless by the fact that much of his Trump-branded goods was made in China!

The final act of this tragedy has been beyond the imagination of most of us: the storming of the seat of democratic government by a howling assortment of thugs, criminals, idiots, neo-NAZIS, white supremacists, anarchists, and vicious hooligans calling for the Vice President to be hanged (presumably because he had officially confirmed that Joe Biden had decisively won the Presidential election). 

Donald Trump and his MAGA brigade stuck to the belief that Trump had in fact won the election by a "landslide", and an evil cabal of Democrats (all of whom are apparently Satan-worshippers and Communists) had "stolen" the election by nefarious means, in spite of a series of  court judgements that said otherwise. "President" Trump encouraged his supporters in this direction, and promised to be there with them. Of course, he wasn't. He should have said "I'm behind you", because he was .. a long way behind, watching it all on TV. (More 'leadership').

Consequent upon the howling mob rampaging through The Capitol building, Joe Biden's inauguration will be a poor affair, with little or no public attendance, taking place encircled by a fence topped with razor wire and 15,000 armed National Guard. No doubt Trump will take solace from such a travesty of what normally occurs befalling his erstwhile opponent.

It's good to know that arrests and prosecutions have ensued from all of this, but I worry that Biden's going to have a hell of a job on re-uniting this divided nation and restoring their international reputation. We must hope that this particular tragi-farce is never shown again on the world stage, or indeed the 'provincial theatres' of State governments.

Footnote for Cult Members: It would appear that God has had second thoughts.