One hundred days of chaos
Reality television blurred the lines between reality and entertainment. Our first reality television president has blurred the lines between government, reality, and entertainment. Watching the Donald Show is as mesmerizing as a car accident.
You can’t look away even though what you are seeing is an abomination. His Cabinet has more freaks than a carnival midway. Trump is the carnie barker screaming, “Come one, come all.”
“See the Secretary of Education who is uneducated but has a billion dollars for every IQ point she possesses,” he shouts to the rapturous crowd. “See Bannon, half man-half beast, who wants to destroy our country and rebuild it as the Third Reich.”
“Come see Jared, the super son-in-law, who will change the world with a mere wave of his hand. Reforming the entire U.S. government, ironing out the problems with England, Germany, Mexico, Australia, and Canada that his father-in-law created, and bringing peace to the Middle East will be achieved through his supernatural powers,” he continues to bellow to all who listen.
“See Tom Terrific of H.H.S. make under-the- table deals to enrich himself while destroying American health care. See Scott Pruitt turn the Earth into an uninhabitable planet cooked by CO2 in our atmosphere and poisoned by industrial toxins in our water and soil,” he screams to the heavens. “This is truly the greatest show on Earth.”
After the freak show, the midway barker revealed the following to the press: “Mexico has begun building the wall and has agreed to assume full financial responsibility for the construction. We have stopped all Islamic immigration and have repealed and replaced Obamacare with a plan that allows Americans to choose any plan they want. Of course, these plans are affordable except for those people who are sick, drug addicted, mentally ill, poor, or geezers.”
“This whole business with Russia is just fake news and ‘sour grapes’. Vladimir likes me better than Hillary and chose me to be President. So get over it. As I’ve said before neither I nor my lackeys colluded with the Russians. I have never met a Russian in my life. As for Attorney General Beauregard, he simply forgot those two meetings with that Russian spymaster when he was testifying under oath.”
“General Flynn did fail to register as an agent of a foreign government, but they paid him less than a million dollars so it just slipped his mind. And that telephone call to Kyslak was just to reassure him about the sanctions that acting President Obama leveled against the Russians for interfering in my election. So no harm done.”
“Yes, Eric Prince, Carter Page, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and my son-in-law, Jared are my good buddies and loyal stooges, but their contacts and meetings with the Russian agents were purely coincidental.”
“Oh, one last thing, don’t worry about North Korea or Syria. I’m going to nuke them back to the Stone Age.”
Note: For those American Rubes (35 percent) that conflate lampoon with reality even when it is labeled with a magic marker: this is fake news.
Terry Stulce served two combat tours in Vietnam, one with the 101st Airborne and one with the 69th Border Rangers. He was an LCSW and owner of Cleveland Family Counseling before retirement in 2009.