I didn't ask Santa for it. I wouldn't wear it outside the house. It is too in-your-face. Too many people believe in Trump with the childlike faith we are told to bring to the Kingdom of God. These may be "fighting words" to people I would see at the supermarket, and I don't want a fight. I don't want an argument, either, because Trump believers have their own set of facts. Trump has cast a spell on a majority of American Republicans.
Guest Post author Gerald Murphy likened Trump supporters to young children who believe in Santa Claus. Murphy is a retired high school English teacher. He has written dozens of plays and musicals with productions in over forty countries, mostly in schools and community theaters.
I was lucky enough to have been born into a huge Irish Catholic family. I was the eighth of nine kids, which meant that I not only received presents from my parents, but also from older siblings. In short, life was good.
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| Gerald is the boy on the lower left. |
Like most younger kids, I believed firmly in Santa Claus. At age six, I had never heard or seen one scrap of evidence to suggest that he might be a fantasy, a myth, a pleasant little white lie to add magic to the holiday season.
In my sixth Christmas, however, we had a visit from Santa at our house which shook my faith in the jolly fellow. My oldest brother Jimmy brought Santa to the house one night. Santa wore a cheap red costume and an even cheaper white beard, which kept sliding down his face, revealing the chubby cheeks of Red Harrington, a neighbor. I recognized him immediately. I remember running to my bedroom and crying to myself. How could I have been so naïve? Of course, Santa was made up. How could he do all this gift-giving in one night? And what about the reindeer? Reindeers can’t fly! And why did so many people join together to keep this myth alive?
Of course, they had their reasons. In fact, any parent who refused to perpetuate the lie was considered a spoilsport and killjoy. And when it came to my own kids, I kept up the lie with the best of them.
But these are little white lies meant to delight children. They are not the dangerous kinds of lies that can cause actual harm. But when we have vast segments of our population falling for serious lies, our country can suffer greatly. When Fox News convinces almost half our population that there are “alternate” facts, that elections lies are in fact true, that only one side can win any election, and that Donald Trump is the magical Santa Claus hero we have all been waiting for, we are in deep trouble.
Jordan Klepper is an American comedian, writer, producer, and political commentator. For years he has shown up at Trump rallies throughout the country. He constantly rips the false beard from political liars, and he is a master at trapping Trump supporters into giving voice to their insane and inconsistent political convictions.
These are some of my favorite moments of Klepper interviewing Trump supporters at rallies in 2023:
The Two-Military Theory
KLEPPER: So who is our president?
MAGA PERSON: [Trump] is still president. There’s a lot of things this Biden person does not have, like the presidential seal and things like that, that are pretty obvious.
KLEPPER: Biden doesn’t have the presidential seal?
MAGA PERSON: No!
KLEPPER: When he speaks there’s the presidential seal in front of him.
MAGA PERSON: It’s not real.
KLEPPER: What is [Trump} doing as president?
MAGA PERSON: He’s in charge of the military.
KLEPPER: Great.
MAGA PERSON: The military is in charge of the whole thing. The military were put in charge in 2018 when Donald Trump signed an executive order.
KLEPPER: And the American military arms that are going to Ukraine, we have Donald Trump to thank for that?
MAGA PERSON: No! No! There are two militaries!
KLEPPER: There are two militaries?
MAGA PERSON: Two militaries. The good and the bad.
KLEPPER: Donald Trump is in charge of the good one? Biden is in charge of the bad military?
MAGA PERSON: That’s exactly right.
How Donald Trump lost one MAGA man’s vote.
HALEY SUPPORTER: I voted for Trump, but I certainly will not be doing that again.
KLEPPER: When did Donald Trump lose your support?
HALEY SUPPORTER: The nail in the coffin for me for supporting Donald Trump….
KLEPPER: Let me guess! Charlottesville?
HALEY SUPPORTER: Nope. You’re not gonna guess it!
KLEPPER: Kids in cages?
HALEY SUPPORTER: Nope
KLEPPER: January sixth?
HALEY SUPPORTER: Nope!
KLEPPER: Okay, okay! Let me try again. First impeachment?
HALEY SUPPORTER: Nope!
KLEPPER: Second impeachment?
HALEY SUPPORTER: Nope.
KLEPPER: How about inviting white supremacists over to Mar-a-Lago?
HALEY SUPPORTER: Nope
KLEPPER: I give up. What is it?
HALEY SUPPORTER: Criticizing DeSantis before the election.
KLEPPER: Wouldn’t have guessed it. So that’s the line right there.
HALEY SUPPORTER: There’s the nail in the coffin. I knew you wouldn’t have guessed it!
KLEPPER: That’s why I come out to talk to people. I’m constantly surprised.
Paying for Necessities
KLEPPER: Take me through your outfit.
TRUMP SUPPORTER: I bought the socks in town.
KLEPPER: And your socks have Trump’s head on them. How much did you pay for the sweatshirt?
TRUMP SUPPORTER: $40.
KLEPPER: How much for the hat?
TRUMP SUPPORTER: $25. I think I get a new Maga hat at least once a month.
KLEPPER: How many do you have?
TRUMP SUPPORTER: I guess 40 or so.
KLEPPER: How do you feel we’re all doing under Biden?
TRUMP SUPPORTER: Economically, not good. I think inflation and the gas problem, everything is going up. Milk and eggs is just through the roof. You gotta have four jobs to pay the rent.
KLEPPER: How much money have you paid out for Trump swag?
TRUMP SUPPORTER: Couple thousand dollars.
KLEPPER: Wow, that’s a lot! But people are having a hard time paying for the necessities?
TRUMP SUPPORTER: Right!
Trump’s Legal Problems
KLEPPER: How many indictments are we up to now?
TRUMP SUPPORTER: A lot. There’s Georgia.
KLEPPER: Yep, that’s Georgia.
TRUMP SUPPORTER: There’s New York City. That’s the bankruptcy.
KLEPPER: It’s hard to keep these straight!
TRUMP SUPPORTER: Right. He has a lot of them. I think they’re just trying to throw him in jail. It’s a witch hunt. Like what he said in New York.
KLEPPER: Was that pre or post the first indictment?
TRUMP SUPPORTER: I think that was right around the lady charges.
KLEPPER: Lady charges? Was that the Stormy Daniel charges or the sexual assault charges?
TRUMP SUPPORTER: The sexual assault charges.
KLEPPER: And he was found guilty of these charges, right?
TRUMP SUPPORTER: I think so.
KLEPPER: And you’re 100% sure you’re voting for Trump in the next election, right?
TRUMP SUPPORTER: Yeah!
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13 comments:
Perpetuating the Santa Claus myth is an innocent way to delight children. The Trump Cult reminds me more of Jim Jones, the People’s Temple and Jonestown, but the Kool-Aid Trump hands out could be the death of our democracy. Oh well, Republicans never really liked it anyway. If voters had their way, the nation would have stricter gun laws and women could make their own healthcare decisions. May they rot in hell. Merry Christmas!
The "Trump is like Santa Claus" analogy makes a ton of sense and is one that never occurred to me before. Bravo to Gerald for framing it in that way. And also Bravo to shining a spotlight on Jordan Klepper, he does absolutely AMAZING work that simultaneously makes you want to laugh and cry at the shocking level of idiocy and ignorance that is prevalent among Trump supporters.
On YouTube search for "Jordan Klepper" and you'll find many of his Daily Show segments. Very well worth watching.
Gerald's hero Joe Biden is a senile piece of shit who took bribes from China.
Once Biden goes to prison, then Gerald can wear a striped prison shirt in honor of Biden.
Note about the comment anonymous comment posted above.
It is written in the style of local GOP and Trump supporter Curt Ankerberg, and I believe it to be written by him. He expects to be a candidate for local office in the upcoming year. I delete as spam 99% of the comments I get from Mr. Ankerberg and those written in his characteristic style, but from time to time I may allow them to be published. Local voters will make their won decision about whether Ankerberg reflects their views. He nearly won election in a contested GOP primary election for state senator. He reflects the opinion and style of a significant number of local Trump supporters and Republican partisans. Trump has changed the GOP. Not for the better, in my opinion. But Ankerberg had formerly been an outlier. Now he is mainstream.
Trump may win a majority of votes in Southern Oregon. So might Ankerberg.
Peter Sage
There are not-so-bright people on all sides of political issues. In addition to these dopes on the right, consider “Queers For Palestine” on the left, who would instantly be killed if they showed up in Gaza. Remember, the average IQ is 100; half of the population falls below that.
Democracy is an attempt to extract high-quality decisions from a large number of components (voters) whose quality varies considerably. As you might expect, it doesn’t always work well. It’s just better than all the other alternatives.
POSTED FOR CURT ANKERBERG. THIS IS NECESSARY TO REMOVE HIS DEFAMATION BY NAME OF A PERSON WHO WORKS IN LOCAL MEDIA. ANKERBERG MAY BE A CANDIDATE IN UPCOMING LOCAL ELECTIONS. HE IS A REPUBLICAN AND TRUMP SUPPORTER.
Peter Sage supports Joe Biden, who is the most corrupt and incompetent president in American history. There is solid evidence that Biden and his family have take more than $24 million in bribes from China, Ukraine, and Russia, along with a slew of other communist countries. Those bribes have influenced American foreign policy. Joe Biden has been bought by the commies. I'm looking forward to seeing Joe Biden in prison.
Peter Sage and Joe Biden both support abortions and sex change operations for 13 year olds, along with allowing adults to have sex with children. One of Peter Sage's good friends is a pedophile [REMOVED] Why are most pedophiles democrats?
Peter Sage and Joe Biden support the destruction of America in the form of allowing 8 million illegal aliens to invade America in the past couple of years, among them thousands of sex offenders and terrorists.
Joe Biden has destroyed the American economy by printing trillions of dollars in new funny money which has caused record inflation and record prices for food and housing. Joe Biden will bankrupt you.
Joe Biden is senile because he can't speak without a teleprompter, and he gets lost on the stage.
Joe Biden is a racist, and he and his son Hunter regularly refer to Blacks as Ni@@ers (which I find to be disgusting). Joe Biden is a racist, as are most democrats.
Joe Biden has taken a record number of vacation days during his presidency, at a time that the world is burning. Joe Biden is always on vacation.
Joe Biden has transformed the criminal justice system to penalize his political opponents, and to patronize and protect his friends and family.
Joe Biden hates Jews (like me), and is in the back pocket of the Arab terrorists.
Joe Biden is senile, and most folks know he isn't running the show. The real head of operations is Barry Obama, one of the worst presidents in American history. Democrats Jimmy Carter, Joe Biden, and Barry Obama are the three biggest failures in American history.
Peter Sage likes to brag about being a Harvard alumni, but now we know that Harvard is a racist, affirmative action school that isn't nearly as good as it advertises.
I'm a happy, well-educated state university graduate.
Curt Ankerberg
Medford, OR
Angerburger has run for any office he can, but so far we've been spared his election. However, Republicans have become increasingly insane, to the point they can relate even to the likes of him. Except for not being rich and famous, he's just like Trump. God help us.
I believe Angerberg is completely unmoored from any kind of reality, even moreso than most devout Trumpistas. If he has close family, they should try to get him some help.
When Alan DeBoer decided not to run again for the state senate, he endorsed his legislative aide Jessica Gomez, a local tech business owner. Her opponent in the primary was Curt Ankerberg, who is obscene, absurd and has a fraud conviction. Gomez beat him by only 500 votes.
Yes, both parties have people who aren’t too bright, but the GOP has developed a case of mass insanity. That is why, even though democracy is better than all the other forms of government, Republicans are nominating an aspiring dictator.
Posting uninformed comments like the above really dimish the value of your blog, Peter.
Peter, why do you post this garbage? I used to be a daily reader of your blog.
No, it's not even bookmarked.
It is not clear to me what part of the post Mc considers garbage.
The likening of Trump believers in his complex lies about the election to toddlers' belief in Santa?
The very act of publishing Gerald Murphy's memories?
The verbatim text of Jordan K's interviews? And if it is that, is the objection to giving space to those MAGA true believers? Or is it the opposite, that Klepper makes fun of them, and it is cruel to reveal the trusting ignorance of Trump's gullible believers?
Lots of opportunities to dislike the post. I had thought it likely one of the more benign -- a combination of a sweet Christmas memory with some examples of Klepper's work.
The reservation I had about the Guest Post was that I thought some might think the extended transcripts from Klepper went beyond "fair use."
Doing a blog is a minefield. I get signups and I get people who read something they dislike and they sign off, alas, and sometimes they tell me so. I invite people who think the post or the overall blog to be garbage to send me Guest Post material. Elevate the blog with something better.
Peter Sage
Oh. I get it. The Ankerberg comment!
Curt Ankerberg writes me a couple of times a day with obscene comment for publication. I had thought for a time that publishing them would be such an embarrassment to himself and to the local GOP that he would stop sending them to me. No. Both Ankerberg and the GOP is shameless, apparently. Many of his comments contain oddly detailed ideas about sexual activity with children, positioned as accusations. Weird. I consider them unintentional windows into Curt himself although I think he would argue that he is just imagining in detail what others would do. So of course I cannot publish those, even though I think they would be catastrophic to his campaigns, if local voters were to see the unfiltered Curt.
So, I am sitting on a huge trove of signed and unsigned comments I see in the characteristic Curt Ankerberg style and I have a dilemma. He tells me he plans to be a candidate. I think people have the right and need to know who Curt is. Some Trumpy people may like him and his vulgar accusations. Others -- far more I think -- will be appalled. Yet the way to show voters who might well become their next school board member or city counselor would require me to expose the public to Curt's own words. Yet most of those contain obscenity, gratuitous insults and sometimes outright defamations of named people. I don't want to be a party to that. You called a cleaned up version of it "garbage", Mc.
So, the quandry. Do I protect Ankerberg and unintentionally enable his campaign by censoring him? Or do I quote him verbatim and put garbage into this blog, but do a public service by doing so? It is complicated by the fact that Curt mostly writes anonymously, attributing his comments to invented names, or the real names of identifiable poeple. So although I am confident the disgusting material is from Curt, based on content and style, he has a kind of deniability. He refuses to send me a confirmation from his own email address confirming the disgusting comments are, in fact, his. People widely think he is crazy, but he is not stupid. He does hit-and-run commenting.
But I probably won't publish any more of his comments because I agree they are offensive. If I am inadvertently sheltering him, and he gets elected, then it will be the public that pays the price. I believe people should know the real Curt Ankerberg, so we would vote for or against him with full information.
Peter Sage
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