"Fee fee fi fi fo fo fum I smell smoke in the auditorium,
Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown, he's a clown that Charlie Brown,
He's gonna get caught just you wait and see
(Why's everybody always picking on me?)"
Hit song by The Coasters, 1959
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| Click: two minutes |
The Charlie Brown teenager is smoking in the auditorium, gambling in the gym, throwing spit balls, and calling the English teacher Daddy-o. He is a bad boy, acting out and showing off. He is breaking rules and the center of attention.
Donald Trump made a political career acting out and showing off, showing contempt for the experts, the law-makers, the news media, the CDC, the trade representatives, and the diplomats who represent an international foreign policy consensus. By refusing to concede an election he remains defiant and cool, to the applause of the solid majority of a political party that may well be the majority party in America Trump was Charlie Brown and still is.
He was given notice that a criminal grand jury has been convened to review evidence that involves him personally, as well as his family and business. Tax avoidance and bank fraud leaves a paper record and he may be stuck with some documents with his signature on them.
Writing from Mar-a-Lago in his new media platform, Trump said everyone was picking on him.
This is a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in American history. It began the day I came down the escalator in Trump Tower, and it’s never stopped. They wasted two years and $48 million in taxpayer dollars on Mueller and Russia Russia Russia, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, and it continues to this day, with illegally leaked confidential information.
No other President in history has had to put up with what I have had to, and on top of all that, I have done a great job for our Country. . ..
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| Rebellious. Misunderstood. Cool. |
As president he criticized the FBI and CIA. They weren't the good guys anymore. They were the "deep state." He appointed people to cabinet offices whose goal was to disrupt or dismantle their departments, or he left key positions vacant.
He wasn't part of the establishment. He thumbed his nose at it.
Democrats are misreading this. They think that the law is closing in on Trump. CNN and MSNBC opinion hosts are giddy at the potential legal peril for Trump. They will be disappointed.
Trump will survive just fine. Tax cheating and hoodwinking the banks won't create significant legal or political cost for Trump. People don't like and respect the IRS and big banks. They are necessary evils--as popular as the high school discipline dean. Trump has a legal escape hatch as big as a barn door--taxes are complicated and he trusted his accountants. No one cheers the tax collector.
Trump, like Charlie Brown, is being cool, reflecting the public's diminished respect for institutions of government. He scoffs at Dr. Fauci, at mask-wearers, at expectations that losers of elections concede. Our serious adult selves understand that taxes are the price of citizenship and a safe, free country, and we understand that tax compliance is the law. But our willful youthful selves like the idea of defying authority figures that lost credibility.
What does the cool guy do to save face when the rules finally catch up with him? He turns the tables. Unreasonable authority figures are picking on him. That, too, will be an easy sell for Trump.
Listen to the song and absorb its meaning. Charlie Brown isn't just the center of attention. He is the hero of the story.
10 comments:
Comparing Trump to Charlie Brown, James Dean or the Fonz is sacriligious. There's nothing "cool" about him. He's more like Biff in "Back to the Future."
Sad that immature and sociopathic behavior is so attractive to so many of our fellow citizens.
Another example of the moral decay of the right wing elites, who enable this man.
Right wing elites Art? Maybe right wing trailer trash might be a better description, but maybe that is too harsh.
No too harsh at all, Anonymous; Cruz, Rubio et al are all nothing but trash all shined up with elite college degrees. They're going to sink this Republic, given the slightest opportunity.
Ever wonder what would have happened if Al Gore hadn't conceded ? We'll never know. We also know, from history, the bitterness John Adams felt towards Jefferson. The rivalry between these two is legend. Trump is another animal all together. Unmoored and unlearned, floats on his own lies. Those onboard this ship of fools are a large number of the political cynical hoping their voyage takes them to safe harbor and a return to power. This can not end well.
Former FBI Dir James Comey is quoted as saying that Donald Trump eats your soul one nite at a time. He remembers being silent in the room as Trump lied about his huge Inauguration Day crowd, larger than Obama’s. To Comey, his silent acquiescence was the first bite.
It’s hard to have the courage to maintain one’s integrity. It’s easy to be silent while someone who has power over you is lying. Or when being quiet is personally advantageous. But it’s a slippery slope, as we all now see. And not only for the moral coward, but sometimes for a whole society. Recent Poll reveals that 1 in 5 American adults believe parts or all of the QAnon conspiracy. Yet the Republican House caucus does not support MTG’s expulsion. Kevin McCarthy’s soul was eaten a long time ago. And the integrity of his caucus members is non existent.
One bite
Exactly what I'm afraid of. Putting Trump in prison will energize his base beyond what too many of my friends are apparently able to conceive of. It could easily turn the country over to the quasi-Republican fascists permanently.
At the 2021 CPAC, Republicans worshipped a golden idol (made in china) of the psychopath who led their attempted coup against our duly elected president. Nothing one can say would be too harsh. If, as Bill suggests, his cult followers were to take up arms, they’d last about 10 minutes against the military. That would be too bad for their families, but it would significantly improve the nation’s collective IQ.
Such a person doesn't prosper without help.
The path from heir to businessman to television personality to politician has been lined with enablers and cheerleaders. Some, like Howard Stern and Michael Cohen, have backed away but for the most part this person has been well insulated from consequences by others, starting with the Republican party.
The role models you use are fictional. The outlaw/hero is an American cultural invention designed to entertain adolescents. With roots in literature but coming to full fruition, and profitability, with movies it has a positive message in promoting individualism, but also a darker side that assents to vigilantism and other uncivilized behaviors. One result is a gun fetish that is uniquely American. My point is that there are few, if any, real world examples.
The real Fonzis are thugs. Many are incarcerated, some are in boardrooms and statehouses.
Cool...
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