Do As I Say...

So...despite not having any real desire to do so, I tried to watch the State of the Union speech last night. I think I managed to make it through the first ten minutes before the dry-heaving began. I just couldn't stomach the smarmy faux comity, bald-faced lies, self-promoting puffery and ham-fisted bullying. That's our Donald, the round-faced buffoon of bluster, the master of self-made disaster, the reason why we should each be doing our part to shake of our collective apathy and work towards rebuilding and restoring our democracy.

I know it has been suggested before, but even after only ten minutes of listening to him I realized that it's absolutely essential to have a "truth-o-meter" scrolling along the bottom of the screen any time Trump speaks publicly and especially when he is being broadcast. The amazing thing to me is that Trump knows full well that anyone with half a brain can see right through his shtick, which is chockfull of lies, race-baiting and empty threats he'll never be able to carry out.

I think he also probably knows full well that the most of the folks in his base, the real audience of his SOTU speech, don't give a hoot whether or not anything he's saying is actually truth. He's speaking directly to their racial hatreds and primal fears and he's giving them what they've never got from any other politician: validation. If all they got before from the other pols was coy come-ons, nods and winks, now they're getting heaping servings of racist red meat topped with all kinds of encouragement to proudly and openly display their animus towards the other -- whoever the other might be for that day -- immigrants, people of color, Muslims, Latin Americans, take your pick.

And how does such hatred get normalized, transformed from the dog whistle of the silent majority to be considered part of the discourse of the political mainstream? Why the Grand Old Party, of course! What used to be the party of Lincoln has now irreversibly become the party of Trump. What does that mean in practical terms? It means that the folks who once gave us the emancipation proclamation, national parks and the Environmental Protection Agency have now been reduced to contradicting every principle they once held dear - limited government, free trade, a robust U.S. foreign policy, etc. - just so they can remain in lock step with Trump as he leads them (and the rest of us) off the cliff.

And for anyone unwilling to join the lemming brigade you'll be met with the GOP's still highly effective PR machine, which takes a scorched earth approach to all political opposition. Hence, the toon for today, showing Trump making use of the only thing that he and the party have and have ever had to offer to us. And like fast food, it might feel good gobbling it up, but give yourself about, I don't know, ten minutes and you'll be rushing for the nearest commode to purge...