And The Poison Spreads

While the pot calls the kettle black

In his tireless quest to install bigotry and stupidity as national mindsets – and by extension, to make them indelible “family values” – the blithering buffoon-in-chief who disgraces the White House with his presence now insists that the Washington Commanders and the Cleveland Guardians return to their former names, both ditched in favor of eschewing the use of racial epithets as sports mascots. What a concept. How progressive of us to manage to reach that conclusion before the quarter mark of the 21^st century. And now, we’re supposed to do what? Go back?

And so the GOP poison spreads through the body of decency as fast as it spreads through the body of democracy while a phalanx of capable medical staff stands by and makes jokes just as it loads its syringes with more poison. Uncle Sam lies before them on life support, in critical and worsening condition but not yet moribund, and this is their answer while millions shout at them to dump the poison and start the flow of life-saving medicine.

And by comparison with all else going on, this latest affront is almost nothing more than rancid icing on a rotten cake.

Have the poison and contamination spread to corporate America, or is that where they came from? Case in point: the cancellation by Paramount Television and CBS of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. The top-rated late-night show’s cancellation is purely an economic decision, say Paramount and CBS. Let’s all try to remember the last time we heard of a show on top of the ratings being cancelled. Is that vapid excuse a case of media mimicking the edicts of a totalitarian regime, or is it the other way around?

Invited by editors to propose a story, Yours Truly pitched one to the New York Times in the aftermath of the 2024 election, at a time when even some of the most pessimistic of us still believed we would still be living in a land of freedom, a place where democracy and decency were unshakable foundations, and no court, no congress, no badly misguided so-called patriot, no self-anointed savior from the pit of hell would strike down those foundations.

The pitch? Simply that it was crucial to ask the question of whether the election could have been rigged, could have been the one that actually was stolen. Not to claim that it was, but merely to explore the possibility. There was no reply. Maybe they’re right, and there’s nothing to see there, but credible evidence is beginning to suggest otherwise. Maybe I’m too close to it for my nose to be screwed on straight, but something smells like a big-money media fold-up, and it would hardly be the first in recent months to suggest that an original stalwart guardian of this nation’s democracy is beginning to look compromised. If so, the big question would be “by what?” Money or fear?

Now, the resident (nowhere close to being a president) is spending taxpayer dollars for trips to Texas so he can meet with Gov. Greg Abbott to plot how they can gerrymander the state in the hope of not losing control of Congress in the midterms. Instead of attempting to bend their policies to serve the people, their only concern is bending the shapes of Congressional districts to serve themselves. Yet more poison, and we’re being forced to pay for it, just as we’re being forced to foot the bill for concentration camps and whatever other cruel whims escape the commander-in-creep’s piehole.

In the resident dictator’s latest inflammatory bucket of bilge, he calls former President Barack Obama a traitor, baiting the bigotry of his base by being sure to include the former president’s middle name, “Hussein.” He told reporters that Obama had plotted a coup with members of his cabinet and other prominent Democrats. In perhaps history’s most ridiculous example of the pot calling the kettle black, Trump loaded his comments with blind accusations and nonsensical non-sequiturs handily complemented by a word that doesn’t even exist.

“[T]he leader of the gang was President Obama, Barack Hussein Obama. Have you heard of him? This isn’t like evidence. This is like proof, irrefutable proof that Obama was sedatious [sic], that Obama … was trying to lead a coup, and it was with Hillary Clinton, with all these other people, but Obama headed it up. He’s guilty. This was treason. This was every word you can think of. They tried to steal the election. They tried to obfuscate the election. They did things that nobody’s ever even imagined.”

As some corporate media executives begin to collapse their spines and others sell their scruples to stuff their wallets, it’s going to be up to We, The People to give fear no quarter, like Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California) on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert last week. For those who missed it: Sen. Schiff looked straight into the camera and said, “Piss off, Donald.”

Great aim, Senator. The last thing any conscious American should do is fear the scumbag thugs who have almost taken over our country. It’s up to us to hold the line at almost. Like all bullies and thugs, Trump and his ballcaps-for-brains MAGA hate-mongers are cowards. There’s no need to fear them. Fear only what they can do if we don’t stop them.