Hey, T.V. child, look into my eyes.
Here by intervention, I want your attention.
Promotion boy in a suit and tie; he wants you to use it.
You're too shot to loose it.
It's pumpin' down the cable like never so before.
A cola manufacturer is sponsoring the war.
Here comes the news with love from me to you.
~~ “Too Much Information” by Duran Duran
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| Illustration by Edel Rodriguez for TIME |
The other day I posted about how it must be exhausting for journalists to cover Trump. I dubbed it Trump Fatigue Syndrome and have decided that I seem to be suffering a mild case myself. I would list the symptoms as an almost visceral disgust that is exacerbated with each outrageous remark (no immunity is built up, apparently); vertigo from trying to follow his numerous stances on issues and his attempts to explain why he didn’t mean what actually came out of his mouth; a sense of shock that anyone in this country thinks he is capable of performing the duties required of the President of the United States; and a general malaise that often makes the victim think, “How can I continue to listen to this? How much more of this can I take?”
I reached that point this week. What did it for me? It was his patently absurd comments about President Obama, as well as Hillary Clinton, being the “founder” and “MVP,” respectively, of ISIS. Anyone with a half a brain and an Internet connection can find out in a matter of moments that it was a ridiculous claim. Now, if he had made the argument that President Obama’s policies and actions in the world, as well as Hillary’s as Secretary of State, had contributed to a strengthening of ISIS, that might be a reasonable argument. (I think it’s a wrong one, but at least it’s a coherent argument.) In fact, conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt gave him the chance to say exactly that (leading questions much, Hugh?) in an interview. Nope. Nope nope nope. Trump said he meant exactly what he said, that Obama and Hillary were the founders of ISIS. Which is, again, absurd.
After saying multiple times that he meant exactly what he said, the next morning he tweeted out that he was being sarcastic and the media or anyone criticizing him for his remarks is too dumb to understand sarcasm.
No, we understand sarcasm, Yamboy. That is not what you were doing. A charitable term would be hyperbole, and hyperbolic claims happen often in politics. I think a better term would be a LIE. A big, fat, fact-checkable lie.
This was all ridiculous enough, but later that day at a rally, he riffed on this again, essentially saying, “Come on, it was sarcasm! Or WAS it?!” Yep, he walked it back again and said that maybe he wasn’t being sarcastic at all.
This was the point where I said, “Oh, for Pete’s sake. I’m turning it back to the Olympics.” For all his supporters’ talk about how they like him because he “tells it like it is,” he sure goes back and forth a lot, doesn’t he? So what was the deal? Was he making a joke, being sarcastic, or wasn’t he? What’s it gonna be, boy? Yes...or...no?
I grow exceedingly weary of his naughty schoolboy antics. He is an absurd candidate and doesn’t have the temperament or knowledge to lead our country. It’s not enough to surround yourself with “good people...the best people.” You have to have at least a basic understanding of our government and of how to behave diplomatically and realize that words have meanings as well as consequences. You know...WOOOORDS. Those things you put together to make sentences, Donald. Of course, some are better at it than others.
I’ll keep posting stories about him and about the election on Facebook and Twitter. It’s kind of my thing this time of year. I am also not going to take anything for granted and will do what I can to make sure that Hillary Clinton wins the election. But you know what I’ve decided? Trump is BORING. His shtick is as stale as that of a 70-year-old washed up comedian playing the Catskills. His attitude is that of a bratty four-year-old who doesn’t get his way. “Waaaaah, Hillary’s gonna cheat. Waaaaah, the Khans were mean to me.” Grow the fuck up, Donald. We’ve got shit to do in this country and your ridiculous antics and non-existent and/or unworkable plans aren’t contributing to solutions.
We’ll be subjected to this for the next three months and when you lose—because you’re going to be a big LOSER—I’m sure you’ll whine and cry about how things were rigged against you, but we’ll all know that you lost to a GIRL. Then you can go take your nice long vacation and we’ll go about getting said shit done.
