In the early days of movies it was thought that the promiscuity, misogyny, alcoholism and drug abuse of the stars was best kept a secret. It turned out that as Jack Warner said, “There is no such thing as bad publicity.” Good or bad, name recognition drove ticket sales and profits. Now it works in politics, too. Publicity equals votes.
Does fire and fury closely match the observable behavior? If not, where are the fiery rebuttals? Does it matter? The more outrageous the behavior, the tighter his core clings to the “very stable genius.” It was only fair to give him a year trial. Has he accomplished anything? Is he Jesus or Roosevelt or Hitler, or Mussolini to Putin’s Hitler? Who cares, it’s entertaining!
A statement is a lie if the teller knows it is not true. Does 45 think everything he says becomes true? Is that a delusion (dementia)? He changes position in mid-sentence, oblivious to contradiction, and denies saying things captured on video. Did he learn from Joseph Goebbels? The big-lie, a blatant falsehood, fake-news, repeated often enough gains credibility. The thing that matters is having it repeated and talked about.
The depth of his ignorance, normal adults cannot fathom. “We are going to mine clean-coal.” Absurd, but it got headlines. Taking credit for improving statistics that were obviously a continuation of earlier international trends gets his name on the nightly new regularly.
The deep-state does not cooperate with his wishes. The checks and balances that keep America the world’s oldest continuous national government stable, fake news. Ours is lawful government of the people, by the people, for the people. Not government of everything for publicity.
Flamboyantly, he signed an incomprehensible tax bill that was slapped together in secret. He boasts about doing tax returns on a postcard, but the tax code is now 70,000 pages of fine print. So 69,900 must be special exceptions for GOP friends.
His supporters’ mantra: He (god?) said it; I believe it; that settles it. They ignore evidence and accept unfounded conspiracy theories. Schools have failed to teach critical thinking.
The cost of his headlining lifestyle is overwhelming; with expenses paid to him. Dramatically entertaining dignitaries in his distant expensive resorts along with the Secret Service detail! Each junket of the Air Force One armada costs millions. His sexual antics are shocking fake-news. Why hold minor entertainers like Louis CK to a higher standard than the president? Can the King do no wrong?
His style resembles the Curandero’s headache remedy, cause a headache so bad that when it wears off the patient accepts the original. Israeli-Palestinian conflict — outrage everyone. Bar-fight — throw in a skunk. Whatever happens, proudly put his name on it. Getting his name and face on everything, he does very well.
The media he plays like a one-button juke box. Every outrageous brain fart is headline news. His personal Faux News busily rationalizes grammarless tweets that make as much sense as reading a third-grader’s Scrabble game. The lame-stream media put him in office by giving him the cheap publicity he dotes on, and shows every sign it will continue. His tweets are featured like a revelation alongside the text that repeats them verbatim, then scrutinizes the incomprehensible.
The pundits need to stop playing his name game. Please! Or his re-election is assured. Just when you think he can’t get more outrageous he defends wife beaters, demands a dictator’s military parade, claps for himself (not clapping is treason) suddenly supports a ban on certain weapons, proposes trade war, and gets more headlines.
He follows the dictator’s four-step playbook.
1. Shut down the press, figuratively for now “fake news.”
2. Take over the broadcast media; marry Fox Noise.
3. Disarm the people.
4. Delay due process.
What outrage will dominate the headlines the day you read this “President-For-Life” or “l’état, c’est moi”? Doesn’t it sound like “I’m the only one that matters” from Nov. 3, 2017?
Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer, now safety and freedom advocate in South Kona. He writes a biweekly column for West Hawaii Today. Email obenskik@gmail.com