My preference is to ignore the President’s twittering on social media, but I feel obligated to make an exception. In case you missed it, last week there was a video posted of the President astride the joystick of a fighter jet expelling excrement over the citizens of our nation.
This wasn’t a scene from a satirical movie like “Don’t Look Up” or “Dr. Strangelove.” No, this was the President of the United States being infantile (and vile) as he gleefully pooped on the population. Personally, I would have expected him to avoid making scatological references, given the accusations about his predilection for golden showers.
Whether or not such rumors are true, I definitely anticipate golden lavatories in the Donald J. Trump ballroom, which he also bestowed upon us this past week. Gilding aside, the demolition of “the people’s house” is another example of the administration’s philosophy of governance via sh**storm.
Trump is not the first President to alter the White House, nor is he the first to use private funds. (Franklin Roosevelt was one of several.) An indoor ballroom would seem to be an improvement over outdoor tents in a city with less than temperate weather—but not a ballroom nearly twice the size of the White House itself. The President is being atypically tightlipped about the details, possibly because even rightwing voters could be offended.
However, he’s taking a page from the progressive playbook with his bulldozing of public review protocols. A rallying cry of the abundance movement is the need to jettison regulations, and Trump seems to be giving its leaders a backhanded compliment with his expedited excavation.
So in this time of head-spinning upheaval, with our role-playing President carpet-bombing the country not only with diarrhea but also executive orders of dubious constitutionality, what are the Democrats offering?
In California, Governor Gavin Newsom wants us to destroy democracy in order to save it, by voting for gerrymandering, which every grade-school student is taught is a method of disenfranchisement. Grade-school students would also recognize the reasoning: “They started it,” with the “they” being Republican-led states. Unlike in those states, Californians are getting the opportunity to vote on the issue, but Californians already voted for nonpartisan redistricting. Now we’re being bombarded by advertisements for Proposition 50, seeking to convince us to take a metaphoric dump on our principles.
The only thing more offensive than the millions of dollars being spent in support of 50 are the millions of dollars being spent against it, largely by sycophants and supplicants of the President. These are also the people who empower him. There wouldn’t be an existential threat, or any need for 50, if there weren’t so many people coddling Trump’s authoritarian or just plain narcissistic impulses.
We’re being assaulted from all sides, which is why the Democrats are bringing out the big guns, and by big guns, I mean former President Barack Obama. He’s possibly the only person who can spark fire in the base while floating a little above the fray, though he’s less elevated now than in days of yore. I’d like to believe he’s motivated by his love for our republic more than his love for the bloodsport of politics. Either way, I’m not immune to the siren call of his exhortations.
The problem is there’s no guarantee that 50 will accomplish anything, other than jumpstarting Newsom’s likely Presidential campaign, which is reason in itself to vote no. But with Latino American citizens being rounded up in Gestapo-like raids and the military carrying out extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean, friends in other states say Californians can’t afford to cling to the moral high ground. The question is, what will we have left if we surrender it? Trump has offered one alternative, and it’s brown and revolting.
One could argue I’ve taken the bait by noticing and responding to a video that was likely created to “own the libs.” But there’s also a risk of normalizing behavior that should never be normal. There are millions of children across this country who look up to the President. Is this the behavior we want children to emulate? How much of a leap is there between the President spewing computer-generated feces on our streets and the January 6th rioters smearing literal feces on our Capitol?
The President seeks to befoul his opponents, and those who voted for him should note that his video doesn’t distinguish between intended victims and collateral damage. The insults to our body politic keep raining down on us, so I’m reluctantly recommending voting yes on Proposition 50. Just hold your nose and carry a big umbrella.
Devan Sipher can be reached at Unmuted.SMDP@gmail.com.