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| Illustration by Josue Paiz |
Gnarly truth, dig it or
don’t: The Don’s candidacy is real.
Ain’t no denying this
now (Fuck you very much, Iowa and New Hampshire). It’s a goddamn reckoning. Vacant,
masturbatory prattle turned faux-gold to a vast contingent of xenophobes with
twisted sideshow fetishes. Dude’s campaign seems to rumble’s unfettered across
America’s anemic political wasteland like a marauding army of War Boys, begging
slavishly to be witnessed.
“If responsible men
irresponsibly ignore an issue…it will be taken up by the reckless,” proclaimed a
recent editorial entitled “Against Trump” (2016) published in the February 15th
issue of National Review. Well, shit—that
sounds like the crucial trimmings to grandpappy’s age ol’ recipe for
revolution.
Mercy, mercy, my! How did we come to this?
* * *
Ponder the Don for a sec.
Specifically, chew on
his bravado. Dude’s an unapologetic primate—all barefaced harangue and dominant
male posturing—chucking steamers at anyone who attempts to peacock before his radical
tribe. He ain’t having it, the Don. And he ain’t sorry about a damn thing. ‘“Ballsy”
is a common phrase used to describe him” (Lowndes, 2015). Unrepentant
shamelessness is his greatest asset. Dude knows it too.
Apologies are for
pussies.
“Trump knows his target
voters... (are) not defined so much by party as by attitude and frustration
level” (Calkins, 2016). Expounding on that notion even further, Trump embodies “an
Us vs. Them distinction, anti-establishment plain-spokenness, deep resentment
toward perceived outsiders, and perhaps most of all, rage” (Lowndes, 2015).
If a mighty slice of
this country is truly craving the hefty bloviating of an impenitent and verbose
mirage, choosing to embrace an illusion of toughness in hopes that that
illusion will, against all odds, manifest itself into an even serviceable agent
for their cockamamie notions of democracy,
they’re in sorry shape. They’re gambling on smoke and mirrors—parlor
tricks.
Similar things were uttered
about Obama in aught-eight. And it’s hard to argue with them now.
We doubled-down on hope and lost.
Now we’re gambling on
playground tactics and rage?
* * *
The
Orgs* love this shit.
Looooove IT!
Trump’s campaign is a
finely threaded network exec’s wettest wet-dream fully realized in the
flesh—he’s Kelly LeBrock to their Anthony Michael Hall. To the sensible among
us, however, he is the Orgs’ very own ego-bloated Baby Huey come home to roost.
Either way, as a viable
campaign commodity, Trump is the sole benefactor of the overwrought
self-aggrandizing that it the 24-hour news cycle. His message is fashioned entirely from the
very foment the Orgs have spent years whipping into a frothy zeal. The Don is simply exploiting the
ever-simmering cauldron of fear and paranoia the Orgs have been slaving over
since the Towers fell; appealing to a generation of registered voters
brain-damaged by the incessant barrage of mosque bombings and beheadings.
This shit isn’t news
anymore, its vacuous porn. And it’s irresponsible coverage.
But it’s also too late.
The Don’s now dug a foothold which appears immovable. Don’t swallow the
anti-Trump posturing of the Orgs, either. It’s simply another swindle. They
don’t want him out of the race; Trump is ratings gold, even if he is a Golden
Calf.
* * *
Trump’s bully tactics hold clout, but his
posturing is all a construct, an artifice. All bullies are, in a sense,
fictions—false personas—burying deep personal feelings of inadequacy, weakness
and fear. Being unapologetic doesn’t make you unafraid, it makes you
unreasonable.
And being unreasonable?
Well, that makes you
dangerous—especially from a position of unparalleled power.
If we are on the brink
of a radical revolution, it’s a revolution whose poster child bears all the
pugnacious charisma of Biff Tannen.
We’re waiting on you,
George McFly.
Where ever you are.
*Orgs—Short for news organizations.
For example—CNN, FOX, MSNBC, etc.
References
Calkins, Tim. “The Secret
Behind Donald Trump’s Savvy Brand Building.” Fortune.com. 1/21/2016, pN.PAG.
1p., Database: Business SourceComplete.
Lowndes, Joseph. “The Populist
Violence of Donald Trump.” Counter Punch, 2015, Vol. 22 No. 7, p9-11.
National Review. “Against
Trump.” 2/15/2016, Vol. 68 Issue 2, p14-16. 2p., Database: Academic Search Complete
