Remember 2008, when we were all listening to Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl,” going to see “The Dark Knight” & “Iron Man” in our local googolplex and Republicans everywhere were collectively suh-WOO-ning over Maverick McMaverickington’s Veep choice Sarah Palin?
Remember how some Democrats actually tried to stop being partisan and start being concerned about the mental well-being of Republicans who thought she was the future of the party? How we on the left would gently bring up the subject that…you know…Sarah Palin doesn’t seem all that bright? Remember how Republicans would defend Palin’s intelligence, her integrity and her honor vociferously, like when you brought up less than 20 years ago to your teen cousin that you were pretty sure Milly Vanilli weren’t really singing on their cassette tape? How they would tell us we we were just intimidated by a strong free thinking independent God-fearing Republican woman who said exactly what she was on her mind, which so often coincidentally happened to be how awful Obama was, which was what they all thought too? Remember how they wished they could be voting for HER to have her finger on the button instead of McCain?
Remember how as Summer 2008 gave way to Fall 2008 and then Election Day 2008, when it became more abundantly clear that Palin was EXACTLY as dumb and inept, if not more so, than we warned? But diehard Republicans were having none of it?
Remember how AFTER Election Day, Palin wound up quitting her job as a governor? And she got a gig as a Fox commentator, and a doc miniseries about Alaska on cable and she was on TV more than ever? And getting quite a few lucrative speaking engagements? And some Republicans were kind of “meh” on her after that but she still had her fans, loyal and dedicated and would not stand for your Palin bashing?
Remember how the ratings for the Alaska doc got worse and worse? And she started being used less frequently on Fox News, and then dropped altogether? And then the family scandals, the drunken BBQ brawls? And at a certain point, just a few years after wanting her to be the leader of the free world but willing to settle for her in the co-pilot’s chair, people literally just could not give a rat’s @ss about what Sarah Palin thinks any more? Sure she has a very very small group of devotees, but it’s evocative of Spinal Tap’s manager saying that the band’s fanbase isn’t smaller, it’s just become more selective? And now when she comes up in the news it’s usually with a collective eyeroll from a vast majority of Americans regardless of their political affiliation?
Wait.
3 years from now, Trumplove will be as difficult to find as someone in 1982 who admitted he enjoyed going to Studio 54 for the music. “Nuh UH, I only went there because of the girls and the drugs, I hated that sh*tty music. Yeah, I owned a white polyester Tony Manero disco suit, but it was the style of the time, I always thought disco sucked, I was so glad when punk came along, no that is NOT my Donna Summer album, I got rid of those years…I mean I NEVER owned a Donna Summer album must have belonged to an ex…”
Yeah, 3 years from now, no one will admit to having earnestly worn a Make America Great Again hat, or attended a rally, or chanted to a Mexican “Build That Wall!”
And mind you, this will come to pass even if Trump wins on Tuesday. Whatever happens in the next few years he will be a collective, national embarrassment.
Never let those who transferred their Palin squishiness onto Trump forget. Because Lord knows they’ll do it all over again when Michelle Obama runs in 2024.
