In 2016, the steely-haired, parental pelf-made, lyin’ scion whom Garry Trudeau calls “a clanking cowbell” won the GOP nod for POTUS. Decrying that fraught milestone (a watershed, as it turned out), in the preface to his “Doonesbury” collection YUGE!, Trudeau wrote (if memory serves) “one can only weep.”
At the time, Trudeau seemed to doubt (but not rule out) the specter of Trump winning (on 11/8/16). Enter hush money. Crude, often misogynist media bias. James Comey’s October jolt. Evident foreign cyber-sabotage. And (who could forget?) our bizzarro Electoral College.
In all (some say), the hand of God.
And the rest is a history of loud, louche, deceit-steeped, sometimes arguably lawless abuse of our Bully Pulpit (which, alas, donkeys long since had ceded to tuskers). Sad. Now, for all his whoppers, debaucheries, disgraces, perfidies, and indictments, Trump STILL robes himself in faith-based fakery- up to and including painting his undead J6 juggernaut as a holy crusade. (Sad.)
And Lord, does he twist the proverbial knife. Having prevailed once (in ‘16, of course, not ‘20), he now rides sky-high (so to speak) on approval ratings higher than President Biden’s.
Four words: it’s the religion, stupid.
To wit, pull up “Doonesbury 3/3/2024.” In a brilliant gloss on both “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and The Bible (viz. “a little child shall lead them,” Isaiah 11:6), Trudeau shows how, in effect, our would-be King has no leg (or legend) to stand on.
In the strip, a Trump-revering dad drives his wife and their two elementary age kids to Sunday worship. Aptly enough, the offspring ask why they’re forever being held to astronomically higher standards than Trump could ever dream of.
Blase as you please, their parents reveal how Trump (caps in original) “WAS SENT BY GOD….TO REMIND US OF OUR OWN SINS.”
So. Should we not refuse to steer such a walking, wicked mnemonic clear of our Oval Office? (If not, do we truly give a hoot about national security?)
Apparently, many don't. As one of the kids observes, the idol of such screed as their mom’s and dad’s can well be deemed Satan-sent.
Inverting the narrative (and the facts), each parent smears the devoutly Christian, decent, law-upholding President Biden as the ‘real demon.’ (‘Needless to say,’ on this fundamental political issue, mater and pater alike effectively demand to be taken as fonts of veracity sans evidence, on faith alone.)
Better late than never, let’s hope and pray Mr. Biden’s party can grasp the truth that suffuses the all-too-rarely heard adage CEDE THE RELIGION, LOSE THE ELECTION. Broadly, benignly, and democratically, religion can be defined as what a person lives by and for. Why should anyone be shocked, shocked that it can determine for whom folks vote?