Many Kossacks have probably watched this revelatory and disconcerting clip from Sacha Baron Cohen’s new show Who is America?. In this remarkable piece of political performance art, Cohen adopts the persona of an Israeli security expert—Col. Erran Morad—who trains children— from age 16 down to age 3— to use firearms so they can be the “good kids with a gun” who stop bad guys with a gun. Baron Cohen/Morad goes full Borat as he creates increasingly outlandish scenarios for his pro-gun advocates to respond to. No matter how much Baron Cohen’s pushes the limit, these pro-NRA types simply get more excited by the idea of arming toddlers. Baron Cohen then uses his willing lobbyist allies to to meet with politicians and media pundits in order to gain their support his plan to arm gifted toddlers as a means to end school shootings. If you have not seen the clip, it is well worth watching for its jaw dropping revelation that gun advocacy types see absolutely no limits on gun ownership. As Larry Pratt argues, the brains of 3-year olds are uniquely wired to make “the right decisions” about shooting bad guys:
Toddlers are pure ― uncorrupted by fake news or homosexuality. They don’t worry if it’s politically correct to shoot a mentally deranged gunman. They’ll just do it. The science behind this program is proven. At age 4, a child processes images 80 percent faster than an adult meaning that essentially, like owls, they can see in slow motion.”
Arming gifted toddlers
Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), Trent Lott, and Joe Walsh all recorded promo spots endorsing Col. Morad’s program. Wilson helpfully adds “Our founding fathers did not put an age limit on the Second Amendment.”
Joe Walsh cheerfully ends his promo spot by wishing all the gifted toddlers “happy shooting.”
Subsequently, Walsh—in clear damage control mode—went on CNN for an interview with the gratingly sycophantic Michael Smerconish. Walsh’s “defense” was that he was duped into making the statement. How? Baron Cohen provided an all expense paid trip to DC— Walsh was seduced by a nice hotel, a limo pick-up, and some bogus award for being a great supporter of Israel. Then, his “host” asked him read a promo from a teleprompter supporting the program to arm toddlers. Walsh later discovered the whole event was a hoax and he sheepishly confesses that Cohen got him to say “something pretty crazy about guns.”
Joe Walsh _ I will say anything for an expense paid trip
What is truly fascinating is just how business-as-usual Walsh and his media enabler Smerconish discuss this truly craven idea that a high profile media pundit would gladly endorse an admittedly crazy idea because he received an award and a free weekend junket.
This segment obviously says much about how easily the NRA can buy support from GOP officials but what does this have to do with Trump?
For those who are calling for the GOP to do the right thing, in the aftermath of the Putin trumps Trump summit, we can expect those calls to fall on deaf ears and not necessarily for ideological reasons per se. Rather, it comes down to self-serving, greed. Conservative politics is a gravy train for those who support guns, the abatement of federal and state regulations on corporate actions, tax cuts for the wealthy, massive cuts to the social safety net. For the Koch brothers, Sheldon Anderson and others in the billionaire class, Trump is truly a useful idiot (at least for now). And the supplicant politicians who benefit from their patronage will continue to support Trump, just as Joe Walsh endorsed arming toddlers when he thought it was his necessary payback for a nice weekend and an award. Trump’s public capitulation to Putin raised enough hackles that GOP politicians had to publicly disavow this one action from Trump (while not questioning the legitimacy of the Trump administration, as a whole).
The power brokers wanted their big tax cut and now the next item on their agenda is to solidify their control of the Supreme Court. The real question is how can this Putin Snafu be mobilized in ways that block Trump’s capacity to make this appointment (or Pence if Trump is eventually cast from office once he becomes too compromised to be “useful”)?