Today's astute and trenchant political observation comes to us from the eloquent pen brandished by one of America's treasures of musical theater.
Stephen Sondheim.
Not a day goes by.
Or, as Facebook friend and accomplished screenwriter, Lily Mercer, coined it, perhaps less eloquently, but certainly in a manner more easily understood by those who continue to lap up the Kool Aid as if the pitcher was spiked with heroin.....
...every damn day.
The variety of tones offered up by Sondheim and Mercer notwithstanding, the punchline of what has become a horrifically unfunny joke is consistent and inevitable.
With each new day, dawns a new dilemma, disaster and/or disrespect courtesy of the Donald.
Today, there's a tingly little trifecta.
He signed his promised ban on transgenders serving in the military.
Another of his entourage sycophants turned rational human beings eager to get as far away from him as possible opted to get as far away from him as possible.
And, as promised, in his patented, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know what I mean, know what I mean style at last week's Phoenix meeting of the O Come Let Us Adore Him Club, he pardoned Joe Arpaio.
So, let's total the week's receipts.
Transgenders are no longer allowed, let alone welcomed, to serve, and perhaps, die for their country unless, of course, they are already in service to their country in which case they are more than free to serve, and perhaps, die for their country. The determination as to what to do about those transgenders, the ones already in service, has been left up to the commanding officers of said services.
Donald's sole role, and purpose in the process, was to make good on a promise he made to the O Come Let Us Adore Him Club.
So, he can check that one off his list.
Sebastian Gorka, a Breitbart editor with a pretty nasty, sneezing, wheezing case of Islamaphobia and not just a few traceable ties to neo-Nazis, who had a pretty sweet seat at the KKK Knights of the Oval Office Table, had to turn in his decoder ring and Make America Great Again hood, sorry, cap and slither back to Breitbart where Steve Bannon is patiently waiting to re-assemble the old gang, kind of like a much less adorable, whole lot more bigoted blowhard Ocean's Eleven.
Insider talk has it that John Kelly, the current, one assumes momentary, Chief of Staff at Playhouse 1600 wanted Gorka out and since Kelly is currently, and one assumes momentarily, wearing the name tag bearing the name Lola, one additionally assumes that Gorka's g-bye was Lola getting whatever Lola wants.
One assumes momentarily.
And then there's Joe.
Oh, there's also a killer hurricane bitch slapping the fine folk in coastal Texas around at this writing, but those who keep a firm finger on the pulse of politics in these most interesting of times aren't bashful when they offer that whatever damage Harvey does or doesn't do, in the end, he was one wham bam thank you man distraction for those quirky little end of the week Donald doin's.
Besides, six to five and pick em', Trump will be pardoning Harvey before we get to Hump Day in the coming week anyway.
Anyway, then, there's Joe.
For those who either don't keep up, don't particularly care or who just simply have all they can handle composing and posting their continued pleas for people to stop the madness and let "our new President do the job we elected him to do..", here's a prime time style update for you.
Previously....on The Joe Show.
Joe Arpaio is the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona. He made a celebrity, not to mention career, out of not letting a pesky inconvenience like the U.S. Constitution get in the way of his dealing with Latinos, finally to the point where he was ordered, by a Federal judge to cease and desist (translation for the more erudite Trump fans: cease and desist means knock that shit off). Joe declined to take that Federal judge's suggestions to heart which resulted in his being charged with contempt of (Federal) court, a charge of which he was found guilty.
Donald, meanwhile, also a newly minted member of the "Who Gives A Fuck What The Judiciary Of The United States Of America Has To Say About Anything That I, Or You, If You're One Of My Drooling Adoring Peeps Don't Agree With It" Club just whipped out his favorite compensation for a teensy weensy weenie, the old Executive Action pen, and issued Joe a little Trumpian justice in the form of a Get Out Of Jail Free card.
Cue Sondheim and/or Mercer.
Not a day goes by.
Every damn day.
And, with every damn day that does not go by without dilemma, disaster or disrespect, that old Germanic magic rears its historically ugly head, as well.
Let the Fuehrer frenzy re-commence.
We've been down this pee stain yellow brick road before when it comes to the knee jerk, seig heil comparisons of Trump's trampling on the hallowed and/or sacred and/or, oh, what the hell, let's just not tip toe here, the legal and moral traditions of America in particular and basic, decent humanity in general and, frankly, it's getting a little wearying having to address the comparison time and time again.
But, taking a page from Donald's playbook of how to get someone classy and sensible to actually stay on his staff for more than one forty hour week, let me take yet another crack at this.
And, in what I think you'll find a delightfully ironic way, actually provide you a little comfort in so far as any fears you might have that Trump in the White House is actually irrefutable proof that we are, in fact, knee deep in the end of days.
Donald Trump is not Adolf Hitler.
In fact, he's not even really all that Hitler-esque.
And these continued, Swastika soaked go-to attempts to find an equivalency between these two pimples on history's ass do a sizable disservice.
To the German half of the monstrously megalomaniac mutated version of Phil and Don.
Or Adolf and Don, as the case may be.
Not, of course, meant to imply even a whiff of respect, endorsement or even tolerance of the horror that was little Alois Schicklgruber from gracious and growing Braunau am Inn in what his present day Austria.
Because Adolf was the very personification of what Donald would later whimsically refer to as a "bad hombre".
Javol, there, Herr Trump. We hear ya, buddy.
No, comparing the Madman of Mar-A-Lago to the Bastard Of Berlin is a most heinous false equivalency if only because Hitler had something that Trump has never had and will never have.
More to the point, Hitler was not something that Donald very much is.
Frankly, with all due respect ("...and Mr. Dennit, I said with all due respect..."), it's a pretty despicable character trait.
Yet, again with what will prove to be irrefutable irony, it will be that very character trait that will eventually bring us all safely, if not just a little worse for the wear, out of the justice be damned jungle that is Donnyworld.
And all of the signs are right there on the old super highway.
For your more enthusiastic psych students, a veritable cornucopia of Freudian answers and hints and clues (oh, my).
But even if you're not particularly into crossing your Sigmund with your Columbo, the pudding is chock a block full of the proof.
Let's have a list. Wanna?
There was to be a wall. There is no wall. There is no money for a wall. Mexico will not pony up for a wall. Congress will not pony up for a wall. Now Trump says if Congress doesn't give up the money for a wall, he will "shut the government down".
He will not shut the government down. And there will be no money for a wall.
There was to be an immediate repeal and replace of Obamacare. There is no repeal. There is no replace. Trump has fumed, spewed, tantrumed and threatened and still there is no repeal and there is no replace.
There will not be an immediate repeal. There will not be an immediate replacement.
He pledged to move the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. There was no move. The American embassy remains in Tel Aviv.
He was clear in his intention to withdraw America from the Paris Climate Accord. There has been no withdrawal l from the Paris Climate Accord.
He was adamant that the doors would slam shut on immigration. Period. End of sentence.
No slam, no shut, no end of sentence.
Period.
He promised, pledged, guaranteed ____________________.
No __________________________.
Oh.
He did just pardon Joe Arpaio.
By signing a piece of paper, under cover of Harvey, before scurrying aboard Marine One and whirling off to Camp David.
Safe and secure from both the hurricane...and any firestorm of legal outrage that will be coming his way once Harvey blows himself out. Leaving any fallout, of course, to be dealt with by the gaggle of lawyers that thank their lucky starred seven figure incomes every day for the election of Donald John Trump.
See. Here's the thing about Donald John Trump.
That thing that pretty much insures that, when the days of Trump are finally concluded, we will be pretty banged up but in, give or take a piece, one piece.
He's not going to shut down the government.
He's not going to launch nuclear missiles at North Korea.
He's not going to give white supremacists and neo-Nazis free reign to pillage and plunder.
He's not even going to make Mitch McConnell his bitch. On Obamacare or immigration or anything else.
Because, and let's try to make this the last time we have to deal with this foolish and false equivalency......
...Donald Trump is not Adolf Hitler.
Hitler was evil, ruthless, despotic, probably psychotic and reprehensible beyond measure.
But he wasn't a frightened man/child hiding his fear and insecurity behind a blowhard, bloviating bully presentation.
He didn't bluff. And he didn't bullshit.
He didn't threaten to invade and conquer.
He invaded and conquered.
Hitler was, evil and ruthless a given, the real deal.
Donald Trump is not Hitler.
Donald Trump is a hologram.
Not a day goes by that he doesn't prove it.
Every damn day.
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