This Carbon Based Life

By David Glenn Cox

Come, come now. Surely, you jest. A poll of passengers traveling on the Titanic found 41% had a favorable opinion of icebergs. They are taking this “Big Lie” thing a little bit too far, I think. Winston Smith needs to dial it back some. NBC released a poll yesterday and 41% of respondents had a favorable opinion of Donald Trump. That figure is so far over the edge as to be surrealistic Jackson Pollack polling. Sure, and 41% of responders also had a favorable opinion of canker sores.

I mean, it’s insulting. Give us credit for some intelligence. Did you happen to catch the US open the other day? 41% is laughable. Angry mobs in the streets. National guard, mass arrests, concentration camps and they’re going to tell me Lord Doofus is at 41% popularity? Fantasy land!

Maybe you’ve heard the lurid tale of the Department of Defense. The Defense Department being renamed the Department of War. All in a fit of the king’s pique and filigree. The King signs an executive order and “Shazam,” it is done. Effective Immediately by order of the king, they shall be known as the Department of War! Except no, it’s still going to be called the Department of Defense, just like always. It takes an act of congress to change the name officially. The president can’t just go around renaming stuff at will. “The Malaria Trump memorial reflecting pool!” She really likes malls.

So, what do grownups do when faced with a difficult reality? If you said, “just pretend to do it, anyway?” You’re right! Department of War will be the unofficial second name like Bounty, the quicker picker upper! The Defense Department, now featuring the Department of War! Now with even “More” Department of War! But if you need to mail them a letter, address it to the Defense Department. Letters addressed to the Department of War might not be delivered.

That’s just the make-believe, made-up name we call it when you know who is in the room. This was all his idea, don’t you know? It’s stuff like that makes people nervous because it’s so petty and really sort of goofy. Change is generally a good thing. But government’s seek stability and change shows a lack of stability. “Effective immediately; the Washington monument shall be known as the Donald J. Trump Victory Obelisk!” See what I mean? All of a sudden, you’re not so sure of things anymore.

It shows a superficiality and triviality all at the same time. You’ve got nothing better to do with your time than to go around renaming stuff? It lends credence to the rumors the king is playing with a deck of fifty-one. Grandiose plans to remodel the White House into Mar a Lago North residence and convention center by Marriott on scratch paper. Ask about our gold leaf specials and weekend rates! Got that much free time, do ya?

When Truman entered the White House, he found it in poor shape. The Roosevelts between the Great Depression and World War two hadn’t remodeled the White House in over twelve years. Could you imagine the Republican outcry? He wants $26 million dollars to remodel his palace during a Great Depression or during a world war. FDR had bigger things on his mind than gold leaf and banquet halls.

The king’s doublethink! He both praises RFK Jr. while at exactly the same time pointing out the importance of vaccinations. Get ready! Cause here it comes. The king’s been threatening this for a long, long time, but this time he really means it! He’s going to impose secondary sanctions on Russia any day now. You better watch out! Here they come! Right when you least expect them! Any day now! He’s not kidding, around this time! He’s going to count to ten and then Russia is gonna get it! One of these days Alice! Bang! Zoom! To the moon!

The absurdity of threatening Russia with secondary sanctions. Russia is rapidly going broke. Russia is rapidly running out of her army. Massive fuel shortages across the country and winter’s coming! Maybe the groceries get delivered and maybe then again, they don’t. I bet Trump’s idle threats about secondary sanctions in the middle of their societal impending collapse is really keeping those Russians up nights.

This is what passes for foreign policy. A do-it-yourself Radio Shack foreign policy. Let’s try this and see what lights up! When the history of the United States is finally written down, these guys won’t be mentioned much. They are as unsuccessful as unsuccessful can truly ever be. Everything they touch turns into a disaster. Remember the Gaza talk? Golf courses and resort hotels? Oh yeah, that went over really well!

If at first you don’t succeed, quit and walk away! Team Trump has had three or four bites of the Ukraine apple now and are not one inch closer to bringing peace. Gaza, Iran, Yemen, Venezuela. Boy! Did you see the video of blowing up that suspected drug boat disappear? David Copperfield couldn’t have made it disappear any faster than that live from Las Vegas. Boat? What boat? Explosion? What explosion?  Amazing! Don’t you think? It was going to be a big new story, and they were really proud of themselves for killing those people! Then came the public pushback with questions of legality and cold-blooded murder and such. And just like that, the issue suddenly vanished.

That’s your 41% popularity right there!

Do you hear the thunderous pounding in your ears like the front row of a Led Zeppelin concert? The pimps, the pushers, pinheads and pundits have all gone to ground. The Reich wing media and its propagandist corps no longer attempting to cover for Trump. They’ve grown largely quiet. Because the audience is telling them in no certain terms, they aren’t buying it anymore. So, let’s talk about something else.

There are no voices saying, “Trump is right!” No mass counter demonstrations insisting “Trump is on the right path!” Republican politicians are careful to agree with the president only on individual issues. And not to give out a blanket approval. It’s yet another sign that they already know what is going on here but hope desperately that you never find out.

NBC issued a poll saying authoritatively, unquestionable with reasonable certainty. Plus, or minus 3% or 6% that 41% of Americans approve of the king when all signs point to the opposite reality. There isn’t a single event or accomplishment popular with Trump’s base. So, you can imagine how the other side feels about things. Yet, with a straight face, they look you right in the eye and tell you Trump popularity is at 41%. That translates to a 97% approval rate, plus or minus 3%! In North Korea.

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”― George Orwell