This Carbon Based Life

By David Glenn Cox

I guess I really only have one or two questions. Who is this display of childish inanity/barbarity directed toward? The current chief executive in a grave situation of war and peace. Tweets out on his Twuth social account, “The clock is ticking!” with an image of a big red button and a mushroom cloud. I get pissed when I think about the well-paid staff hired to lasso Trump into presentable shape. What the hell were THEY thinking?

Admittedly, I too, coming from nowhere and living in anywhere USA, have also said, “The clock is ticking.” It’s obvious and everyone knows that. I’m only trying to warn of the dangerous possibilities of delay. Trump posting this garbage with a picture of a big red button with a mushroom cloud is the dangerous possibility I’m warning about. It’s beyond irresponsible towards delusional, and I hold his staff liable. Does someone? Anyone, inside the White House think this was some sort of a slick move?

Does anyone at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. actually think the Iranian government is quaking in their boots now? “Oh, no, Achmed, the crazy man is posting crazy pictures of red buttons and mushroom clouds! Maybe we’d better, maybe we’d better surrender quick, before the crazy man nukes us?” Really? Did they hold a staff meeting or something and decide by a close vote that this was the path they wanted to go down? OPERATION: Scare the Shit Out of Them!

Once run through the state intelligence apparatus of Iran, it was quickly determined Mr. Trump was highly unlikely to actually nuke Iran. “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down!” Surrender, Dorothy! So, that leaves us with the other side of the question. Was the tweet meant primarily for an American audience? Oh, boy! That opens up a real can of worms. What message was Mr. Trump sending to a nervous American public by posting a red button and a mushroom cloud? “Don’t worry! I have this situation well in hand. And if they don’t quit, I’ll nuke them and start World War III. Feel better now?

That Mr. Trump sure knows how to bring the nation together! What does that tweet say? And what does that tweet do to any possible third-party negotiations?  Of course, we want peace! Or we’re going to destroy the whole world!

During the Paris Peace Talks to end the Vietnam War, Henry Kissinger used the crazy Nixon strategy. Insisting to North Vietnam that Nixon wasn’t always lucid and you don’t want to make mad or he might do something CRAZY! Richard Nixon remained a mystery to the North Vietnamese. They knew Nixon was crazy, but they were unsure as to just how crazy. They didn’t really believe Nixon would nuke North Vietnam, but then again, it’s Nixon. So you never could tell for sure. Unlike Mr. Trump, Mr. Nixon didn’t openly advertise his craziness. You knew it was in there, just not how deep it went or how psychotic it could all get.

Mr. Trump is transparent in that he’s obviously insane. So any pictures he might post lose their political thump immediately. Tomorrow, Mr. Trump could post the image of a chimp playing poker while smoking a cigar with the caption “The end is near!” It means almost nothing. From the desk of Donald Twump: Pwesident of the Whole Untied Snakes and Canada! The image of the south end of a northbound mule looks back at you, and the caption reads, “Have I got a surprise coming for you!” It could mean something, but probably not from the Desk of Donald Twump.

Orwell had it all wrong. You can have all the words you like! You don’t have to destroy the words, just destroy the meanings behind them. Rather than trying to hide the bad news inside the good news or manipulating statistics. Just don’t tell them anything except, All is well! “I’ll huff and puff and blow your house down! See this picture? Do you know what it means?” The policy and President of the Untied Snakes reduced to a pictogram.   

Just how stupid is really, really stupid? The aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford returned home from a 352-day deployment in the Persian Gulf. To celebrate their noble service, Popgun Pete Hegseth showed up, deciding to hold a celebration as the sailors on deck looked on. To honor your service, we’re going to keep you here a couple of hours longer. You’re welcome. It’s the least the defense secretary could do. Keep you from your spouse just a little bit longer, while the secretary speechifies and decorates the officers. After nearly a year away from home and family, god forbid the sailors should ever miss this chance to hear Popgun Pete ratchet jaw about God and country. If you really love them, let them go.

But this is Trumpville; words and images don’t really mean what they intend. They’re just words and images with inferences, sounds and suggestions and guidelines not meant to be taken literally. Popgun Pete holds a navy ceremony to celebrate Popgun Pete. “Look at me! Look at me! I’m a big shot! I’m in charge; I’m decorating my officers. They serve me! The regular sailors all dressed in white can just wait up on deck. I’m here now, and I’m a big shot! Hooray for me!”

Meanwhile, Team Trump moves forward with its next war plans against Cuba. Seeking charges against a dying 94-year-old man in a dying regime. Trump uses phony charges [fake language] to justify his future invasion of Cuba. Look what they do. Tied up in a war with Iran they still plan the war on Cuba. It reminds me of an unfunny story I heard once about a madman who attacked East, without first concluding his business in the West.

“In our new age of terrifying, lethal gadgets, which supplanted so swiftly the old one, the first great aggressive war, if it should come, will be launched by suicidal little madmen pressing an electronic button. Such a war will not last long and none will ever follow it. There will be no conquerors and no conquests, but only the charred bones of the dead on and uninhabited planet.”
― William L. Shirer,