“I no longer think he is funny,”
opines Hillary Clinton, presumptive Democratic nominee for president
and next in line in the Clinton Regency. [1]
When exactly was Trump funny?
Apparently what makes him no longer
funny is his most recent spate of demagogic outrages, this time
directed against Muslims.
Clinton was referring to TV late night
comedy shows allegedly ridiculing him. I know that the granddaddy of
that genre, Saturday Night Live, in fact promoted Trump by having him
on as a guest host, and took a few toothless nibbles at him. You
can't say they pulled their punches because they didn't throw any.
[2]
Trump has been
attacking Muslims in a series of escalating threats, first saying
mosques need to be monitored, then that all Muslims should be
tracked, and now that Muslims must be barred from entering the U.S.
This last one was Trump taking advantage of the mass killing in San
Bernardino, California, by a young couple of Pakistani extraction
(U.S. citizens, so banning foreign Muslims would be irrelevant in
that case) who killed 14 people (co-workers of the husband) and
wounded 17 others. (Police subsequently gunned them down.) The media
has kept the pot boiling ever since, with obsessive, pointless
“coverage” of the event-free aftermath. (A big coup was
broadcasting the ID card of the mother of one of the shooters, a
wholly innocent person as far as is known. This was done by
“reporters” tramping through the family's apartment.)
Trump, no doubt
gleeful in Dennis the Menace mode of the latest brouhaha he has
whipped up, naturally “stood behind his remarks,” as the phrase
goes. Actually he once again started boasting about himself. One
thing that is reliable about Trump, is that whenever he opens his
mouth, he brags about himself. This time he gave himself credit for
“starting a debate” about the “issue” of barring Muslims,
surveilling Muslims, maybe making Muslims sew crescent symbols of
their religion on their clothes. He claimed it was all over the
media, on every network, as he usually does. The man, being a vain
narcissist, absolutely wallows in attention.
Trump is nothing
if not an opportunist. He also has the cunning psychological
instincts of a sociopath. He knows how to manipulate people to his
own advantage.
Trump's
ethnic-cleansing-style demagogy has apparently burned a few bridges
in the Arab world. A store chain based in Dubai is pulling
Trump-branded good off the shelves. And a former public supporter of
Trump in the United Arab Emirates has been induced to change his
mind. [3]
Big-talking Donald had plans to “build”
30 hotels in the Persian Gulf region (total built so far: 0). He was
also selling his name to be put on a 62-story skyscraper in Dubai
(also never getting beyond the imaginary stage). Understand, despite
his propaganda about himself, Trump isn't a “builder.” He's a
licenser of his own name. Almost all the buildings and junk
with “Trump” on them aren't his property.
Trump claims to be unconcerned with
making himself a pariah among rich Arabs. He likewise was willing to
burn his bridges to Macy's, to Hispanic Television (which dropped his
“beauty pageant”), even to lose his dopey, cruel TV show. He has
been systematically sacrificing is business interests while he
rabble-rouses. So we can safely conclude that this presidential
election, unlike the previous one when he enjoyed teasing the media
about whether he was “serious” about running, he means it. This
time, he really is interested in being president.
I have been made aware of Donald Trump
for 40 years now by the U.S. establishment media, which has long
treated him as someone to look up to, if not downright idolize. (And
I have met people who idolize him, in particular for his obnoxious,
abusive behavior on his awful, erstwhile TV show, “The
Apprentice.”) The establishment media created this monster, now let
them deal with him and figure out how to neutralize his malign
influence.
The fact that such a pathological
creature as Trump is made into a figure of public esteem by the
propaganda system is a small but telling symptom of the ethical and
intellectual degeneracy of that system.
Of course, there have been even worse
characters elevated by the propaganda system, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton,
Obama...the list is actually quite long. Even murderous psychopaths
lusting for a nuclear war like Curtis LeMay have been put on a
pedestal of honor and respectability by the propagandists who
masquerade as “journalists” and “pundits.” [Sic!]
Throughout history, the U.S. elites
have periodically played with fire by whipping up nativists,
jingoists, racists, and the vilest reactionaries. Sometimes
controlling the violent, terrorist elements of the rabbles they rouse
has proven challenging. Sometimes they don't control them too well,
as when FBI “informer” Gary Rowe was one of the assassins of
civil rights worker Viola Liuzzo. Or when the FBI directed a violent
fascist terrorist group in San Diego, the “Secret Army
Organization,” which almost assassinated a “leftist” professor.
But then, the FBI and their police
accomplices do plenty of assassinating on their own, for instance of
Sandra Bland and Ibragim Todashev.
Trump with "Sultan" Ahmed bin Sulayem of Dubai, 2008. Maybe after Trump bans Muslims from entering the U.S., he can designate the "Sultan" as
an Honorary Christian, so he can get past Customs. Like the Nazis
making the Japanese allies Honorary Aryans, or Apartheid regime
exception categories. (Seems the only racists who really stuck to their
guns were American Southerners. No exceptions there. More than once
African diplomats traveling through the South discovered they were just
nig- I mean, Colored. The State Department often had to smooth some ruffled diplomatic feathers.)
1] Clinton made the remark on a
late-night comedy-chitchat show “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” an
NBC show which airs after most people have gone to bed. Taped in
advance, the appearance of Clinton was scheduled for after midnight,
that is, very early on Friday December 11. But there was wide media
reporting of her comment in advance, on December 10, by NBC itself,
ABC, CNN, etc., and British newspapers such as the Guardian
and Daily Mail. I don't know
whether this was merely because NBC might have spread the news, or
Clinton's cadres ran around whispering it in “journalists” ears.
Probably both.
2] Saturday
Night Live, an NBC show known familiarly as SNL, is often quite
reactionary. It “humanizes” various despicable characters at
times, as indeed many entertainment shows do. I can still recall the
service the awful show “Laugh-In” did in helping elect Nixon in
1968, by having him on saying “sock it to me.” See? Just a
regular guy! That show in fact was based on ripping off the style and
trappings of the counterculture while being devoid of meaningful
content.
SNL is controlled
by a Canadian by the name of Lorne Michaels. He's one of those
“legends in the business.” It is regarded as obligatory for
comedians trying to “make it” in the comedy business to kiss
Lorne Michaels' feet. Therefore there is nary a word of criticism of
him in media by celebrities, just sycophantic fawning. Personally I
am existentially allergic to people who are too powerful, and
Michaels is definitely too powerful in his cultural pond. Michaels
apparently either doesn't like blacks, or is racist, as he excludes
them from the cast except for a single token black (periodically
replaced).
3]
Big wheel Emirati businessman Khalaf al-Habtoor proclaimed his
support for Trump in a column published on August 9th
in the Abu Dhabi government propaganda newspaper, the National.
Al-Habtoor sang Trump's praises for promising his presidency would
result “in bringing back [sic]his country’s superpower status.”
I hadn't noticed the U.S. had LOST that status. And note, this was
well after Trump's
despicable attacks on Mexicans began.
But
that was then. Now al-Habtoor has suddenly changed his mind about
backing the bigot. “If he comes to my office, I will not let him
in. I reject him,” al-Habtoor informed the Associated Press.
Apparently anti-Mexican bigotry is no problem for this raghead, but
dissing Muslims is
going too far. (Oops! My bad.) [That brings to mind a joke: What's
the difference between a camel jockey and a spic? I dunno, why don't
you ask a white supremacist?]
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