The Circus is in Town

WTF Just Happened?

I thought I had a couple of months until the time came to write about how Trump is messing up America. Boy, was I wrong! He announced his cabinet picks and some of them are batshit crazy. 

Trump named dangerously incompetent suckups to some of the most powerful positions in government. Even more crazy, he's bullying the Senate into skipping the "advise and consent" part of the appointment process. And, further on the batshit scale, he's threatening to use a power never before used in the history of our nation to force his will, effectively acting like King Trump.

That's like if Mom and Dad are supposed to discuss big-ticket purchases and agree on them, but Dad tells her to sit down and shut up because what does she know about a Cybertruck anyhow?

So who are these Unqualified Minions?

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Where do I even begin? The black sheep of the Kennedy family has been in the news for cutting the head off a beached whale, strapping it up top the family car, and bringing it home... with blood and other fluids dripping onto his family. He left a dead bear cub in Central Park. A worm ate part of his brain (source: him).

But all of that might make him just eccentric. What makes him dangerous is that Trump nominated him to head Health and Human Services. I should say in spite of the fact that he's a conspiracy theorist who promotes dangerous lies about health, but the truth is more likely that he was nominated because he's a conspiracy theorist who promotes dangerous lies about health.

Matt Gaetz

The Department of Justice investigated Matt Gaetz for (allegedly) sex trafficking and having sex with a 17-year-old. He conveniently resigned from Congress just days before the House Ethics Committee was set to vote on releasing their investigation into the matter. If your crazy Uncle Fred thinks it's all hot air and the libs weaponized the DoJ to harm poor 'ole Matt, show him what his Republican colleague thinks about the charges (spoiler alert: GUILTY!).

Pete Hegseth

He's a fucking Fox News host who knows nothing about the military. Enough said.

Update: He's accused of paying hush money to cover up sexual assault. 

Fuck him.

Tulsi Gabbard

Tulsi parrots Russian propaganda as if it were the truth, for example, a debunked conspiracy theory (originated in the Kremlin) that the USA was secretly funding biological warfare labs in Ukraine. They're so secret that even the Ukrainians don't know about them because Russians are the only ones using banned substances on the battlefield. One of her former congressional colleagues, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D), claims Gabbard "is likely a Russian asset."

How Can I Blame Trump Voters?

Fox News and others are out there pimping rationalizations and deflections for these horrible choices. You'll get nowhere with logic and reason.

Instead, try analogy. 

Think of someone in your circle who your Trumpster thinks is nuts. For example, maybe Aunt Sally has a gambling problem and always asks the Trumpster for a little money to get buy. Tell him to imagine putting Aunt Sally in charge of his personal finances.

Or maybe there's a second-string quarterback who got put in, blew the game, and screwed up your Trumpster's fantasy football league. Tell him putting Pete Hegseth in charge of the military is not like putting that second-string guy in the starting role, but like starting your 9-year-old kit as a quarterback in the NFL.

Know your audience. 

Think about things they find obviously absurd and use those analogies. Over. And over. And over.

The lightbulb won't go on right away. Years of Fox News brainwashing isn't undone overnight. It takes persistence to bring people back fro the dark side.

Go forth and persist.