Is comedy dead?  If it is, we know who killed it, Donald J. Trump. The corporate gangster turned reality TV show star and current occupant of the White House is wreaking havoc on many of our Nation’s venerable institutions. He has added political satire to his list of things in American life he has set out to destroy, albeit unwittingly.  

I’ll admit there was nothing funny about President Obama, but as Bill Maher once said, “I’m willing to take one for the team.” As of this moment he was America’s last President. He went about his business with a degree of class, dignity, professionalism and a respect for our country and its place in the world that is completely absent in the Trump administration/crime family.

I know folks are having a field day with his recent remarks at his 4^th of July “Salute to America.” The problem is that Orange Julius makes it too easy. As part of his grotesque “banana republic” style military parade he made some prepared remarks that he read off of the teleprompter. Nothing unusual about that. He did however leave the country in shock as he didn’t talk about himself or denigrate his political opponents. This was a first. His usual Night at the Improv insult comic routine, which is such a hit with his base of supporters, was substituted with a man trying as best he could to act like he was President of the United States.

Instead he sounded like Anchorman Ron Burgundy who will read anything that is on the teleprompter, and I do mean anything. When this bombastic dimwitted (sound familiar) fictional character in a movie is sabotaged by a colleague and tells his viewing audience to go f*ck themselves it’s funny. When a “man” standing behind a podium that reads 'President of the United States' does the same thing more or less, it is embarrassing. It is also rather disturbing. It isn’t funny and rather pathetic when you stop and think about it.

Commander Bone Spurs did garner much praise for demonstrating that he can read. There have been numerous people he has worked with through the years that have stated publicly that he doesn’t read anything. He takes this notion to such extremes that it has been assumed that he can’t read. The bar has been set so low for Dolt 45 that reading is chalked up as some kind of political victory. It likely didn’t help, as reading isn’t a skill valued by his supporters.

He has bragged about the fact that he never uses teleprompters. Instead he prefers these wildly rambling stream of consciousness speeches which are quite revealing to what is going on in his head. As it turns out, it’s not much. He also reveals that his thought processes (if you can call it that) are no different than any of the authoritarian dictators he so admires.

So, during his “Salute to America,” Trump stood in a driving rain storm completely surrounded by bullet proof glass that made his appearance reminiscent of a 1930’s horror film. He looked like a cross between Adolph Eichmann and Bela Lugosi. Cue a flash of lightening and a clap of thunder. His 45-minute speech had one historical inaccuracy after another. The part that garnered the most attention was this passage, where he got nothing right.  

“In June of 1775, the Continental Congress created a unified army out of the revolutionary forces encamped around Boston and New York and named after the great George Washington, commander in chief. The Continental Army suffered the bitter winter of Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown. Our army manned the air. Rammed the ramparts. It took over the airports. It did everything it had to do. And at Fort McHenry, under “the rockets’ red glare,” it had nothing but victory. And when dawn came, their Star-Spangled Banner waved defiant.”

Even his base of historically illiterate lemmings caught the airport gaff. However, there isn’t a single sentence in this one segment that is accurate. The combining of two wars that took place three decades apart might come in second. The naming of the Continental Army after George Washington third and the “Cornwallis of Yorktown” statement (my favorite) fourth.

So, does this mean his speech writers are as ignorant of American history as their boss, the bubble boy?  Are his own people setting him up in an attempt to expose the Mango Mussolini’s tremendous stupidity and lack of knowledge of his own country’s history? I really don’t know. It is obvious that his core base of supporters has very little knowledge of history even though they evoke a vague notion of this with their MAGA hats. It’s obvious that looking back rather than forward does not make one a history buff. So, what do they care? They got to see tanks and fast planes. Wheee…

Trump’s ignorance is so profound that he didn’t catch any of the several dozen historical inaccuracies in the speech. He did have to acknowledge the airport gaff. Of course, that meant affixing blame on others, the weather and the teleprompter. Since the other historical inaccuracies while just as egregious were not as obvious as referencing airports during the revolutionary war, he got kind of a reprieve from the media.

The problem is that Trump is showing signs of severe mental instability. Again…not funny. Anybody who refers to himself publicly as “…great looking and smart, a true Stable Genius!” is clearly not in complete charge of his own faculties, as he did on his now infamous July 11, 2019, tweet storm. 

Watching and listening to this ghoulish presentation back on our Independence Day was painful. A friend asked me why I would subject myself to such torture. My answer to that was, “It’s the same reason I read the Mueller Report. Like it or not, as painful as it is…. it’s still history.” There is no truer saying than ‘If you are ignorant of history, it is bound to repeat itself.’ We are currently living in one of the darkest moments in American history. We can’t let this happen again.

So, his attempt at being Presidential didn’t work. He will return to his greatest hits which will no doubt include such fan favorites as, “fake news…fake news…” the now famous “lock her up” sing along and the always reliable, ‘It’s Obama’s fault’ mantra. Coming soon to a Trump rally near you…

The face of our nation is that of an orange clown who is dumber than a box of rocks. His minions who have been brained washed with presumably really small bars of soap love his stupidity. They find it comforting. They love the fact that Trump is like they are. They blame their lot in life on others. They resent smart people. They don’t believe in science and if the facts don’t suit their agenda, they always have alternative facts.

Ignorance is bliss, but it’s not funny.

-  David Mac

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