CSotD: Trompe l’fou
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Well, sure.
Clay Bennett is correct that the Nunes memo turned out to be, well, a trumpery. And, in terms of what it says, it's not going to stop that Magnificent Bastard from moving forward, doing his job and once more serving his nation.
What the memo boils down to is that the FBI sought a FISA warrant based on information that didn't provide all the proof they would need to convict. Catch-22 rules in the land of paranoid conspiracy buffs: You can only obtain a warrant once you need no further evidence.
And, yes, their application included some information gained during a political campaign, though they were already on the case before that, and, besides, so what?
The entire Arkansas Project becomes irrelevant if it's improper to use tips from people who don't like the potential crook you're investigating, and, similarly, Juanita Broderick can't testify against Bill Clinton because she's pissed at him.
As Matt Davies suggests, the memo is a clown masquerading as a shark.
It's a story as old as Horace: "The mountains labor, and the result is a ridiculous mouse."
And if the purpose of the memo were to prove that the FBI has unfairly targeted the Trump administration, the game would now be over.
The memo proves nothing.
But Dwane Powell isn't the only cartoonist to depict Trump as a Mafia don, and the notion that the memo is supposed to actually prove his innocence or the FBI's guilt is a serious misreading of what's going on here.
Ezra Klein explains it in this tweet, and his entire thread is worth a read.
Trump began his political rise by championing the Birthers, and it doesn't matter whether he did so cynically or because he is as gullible and foolish and paranoid as they are.
The bottom line is that showing Birthers the birth announcements from the Hawaiian papers only makes them come up with even more preposterous explanations for how the evil plotters managed to plant those fake birth announcements.
Never mind how the evil plotters managed, over 40 years or so, to groom little Barack for the White House. Evil plotters are all-powerful and capable of defying physical limitations, logical consequences and basic human nature.
Which is why conspiracy buffs can readily accept that Elvis's retinue managed to fake his death, and that the people who faked the moon landing managed to rope in an entire network of scientists and launch pad workers, none of whom ever broke ranks and revealed the truth.
And so the memo doesn't have to make sense. It only has to exist. And it's a bonus when, as Kevin Siers points out, the leaders of the Republican Party endorse it, or at least pretend not to know what's going on.
They're not going to disown this putrid, pathetic piece of propaganda. As Bill Day notes, it's an issue of priorities, and if you thought the good of the nation was at the top of their list of priorities, well, maybe you're part of the reason they're in power at all.
Point is, it's impossible to dissuade insane people through logic, because — duh — they're insane.
Just as there's a well-known scale of autism, there is also an unpublicized scale of delusional insanity, and the folks who believe in conspiracies do not necessarily believe that there are radio transmitters in their fillings or that the people in the television can see them.
Some do, of course, but most don't, which is too bad because, first of all, the pathologically delusional are fewer in number, and, second, it's not hard to justify either medicating them or keeping them somewhere they can't harm the rest of us.
No, there is a place on the scale for those who believe ridiculous, impossible things and yet can hold down jobs and, on any other topic, behave rationally and in a socially acceptable manner.
Which is why it's such a surprise when one of them corners you at a party and unloads a truckload of crazy.
Or when a bunch of them rally to help elect one of their own president.
Nor is it "political bias" to suspect that, if he were only faking it to attract the loony vote, he would be a little more selective about the constant, relentless, easily-disproven flow of bizarre nonsense that he extrudes.
And we can sit back and wish for Buzz Aldrin to step up …
… but that only increases their sense of being repressed by the evil plotters who are part of the Secret Society.
A more vital question is what we do with people like this, who make impassioned speeches about democracy and freedom, and even retire from the Senate out of their exquisite sense of decency, and then applaud like puppets at the sound of their master's voice.
And, yes, I see who his smiling guest is, and, much as it hurts to be disillusioned, to hell with her, too. (See comments)
Seeing those two pilloried in the Onion is nearly as depressing as finding yourself in Andy Borowitz.
Matt Wuerker is not the first cartoonist, or even the first noted here, to discuss this issue of "retiring" Republicans. Perhaps his cartoon should show lines going back to the steamer as these "retirees" continue to help pull the boat along, even as they depart.
Mind you, if Trump falls, those who retired will be vindicated, just as the young protagonist in "The Red Badge of Courage" hoped for a defeat in order to justify his own "retirement" from the battle.
In a defeat there would be a roundabout vindication of himself. He thought it would prove, in a manner, that he had fled early because of his superior powers of perception. A serious prophet upon predicting a flood should be the first man to climb a tree. This would demonstrate that he was indeed a seer.
Take heart. History will distinguish "retirement" from "desertion" and the Magnificent Bastards from the ones with heel spurs.
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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