Cornelis Visscher after Adriaen Brouwer:
Hearing [De Fiool Speelder] (c. 1649-58)

"We seem poised to reenter kindergarten, where the bully holds the pulpit."

We console ourselves by remembering how inept he was the last time he was in office. He managed to use his office to be cruel to innocents, to unconscionably waste resources, and to inflate the deficit toward no discernable end. Still, he mostly proved incapable of inflicting long-term damaging influence. The office of the Presidency quickly snapped back into respectability once he was ousted, even with him endlessly whining that he'd been illegally overturned. He provided nothing that any court considered proof of his assertion. He proved to be an eminently ignorable distraction, a sore loser, and the most UnSerious candidate ever to seek re-election. That he won astounded everyone I know.

This time, he will be the most UnSerious President in the history of this nation. Nobody can know what his mix of UnSeriousness might do to the office. He was inept the last time. He sure seems inept as he identifies the administrators he'll send for confirmation. He continues to speak exclusively in word salads, indecipherable mumbles perhaps intended to baffle commentators. I dare suggest that not even his supporters understand what he will be up to once he's sworn into office. He has never shown any inclination or particular ability to uphold any pledge. He seems to take those UnSeriously, too. He seems thoroughly cynical.

We elected a child to be our next President, so we will get the opportunity to see how our constitution holds up when an administration actively disrespects the foundations upon which our society has operated since its inception. He hails from a family where every surviving male eventually suffered from severe mental decline when aging. He's already exhibiting an alarming lack of presence. He often doesn't seem to understand who or where he is. This, alone, should prove him incapable of holding office, but the Constitution didn't anticipate an electorate selecting an absolute idiot to serve as President. We pray our checks and balances hold because this guy's clearly unbalanced. He's severely UnSerious.

I expect him to inflict real damage. Worst case, he might make real all the slanders he committed against the Biden Administration, perhaps the most competent one in the history of this nation. The President-elect and the candidate that spawned him thrived on telling absolute lies about his soon-to-be predecessor. To our disgrace, many believed those stories even though no proof was ever presented, only assertions. I suspect that the NextWorld administration will dispense a steady stream of lies. It will misrepresent everything it attempts until nobody will really know what's happening. I have no idea what he thinks anybody might gain from such behavior. It might be that he's merely incapable of behaving in any other way and that his "followers" have ceded their discretion to question as the precondition for associating with him.

He will be a messiah for many. Those weaned on The BIG Lie seem to have become dependent upon being lied to. They will need and receive continual reinforcement. The rest of us, the ones who successfully saw through to the truth, will cringe whenever we read the paper. The paper might become unreadable. We might withdraw, cowering down until the hostilities recede. It takes the UnSerious to suggest taking over Greenland by force. His nominees explained that it was just a negotiating tactic, a feint, and a misdirection to keep enemies and allies off balance. We seem poised to reenter kindergarten, where the bully holds the pulpit. I'm taking the UnSerious very, very seriously, indeed.

©2024 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #NextWorld