Forget reality, we want fireworks and a parade

Forrest Johnson

“They’ll disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home, and invite MS-13 to live next door.” - Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida on what will happen if “liberals” are elected in November.

Boy, that sure was a nice fireworks display after President Donald V. (for vengeance) Rumpt’s speech accepting the nomination for the New Conservative Neanderthal Party (NCNP), formerly known as the Republicans. Everyone likes a good fireworks display, even if the show is put on by a liar and a cheat.

For a few minutes it’s patriotism galore to finish up a real whiz bang of a convention.
As a former newspaper editor, me and my kind were trotted out numerous times during the week for public lashings.

I never knew me and my kind were so evil and despicable, apparently the real liars in this big old falling apart world created by the radical left and socialists, terrorists and malcontents determined to destroy America.

As a matter of fact, so many stereotypes of the liberal elite were trotted out for public lashings that I couldn’t write them all down they were coming at me so fast.

Voter fraud. Democrats using COVID to steal the election. Communism just around the corner. People like Donald Rumpt, Jr. screaming that our country is being stolen by subversive elements right before our eyes! Freedoms will be curtailed, mobs will invade the suburbs, rioters and criminals will run rampant.

“They’ll disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home, and invite MS-13 to live next door,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida.

You just knew that law and order would pop up as the main theme. Forget that COVID is still menacing the nation. Forget that the environment and the notion of climate change were thrown under the bus. Forget health care.

But don’t worry about education for our children and grandchildren. The Rumpt campaign has that covered, citing a vague list of “aspirations” such as “Teach American Exceptionalism.”

Yes, forget history and dumb stuff like civics and literature. Just make it all up to suit the Fearless Leader and don’t ever bother to correct him. He doesn’t like that. He likes a good pageant, lots of flags and a big parade that all lead back to him and his very fragile ego.

Forget that his older sister, a retired federal court judge, explained that he has no principles and is a habitual liar who doesn’t read.

All that doesn’t matter to those who drank the Kool-aid and gave up on democracy long ago. I’m reminded of that time and again when I think back to those I talked to at Tea Party rallies and the Rumpt rally in Superior back in 2016. I’d ask dumb questions and couldn’t even get dumb answers the people were so schmoozed by the right wing talking points.

A common theme was “we’re losing our freedoms.”

I would then ask a real simple question.

“Which freedoms are we losing?”

Folks would sputter back but never reveal which freedom was being stolen.
I would then ask if something like the “government” was stopping them from attending church or going on a trip.

They would indicate that something was out there trying to take away their freedoms but still couldn’t come up with an answer as to which freedoms had been lost.

Instead they choose to believe that some other power is trying to control their lives and take away their freedoms, even though they can’t come up with an answer to a simple question.

Now that it’s been revealed that Rumpt publicly pooh-pooh the COVID threat while admitting in private that it was a real danger we have a third of the nation, maybe more, believing the whole thing is a hoax because the president said it was.

A lot of Kool-aid has been guzzled for a long, long time.

So load up the TV screen with lots of flags and fireworks and displays of imaginary patriotism and we’ll pull through all our troubles and get back to the white America 1950s real soon.

It’s a make-believe world according to the president and his happy-angry supporters!

Forget reality, we want fireworks and a big parade!