Toying with a fool’s mission

Over the Fourth of July weekend my readership took a precipitous fall. I wasn’t sure whether to chalk it up to putting a tedious forum on the top of the blog or people enjoying life with their families. It was no doubt a bit of both plus the novelty of a “liberal” Republican trying to primary a Trumpkin wearing off.

I’ve kept links (if not put them on the blog) to dozens of stories from the newspaper that knows Donald Trump the best and reports his greed, duplicities, lunacies, lies and outrages etc. The New York Times has followed his history of junvenalia for forty years. Claudia tells me that he still reads it daily but he doesn’t like it today. But as they say “bad news is better than no news.” And Donald Trump is nothing if not an attention addict. I’m sure I pointed out a year ago that its been estimated that Trump’s presidential campaign got a half-billion or a billion (I can’t remember which) in free advertising by always being in the news.

I sympathize with many of Trump’s supporters but there is one rather pathetic but unifying motivation behind their continued support. I don’t think his supporters aren’t stupid. Most of them can see hes a braggart, a liar and a cheat. His maniacal feints and parries have left even his detractors (“haters” like me) in bewildered awe. Its one man political shock and awe. Its still stupid and dangerous – world trade war waging, dictator worshipping, health care crippling, spiteful, (bed peeing) race baiting, demagogue. Trump’s supporters enjoy the pain and outrage of their bad boy’s enemies. Its sad but not unAmerican. Its mostly very human.

The only difference between the campaign Pete Stauber would have waged a couple years before Trump and the one he’s conducting now is that before he would have run as a Ryan Republican. But now he’s running as a yes man for a world trade war waging, dictator worshiping, health care crippling, spiteful, (bed peeing), race baiting, demagogue.

I filed to make that point but I’m not going to tear myself inside out to make it. I haven’t ruled it out but I’ve seen little evidence yet of any sparks. I’m afraid my word-heavy blog isn’t much of a key on a kite. If I was not preparing to write a couple of books in tandem with preparing for a journey to France I might have thrown myself into this campaign with real gusto. And yet, in the current Republican climate that would not have been enough. I’ll be content if I attract enough votes from stubborn old style Republicans to deprive our President one more lacky in Congress.

And its not that my infamous creativity couldn’t come up with a pointed barb that caught voter’s attention. About twenty years ago I managed to have a couple claymation ads when I ran against a deeply entrenched DFL State Senator, Doug Johnson. Had there been an Internet back then it would have made his campaign more difficult but I only could afford showing the ads a dozen times on back channels. Even so, my ad caused Doug to lose it (his jovial disposition) in front of a small audience. Here’s one of them but I think the other is better:

I’m spending too much time studying French and reading up on the history of the World Wars to put together an Internet ad showing Commissioner Stauber’s smiling face in the breast pocket of our grinning President. But it would make a compelling ad, I think.

I’ll keep doing some rounds. For instance, I will be on WDSE’s Almanac North this Friday. I will be skipping the Duluth Playhouse’s Music Man while the rest of my family attends the production in order to share my politics with local PBS news junkies. It will only last ten minutes. That will be less painful than watching the two-hour long Hibbing Forum from a couple weeks ago. I think it will be on at Eight O’clock.

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