Ballots Run Nations; Bullets Ruin ‘Em

Daily writing prompt
Do you vote in political elections?

That it’d even be conceivable that any one husk of a man could ever connive to…

  • (ab)use the Constitution to decompose the Constitution
  • radically, irreparably devastate / fubar the United States
  • end our founders’ nearly 250-year-old grand experiment
  • con the uninformed, non-civically minded to reelect him

…only serves to prove that self-serving, insurrectionist; that nasty, fascist, bastard… one Donald Dolf Trump… has been and shall continue to be… an existential threat to America and the entire planet until his 500th milestone birthday.

And you know what, at times, it even seems plausible that he’ll continue to hang out on Earth way, Way, WAY beyond that; seeing how both the fabled upper and lower gated, afterlife communities shall continue to lock him out… thru perpetuity.

Worse yet, is how, long predating that dictator wannabe’s rise to national prominence… strike that… dominance… there’s been this ongoing, burn down America movement, where its perpetrators have been burning the midnight oil to unleash such mucked up voter suppression laws that they’ve left no “i” uncrossed and “t” undotted.

Check out the 1 – 2 punch of how horrifically inhumane their (f)laws can get. They:

  1. deliberately understaff / under-equip the polling places in known Democratic Party precincts; resulting in such insufferably long lines, it can take hours instead of minutes for voters to cast their ballots.
  2. criminalize compassionate citizens when they give food and water to these beleaguered voters

As for my specific, more direct response to the Daily Prompt…

Ever since my 18th birthday, I’ve been a staunch, steadfast, committed, devoted, dedicated, regular voter; be those elections national, state, local or any permutation of those levels. To more dramatically sum up my resolve / my plans for the future; I now co-opt / repurpose / add untold IQ points to smarten up the National Rifle Association’s asinine, insane quotation; where they profess their undying love for their deadly guns. Check out my rewrite…

“I’ll only give up my right to vote when you pry my completed ballot from my cold, dead hands.” – – – CommonSenseTom

As any rational citizen, who has ever witnessed Trump’s televised, violent, armed, January 6th, attempted coup can attest…

Ballots Run Nations; Bullets Ruin ‘Em

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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!

HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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Bumper Sticker Blog: Smoke & Mirrors

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UNCANNY how gun nut (f)lawmaker Trumpers can shoot off
their mouths about the smoking gun caliber evidence they’ve
got; claim it’s enough to indict / impeach / oust Biden, YET, if
asked to produce it, like a shot, everything goes up in smoke!

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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!

HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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No More Teachers No More Books?

AntiSocial Studies Anyone?

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Ever since the outset of the new year, the main undertaking of the stateside, MAGA hijacked, Republican Party has been to double down in their efforts to dumb down whatever susceptible, corruptible citizens they can train their crosshairs on.

To that end, they’ve been attempting to parlay their razor thin majority within the U.S. House of Representatives into the establishment of victories which, were they to ever become the law of the land?

Well, let’s just say that absolutely nobody would ever, actually, emerge victorious.

Fortunately, in reality, their chances of ever legislatively demolishing American democracy and decency are next to none; i.e. seeing how such stench could never pass the checks and balances sniff test originating from the still, Democratically controlled U.S. Senate and White House. Yep were push to ever come to shove, President Joe Biden’s veto pen could easily, ultimately, and justifiably so, “deodorize” these MAGA maggots.

Nevertheless, these horrific, fascistic sorcerers still have a few Trump cards up their sleeves; in such instances, involving their state level, governmental cronies (zombies all); where we witness the Trumpian sycophantic governors and legislators doing their damnedest to muck up everything.

To hash this out further… these idiot ideologues have been de-funding K-12 school libraries, harassing / firing / imprisoning librarians and banning / burning books / textbooks; yep, even if merely one whiny parent erroneously judges any literary work to be “woke” magnitude “objectionable”.

Regrettably, what little remains library shelved, far too often, are the dishonestly authored books; many of them specifically crafted to debunk time honored environmental / medical science AND whitewash America’s ugly racist past.

Shamefully, (dis)courtesy of these MAGA ignoraNuses (<—not a typo), red states, such as these, are where Mother Nature and Lady Liberty both go to die. Tragically, these locales are also where schoolkids go to die.

To flesh out such obits a bit further… we, the grieving, heartbroken, kindly members of humankind, have been eyewitness to how these evil (f)lawmakers’ dirty work never ends there.

You see, they’ve been shamelessly pandering to their own voter base, too; namely, that mentally ill, National Riffle Association (NRA) ilk; one that’s regrettably overpopulated by AR-15 toting, mass murderers; all hellbent on shooting and slaughtering youngsters just starting out in life.

Then, when, justifiably so, concerned educators, parents, kids and the rest of us onlookers react; merely attempt to exercise our 1st Amendment rights; (to paraphrase); to peaceably assemble… to petition the Government for a redress of (our) grievances, that’s when the (f)lawmaker ghouls counter-protest heatedly and stupidly; i.e., trot out their inane and insane master plan to combat gun violence; namely, to heavily arm our teachers.

Needless to say, at that juncture, ordinary folks’ demonstrations, typically, don’t end well; e.g., they get drowned out with vile white supremacist bile; e.g., retribution such as the recent, bigotry fueled expulsion of Tennessee Reps. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, and Justin Pearson, D-Memphis (read full article here).

However, let’s return now to the Republicans’ attempt to morph institutions of learning into battlefields; i.e. when militarized mentors mutate into mercenaries; when their standing orders will be to maim and murder whenever mentally deranged, heavily armed with weapons of war. marauders attack.

Once again, we’re speaking of an out of control situation that rarely, if ever, can be expected to end well.

So, just how the hell has America ever allowed itself to devolve into such a gun sick, dystopian society?

Well, it’s my suspicion that within MAGA’s un-schoolable, unruly rulers’ mucked up heads, they’ve never come even close to outgrowing their shared, lifelong loathing of each and every teacher they had ever encountered; all of that BS backdating, perhaps, to their very first day of kindergarten.

Consequently, these poorly reared children left behind (trapped in adult bodies) are now getting off on their sick fantasies that, someday, the endless procession of AR-15 toting, miserable, societal failures, who invade and shoot up our institutions of learning will succeed at one and ONLY ONE thing; namely, the execution of each and every soldier / teacher they engage.

It’s tough not to suspect how the MAGA (f)lawmakers are living vicariously thru those who, they alone, consider to be their heroes; i.e., those who violate our schools, on average, on more than a daily basis; perhaps base their seething hatred of all-things-education solely upon the following, absolutely atrocious, utterly unacceptable, antisocial, churlish chant.

No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher’s
Dirty looks.

Admittedly, prior to the point where I had begun formulating this post (and doing my research / “homework”), I hadn’t even known of this pathetic, perverse verse’s final four lines.

Kick the tables
Kick the chairs
Kick the teachers
Down the stairs!

Little doubt, the always seething with violent intent, MAGA maniacs know it all, by heart (what heart?) and, perhaps, to this very day, revel in it; in its ugly, virulent, violent entirety.

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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!

HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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No Swim in the Sewers Entrepreneurs

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Not unlike most of us extraordinary commoners, who are trying our damnedest to barely exist within our world besieged by the threats of nuclear Armageddon, endless no-win conventional wars, class wars, fascistic coups, militarized police brutality, armed to the teeth mass murdering malcontents, environmental ruin, pestilence, racism, sexism, corporate “personhood”, and an arrogant, avaricious, obscenely wealthy gaggle of nefarious uppercrusters…

I must keep my expenses down.

To cut to the chase, just one aspect of my belt tightening stratagem involves my reliance on YouTube for the very freebie connections, which somehow / some way do manage to keep me well-informed and mentally balanced; e.g., the politically progressive websites such as those hosted by Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian, John Iadarola, Jayar Jackson, Farron Cousins, Brian Tyler Cohen, Jesse Dollemore, Justin “Beau” King, and Ben, Brett and Jordan Meiselas, et al.

Alas… long sigh… freebies, frequently are far, Far, FAR from free; i.e. considering how YT’s (oft insufferable) business model involves the overmonitization of most of their (oft enjoyable) uploaders’ video content…

And far, Far, FAR WORSE.

WORSE, of course, neatly sums up how YT’s head honchos seem to be indiscriminately and irresponsibly platforming the vast array of their oft oddball sponsors. I cannot help but suspect that these muckety-mucks will OK just about anyone whose got money to burn.

In other words, flash YT sufficient green and they’ll green light any sponsor’s message (even if it’s disgusting)?

Net result, viewers must endure an endless barrage of ad campaigns; too many of which promote odious pills, potions and poisons; shoddy products and obvious autocratic political agendas. I’ll spare you most of the disgusting particulars, save for that last listed item.

I find myself being regularly besieged by that Stateside, orange and thin skinned, narcissistic, fascistic, (literally and figuratively) revolting, sore loser; not to mention his like-minded, treasonous, moronic malcontents and minions (inclusive of his sycophantic talking head cronies, yellow rag publisher hacks and congresspersons (of the MAGA variety).

Needless to say, such ads are each and every liberally minded person’s worst nightmare come true.

And such negative vibes can only intensify whenever the tasteless sponsors of clever videographers’ mere 5 to 15 minute long clips can and do morph into nearly hour long, droning infomercials. Granted, YT does allow their viewers to skip ads, but, in view of how greed doth rule; just how much longer can this opt out last?

WORST of all is how rotten ads frequently take the metaphorical blowtorch to burn down the cogent journalistic and artistic messages. Most assuredly, a plethora of YT’s deplorable ad content does seem to wind up weaponized; e.g., to witness an Ana Kasparian rant cut off, oft in MID-SENTENCE; timed just about as she’s ready to drive her entire, astute point home, cannot be mere coincidence.

To test out the validity of my above contention, on a recent Sunday afternoon, I opted to click over to the YT home page; to intentionally select, from their main menu, a particular, peculiar gun nut’s 32 minute long dissertation; his delivery for the express purpose of telling us how everybody MUST own an AR-15 assault rifle.

Well folks, you know what? Not even one freakin’ ad ran during that psychopath’s entire nauseating screed!

Of course, that could mean one of two things was afoot.

EITHER… YT’s execs are under secret, strict National Rifle Association orders to never interrupt even one syllable of any gun nuts’ content…

OR… to end this post on a more positive note… maybe… just maybe… YT sponsors still (ever so slightly) worry about the backlash they might incur when normal, decent members of our human family feel contempt for them; i.e. we, who would NEVER, EVER knowingly do any business with gun lovin’, swim in the sewers entrepreneurs!

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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!

HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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Fill-in-the-Blank Reporters’ Template

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Preface: Seeing how, here, within gun sick America, on average, we can expect daily acts of deadly domestic terrorism; perpetrated, by and large, by hardcore, right wing radicals, would the actual existence of the following, sample template shock any of us?

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On ______day, ___ / ___ / 20___, ______, _______ became the latest pop up, war zone where the horrified general public became witness to the latest rage in police “protection”; namely, where cowardly, self-centered, so-called, good guy first responders, armed with military magnitude guns, no less, opt to lollygag; to shamelessly shake in their jackboots, while taking little action to restore the peace.

Lax gun control statutes, coupled with a stagnant police force, wound up allowing yet another bad guy with a gun, later identified as ______ ______ ______ (middle name / initial optional), to go on a take no prisoners rampage; to indiscriminately, relentlessly, repeatedly and heartlessly open fire upon the unsuspecting, helpless innocents, whose only “crime” had been merely going about their day-to-day lives; thereby resulting in the shooter (fill in known quantities) murdering ____ and maiming ____.

In the wake of this latest, needless national tragedy, per usual, we were forced to witness the barrage of “our” spineless, soulless national, state and local “leaders” / “legislators”; all colluding with their spineless, soulless gun manufacturer and National Rifle Association cohorts; forced to endure these tired, crotchety, feckless, flaccid males, ON CUE, speechifying their insufferable, meaningless, sanctimonious, paint-by-the-numbers “thoughts and prayers” platitudes; making mere photo op props out of the grieving, heartbroken, crying their eyes out, surviving families and friends.

Expect everything to blow over within a news cycle or two (three tops); to return to the never acceptable “new normal”, where nearly no one we empower will ever do our bidding; will actually deliver on the already decades overdue, vital to humankind’s survival, gun control crack downs required to halt domestic terrorism, dead in its tracks… uh…

Before we wind up dead in our tracks.

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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!

HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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Must See TYT’s Ana and Cenk

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Mere days ago, within gun sick America (insert my long, anguished, exasperated sigh), yet, another mass murderer reared his ugly head. That firearm toting freak ran amok in Uvalde, Texas; set his site on Robb Elementary School and went on a maiming and murdering rampage.

The (yet to be finalized) grim, Death Toll: 21 children and 2 adults

Yet to be reported is the number of wounded. However, what could count even more, is how humane humans, spanning that entire community / battlefield, have now wound up with lifelong, PTSD magnitude, psychological wounds.

While, instinctively, my compassion strongly motivates me to offer up thoughts and prayers to the survivors, intellectually, I know better.

What good would this really do? For starters, an obscure blogger’s words have little to no chance of ever being read by the grieving heartbroken; and, more to the point, I, alone, cannot expect to ever put an end to all of the inevitable, impending attacks; let alone, single-handedly, usher in an enduring civil society.

For America to evolve in that manner, would require courageous, conscientious leaders and legislators, who prioritize the protection of human life over the preservation of their rank, coveted. A+ NRA (National Rifle Association) ranking.

Alas, the long absent, much needed, courageous, conscientious politicians, if not already extinct, certainly do top off the endangered species list.

Regrettably, what we’ve got, instead, are the monstrosities, who value an imbued with excessive power life, over life, itself; who, down to the very core of their rotting souls, adamantly believe political immortality and immorality walk hand-in-hand.

Fortunately, still in existence are the courageous, conscientious political commentators, such as The Young Turks(TYT), Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur. On nearly a daily basis, this dynamic duo posts YouTube content; presides over no BS discourse, which, far more dramatically, can flesh out my above talking points.

HOWEVER, still in play is the matter of maintaining my YouTube boycott (backdating to January 1, 2021. This means that I won’t be WP showcasing this clip.

Yet, seeing how Americans, indeed, freedom lovers, worldwide, could benefit from tapping into that vid’s passion (in particular Cenk’s), in this rare instance, I find it necessary to grant special dispensation.

Hence, we’re hereby linked to that very vid, OFFSITE.

Now, in the event that anyone may be interested, my beef with YouTube centers upon the slew of moneygrubber, muckety-mucks who, think nothing over routinely, platforming fascistic, sociopathic, lying, armed to the teeth, insurrectionist Trumper Republicans; the YouTube powers-that-be claiming they do so for the sake of preserving freedom of speech.

The glaring conundrum: by mainstreaming / normalizing such hardcore righties, they wind up grooming each and every gullible consumer-viewer of Trumper garbage; i.e., end up lulling these severely misled misfits into blind acceptance of fascists, sociopaths, liars, shooters and insurrectionists.

And IF/WHEN that sorta fit-hits-the-shan, folks, that’ll be the downfall of America and our Constitution; ironically, inclusive of that document’s 1st Amendment, Free Speech Rights / Guarantees.

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Be people vaxxed or unvaxxed, we
can still shed ‘n’ spread the batcrap
crazy contagious Corona-V; which,
in turn, generates new variants ‘n’
needlessly prolongs the pandemic!

Hence, this easy as pie, cover your
nose ‘n’ pie-hole / shelter advisory:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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NRA’s H₂S Plume or My Brain Fart?

 

I blogged, yesterday, about a politically turbocharged ad, which NRA gun nuts have shamelessly crafted for the express purpose of kissing Donald J. Trump’s ass… i.e., to help get said ass re-parked in the Oval Office for 4 more years. Or will that actually wind up being for an UnConstitutional 25 more years? I suppose only time will tell, huh?

Anyway, my having seen the ad only a couple of times, I was discussing it only from memory and, as such, I wound up incorrectly recalling the off camera announcer’s condescending voice as being male… wound up calling “him” out for mansplaining to the NRA’s main targeted audience… i.e. the women they intend to fear monger and demean.

Soon afterwards, I discovered that the gender of that ad’s announcer, in actuality, is female.

A sure sign my memory is falling me?

Or perhaps not.

I cannot help but believe that that ad’s overall, overpowering, odious vibe… i.e., the female announcer’s tone of voice, itself, had… at least to me… sounded too much like a mansplaining man.

Then again, why would it not? Consider the misogyny of those who breathed the hydrogen sulfide* into this ad.

I do deem it possible for women, employed by sexist men, to mansplain to women.

But, let’s momentarily set aside what I think…

How would you diagnose my blogging boo-boo? The NRA’s H₂S plume or my brain fart?

 

Stay Safe at Home! Stay Publicly Masked! Stay Healthy!

 

 

*“Hydrogen sulfide is the chemical compound with the formula H₂S. It is a colorless chalcogen hydride gas with the characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs. It is poisonous, corrosive, and flammable.” – – – Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

 

Mansplaining Manipulative Ad

 

If you’ve yet to see the National Rifle Association’s latest, delusional, dystopian ad… one that’s shamelessly tailor-made to help reelect the absolutely non-electable Donald J. Trump… well… you won’t see it here, either.

Instead, let’s project and dissect this piece of… uh… work… upon our devices’ clinical, pure white screens. Do keep your airsick bags within reach… here we go…

The off camera, drama queen announcer smugly speaks in his menacing, mansplaining, manipulative tone of voice… words to the effect… she has two children, two jobs and because lefties took away her gun, tonight, she might not make it home, alive. Meanwhile…

The accompanying visual vignette showcases the nocturnal workplace parking lot, where we find a panicking, out of breath, young woman attempting to flee assailants. She’s barely able to unlock, enter and slam her car door shut, when, suddenly the driver’s side safety glass gets smashed to smithereens. Next, the tight camera shot refocuses, rightward, upon the gear shift console, where…. POOF… the conspicuously placed handgun, conveniently vanishes into thin air! In the end, the camera angle sort of suggests that her now lifeless body lays sprawled upon the asphalt.

YIKES… there’s so much to unpack here, I’m bound to miss a few points. Anyway, here goes…

• The fact that this ad’s victim would even need to work two (or more) jobs, serves not as a testimonial to womankinds’ work ethic. What this actually points out is how misogynist Donny, and his corrupt big biz cronies, not only insist on shit pay for the masses but even shittier pay for women.

• Were all of the vital-to-a-viable-society jobs paying living wages, would there even be a need for anyone to be working the graveyard shift and walking thru perilous, after hours parking lots?

• Need anyone remind that, against the backdrop of America’s gun sick society, no politician of any ideological stripe (inclusive of Trump’s rival Joe Biden), would ever piss off gun nuts by passing even the weakest of weak gun control laws.

• Let’s, once and for all, figuratively shoot the shit out of the NRA’s temporal anomaly! Although their intent is to distort what life would be like were Biden to become President, the bitter truth is that they are emphasizing what life already… repeat… ALREADY… is like on FLaw and DisOrder Trump’s watch!

Owing to the self-important, fake prez choosing not to promptly, proactively and persistently follow the advice of the pandemic averting experts, his resultant, DIY COVID-19 crisis has furloughed millions of hard working people and, for a substantial portion of them, their workplaces will wind up permanently shuttered.

Because Donald J. Trump failed to preserve and protect our lives and livelihoods it’s only a matter of time before the jobless, homeless and hopeless people, unable to earn an honest dollar, will resort to dishonest means to pay their bills! At that juncture, the resultant ugly scenes won’t be playing out on make-believe Hollywood’s stages and won’t involve NRA / Trump hired actors who can return… safe and sound… to their homes once the director declares, “That’s a Wrap!”

 

Stay Safe at Home! Stay Publicly Masked! Stay Healthy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For What It’s Worth (Vid of the Day)

Our Vid of the Day features the remake / reinvention of the Buffalo Springfield folk/rock classic, For What It’s Worth. The song starter verse…

There’s something happening here
But what it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware (read full lyrics here)

Seeing how the ideological landscape worsens globally as I type / as you read this… has been deteriorating at varying rates since time immemorial, now, more than ever, singer / songwriter Stephen Stills’ lyrical admonition still applies. And Oui 3’s acid jazz, hip hop, trip hop cover amply updates / translates his sentiments into the Nineties. Little doubt, as I type / as you read this, someone may already be building upon / updating / ushering all of these above sentiments into the Twenty-Teens… into the rapidly approaching, roaring Twenty-Twenties.

 

 

 

 

A Past / Present Match-Up ~ Vid of the Day

Long ago… there was Match Game 1973, 74, 75, etc., where show host Gene Rayburn’s staff writers / comedians introduced us to the mythical / fake, generic Dumb Donald.

In the here and now… well… as it turns out, they almost seem to have been a bit prescient. With regards to our Vid of the Day’s specific question, sans nary an inkling of the actual Trumpster, they did manage to capture his flaws… namely his impulsive nature, low ethics IQ and insanely staunch stance re the NRA / 2nd Amendment… as well as address these current events…

[1] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s ongoing impeachment inquiry.
[2] Trump’s 10/04/2019 phone chat with House Republicans where he
whined about impeachment being a “bad thing to have on your resume.”
[3] How Donny just might wind up pounding the pavement ISO a new job.