Political Theatre category archive

Afterthought:

I get a kick–a depressing and gloomy kick, but a kick nonetheless–out of all those right-wing columnists and talk show mavens, like, for example, George Will and Joe Scarborough, who are lamenting the current state of the Republican Party.

Given their history of shilling for Republicans and Republicanism while rationalizing inimical bestial public policies, all I have to offer them is the words of The Who: “Look in the mirror, boy.”

But you know they won’t look, for their careers (and their paychecks and speaking engagements and television appearances) depend on separating cause from effect.

Via Juanita Jean.

Via Raw Story.

Via PoliticalProf, who also offers a simple formula for understanding Trump’s actions.

Jaana Juvonen, a professor of developmental psychology, argues that Donald Trump fits the picture of a classic middle school bully. A snippet:

Trump is known for his tendency to deny his role in controversial events. He has denied, for example, asking FBI Director James B. Comey to drop the investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn; he also has denied ever having had dealings with Russian agents, and angrily described probes into these matters as “a witch hunt.” While the nation is waiting to learn the truth about what Trump has or has not said and done, his stubborn denial reveals a lack of social reasoning typical of aggressive children.

It is quite possible, disturbingly well within the realm of possibility, that one of the dupes has been identified.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

Dick Polman has more. Here’s how he starts; follow the link for the rest:

It’s amazing how the Capitol Hill Republicans continue to beclown themselves in the service of Donald Trump. The more they try to minimize Kremlingate — as they did again yesterday, while questioning former CIA director John Brennan — the more they soil themselves.

Testifying before the House Intelligence Committee, Brennan gave us the fullest public accounting thus far of Russia’s “aggressive” and “multifaceted” penetration of the ’16 presidential election — and he spoke openly of Russia’s “contacts and interactions” with people in the Trump campaign. We should thank the Republican committee members for making that possible, because it was their hapless questioning that prompted Brennan’s candor.

Leonard Pitts, Jr., sums up contemporary “conservatism.”

One longs for an intellectually vibrant marketplace of ideas, but there is nothing intellectual or vibrant about what these days passes for conservatism. That once robust ideology has been shriveled by an intellectual dishonesty so profound that the same people who tirelessly investigated Barack Obama’s birth certificate and inveighed against his choice of mustard can look at the mountain of malfeasance rising from the White House and say with a shrug and all evident sincerity, “What evidence?”

The one constant in contemporary conservatism is adherence to what seems to be its core principle: Mean for the sake of mean.

Daniel Ruth points out that it’s easier for members of Marco Rubio’s constituency to find Waldo than it is for them to find Little Marco.