Only in the Funny Pages...

Am I alone in feeling like I'm living in comic book America? There is a political candidate running for the presidency who is clearly insane, yet he manages to be taken seriously by a large segment of America. His recollection of the recent past is Orwellian, the stuff that one would expect from the Ministry of Truth, and he is ALWAYS the victim. The courts can not control him. In fact even the Supreme Court has taken his side and is no more than his plaything. The U.S. is supposed to have a system of checks and balances, yet both this candidate and his party have clearly found the many loopholes that remain in a tried and tested system of government, assuming that we are not currently governed by idiots, with stupidity as the basis for inaction.

Both Alito and Thomas have had impeachment articles filed against them, yet there is only silence in the aftermath. The Republican Party is itself behaving like the Nazis in the 1930s, yet there is somehow no law that anyone dares to employ against them. The GOP has found their Fuehrer, and they clearly intend to follow him over the cliff's edge even if they drag the rest of the country to its demise with them. That government is powerless to address these issues renders the nation in false hues of green, red, and blue, just like in the art of the comic books. It is a surreal world in which nothing seems real except the certainty of America's demise, a perspective which, once embraced, itself takes on the aspect of a plot from the funny papers.

Who, after all, could trust a convicted felon with the presidency? Who would embrace the tenets of his Project 2025? Who could forget his promise to Christians that they'd never have to vote again? What did he mean by that? Was he promising that no one would be able to remove him from office via an election? Will he transfer power to one party and make certain that no other political parties dare to challenge him as he hands down the reigns of leadership to his chosen acolyte? Is this the allure of Trump for the GOP? Is this how the one percent will finally gain utmost power?

Now we're learning that the GOP has placed MAGAts in key roles as certifiers of state elections in key swing states. This suggests that the election results that are reported from those states will likely be untrustworthy. Will the results be reported in Trump's favor by a mere few percent, or will his election deniers take a more Putinesque approach, and over-report for Trump by tens of percentage points? After all, as they say, in for a penny, in for a pound. How long will the upcoming election counts take to settle on a final number?

As relevant, will the GOP be dissolved after this election? The party has clearly demonstrated that it will kiss the rear end of a felon even if it means endangering the entire nation. It has deadlocked the House with its endless attempts to find an excuse to impeach a blameless president. It has pursued the placement of political influencers within sensitive segments of state governments that are capable of influencing election results. If election results are misreported, whether via wire or via the mail, federal RICO laws will become relevant, particularly if what is tying the wrongdoers together is a political party.

Will U.S. marshalls be dispatched to be present in state jurisdictions where the GOP has placed MAGAt operators in state election count certification positions the day after the election? Will they have staff trained to identify if election tampering is occurring in those state offices? Will someone in government have enough sense to open an investigation based on probable cause instead of awaiting affirmation of their worst fears in the weeks after the election? Will the criminal nature that the GOP has adopted in the era of Trump at last be recognized and brought to an end?

To me it seems like some variation on a Dick Tracy bad guy (The Brow? Itchy Oliver?) is now running for the presidency. Yes, I'm rolling my eyes too. The situation is too fantastic to be believed, yet here we are, living it. Trump is proven to be a madman via the lies he proclaims as truths. He is at the very least a determined liar who finds situations in which his words may be subject to fact checking by journalists unacceptable. Oh, if any Christian happens upon this, you might want to ask yourself if this sounds like anyone you know: "When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies." - John 8:44, describing Satan. Trump knows that he is lying to those who are listening, yet his audiences erupt in applause favoring every word. Can they be so ignorant?

(Sigh...)