Today we visit something that struck me after reading about Dear Leader's latest campaign rally in Indiana. There was the usual bluster and egotistical rantings befitting a wannabe despot.
But what really caught my attention and added to my dread was the crowd.
There were the chants from the greatest hits of course, the obligatory "Drain the Swamp" and "Lock Her Up!" Obviously irony and facts are in short supply at these rallies.
What really caught my eye though was reading that the crowd booed Obama's name, but cheered at the mention of North Korean dictator Kim Jung-un.
Seems it was not that long ago that Trump was tweeting about "Little Rocket Man" and challenging him to a dick measuring contest as to who had the bigger missiles.
And during that time, whenever Trump held one of his never ending ego stroking campaign rallies, you know rather than, like, governing; whenever he mentioned Kim the crowd would boo lustily. I'm surprised the crowds didn't do a take off riff on "Lock Her Up!" and begin "Blow Him Up!" chants.
Then as the Olympics came and it looked like things might thaw, especially between North and South Korea, Trump mentioned Kim Jung-un at a rally. I forget now which one. The crowd on cue began to boo. Trump stopped them and told them to be nice, telling them that good things might be happening so let's wait and see.
And now in Indiana it had come full circle. Kim Jung-un was now cheered. He was one of the good guys now because he was making Trump look good on the world stage. Sure he's still a murderous dictator, but he's cooperating and might give Trump a win and a Nobel Prize! Yay!
And I wondered as to the thought process that goes into that transformation. Did any of the people now cheering Kim wonder about the fact that some mere months ago he was the personification of evil? That he was an enemy of the United States?
And now he's a good guy. Not because his behavior suddenly changed. Sure he stopped testing nukes. And he said it was for all the right reasons. But it seemed mostly to do with the fact that their missile testing site had partially collapsed due to the last powerful test.
No the whole turnabout seemed to be because Trump now told them Kim Jung-un was good. And because Kim was treating Trump well and making him look good. So boos became confused silence became cheers. All in a matter of months.
I'm beginning to suspect in order to be a Trump supporter, you have to be like the Drew Barrymore character in Fifty First Dates. Every day the slate is wiped clean and you start over with no memory of what you were doing or thinking or supporting or cheering or booing the day before. If Trump says it's good, you cheer. If he says it's bad, you boo. That something, or someone, can go from one to the other and back again in a matter of weeks or days or hours, and what that means, doesn't seem to be able to break through into your consciousness.
Just another ingredient necessary to have an authoritarian government rather than a democracy or a republic. Sigh.