One thing you can never say is that you haven't been told.
This normalization is some shameful shit.
Donald Trump should not have been president. He should not be president again. This should be obvious. It is worth affirming.
It has been an exhausting decade since that man made himself our national headache. The people who warned us about normalizing this bullshit now normalize it. A rally where Puerto Rico was called trash, immigrants were compared to semen, a speaker marched out to the tune of Dixie, and racist sex tape star Hulk Hogan did the “Hawk Tuah,” was described by USA Today as:
(Please note: After the time of this publication, this headline was changed to “Trump’s NYC rally sparks backlash after comedian calls Puerto Rico ‘island of garbage.’” Presumably, some editor realized they were burying the clickbait.)
These men writing newspaper headlines today would have been fantastic additions to the classic Onion, the only other place where it is acceptable to use journalistic style to render the absurdly fucked up as dull.
I am frustrated. Generals John Kelly, Mark Milley, and “Mad Dog” James Mattis denounced Mr. Trump as a fascist without hyperbole or hysteria. They diagnosed it, reported their observations and lived experience. They were “telling it like it is.” Meanwhile, people like Senator J.D. Vance, who just a few years ago also called Mr. Trump “America’s Hitler,” pretend to have forgotten why.
These enablers are gambling with overt evil. They know better. I have been thinking of Dr. Krakower from HBO’s1 The Sopranos, who admonished Carmilla for complicity with her mafia husband’s violent life and left her with a warning:
“One thing you can never say is that you haven't been told.”
These people convincing America that this shit is normal have been told. They know better. When things go to hell, they will pretend that the predictable was surprising.
Proposal: Tell them again with our “Trump is a Bitch” t-shirt, available now on Spreadshop. If they do not know he is an evil bitch, you have a civic duty to be informative.
HBO is now Max.