In this world of social media, influencers, and downright bad taste in the cyber world, we need to be careful and not call the truth a slam or an attack. Saturday night was the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and some jokes fell as flat as the soufflé. As usual, the talking heads analyzed the guest comic performance as if it were the Zapruder film. Did Colin Jost's head go back and to the left, or was there a magic joke? As they looked for hidden meanings, a pet peeve of mine was front and center, accusing critics of both attacking and slamming Donald Trump. From what I have gleaned from listening to interviews and reading their biographies, truth is the foundation for any good comic. It fails utterly if the listener cannot relate to the truth behind the routine.
Discussing Donald Trump's unique hairstyle and bold makeup is not an attack. It's an observation based on truth. Similarly, pointing out his questionable morals, lack of decorum, and linguistic slip-ups may seem petty, but it's not an attack. It's a reflection of his public persona. An attack is when you lie about someone’s physical condition, as he did about Hillary Clinton’s health. With the help of grocery store magazine rack rags like The National Enquirer, the public was told that Ms. Clinton was near death on countless occasions. Of course, nearly nine years later, Ms. Clinton appears to be the picture of health. Barack Obama was slammed about his citizenship with lie after lie.
Day in and day out, one can read an online headline blurb about either President Biden or Mr. Trump that begins with the words Biden slammed or Trump attacked…. When President Biden said that Mr. Trump was experiencing “stormy weather” or that my Vice President ‘endorses me,’ it was much more truth than a slam. The media-consuming public is addicted to the sensational and the outrageous, so labeling everything an attack or a slam means nothing is a slam or attack. What it does is normalize the real affronts to truth, honor, and decency as just another political strategy. When Donald Trump attacked the late Senator John McCain’s service and time as a POW, his minions laughed it off. When he openly gave step-by-step instructions on how to molest and sexually assault women, it was dismissed as “locker room talk.”
In an outraged fatigued society, Mr. Trump’s adjudication as a rapist is looked upon as just another incident in his long list of atrocities but not disqualifying. Donald Trump has added new meaning to the adage Give an inch and take a mile; in his case, if you give an inch,he wants to be a ruler. The fact that any prospective President would suggest America subject itself to a dictatorship, even for one day, should be mind-boggling. Still, when Democrats bring it up, Republicans say the truth is an unwarranted attack. In contrast, Joe Biden has warned that Democracy is truly under attack and has long talked about saving the soul of America. Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota, wrote in her book that she once killed a 14-month-old puppy named Cricket because it could not be trained to hunt correctly and bit someone. Governor Noem wrote it is necessary for farm life, but one has to wonder what she is trying to accomplish with her revelation. Talking about her admission is not a slam or an attack but revelatory. Maybe had she shot her dog on Fifth Avenue….who knows? Now, saying that an angel gets its wings ripped off with each lie Donald Trump tells would be a slam. Or is it?
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