Life of Wry

Sigh.. the language of the 2016 presidential election… I’ve had all I can take of pivoting and surrogates. Are pivot and surrogate now generalized terms that everyone’s using or it is just CNN?

Surrogates. Good lord… CNN seems to think it’s fair, balanced and somehow informative to have two Trump so-called surrogates scream at two Clinton so-called surrogates (and vice versa) for these fifteen-minute panels scheduled at regular intervals throughout the day, loosely moderated by that hour’s CNN host (some of whom I actually like). But, after a few weeks of watching CNN, and growing exhausted and evermore cynical about their tactics, I’m not so sure. I’ve wearily concluded it’s just the same old noise (I know, late to the party.. but CNN, too?).   We bounce, in these segments, from one scandal to the next, and the surrogates just yell over each other for airtime. Commercial. More yelling.

Dreadful.

And newsflash. They manufacture the scandals.

Like my friend Paul, said: The news can’t handle a landslide election – it drives down viewers/readers/clicks – so they are busy inventing ‘scandals’ in the hopes of tightening up the polls.

I know better than to expect more, but I thought maybe there were kernels of truth if you could be discerning enough. I’m thinking no.

After a whole month in PV, in CNN land, I’m aching for some NPR.

And then that stupid pivot. It sounds like a Seinfeld episode. Just honestly.. who pivots? You are who you are. You are who you claimed to be from the onset. Isn’t a pivot just blatant marketing to people who don’t know better? What thinking person trusts a pivoter? Who believes that a man who had as his central campaign rallying cry, “build a wall, a fantastic wall, the best wall” and “yank 11 million immigrants from their homes and send them back to Mexico”–promises that inspired the ugliest crowds in the history of our nation to gather and froth at the mouth with unhinged bigotry–can suddenly soften his rhetoric on immigration and remain a credible voice?  I guess the same guy who rightly (apparently) claimed he could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue, shoot somebody, and not lose his base of supporters. Do you know, this immigration pivot has been the constant news on CNN for a solid three days?

Sorry buddy. You built your whole disgusting brand on your wall, deportation message. No pivot.

Eye roll times a billion.

Here are two of my favorite cartoons of late (thank goodness for the artists):

And, gawd, as much as I enjoyed the Indecline Naked Trump statues, or the Emperor Has No Balls I think were their official names, I can’t even post a photo of them… six of which made short-lived appearances in major cities across the country. Even I thought them tasteless. Made me very uncomfortable.. that dimpled butt especially. Ewe.

I did think the NYC Parks Department statement, however, was clever:

“NYC Parks stands firmly against any unpermitted erection in city parks, no matter how small,” said Sam Biederman, a parks spokesman.

I just think he deserves everything he gets.

And I don’t think he gets to pivot. That’s just insulting. Own your calculated, race-baiting and utterly failed campaign rallying cry, dude. It is your legacy.