The Entertainer

These people are ciphers, almost unaccounted for in the catastrophe of Donald Trump’s so-called presidency. They are politically and morally dangerous because they have over time surrendered any social conscience they might have had to the ineffable, all-encompassing, ubiquitous spell and reach of cable television and/or the so-called social media (for those of them who are computer literate).

They have always seen Trump as both cool and great entertainment. He is rich and was on television, thrilling them each time he uttered “You’re fired!” to some sap, never mind that Trump was actually not the final arbitrator of who got canned, but the dimwit show’s producers, who fed him lines and his so-called decisions like the borderline moron he is (although back then he was probably not as obviously mentally impaired as he is today.)

These Trump cipher-supporters have long since bought the whole program of worshipping and living vicariously through their economic and social betters. Trump was the demi-god they had been waiting for, the unbelievably rich guy who lived in a soaring golden palace and was going to hand all those politically correct suckers their worthless asses. 

He entertained these ciphers endlessly, especially in the debates, name-calling and lying from the moment he stepped onto the national television stage, all the while jutting his weak chin defiantly out like a papier mache Mussolini. The media, to its ever-lasting shame and disgrace, couldn’t get enough of him, further pumping up his entertainment value to these ciphers who could afford to love him because they actually had no skin in this political game, which we now know is for keeps.

I’m talking about many older, retired or semi-retired people who were formerly known as working class. They were safe, their kids were safe in the jobs they had gotten with the college degrees these ciphers had gladly paid for. No matter what Trump said or did, they had really nothing to lose so they could look on him and support him from a safe distance as the entertainment they had come to see as their TV-flickering right in this now-confusing America they didn’t really have to bother with.

And, as ill fortune would have it, many of them were quietly racist or in some cases defiantly, proudly racist, and they knew a kindred spirit when they saw and heard one. This was the icing on the cipher cake: not only was Trump great entertainment, he was also a brother in prejudice. And he was also a self-professed misogynist, which made him to many the trifecta of their American dreams.

To those who complained to them or pointed out Trump’s racist and misogynistic ways and beliefs, they answered weakly: “Hey, haven’t you ever said ‘nigger’ or called a woman a bitch?” That reasoning left out the important fact that this was the president of this country and the so-called most powerful man in the world, acting and talking like a street corner buffoon.

There is a hint of shame now in the demeanor of some of these ciphers, but it is only that: a hint.

To them, Donald Trump is and will always be the Great Entertainer. And that is enough for their stunted worldview. Unfortunately, many of them have passed all this putrid baggage on to the next generation. One hopes that enough of it will be rejected to matter.

And yet there are others in that same retired working class demographic who have been wise to Donald Trump from the get-go and are not buying one ounce of the bullshit that has captivated the so-called ciphers. These standup citizens have the common sense and inherent intelligence to reject any and all of the tripe flowing downhill from the White House. They see Trump for what he is and they detest him and all the unalloyed evil that he stands for.

They are proud Americans in the best sense of the word -- too proud to be entertained by what is a daily political tragedy. To them and so many other Americans, the best entertainment they can imagine is Donald Trump as an ex-president.