I’m blessed with many people who are somewhat frequent readers of these musings, though since I’m a stats expert I’m acutely aware how loose that definition is. I’ve seen enough frequency curves, including those of the analytics available to me from the social media platforms that provide them that my “gold card” fans–the ones who show up most often and are the most engaged in terms of time spent–are few and far between. And that’s OK, because even the most successful networks and content providers have similar “upper quadrant” metrics, though likely not as narrow a sliver as mine are.
So when one of those “gold card” fans asked me if I would weigh in on what went down last week regarding Fat Orange Jesus and that whole indictment stuff, I was initially hesitant. Because I’m dedicated to learning as much as possible about constituencies I’m not a part of–something I’ve honed my professional prowess on for decades–I probably spend a tad too much time listening to how they reacted to last week’s news, particularly this weekend, when so many sycophants–many who are elected officials– expressed their thoughts, which suffice to say run counter to most of mine and my sliver of gold cards.
As the NEW YORK TIMES’ Four Horsemen of Michael S. Schmidt, Alan Feuer, Maggie Haberman and Adam Goldman reported yesterday, some are more than a little miffed:
In social media posts and public remarks, close allies of Trump — including a member of Congress — have portrayed the indictment as an act of war, called for retribution and highlighted the fact that much of his base carries weapons. The allies have painted Trump as a victim of a weaponized Justice Department controlled by President Joe Biden, his potential opponent in the 2024 election.
The calls to action and threats have been amplified on right-wing media sites and have been met by supportive responses from social media users and cheers from crowds, who have become conditioned over several years by Trump and his allies to see any efforts to hold him accountable as assaults against him.
“Eye for an eye,” wrote Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., in a post on Twitter on Friday. His warning came shortly before the special counsel in the case, Jack Smith, spoke to the public for the first time since he took over the investigation of Trump’s retention of classified documents.
In Georgia, at the Republican state convention, Kari Lake, who refused to concede the Arizona election for governor in 2022 and who is an ardent defender of Trump, emphasized that many of Trump’s supporters owned guns.
“I have a message tonight for Merrick Garland and Jack Smith and Joe Biden — and the guys back there in the fake news media, you should listen up as well, this one is for you,” Lake said. “If you want to get to President Trump, you are going to have go through me, and you are going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me. And I’m going to tell you, most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA.”
The crowd cheered.
Lake added: “That’s not a threat, that’s a public service announcement.”
And honestly, I’m taking these lunatics seriously. Because anyone who can draw those kind of conclusions from the overwhelming photographic and audio evidence that was released when 37 counts were meticulously shared with the free world scares the living shit out of me.
They see a man who to the objective free world looks like this:
And somehow visualize him as someone who looks like this:
So, yeah, I actually think there’s more than a decent chance that Miami will be far more dangerous than ever this week, and at any subsequent point if and when a trial occurs. And yes, I believe somewhere there’s a conversation going on with a few Supreme Court justices that no matter what any lower court may ever rule, it’ll be over their dead bodies that FOJ ever serves a second of time behind bars.
When you are conditioned by prophetic zealots that someone as egregiously ignorant of any laws or the protection of this country has been destined to be our modern-day Cyrus, the savoir to a world otherwise mortally wounded by what they see as an even more guilty doddering old man and his addicted, horny and treasonous offspring, I can’t fathom anything I could say about how guilty I think he is or isn’t would matter one iota. And they might actually come with pitchforks and knives for me.
But I will offer that, based on my own experience, there is one thing I believe he IS guilty of. Because I’m a survivor of that sickness myself.
Hoarding.
When I saw these images amidst the allegations and charges that were reported on, it was sadly reminiscent of how I was living when I was in another place a few short years back. My bathroom was cluttered with boxes, too. Not to mention a whole lot of other junk that made our double sink useless. The stuff we had was at least in air-tight Rubbermaid containers, so the mildew that papers exposed to steam and stench was a lot less prevalent. But trust me, even with those precautions we went through an AWFUL lot of Lysol and Poo-pourri.
Thank G-d any image of FOJ tweeting in a room as cluttered as that bathroom, or rummaging so nervously in a closet as to leave those precious papers lying around like this doesn’t have smell-o-vision. I’m not sure if I could handle it.
Fortunately, the A&E series that attempted to treat this disease has just returned after a long hiatus. The third of those new batch airs tonight. If you haven’t seen it or may have forgotten it, Wikipedia succinctly describes it:
(T)he hoarder worked with either a psychiatrist/psychologist, a professional organizer, or an “extreme cleaning specialist,” each of whom specialized in some aspect involving the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorders, anxiety disorders, and/or hoarding. A crew of professional cleaners (usually a local franchise of the series’ major corporate sponsor) performed the actual cleanups. Beginning in the second season, each hoarder had a psychologist-plus-organizer/cleaning specialist team assisting them. This specialist combination leads a group of cleaning professionals, family, friends, and relatives of the hoarder in conducting a two- to three-day decluttering session.
My world got so disgusting that it literally contributed to the illness that nearly killed me, and certainly to the necessary decision I made to leave. To be fair, my world more closely resembled this image from the series:
But I’ve watched enough of the show to know that based on the evidence we’ve seen, regardless of what you believe may or not be the political implications, FOJ is well on his way to having a similar sitch, if he doesn’t already.
If even a handful of those 75 million voters could lay down their weapons long enough to lend a hand in helping FOJ find a more appropriate place for his precious boxes and help him declutter his life a notch, those would be actions even I’d support.
Hey, we’re both guys from Queens with a weight problem–only I’d offer that he might wanna lay off the KFC just like I did, one of the great benefits of getting out of that hoarding environment. But one thing at a time, right?
Whether you believe he will ultimately wind up back in a somewhat smaller house in Washington, D.C., or under house arrest where he’s currently shoehorning in stuff he’s willing to challenge democracy for, or even somehow land in a one-room cell and somehow still run the free world , there would be an immediate benefit to his quality of life by heeding the one bit of advice I will be brave enough to offer.
Clean up your act. For your own good, even if you couldn’t give a rat’s ass about anyone else’s.
Until next time…
1 thought on “An Out-Of-The-Boxes Approach To Our Polarized World”
What is a woman?
Woke is the belief in equal outcome over equal opportunity using race and/or sexuality to force conformity of thought on society.
Racialized and sexualized socialism.
It boils us all down to our immutable characteristics and then puts us in a hierarchy based on that. It’s anti individual, anti freedom and anti human.
Regressive, not progressive.