Lord High Overseer of Gibberish
A friend owned an outdoor equipment store near me when I was in my 20s. When I stopped in to browse, Jim would smile and greet me like a stranger, saying mock-formally, “Good afternoon, sir. How may I help you?”
Glancing through the glass counter at backpacking accessories on display, I replied with meandering nonsense. It was a running gag.
“Yeah, I’m looking for one of those narrow, square, round things that’s kind of, you know, yellow with the, the purple pointed part that’s rounded on one side, with the, the, clippy thing that hooks onto the other part. You know. They’re about this long, but shorter, so they’ll nest inside if you have another one so you can put two of them together?”
Jim would grin and answer, “Oh, I’m so sorry, sir, we just sold the last one.”
Among new employees looking on, heads would explode.
A large fraction of the American electorate wants to hire a president who talks like that for real. Behold. Donald Trump answers questions from the Economic Club of New York:
Trump’s uncle worked at MIT, dontcha know. Genius is in his genes.
“My job is to analyze policy,” tweeted Catherine Rampell, economics opinion columnist for The Washington Post. “I can’t even find a complete sentence in this.”
President Ronald Reagan had his ball-turret gunner story and “We’re doing everything we can” episode. Reagan was 73 at the time. Trump is 78.
Lawrence O’Donnell Thursday night blamed the rich people of the Economic Club of New York for inviting “the stupidest person who has ever spoke to them.” And he ridiculed “the stupidest rich people in New York” who applauded him for spouting gibberish.
Lawrence? If you’re reading this, a quip. The recommended response to the conservative taunt, “If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?” is “If you’re so rich, why aren’t you smart?”
Chris Hayes assessed Trump bluntly.
“Obvious mental decline,” sure. But bullshit? Trump doesn’t need functional cognitive abilities to spout bullshit. All the career con man needs for that is muscle memory.
What have I been saying about Trump plundering the treasury if handed the Oval Office again? Trump biographer Tim O’Brien has his number:
Trump still believes foreign trading partners will pay his tariffs, not American businesses and consumers. Remember, his uncle worked at MIT.