After President Trump posted a social media message threatening to destroy Iranian civilization, his defenders and supporters argued that words are meaningless, that he wasn’t serious, and that nothing he says is meant to be taken seriously. If true, should such a man be president?
Big Bad Wolf Not Literally Large or Evil
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The TMI Show" talk show. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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Man! mainstream
This is reminiscent of the bad old days when we were abused by the suggestion that we debate the meaning of “is.”
The destruction of language is and has been a bipartisan project.
I think the other story of the Big Bad Wolf is more apt for the current situation. The basic plot was that Little Red Riding Hood is sent by her mother, unescorted, through the woods. On the way, she wears a bright red hood, making her very easy to spot. When confronted by the wolf, a stranger, she tells him everything he wants to know about where she’s going and why, allowing him to arrive first, where he easily gains entrance to Grandma’s house (apparently intelligence or lack thereof is a heritable trait) where he — depending on which version you’re reading — kills, swallows, or binds Grandma before putting on her clothes. When Little Red Riding Hood is admitted by the crossdressing wolf, she identifies multiple flaws in his (their?) disguise — big teeth, big nose, big ears — but still has to be told actively by the wolf that he intends to eat her up. She and her Grandmother are finally saved by a woodsman with an axe who kills the wolf.
Little Red Riding Hood is the democratic electorate. They, literally, have no idea how reality works or what’s out there waiting. Trump? He’s the Big Bad Wolf and any minute now, he’s going to break the fourth wall and say, in a Bugs Bunny voice, “I must be dreaming. It couldn’t be this easy.” As for the woodsman? I suspect the angriest hysterics of the democratic party chased that person out of politics a while ago.
Thanks for this trip down nonsense lane. I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on how “Hansel and Gretel” parallels the Sacco and Vanzetti trial
Well, there IS the “TACO” (Trump Always Cops Out) factor, though it should more accurately be called the TAACO factor, Trump Almost Always Cops Out, as he did about “bombing Iran back into the stone ages.” But sometimes he DOESN’T cop out, and you never know which one it’s going to be. From my perspective, he has issued so many threats, and lied, so many times that his words are, indeed, meaningless, and the whole world knows it, and knows not to trust the United States about anything. The fact that he still has true believers behind him, and the fact that so many people think things will be OK if we vote the Democrats back in, are a testament to how nutty this country is.