Back in the 1970s, when I was growing up, there was this new show that was ‘all the rage’. Saturday Night Live. It had the Not Ready for Prime Time Players who were a troupe of comics who, in many cases WOULD be all over ‘Prime Time’ before too long. Chevy Chase and his replacement Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, along with the late John Belushi all got plenty of fame in the ensuing years. Not quite as much for Jane Curtin and Gilda Radner (who’s life was cut short by cancer) and, finally, Garrett Morris.
One of the famous skits from the early days was a parody of the 60 Minutes Point – Counterpoint segment where a liberal and conservative would take sides on an issue and deliver their points, briefly. Quite tame to today’s screamfests on cable news. Jane Curtain would be the liberal, Dan Aykroyd the conservative and, every week, Dan had his trademark opening line in his counter-point (at 1:08 of this example): “Jane you ignorant slut”. I doubt that people could get away with that kind of comedy these days.
Well, the way the current President of the United States is acting, I couldn’t help but hear a version of that line in my head – because either Donald J. Trump is ignorant beyond belief or is the world’s worst (or best) gaslighter. Nobody cares when you’re lying to boost sales of your ghost-written book. But when you’re the ostensible Leader of the Free World, words carry weight.
My first installment concerns what I’ve seen today during Trump’s trip to Britain and what it reminded me of. In 2016, Trump tweeted about Scotland, in the wake of the Brexit vote:
Reality: #DonYouIgnorantRump, Scotland voted AGAINST Brexit, 62% to 38%. Simple as that. I, for one, won’t stand for your gaslighting.
GraniteVoter.blog 