STRAW BRAINS — The Weekly Opine

Are Republicans smarter than a scarecrow? (Top right clockwise) Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tim Scott and Mike Johnson. (Photos credit Warner Bros., Newsweek, MSNBC, Sierra Club)

Animal house

This week in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, delegates of the party that produced the nation’s greatest president, Abraham Lincoln, made the choice to nominate a convicted felon as the Republican candidate for president of the United States. (Contrast Democrats push to expel felon Sen. Bob Menendez with the GOP embrace of Trump). Even before he became a 34x felon, Trump became America’s worst-ever president, confirmed as such by a bi-partisan vote of 159 presidential historians.

Last night, Trump’s acceptance speech droned on for 93 minutes and proved he is still a prolific liar. Trump told more than 20 tall tales, while sounding nothing like a unifier. If he wins in November expect more of the same.

Trump’s presidency, from January 2017 to January 2021, was marked by ignorance and corruption. Twice Trump was impeached. But the nadir of Trump’s presidency was his attempted insurrection, when he refused to peacefully transfer power to Joe Biden who fairly and squarely beat Trump in the 2020 election. Long after the riot at the U.S. Capitol several members of Trump’s administration, along with other inner circle hoodlums, were indicted on felony counts. Some have been convicted and imprisoned, others await trial.

Still, the media fuss regarding the fitness of President Biden remains center stage. Democrats come to grips with Biden’s fading prospects of defeating felon Trump. Voters wonder if Biden can serve the entirety of a four-year term that would conclude when he is 86 years old. The Biden dilemma must be quickly resolved but, hey, there are bigger fish to fry.

So, please, set Biden aside for a moment and focus on the comparatively much worse Trump.

Can the former president survive another 4-year term that will end when he’s 83 years old? Trump’s brainpower is fading on a parallel path to Biden’s loss of mental sharpness. Trump also fumbles and misspeaks. The difference is Trump’s slippage contains non-stop lying coupled with crazy, violence-fomenting language. He wants to destroy NATO. He wants to destroy democracy! Yet, for some reason journalists, like NBC’s Lester Holt, devolve into ratings-obsessed lackeys. The media offers a mostly one-sided narrative about Biden’s shortcomings but are reluctant to take on the wart-covered elephant in the room.

But Trump’s newly minted VP running mate told us how he felt about the elephant several years ago. “He’s noxious and leading the White working class to a very dark place” said J.D. Vance. “I’m a Never Trump guy” said Vance. “I never liked him, [Trump’s] a moral disaster” said Vance. Trump’s an “idiot” said Vance. “Fellow Christians, everyone is watching us. When we apologize for this man, Lord help us” said Vance. “He is one of the USA’s most hated, villainous, celebs” said Vance. And this gem from J.D. Vance’s lips to voter’s ears. “Trump is America’s Hitler.”

Vance’s wife’s parents immigrated from India. She says the Hindu religion shaped her. And she is now being subjected to the same racist vitriol that Michelle Obama endured, as MAGAs flip out over Usha Vance’s ethnicity. Ironically, J.D. Vance once condemned his new boss, tweeting, “Trump makes people I care about afraid. Immigrants, Muslims, etc. Because of this I find him reprehensible.” What’s also reprehensible is fake-Christian J.D. Vance has gone all in with Trump.

When it comes to losing one’s mind, Trump is at least equal to President Biden. (Photos credit AP, Business Insider, AP News, Reuters

One, two, three. Now focus media

For some reason valets like Lester Holt minimize the overwhelming danger Trump represents. It’s more convenient to hound Biden about his poor debate performance. While it is true Democrats have better options than Biden to bring a sharper mind and clearer voice to the fight against Trump, the news-cycle narrative should be about the damage another Trump administration would do to America (and the world). The headlines, footnotes and everything in between should sound alarms regarding felon Trump and his Mein Kampf-copycat Project 2025, which is embraced by the Republican Party and conservative Supreme Court justices.

Calls for Biden to take a neurological test should always be accompanied by calls for Trump to do the same. However, even without a battery of neurological tests we know this much: Biden is a smart and decent man. Trump is neither smart or decent and here’s proof. Biden immediately called Trump to check on him after the assassination attempt. Biden addressed the nation to cool things off. Apparently, Trump did not immediately reach out to the two wounded supporters, nor did he visit the family of the firefighter who was killed at the rally. Trump’s team did obtain the firefighter’s uniform to use as a prop during his acceptance speech.

(In case you're wondering, Trump’s nicked ear is not remotely the same as when President Reagan was shot in 1981. Reagan suffered a broken rib, punctured lung and internal bleeding and was reportedly near death. Reagan spent 12 days in a hospital.)

Spineless, brainless

In the great comedy film “Animal House,” Dean Wormer uttered the famous quote, “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.” With due props to Dean Wormer, I will amend his quote to say, “Spineless, brainless, and corrupt is no way to go through life, Republicans.”

Pick the Republican, be they a politician or regular citizen, the Grand Old Party overflows with spineless, brainless, corrupt people. By supporting Trump they automatically qualify to receive an SBC medal (spineless, brainless, corrupt). Even the Scarecrow had the good sense to travel to the Emerald City hoping to get a brain.

Having had a few long-time (former?) friends and acquaintances throw in with the racist, misogynist Trump, I’ve seen it firsthand. Formerly intelligent people who’ve become mesmerized by fascism. They’ve become as misinformed, duped, and complicit as were many Germans in the 1930s and 1940s. The same as some folks in Redwood Valley, California, in the 1970s, who packed up and followed Jim Jones to their deaths in a Guyana jungle. In Germany and Redwood Valley people were suckered by lies and false promises delivered by paranoid, criminal charlatans.

The stakes and the obvious choice qualify for… Captain Obvious status. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

With all the talk of Biden and neurology, what about Trumpler and his Mein Kampf-like pet Project 2025, with intentions of dictatorship and the elimination of freedom as we know it in America?

It has been reported that during a recent rally Trump displayed frequent incoherent statements. For example, Trump slurred his words, saying mothers won’t see their children “overdosing and hosplee.” Huh? Trump warned that if you visit memorials in Washington, D.C., you will be “shot, mugged and raped” ignoring the fact that violent crime rates are down 30% in D.C. (I suppose he could now say if you visit Butler Farm in Pennsylvania you could get shot.) Trump also recently said Don, Jr. is married when in fact he is engaged, not married.

Where is the media and Republican outrage demanding that Trump see a neurologist? Shouldn’t Trump, who is a proven pathological liar, be compelled to take a series of psychiatric exams? Since it increasingly appears he will soon end his campaign, maybe Biden should also announce he’s exercising his newfound presidential immunity by arresting Trump and tossing him in a psych ward.

Clearly, the current presidential choices are not ideal. Biden is wobbly. Trump is a felon and a dangerous fool. If forced to choose between those two candidates come November, I’ll take wobbly.