It only stands to reason that in a world turned upside down with upside-down logic, unable to walk the walk, a growing list of folks normally shunned, just talk the talk.
These are people who, in better times, would just be scoffed at or overlooked because they just don’t make any sense. Or their psychological problems are so apparent that their behavior draws sympathy and not aggravation.
That was then. This is now. Now we pick them to run the country.
A perfect example of this touched-talk came last week from GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who, like President Donald Trump, never met a mistake he admits responsibility for.
During a press conference addressing the tragedy and chaos of the July 4 Kerr County flash floods, Abbott was predictably asked by reporters about what might have been done differently that could have saved dozens of lives lost in the flood, many of them children from Camp Mystic.
It was a question most of America wondered and especially parents whose children were swept away by flood waters. They were in a flood path federal and state officials had repeatedly identified as vulnerable in a part of the state notorious for flash floods.
“You ask, and I’m going to use your words,” he told the journalist, as reported by the Associated Press, ‘Who is to blame? Know this, that’s the word choice of losers.”
Losers? Parents who don’t even know where their children’s bodies are and are reeling from the loss of a daughter from a flood in a flood-prone river valley? Losers?
Abbott’s word-foolery got even worse then as he started yammering about how Texas loves football. He tried to draw a parallel between football and the flooding tragedy.
I’ve had the distinct and unenviable privilege of talking at length to parents whose children have died. I cannot think of a single mom or dad whose child was shot, run over, killed by a drunken driver or lost to suicide who would see how such a catastrophe is close to recovering from an end-zone fumble or a dreaded interception.
“Every football team makes mistakes,” Abbott blathered on. “Know this, the losing football teams are the ones who try to point out who is to blame. The championship teams are the ones who say, ‘Don’t worry about it, man, we got this. We’re going to make sure we go score again and win this game.’ The way that winners talk is not to point fingers, they talk about solutions.”
Dead children are not a game, governor.
If Abbott’s goal was to deflect blame, that’s just sick and warrants psychological treatment. If his goal was to admonish victims, family of victims and the media for moving “too soon” on sorting out what happened, then he should take his inability to handle complicated problems with the public out of elected office and let someone else call the game.
Of course few people can top Trump for saying something that should get him fired several times a day. While Trump may fancy himself America’s emperor, he is truly the king of “what is wrong with him” and “how could someone like that be elected president?”
When a CBS reporter asked Trump to respond to queries from family members of those killed in the flood, about what might have been done differently or changed in the future, the president of the United States stammered and fumed in classic Trump style.
“Only a bad person would ask a question like that,” he told the reporter. “To be honest with you, I don’t know who you are, but only a very evil person would ask a question like that. This has been heroism.”
People who ask questions of the government aren’t bad or evil.
The world generally agrees that bad people include pedophiles and sexual abusers, which Colorado’s quotable quicksand also has strong feelings about.
Republican Congressperson Lauren Boebert, who makes her expertise on every matter apparent every time she tweets and speaks, has long been a loud voice to expose those accused of sexual deviancy and abuse. She is selective, however, and doesn’t lambaste everyone she knows who stands accused of sexual deviancy and abuse, including Trump.
Boebert has long been in front of the parade of those demanding that the Jeffrey “Epstein files” and the “Client List” be released to shine a light on, and shame, those who were complicit with Epstein and his sex crimes. Boebert, however, has far less appetite for shining a spotlight on her own controversies linked to rubbing people the right way in the wrong public places, like a crowded Denver theater.
While she hasn’t joined the rest of Club MAGA in taunting Trump over demanding the Epstein files — over the objections of Trump toady AG Pam Bondi and Trump himself, Boebert had an idea.
While talking with right-wing influencer Benny Johnson on Tuesday, Boebert belted out the oh-no-quote of the week.
“Of course we want answers,” Boebert told Johsonson. “No one is satisfied with what has been received, or lack thereof. No one is satisfied with the rollout of this. I think moving forward, we need a special counsel,” she said.
Wait for it.
“That has got to happen,” she said. “There has to be a special investigation into this if we aren’t going to be provided information.”
Here it comes.
And who would be qualified to lead such a query, satisfying Club MAGA that there were actually eyes on the prize and keeping His Majesty from going nuclear?
“Matt Gaetz,” Boebert pitched during the show and later on social media.
Yup, that Matt Gaetz.
From these people, a word is worth a thousand pictures.
Follow @EditorDavePerry on BlueSky, Threads, Mastodon, Twitter and Facebook or reach him at 303-750-7555 or dperry@SentinelColorado.com
The introduction to this opinion was perfectly stated. Trump, Abbott, and Bobert should be having trouble securing employment anywhere, but here they are, running high government offices. When GW Bush was in office, I realized that some people have more confidence than competence, but at least Mr. Bush respected the Constitution, law and order, and his office. Today’s GOP morons blow Bush out of the water. Mr. Perry, you’re right, in sane times we would dismiss Trump, Abbott, or Bobert as nut jobs, but now the inmates are running the asylum! I come from Iowa. When I was a kid, we were taught that when someone was competent, they took the heat for failures and fixed the problem. They did not try to constantly blame others to make themselves appear better. However, my home state decided to elect Steve King. I lived in Texas then, but ol’ Steve was a reliable source of BS and running down others. Quietly, I read his quotes and was mortified by his utterances. I couldn’t believe this guy could be elected dog catcher in Iowa, much less to the US Congress! I thought Iowans were better than that. Then they backed Trump twice! Now, we have a whole boatload of people willing to tell wild lies and cover up the truth. I believe that Trump set the table for this nonsense, but these supporters like Abbott and Bobert, right-wing media, and toxic social media sites feed this environment. I’m glad that I am a retired, irrelevant old man because the worldview spewing from our current leaders is destroying any goodwill our country has built with allies and our own multicultural society. They do not speak for me!
We are in a time where personal accountability only applies to our enemies. It started during my generation with people telling their children that they were “special”. The rights of others, or the group as a whole, gradually became not important. Whereas there is much truth in the editorial, the regular omission is obvious. Guys like Trump and the others exist because the other side is even wackier. Both parties lie consistently and do everything they can to oppose each other with no regard for the welfare of the people. Every time I hear a politician say “The American people are smarter than that”, I laugh. People are not informed and are subject to the human failing of saying “Well, I like so and so”. Objectivity has been relegated to a minor position behind favoritism and politics. Unfortunately, this has now infiltrated the courts and the prosecutors offices. The police now know that they will not be judged fairly and according to law but instead they will be judged emotionally and politically. People in our legislature who have agendas and no real knowledge have created laws that are vague and punitive toward the officers. Any time a person who is on drugs dies in a struggle with the police, we now want to blame the police or even the fire personnel present.
Interestingly, as uninformed as the public is, they often know the right path long before the politicians adopt it. The right path is usually somewhere between what both parties advocate. A friend of mine has an interesting way of addressing the complete failure of leadership today and the people who occupy those positions. He says “In the old days, the lions would have gotten them”.
Perhaps the lamest comment I’ve read this year.
Again, simply pathetic.
Thus, we should be thankful for cell phones with camera capability. A few years back there was a rash of videos showing police officers calmly and casually shooting and killing people who were doing nothing to justify such treatment. They thought they had not been seen: They were wrong.
I am a police supporter myself. But to downplay the arrogant and sometimes lethal treatment of citizens by bad cops (who are by no means the majority) is neither a solution nor a prescription. The sooner such rogues are exposed the better.
They work for us, not the other way around.