The Republican three-ring presidential show

*From our friend Tomas Ricardo’s perspective the GOP presiodential race is happening under the big top. VL


By Tomas Ricardo, Friend of NewsTaco

The vaudeville show is done. The entertainment phase has flown.  Still, the clowns remain.

The circus should have long ago departed; the bearded lady, the human cannonball, the little guy, the clowns, the boys in the flying trapeze all should have left by now.

They’re still here, though.

For the first time in memory, the circus didn’t leave town.  It stayed.

Only the clowns aren’t so funny anymore.  The guys on the flying trapeze dared to fly and fell to the ground.  Splat!  They’re not with the circus anymore.  The bearded lady, the human cannonball, the little guy are with us still…but they are whelmed over by the clowns, so many clowns.

Of course we’re referring to the GOP presidential nominating process.  The real life Barnum and Bailey Circus is no match for this crew.

The cock that is The Donald continues to crow.  All rooster, cockspurs and feathers, he doubles the ante at any negative cast his way by Democrat, Republican, or Pundit.  Doubles down: ‘anything negative you can say about me, I will be doubly negative about you.’  You attack me, the Cock crows, and I will attack you in harsher terms.

Sweet.  What I want in the President of the United States.

And then we have the audience.

After all, the circus is no fun without an enthusiastic audience.  And, oh my, does this audience love a circus!  “I love (The Donald) because he says what I think,” says an admiring voter.  Well, well, and oh my.  The Donald is playing to a friendly audience, restless, unhappy, wanting to be entertained, reassured, and affirmed in their simplistic, uninformed views of a complex and complicated world with issues and problems defying simplistic answers.  The Cock provides those simplistic slogans, sound bites, and easy answers that bring the audience to its feet.

In the meantime, to either side of the main ring, lesser performers struggle to catch a share, a smidgen, of the audience’s attention.  The Fat Man is all bluster and blather, all “sound and fury, signifying nothing.”  The bearded lady, newly shorn, thin and unsmiling, plays the role of old time scold, the school-marm who will bide no fun, no joy, for life is harsh and unforgiving.

A supporting cast

On the other side of the center ring is the rookie, in the role of Prince Charming, hoping to entice, entrance, and distract the audience from Center Ring.  Each hair in place, shirt and tie and suit perfectly matched, he speaks in earnest tones, hoping such will supersede the bluster, bleating, and bloviating from the rings to his right.

Spilling from the Volkswagen Beetle that serves as the clowns’ car come the remaining circus minor stars, all smiles and happy talk, bouncing to and fro, seeking above all else to be relevant if the prize is not within reach. The saddest of the happy clowns is a governor, rueful and perplexed, for the audience is not paying attention.  A former governor, thumping on his Bible, invokes prayer, hell and damnation, singing ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ in his bid to attract attention to his act.  Then we have the solitary clown, isolationist, playing the mime, hands against the gale, thwarting winds of time, as he, too, appeals to the audience.

Into the midst of this three-ring circus thunders the human cannonball, arriving at center stage, the center ring, and proclaiming he is the one.  He is the Chosen.  Quoting scripture and spewing vitriol, he wins the audience as they joyfully respond to his Message. The Cock is checked.   Center ring is the center of attention.  The Cock versus the Chosen.  Stay tuned.


[Illustration by DonkeyHotey/Flickr]

Subscribe today!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Must Read