Day 246: Fat and Stupid

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This is your friendly reminder that we are 246 days into Trump's cover-up of the Epstein Files.

 

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Because I am that type of insufferable, I enjoy watching British television. A few years back, I came across a British stand-up comedian who was telling jokes about global stereotypes. As a provincial American, many of them were lost on me. 😀 However, what was not lost on me was the stereotypical jab directed at America. When it came time to skewer my country, the comedian asked the audience what the stereotypical American was. The audience shouted, "Fat and stupid!" 

At the time, I bristled—humor or not, it felt cheap. But after the 2024 election, where 49.5% of voters chose a convicted felon, a self-professed groper, and a man whose intellect is best described as “pre-literate,” I can’t help but concede: the caricature has teeth.

This thought occurred to me as I watched Trump give a cringeworthy address at the United Nations today. As would be expected after nearly a decade of this man being in the public spotlight, it was mortifying to every American who wasn't a brain-addled MAGA type. As the New Zork Times put it:

He accused environmentalists of wanting to “kill all the cows.” He personally insulted the Muslim mayor of London. He bashed allies and foes across the globe. He questioned whether the United Nations should even exist.

“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” President Trump asked a gathering of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, in a meandering, 56-minute speech that extended nearly four times as long as his allotted time limit.

“I’m really good at this stuff,” Mr. Trump said. “Your countries are going to hell.”

In his remarks, Mr. Trump lectured the United Nations and other countries about how they were failing, and aired a list of grievances. Those included but were not limited to: a malfunctioning escalator at the U.N.; his not winning a renovation contract at the United Nations during his time as a real estate developer; windmills; other countries’ immigration policies, which he claimed were leading them to ruin; and the way Brazil is being run.

Any sane observer of politics would recognize this for what it was: the insane rantings of a man out of his depth. For MAGA, it is "making America great again." Or something. 

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Sadly, such Trumpian embarrassments are not lone soldiers. Rather, they arrive in battalions. 

Yesterday, that is a mere 24 hours, mind you, Trump decided to issue a medical proclamation based on the nonexistent medical expertise of Trump and his new health whisperer, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—a man whose past includes brain worms and whose present includes science denial. As Trump put it:

“Don’t take it,” Mr. Trump said in a White House briefing where he also delivered flawed medical remarks about vaccines and other science on autism, including urging women to “tough it out” when in pain rather than using acetaminophen. “Fight like hell not to take it,” he said.

The administration pledged to invest $50 million to study the causes of autism, with Mr. Trump and Mr. Kennedy both pointing toward a possible connection with childhood vaccines. No link has been found despite decades of study, and mainstream scientists overwhelmingly agree that autism is a result of a complex mix of genetic and environmental factors that can’t be attributed to a single cause.

Another performance not marked by insight, but by the kind of dilettante excess that would make Caligula blush.

This entire episode is like a repeat of the dark COVID year of 2020, where Trump also decided to play doctor-in-chief:

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While we can laugh at the absurdity of it all, the sad truth is that this kind of idiotic bluster now passes for wisdom in the MAGAverse. Why? Because Trump's base has always been, as he once proudly declared, “the poorly educated.”

Consider this staggering statistic: According to the National Literacy Institute, 54% of U.S. adults read at a level below sixth grade. Now take that number, and add the fact that these same individuals are most vulnerable to the falsehoods peddled on social media and the faux drama of so-called “reality television.” What you get is a perfect storm—a population primed for demagoguery, no matter how idiotic the demagogue himself.

And so, the nation was treated to the spectacle of January 6th: a mob whipped into frenzy by a transparently false narrative, swallowing it whole—choking bones and all—before descending on the Capitol like rabid dogs let loose on a quiet cul-de-sac. They didn’t know better. 

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In Sinclair Lewis's It Can Happen Here, the rising fascist regime is eagerly embraced by those who declare, in the words of Mrs. Gimmitch, a fascist-inclined troublemaker, "We don't want all this highbrow intellectuality, all this book-learning." Rather, she declares that a nation is made great merely by discipline, willpower, and character, three traits that must be periodically sharpened in what she terms "real war."  

Again, this echoes the MAGA right obsession with mythical warrior lodges like Valhalla and its repudiation of valedictorians. It is a movement led by proud anti-intellectuals and followed by those who feel validated in their ignorance.  As Doremus Jessup, the novel's protagonist, declares in disgust, "We're ready to start on a Children's Crusade - only of adults..." Perhaps there has never been a better description of MAGA ever put to paper.

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And so, the stereotype endures—not just as a cruel joke shouted in a British comedy club, but as a tragic mirror held up to a nation that has mistaken ignorance for authenticity and belligerence for strength. “Fat and stupid,” they said. At the time, I bristled. Now, I watch as a convicted felon lectures the United Nations about escalators and cows, while half the country cheers. The insult has become prophecy. We are Mrs. Gimmitch’s America now—disciplined, willful, and proudly unburdened by book-learning. The Children’s Crusade marches on, led by adults who should know better, but don’t. Or worse—do, and simply don’t care.

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