El Payaso

The truth is, not everything that falls out of Trump’s mouth is a horror. His recent complaints about two of the three debates being on Sunday and Monday nights are actually quite reasonable. As in why the hell would the debate programming committee or whomever bother with putting something as important as this year’s presidential debates in direct competition with America’s Football Fetish? Is this committee totally clueless as to this current cultural reality, that the Sunday and Monday night football games are a lock to be two of the top five rated TV shows of the week? Why not put all debates on Tuesday nights and be done with it? Bingo. No problem. Tuesdays are just sitting there like a big, fat pork chop, just waiting to be stuffed with Trump and Hillary. To put the debates on any other night of the week is lame and moronic.

I just got back from a Mexican jaunt, and I couldn’t help but notice that a few Mexicans now enjoy referring to Trump as El Payaso. The Clown.

I hope to hell Hill isn’t spending all of her stash o’cash on ads about the bummers of a Payaso presidency. It’s safe to say that most of us libs/progressives have by now got the message, that President Trump just might be disastrous enough to make Dubya look like freakin’ Abe Lincoln. What would be more effective is for the Dems to tout some of their, you know, accomplishments over the last four years. I know, that’s a fairly strange, even radical concept.

But seriously. The Dems actually have something to tout. They can point to current developments that carry the faint aroma of governmental competence, which could be kind of refreshing if used in the next wave of TV spots. For example, the July report of the Workplace Vitality Index—a credible source, I hope—showed that wages for American workers rose in the second quarter of ’16 by 2.2 percent. You combine that stat with the latest unemployment figure of 4.9 percent, and it would appear you have a situation that can be used when trolling for votes, especially presentable to hard-headed independents who are still trying to figure out their choice (really?). If you’re still on the fence, waiting for some real data in order to make your final call, these are the sort of numbers that can be helpful.

Yes, using your achievements and quasi-competency may not be as much sexy fun as painting an apocalyptic portrayal of a Payaso presidency, but I’m old school enough to think it still can play an important part in a national campaign.