The American election campaign, which was already the worst in history, imploded this week.
The week began with a presidential debate widely seen as the worst in history. Donald Trump, knowing full well that his White House dream (if he ever really had one) is now a smoking ruin, went for broke. Stalking the stage like a mugger ready to pounce on a little old lady in a back alley, Trump said he thought Hillary Clinton should be in jail, claimed his disgusting bragging about forcing himself upon women was just “locker room talk”, sniffled and snorted incessantly, complained that the moderators were ganging up on him, admitted that he hadn’t talked to his running mate, and strung together so many falsehoods it was impossible for the fact checkers to keep up with him.
After the debate, when the predicted stories of his many groping incidents came to light, Trump proclaimed that the shackles were off (when was he EVER shackled?) and went wild against his opponents, including much of his party. Multiple women came forward to relate stories of his groping and sexual assaults, and Trump’s response was to call them liars and gold diggers and, worse, not up to his standards. (“Believe me, she wouldn’t be my first choice,” Trump said of one of his accusers.) His poll numbers are tanking, his party supporters are quitting, his fundraising is drying up, and the only big names still supporting him are the apparently brain damaged brain doctor Ben Carson, and the once revered, now discredited Rudy Guilliani. There are no issues being debated in this election, no campaign promises being dissected. It’s just madness, pure and simple. When the history of this election is written, it will go down in history as a pivotal moment in American history, when the party of the “late, great” Abraham Lincoln, Dwight Eisenhower and even Ronald Reagan chose an unhinged megalomaniac as its standard bearer, and the Republican Party imploded. God help the United States after this election. Trump has unleashed the dogs of hell – misogyny, racism, and xenophobia – and they are running rampant throughout the land.
There is another debate this week, and it could make the last debate look like a high school debating class. It’s gonna get ugly. Or should I say, uglier.
The ballad of Ken Bone
On debate night, a chubby, shlubby, mustachioed, lisping, red-sweater-wearing guy named Ken Bone rose to ask a question. The Internet exploded. Websites went crazy. Everybody wanted a piece of Ken Bone, and Ken Bone obliged. He sold T-shirts with his image. He appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live and CNN. He did a Q and A on the website Reddit, which backfired. It was revealed that he made some comments under a different name. He said the 2012 fatal shooting of Florida teen Trayvon Martin was justified but also expressed contempt for the shooter, George Zimmerman. That prompted the usual howls of outrage, and almost as soon as the Ken Bone phenomenon began, it was over. Welcome to the 21st century, Ken Bone.
RIP
Jim Prentice, 60, briefly premier of Alberta. Prentice was a decent, honourable man by all accounts who made one fatal mistake, calling an election a year ahead of time. Prentice gave the election to the NDP … Matti Hagman, 61, former Edmonton Oiler and the first Finn to play in the NHL.
In This Corner 