Back in the USSR, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise | @MDWorld

January 13, 2017 Victor El-Khouri 0 Comments

Gossip is fun!

The best gossip is about people I know, something that is difficult to hear now that I don’t work in an office.

The next best gossip is about celebrities.  So many people like this kind of gossip that there is an entire media genre devoted to it.

Third is gossip about politicians.

For as long as I can remember, politicians have been fair game for gossip.  Sometimes it turns out to be true, sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes it is clearly invented for satirical purposes.

(A lot of people believed the story in the link, which just goes to show that gullibility is not a new trait of the American electorate.)

Sometimes rumors turn out to be true (Ronald Reagan did have Alzheimer’s Disease) and sometimes they are ludicrous on their face (George W. Bush is not a closeted homosexual whose August vacations on his ranch were the only place he could be with his lover).

What all this gossip has in common (besides its entertainment value) is that it reflects our uncertainties about the person in question.  Do you wonder how an obscure Southern governor got to be president?  You can find rumors to explain, even though such stories are less believable than Bill Clinton’s demonstrated political chops.

All this happened even before the Kenyan Muslim in the thrall of Reverend Wright ran for office.  Hating someone because of one’s world view, especially when it gets in the way of facts, makes conspiracy theories dangerous.

Anyway, I mention these bits of pop culture history in an attempt to put this week’s kerfuffle about Donald Trump in some kind of perspective.  For those of you who haven’t paid attention, someone leaked a document to Buzzfeed from a former British secret agent.  Included in the report about Trump’s ties to Russia was a rumor that a video existed of our future president with Russian prostitutes, whom he had hired to piss on a hotel bed that the Obamas had slept in on a state visit.

Is this true?  I don’t know.  Neither do you.  According to the report, the videotape (and, possibly, others) is being kept by the Russians in order to blackmail Trump at some time in the future, should they so desire.  The report was prepared for a backer of another Republican presidential candidate, for the purpose of opposition research.  Since we are only hearing about the document now, it is clear that no one at the RNC nor the DNC used the information.

Another news source came forward saying it considered the report credible.  Again, I must note that “credible” is not the same as “verified true facts.”  It means that it is believable that these stories are circulating.

Because we, as a nation, have the maturity of ten-year-olds when it comes to sex, the parts of the report about the hookers are all anyone can talk about.  And I admit that, on Tuesday night, following #GoldenShowers on Twitter was really funny.  (I love you, Patton Oswalt!)  Unfortunately, the other items discussed in the report are more disturbing.  To my (non-lawyer) eyes, they look treasonous.  It would certainly reassure me, and millions of other Americans, if they received as much as a quarter of the attention the Benghazi incident did.

Our future Twitterer-in-Chief claimed the documents were fake, as proven by his well-known reputation as a germaphobic.  With this, he revealed another (no longer) shocking gap in his education.  I would think it far more believable if he denied it by citing his well-known reputation as someone who welches on a deal.

Again, that dodges all the questions about bribery, debt and conflicts of interest raised in the report.  But, hey, at least the media gets a laugh.

In the meantime, and receiving far less attention by the press, the Republican-led Congress is showing its true colors, not only voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but also specific amendments that would have preserved coverage for veterans, women, children, and other at-risk groups.  Millions of people are going to lose medical insurance.  It’s likely that thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) will suffer, even die as a result.

We have to talk about this, loudly and persistently.  We have to use it in campaign ads in 2016.

We have to stand up for our fellow citizens, no matter how they feel about watching others pee.

Martha Thomases, Media Goddess, also wants to keep a spotlight on Whitefish, Montana because we might need to march there, too.