Middle Age Riot is onto something.

[Swede]

[Kid Berwyn]

1. Evil Clowns weren't a thing in 1776.

Snopes hasn’t touched this one, for some reason.

[Geechie]

7. Look up Pulcinella

He’s been in commedia dell'arte for at least that long. Actually I’ve been thinking a lot about how Krasnov resembles this character. (Also: Punch)

[Kid Berwyn]

8. Thanks! Fear of creepy clowns must be in human DNA.

One monstrously funny fellow I heard tell about: Pantagruel.



The American Pantagruel has declared himself the enemy of the United States.

LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV
FEB 19, 2025

It took us just thirty days into the second administration of Donald J. Trump to reach a signature moment in American history. In calling Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator and accusing him of starting the war that his country has suffered through from Russian aggression for nearly three years, Trump has loudly and clearly taken the side of a real dictator against our ally, Ukraine. It's no longer as if Trump is acting like a Russian asset. He has raised the white, blue, and red flag of Russia over the White House. In military terms, Trump has switched sides and begun firing from Russian lines at American troops.

Snip…

There is only one good thing about what Trump has done over the last two days. One of the readers of this column, Reed Bonadonna, put it better than I could in his comment today, which I will quote in full:

“As a military type, I feel a sense of excitement that the enemy has declared itself, looming like a hideous, toupéed Pantagruel. This, I begin to wondering see, is the battle for which we have always been preparing ourselves.”

I had to look up Pantagruel to discover how apt is Bonadonna’s comparison of Trump with this character created by Francois Rabelais in 1532. Pantagruel first appeared in his book, The Horrible and Terrifying Deeds and Words of the Very Renowned Pantagruel King of the Dipsodes, Son of the Great Giant Gargantua.

Rabelais has been described by critic John Parkin, author of “The Rabelais Encyclopedia” as “the world's greatest comic genius,” and his grand series of books about Pantagruel are seen as championing "the advancement of humanist learning, the evangelical reform of the Church, [and] the need for humanity and brotherhood in politics.” I mean, how perfect is it to compare Donald Trump to a character from the 16th century who used his own urine as a weapon in war and his tongue to shelter his army?

Humor may provide a lens through which we can consider anew this hideous monster who has been elected to the highest office in our land. But it is the fact that he has declared himself an enemy of his own country and indeed of all civilized human beings that marks this date as one we should remember and act upon.

We need to take comfort in the idea that our history has prepared us for a battle such as this one. We have risen to the occasion before, once to fight a Civil War to free enslaved human beings and make them our fellow citizens. Freedom is at stake again, this time for all of us. Donald Trump has declared himself our enemy. It is past time to square the circle and fight.

Continues…

https://luciantruscott.substack.com/p/the-american-pantagruel-has-declared

PS/ETA: Appreciate learning about Pulcinella, originally a symbol for the people and strata of Naples, is the Trickster — a role I believe different in character and nature from evil personified as the case with Mussolini, Hitler and Trump.

[Bo Zarts]

15. Pantagruel, like Trump .. a goutish lout, no doubt.

And coulrophobia is widespread in the human population. Among dogs and cats too. Smart ones.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

20. "goutish"

[CrispyQ]

2. Actually, I think the thing they didn't foresee was that an entire party would capitulate to an authoritarian.

I'm surprised, too. Sometimes I wonder if John McCain would have had the will & the ability to build a coalition that could have stood up to Trump or would he have given in, too?

[soldierant]

18. They didn't want there to be any parties at all

And maybe now we know why.

[William Seger]

3. That's exactly what I've been thinking

As a nation, we will now suffer the consequences of collectively failing our national intelligence test on November 5.

[Hieronymus Phact]

4. You have to remember

The original constitution didn't allow everyone to vote.
Only male landholders could vote, so masses of morons voting for dictatorship wasn't a concern.

[Beowulf42]

11. Really?

Most of the MALE LANDHOLDERS I know and have met voted for Lord Loudmouth, and would do so again. Not a very good analysis of how this all came about.

[Hieronymus Phact]

13. Yes Really

Sorry if history doesn't comport with your modern experiences. Oddly those guys didn't get all their information from fox news, and even had some critical thinking skills.

[Sugarcoated]

27. They got a few things wrong

We've evolved. Unfortunately, many don't like that.

[Hieronymus Phact]

28. Yes they did

But they left us with a good start.
They left us a document that included its own methods to change itself.
We changed it to extend the right to vote to everyone.

[SpankMe]

5. Idiocracy has come true. n/t

[progressoid]

6. They only wanted White, land owning men to vote...

Adams talked about it with James Sullivan, a state court judge in Massachusetts

May 26, 1776

It is certain in theory, that the only moral foundation of government is the [agreement] of the people, but to what an extent shall we carry this principle? Shall we say, that every individual of the community, old and young, male and female, as well as rich and poor, must [agree] to every act of legislation?...

Is it not equally true, that men in general in every society, who [are poor and do not own property], are also [unfamiliar] with public affairs to form a right judgment, and too dependent upon other men to have a will of their own? …Few men, who have no property, have any judgment of their own. They talk and vote as they are directed by some man of property, who has attached their minds to his interest.

Depend upon it, sir, it is dangerous to open [such a] source of controversy and altercation, as would be opened by attempting to [change] the qualifications of voters. There will be no end of it. New claims will arise. Women will demand a vote. Lads from 12 to 21 will think their rights not enough attended to, and every man, who has not a [dime], will demand an equal voice with any other in all acts of state. It tends to confound and destroy all distinctions, and [surrender] all ranks, to one common level.

https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1645

[patphil]

9. They wanted a weapon to hurt the people they hated, and address their grievances.

But, like Frankenstein's monster, it's proving to be uncontrollable, and is harming the MAGA's as much as the rest of us.
Just ask Governor Sanders of Arkansas who's request for aid, after sever weather did so much damage to her state, was denied.
Trump has no concern for anyone who can't help him.
He's always been transactional in his approach; one big quid pro quo.
Now as the king he perceived himself to be, that has gotten much more one sided. His megalomania is coming to the fore front.
It will be his downfall, but it may take the nation down with him.

The question is: will the Republicans in Congress become "woke" to his violent, destructive ways and act to stop him, or will they wait until the ship sinks and try to find a lifeboat?

[Martin68]

10. Actually, some of the founders were very worried about the possibility of a populist being elected by dumb voters.

That's why they invented the electoral College, as a buffer between dumb voters and the presidency. Unfortunately, that didn't work.

[Whyisthisstillclose]

12. True, but it was a bad idea that has actually made

our situation worse. The Founding Fathers couldn't foresee a country of 350 million people, many of them not too bright.

[NNadir]

31. The other reason for the electoral college was to protect slavery.

It worked for a while.

[kimbutgar]

14. This picture makes me want to punch his ugly vile face doing his jerk of dance

[MorbidButterflyTat]

21. Eloquent!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

16. I am still shocked that anyone voted for this idiot

[LudwigPastorius]

17. They probably also believed that...

the media, as they knew it, would more or less accurately deliver the news to voters.

And, that the competition in the marketplace of ideas would never be strangled by national and global corporate entities in the furtherance of their own interests.

[DSandra]

19. Stupidity itself can be just as bad if not worse than pure evil

And the worst combination is both evil and stupid.

[JHB]

22. They had classical educations, and the Greeks and Romans had plenty of such characters...

That's part of why there were checks and balances built in. But they did expect people in Congress to have minds of their own and not just slavishly follow along.

[Skittles]

23. or that an entire political party would pimp for something like that

[CitizenZero]

24. Tyrant

They probably could not have predicted a Clown, but they definitely predicted a Tyrant. We need to do to Trump what we did to King George back in the 1700s.

[SupportSanity]

25. American voters are this stupid or maybe not so stupid......

It's all about the vote and was everyone's vote represented?

https://electiontruthalliance.org
@electiontruth.bsky.social‬

These guys are data and statistical experts. They've been sifting through the election data and the conclusions so far are not good. But they keep chugging along.

The problem is the race. Trump is racing away to become dictator and these guys are under-funded and under-represented.
So if Trump succeeds in becoming a dictator before the truth becomes viral, it doesn't really matter what these guys find.

Take a look. See what you think.

[Ford_Prefect]

26. Or that the GOP, or any other party, would behave with willful abonnement of all principles in the face of such lunacy

and abject corruption.

[Meowmee]

29. They weren't all that smart if true...

[D23MIURG23]

30. Even if they could have there is no solution for stupidity in a democratic government.

Democracy implicitly means trusting the average person with the decision making. The only way to idiot proof a democracy is to make it less democratic.

In a way the framers did anticipate this, because they rejected direct democracy in favor of elected representation, and put restrictions on who could vote, and who could run. And most of the voting restrictions have been rolled back because they were discriminatory.

Nothing is a silver bullet when half the country wants to elect someone who is obviously unfit.