Implosion Boy
Brought to you by Nick Carraway.
“During college, we had a running cartoon called “The Adventures of Implosion Boy.” It was a simple enough cartoon. A little boy wore a costume with a large I and called himself “Implosion Boy.” He told unwitting bystanders that if they didn’t give him what he wanted he would implode at will. Somehow throughout the life of the cartoon (several months as it turned out) no one called him on his bluff.
So, Implosion Boy grew a few sizes in the waistline as he conned people out of sandwiches, pizza, and ice cream. The reaction was always the same. Everyone acted like hostages in a bank heist. They forked over the stuff to avoid seeing something that couldn’t possibly harm them even if he could deliver on his promise. I think everyone sees the parallels here.
I’m happy that we’ve all become engaged about the process. I’m happy that so many people now know about “Safe Harbor” and know exactly when the electoral college officially votes. I’m happy that people know when Congress officially certifies the electors and their votes. I’m certain we’ve also learned quite a bit about the legal process as well. Thank you Donald Trump.
Yet, I can’t get the nagging image of Implosion Boy out of my head. I can’t help but wonder if more than a few Republicans would call his bluff that all of this would be over. It would have been over a long time ago. Maybe we could have gotten some things done in the last four years if someone had just patted him on the head and told him to go ahead and implode.
Sure, maybe you lose his base, but the hard lesson of politics is that there is really nowhere for his base to go. Do they suddenly become Bernie Sanders supporters? Do they suddenly go from being ardent racists to being progressive? They can vote Republican or not vote. Those were always their choices. So, cow towing to them is a lot like giving Implosion Boy a sandwich. Sure, he didn’t implode. Better have another sandwich at the ready for after the inauguration.”
I agree completely – and this reply is simply to point out, somewhat pedantically, that it’s kowtowing, not cow towing. Every one knows that cows cannot operate a tow truck to save their lives.
1New York Democrats picked Hillary Clinton as one of their presidential electors, so she’ll be casting a vote to boot Trump in a few minutes.
The mills of the gods grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding fine.
2As for Implosion Boy, the Democrats should have been working to get the Republicans to call their bluff. They won senate seats in Nevada and Alabama when the base got the bits in their teeth and nominated Sharron Angle and Roy Moore.
And that’s all you need to know about why the rest of the party did not separate itself from the base.
3After January 20 is it not likely that ex-45 will act as a Bizarro pied piper and take his aggrieved “base” with him and form a new party, perhaps called the Victims Party?
4Alas, I’ve been reading about the imminent implosion of the Republican Party for 30 years. So far….. crickets.
5G. Foresight:
6At least in this instance, I sure hope you live up to your name.
The GOP lives in fear of a primary challenge. Just look at how Trump has attacked Kemp, who was totally subservient until he went against him about the vote in Georgia. Even if Trump doesn’t run in 2024 he will crown himself kingmaker and continue to call the shots. It’s no longer the Republican party, it’s the Trump party and will continue to be for a long time.
7Implosion boy is a bully.
We all know bullies.
They continue until they are challenged.
Republicans have no moral courage.
Trump will become more and more outrageous demanding more and more concessions.
It will be interesting who will stand up to him and say enough is enough.
Whether they do it before he destroys the party remains to be seen.
If I had to guess I think it would be Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney.
8TexasTrailerTrash @ 7,
I’m bettting that NY will arrest him and take him out in cuffs nano seconds after Biden is sworn in. I’d like to see Rump rot away in a prison cell far away from the US, like on St. Helena (we’d owe the Brits big time for it) in the Atlantic or Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, without phone or internet.
9I think the real Republican fear is not so much of Trump himself – but of Rush Limbaugh, Rupert Murdock, and the rest of the Right Wing Noise Machine. If Trump lost the noise machine, he’d fade to obscurity. That’s why he carefully monitors these outlets. Gotta stay in front of the angry mob…
10Implosion boy has disciples with guns, and they’re threatening violence in Michigan today, including a repugnantican member of the state legislature. Maybe this show of force will backfire and scare a few repugnanticans in congress to abandon their support of implosion boy.
11First, it’s painfully obvious Turtle Boy and the Orange Menace made a deal 4 years ago: He signs anything from the senate and the senate will not hold him responsible for anything he does. There is no “bluff” to call in this unholy marriage of convenience.
12Second: as much as it pains me to write this, I do not believe he will ever see the inside of a jail cell. Ever. He has ascended into that rarefied club who are never held accountable.
But I digress…
The lesser GOP miscreants are simply playing classic power politics theater. A majority of their constituents are card-carrying members of The Cult of the Orange Menace. When GOP politicians support the Orange Menace, they earn points from the zombie cultists. Easy peasy.
So there’s no down side for those GOP traitors when they “support” the guy who won’t be in power within the month. Well, of course, except for the part where they’re deeply eroding the very foundations of respect and decency that our democracy demands, in a blatantly craven attempt to curry favor with their brain-dead constituent cultists. Traitors always choose power over country.
As sad as this being like “Profiles in Courage” read backwards may be, and admitting that the demonstrated human condition is both wretchedly miserable and pitifully weak, it figures that GOP legislators would cravenly side with Trump.
The profoundly beneficial effect of going against Trump is bestowed upon the nation as a whole in the form of renewed faith in the wider political system and democracy. Whereas the down-side of going against Trump is to probably see one’s own career go up in partisan flames as you are primaried into political oblivion.
The choice is saving the nation and becoming a footnote or staying politically viable but letting the nation burn as we march ever closer to authoritarianism.
Or as Pink Floyd would put it: “A walk-on part in a war; Or a lead role in a cage”.
13I agree 100%. Time was part of the job of a congress person was to keep their constituents informed. The pros and cons of pending legislation were discussed at every Lions Club, Rotary, yada yada in their district. Now that the politicians select their district there is no need for them to live up to their duty to also inform.
Any one of them could have stood up to Trump in the beginning and there is a slim chance some of the rancor could have been avoided.
14@Andrew #1 Cows may not be able to operate a tow truck but they can be towed. It requires a horse, a rope and decent aim, we do it all the time.
@-lew- #12
15There is always hope. I bet Bernie Madoff didn’t think he would ever end up in jail, he will die in there.