I remember as a kid that a common cliche was, “Now I’ve seen it all.” You don’t hear that much nowadays and certainly not in the Era of Trump because you can’t say it. The minute you have said it you’re wrong because there is no low they won’t go. There is always another bottom and that bottom has sub-basements. Without fail. Proving up that theory is Valentina Gomez, who is one of eight Republicans running in a primary to be Missouri’s next Secretary of State. Gomez offended the gay community with her last ad released two weeks ago, admonishing people, “In America, where you can be anything you want to be, don’t be weak and gay.” And yes, she managed to bottom that.
A rap ad, to match Trump's rap sheet presumably
— Jon 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@MauricioDonofr1) June 2, 2024
“Cringeworthy” is the nicest adjective being applied to this so far. Here’s what her last ad generated.
“In America, you can be anything you want,” Gomez says, slightly out of breath. “So don’t be weak and gay. Stay f—ing hard.”
Gomez, 25, a Colombian immigrant and real estate investor, concludes the video with an image smiling and holding what appears to be an assault-style rifle. A large American flag is to her right, a pickup truck is just behind her, and Lupe Fiasco’s “The Show Goes On” is turned up. (Fiasco appeared to address the ad Tuesday, writing on X that his team is “currently taking action.”)
The video had nearly 3 million views by Thursday afternoon.
While some of the critical response to the video has been in earnest — including from lesbian tennis superstar Martina Navratilova, who called it “homophobic” — much of it has taken on a mocking tone.
Former Secretary of State Jason Kander, a Democrat and former Army intelligence officer, called Gomez’s post “veteran cosplay.”
“So refreshing to see a female GOP candidate who never served in the military doing the whole veteran cosplay, stolen valor, bigotry as a substitute for strength routine as well as any man,” he wrote Tuesday on X.
Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., an out lesbian, replied to Gomez’s X post Wednesday, writing, “Not weak, just gay,” coupled with a painted nail emoji.
In a statement, Gomez did not answer questions about the content of the campaign video or the criticism she got in response. Instead, her response revolved around Donald Trump and included false statements of voter fraud.
“President Trump and I are leading the charge to take our country back from the weak and gay Biden administration that has destroyed our country,” she said in her statement. “I look forward to accepting his endorsement so I can ensure a free and fair election to the people of Missouri, where dead people and illegals will never be voting.”
She also denounced the four criminal probes of Trump, calling them “baseless.”
Oh, and did I mention this? She’s a book burner.
When I’m Secretary of State, I will 🔥BURN🔥all books that are grooming, indoctrinating, and sexualizing our children. MAGA. America First🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/m8waKi3yhP
— Valentina Gomez (@ValentinaForSOS) February 6, 2024
It should be obvious to you at this point that what she wants is to be a MAGA influencer, not the Secretary of State. That’s plain as day. Trump struck an interesting chord in this country. While the inscription next to the Statue Of Liberty might say, “Send me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” Trump’s siren call is more along the lines of, “Send me your stupid, your immature, your lazy flakes wishing they were somebody.” And as Lady Liberty holds her lamp beside the golden door, Donald Trump holds his greased, grifting palm beside the TV set, which is the only place where his version of who and what he is, is real.
Trump is a media phony. And others like him want to be one themselves. That’s the goal here. This siren call was heard by George Santos, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Nancy Mace, Madison Cawthorn, so many of the others. It’s all about conning the American public with an image so that they will give you power and money.
That is what Trump managed to do. And his cult loves him for it and they want to be just like him. This is the underbelly of the American dream, right here. It used to be that our heroes had genuine abilities of some sort, whether athleticism, acting, singing, you name it. They could do something. They were famous because of what they could do. We admired them for what they could do.
Now, you don’t have to be able to do anything. Just create an image, con people into believing that that’s who you are, and have them give you the prizes you want as if you earned them.
Again I share that great Trump quote: “It’s almost impossible to believe he exists. It’s as if you took everything bad about America, scraped it off the floor and wrapped it inside an old hot dog skin and taught it to make noises with its face.” That’s the common denominator in all of Trump’s MAGA political followers. They are all hat, no cattle. They are selling an image in lieu of actual intelligence and skills and ability.
That’s the lesson of Trump: Just create a fantasy of who you are, and get the rubes to buy it. And they’ll give you power you should never have and pay you money you don’t deserve and could never earn honestly in the open market.
Trump is the anti-hero of the American dream. The American dream depends upon having what it takes and getting ahead in life by hard work and persistence, no matter where you start out in life. The Trump/MAGA dream depends upon having nothing going for you but lying and creating a pretense that you are somebody and something that you’re not, so that you get given to you what which you haven’t worked for and that you don’t deserve. And if you can be abrasive and sociopathic while you’re conning the rubes, then you are a perfect MAGA hero.
That’s the Secret MAGA Code, ladies and gentlemen. And we’ve got one more lou lou signing up for duty. They are all the Devil’s apprentices. Form is all, substance is nothing. Image in lieu of truth. Pretense in lieu of persistence. Deception in lieu of drive. Insult in lieu of integrity. These are the principles of MAGA and Trump’s acolytes. Watch. You will see it play out this way every time.
Fake it till you make it, and make it cos’ you faked it. Living the dream…I want to be the America future immigrants believed they were coming here for.It does exist, family by family, generation by generation, why can’t we melt the way we agreed to? One pot.Like stone soup, we all add to it and benefit from sharing. I know I’m not naive anymore, just turned 57 but I’m still a cockeyed optimist that as a whole, we’ll rally to save democracy.
Your “… Trump’s siren call … “Send me your stupid, your immature, your lazy flakes wishing they were somebody.”…” is the perfect recipe to ensure the following, hopefully:
Judges Cannon and Merchan are also Columbian. One of my best friends growing up married the daughter of the riches man in Columbia. She was a nice girl, but divorced him because he cheated on her. It is a bit odd having so many Colubians in the news at this time. I had not really thought about Columbians since my friend’s wedding in the Seventies.
Walter, I think you meant to write “Colombian”, not “Columbian”.
“Columbia”, according to Wiktionary, the online dictionary, is a poetic reference to America used in honor of Christopher Columbus, as well as a onetime female representation of the USA in editorial cartoons.