Here we are again. Let’s hop on into the not-so-wayback machine, and take a quick look at the political stories and events we were obsessing over, and parsing importance as we went about our daily lives on that day.
August 19th, 2016
In the throes of a massive campaign shakeup, including replacing Paul Manafort with KellyAnne Conway and Steve Bannon, and with his polling numbers in free fall, Trump, using a teleprompter in a rally for only the second time, came as close as he ever had (and possibly ever has) to apologizing for his conduct on the campaign trail. Speaking to a rally in Charlotte, NC;
“Sometimes, in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don’t choose the right words or you say the wrong thing. I have done that.”
As one of my favorite authors, Donald E Westlake, once had a character remark when presented with a legal setback, “It sure looks like an awful small silver lining for such a big fucking black cloud.”
Since Steve Bannon was still a new rawhide toy to shew on, the media was starting to do a deep dive into Bannon’s previous entanglements with, and apparent approval of the neo Nazi groups then referred to as the “alt-right.” They noted both Bannon’s use, as well as the neo-Nazi’s of Twitter to harass journalists and spread propaganda, as well as pointing out their early and whole hog support for Trump, which could be exploited by Bannon’s continued influence at Breitbart. Still kinda rings familiar today, doesn’t it?
And finally, on the lighter side, CBS News was the first to report what I think is the coolest fad since UFO sightings were in vogue. Naked life size statues of Trump began popping up in cities across America, starting in New York itself.
August 19th, 2017
In a defiant speech to the United Nations General Assembly, El Presidente Pendejo re-iterates his “America First” policy of withdrawal from world affairs, while at the same time directly threatening to utterly destroy “Little Rocket Man” should North Korea threaten either the US or one of its allies directly.
GOP Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy once again took the bit between their teeth, and made one last, desperate, Little Big Horn effort to repeal Obamacare. The effort was doomed to failure from the get-go.
Trump continued to face severe backlash from the sudden departure of Obergruupenfuhror Steve Bannon puddlehead congressional supporters, leading the political Mephistopheles, Steve King from Iowa to bemoan “The deatj of Trump’s populist agenda.” Fortunately, The Tiny Thumbs Diktator never actually had any kind of a real agenda, populist or otherwise, so it’s premature demise was greatly overstated.
So, there you have it. As the news giant Walter Cronkite used to say, “And that’s the way it is.” At least it was one year and two years ago today. See you tomorrow.
