Kings of Shreds and Patches

I watched the Vice Presidential debate, just because it was on. I think Mike Pence was awful, but then, I'm biased. Still, I must admit, his strategy was probably the best (for some definition of "best") strategy he could've used. Look, he has a problem: not that he isn't horrible in his own right, but he's chained to a fucking maniac who is utterly unable to even pretend to hide his horribleness, and who is horrible in new, trail-blazing ways, to boot. So what do to? Well, obviously his strategy was just to LIE LIE LIE, constantly, non-stop, even when it meant straightforwardly contradicting things that he and his running mate said, on tape. This seems crazy? Well, maybe, but it was still his best option: obviously, he can't just concede that Trump is a transcendentally, historically awful candidate, so let's just pretend that none of this is true. Obviously you're not going to fool anyone who's paying attention, but let's face it, everyone who's paying attention has already chosen sides and isn't going to be swayed. All that's left is the ever-decreasing supply of "undecideds" (I know it's wholly unoriginal and uninteresting for me to ask "who are these people?" but seriously, who ARE these people???), and sure, if they pay attention, they'd know he was full of shit, but if they were the sorts who paid attention, they wouldn't be undecided. So Pence relies on the fact that these people get their news in a really incomplete, distorted way from a mixture of word-of-mouth, clickbait, and tv shouting heads, and sure, maybe some of them'll start to realize, hey, that guy's full of shit! But...some of them won't! And that's your best bet. I mean, if you're a crazed sociopath driven only by lust for power. But, you know, they're Republicans.

The people I have to wonder about (okay, not REALLY wonder about, but you know) are actually-informed republicans who know damn well how full of shit Trump and Pence are but plan on voting for them anyway, 'cause hey, it doesn't matter THAT much, and they'll appoint the right people to the Supreme Court, so pace Olaf Glad and Big, there is no shit they will not eat. But you have to think that someone would start to WONDER: if the only way my team can gain power is by constant, non-stop, egregious lying--because otherwise everyone would be fucking horrified by us and we'd always lose in a landslide--if this is true (and even if you won't admit it for previous elections, it's impossible to deny this time (okay, obviously not IMPOSSIBLE, but nobody with even the thinnest pretense to critical thought could--HA!), maybe possibly I should start to reëvaluate my worldview? Mightn't one infer that there just might be something WRONG here? I mean, unless you're joining the psychologically-implausible ranks of D&D characters who are conscious of and happy with the fact that they're "evil?" I dunno, man. People, I sometimes feel, are significantly worse than I ever thought they could be.