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.