Cat Show 19/2/2020
VG: I feel sorry for you guys. Such a boring, uneventful week. Nothing to watch here, just move along.
ALICE: You are right on some level. There is nothing new, since whatever it takes, Trump will generate scandals in order to stay in the news. Now it is the Supreme Court, now it is the Presidential Debate Brawl, now it is the positive test for Covid 19. When does he have the time to do all this? And to watch Fox News, and to eat burgers, and to fly in helicopter with former models. Isn’t it what this hicks’ hope used to do before she became the most trusted of all presidential advisors. Except it is not working. People are experiencing the Trump fatigue.
HOBBS: One more time Alice demonstrates her penchant for conspiracy theories. How do you define “intelligentsia”? It is the people who believe NYT conspiracy theories. As opposed to the rest of us, who are free to choose conspiracy theories from all sources, including the factual ones. Not everything in this world is related to Trump: evil, greed, corruption, and stupidity have existed long before him, especially among the elites that persist in their evil ways, because they never have to experience the true consequences of their actions.
VG: Well, in Greek tragedies they do, but rarely outside of it. Look at this emerging conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. It is so easy to pour gasoline on people’s anxieties and anger. That’s what Brzezinski used to call “grand chessboard.” Of course, one man’s chess game is another's blood and tears. Of all people, intellectuals who write books like Brzezinski are supposed to know it. But yet, it is the think tanks and all sort of intellectual advisors that continue to stir trouble all over the world.
HOBBS: You are wrong about “only in Greek Tragedies.” Chickens do come home to roost, no matter where they live, France, Germany, Russia, or USA. US could get away with stirring shit all over the world, because they were convinced that their country has ethnic, class, religious, race or all sorts of other tensions under wraps. Yet, as of 2020, the crazy division between Trumpists and Bidenists is ready to explode into street fights. As we witness even during the presidential debate.
ALICE: This debate was an embarrassment created by Trump. Please don’t introduce this fake equivalency here. Biden simply had to defend himself from the vicious bully who couldn’t even renounce the vicious racists when politely asked to do so on TV. Now the whole country knows…
VG: Alice, you are not going to give us the CNN talking points. We know them already. This show is supposed to look beneath the surface. Yet, I agree with both of you that the debate was qualitatively different from all previous ones. I’ve watched Trump debating others four years ago, and despite occasional rudeness or put downs, all of it looked relatively tame and civilized. This debate, however, puts debates in Ukrainian Rada to shame. Less fistfights, for sure, but more rudeness, interruptions, and empty sloganeering. And yes, it took two, dear Alice. Biden was as obnoxious and low class as the next guy. The fish rots from the head, as my mom used to say.
HOBBS: Well, it is politics as usual. Scapegoating and accusations have been practiced here for years, now it became the universal pattern. So whomever Trump and his supporters don’t like – is accused of being radical lefty or Marxist. Whoever Bidenistas don’t like – becomes a racist white supremacist and fascist; whoever Poles or Ukrainians don’t like – is actually both. These guys have learned from both sides, so they blame both Marxists and Nazis, while Ukrainians and Poles are just innocent victims of both. Have you read recently of Polish minister of education who declared that LGBT is the legacy of both Marxists and Nazis?
ALICE: Well, I guess if you mix Biden and Trump, you’ll get a Pole. That’s a new Polish joke for you. Or a Ukie. I don’t want to exclude our staunch allies from the discussion. Honestly, while sharing a lot of Biden’s progressive views, even I find his passion for Ukraine a bit extravagant. Four years ago in his speech at Harvard he was bragging how he had to embarrass EU leaders and and twist their arms to make them follow US sanctions against Russia. Frankly, there are better goals, for which one has to embarrass and twist the arms of one’s allies.
HOBBS: Of course, there are better and more noble goals, and Biden used to remember them before Alzheimer kicked in. Still, don’t forget that Biden is a family man, and he was twisting European arms for his son, Hunter, who entered this highly noble partnership with Ukraine. It is only fair. Trump does not pay taxes, so he can’t expect the US to do anything for his children. He has to hustle himself. Biden on the other hand, pays taxes. So he expects US government to support his son’s quest for legal and lawful enrichment. That’s Democrat’s way.
VG: Well, as usual we’ve covered a lot of ground. I hope that this Twilight-Zone Year will be over soon, but one never knows. I hear Democrats are proposing to quarantine the country for the next four years until they discover the anti-Trump vaccine. So stay tuned…
