We're Living in a Batman Comic Book

 

     Only without Batman. 

     During each and every day of the Trump "presidency", during those bile-flecked four years, this blog was no longer "Welcome Back to Pottersville" but "Welcome Back to Gotham City." I'd decided to take a cue from the Washington Post and add something beneath the masthead: "The Bat Light's Busted." It's an artifact of the temporary name of my blog just as the WaPo decided to keep, "Democracy Dies in Darkness" as part of their masthead.

     The day President Joe Biden took the oath of office on January 20, 2021, just a fortnight after the insurrection that eventually cost nine people their lives, "Welcome Back to Gotham City" reverted back to "Welcome Back to Pottersville" with, you can imagine, a great sigh of relief. No more nasty, stupid, puerile tweets, no more meatball governance, if it could be called that. It was a very welcome reprise of nice, boring government that occasionally did good things for the American people.

     But over the past three years, Trump has really leaned into what can best be described as his Joker phase. He's not interested in prevailing over the criminal justice system as he is trying to dismantle it piece by piece. He spews venom at court officials, knowing damned good and well what his fan base would do in response. He's not interested in governing any more than he was the last time and the consensus is that if he gets voted in again, God forbid, it'll be the last election in US history.

     There are some seriously good reasons to fear this.

     Yes, there are theoretically such things as checks and balances but where were those guardrails on January 6th? The nation's Capitol got sacked for the first time since the British did it 207 years prior during the war of 1812. In that attack, President James Madison had to flee Washington DC. There were no plans whatsoever to do that for Trump. Think about that.

     Then, earlier tonight, I was watching the preview trailers for Joker 2, or Joker: Folie a Deux. The title, of course, is French for "Madness for two" and details the meeting and blossoming love affair between Batman's arch nemesis and his psychiatrist, who later becomes Harley Quinn. The Joker's ability to corrupt and gain the love of someone who's supposed to be an impartial, professional psychiatrist and how Trump corrupts others around him, turning them into mini Trumps, cannot be ignored. The Joker has built a cult around himself. Trump is no different.

     And as I watched these trailers, seeing the Joker as a free man, seeing the headlines in the fake newspapers crowing in 60 point bold about Harley Quinn and the Joker's love affair, I suddenly came to a realization: With celebrity and a disaffected fan base, literally anything is possible. With those things, that disaffected fan base will always find it in themselves to forgive any amount of chaos and any crime, no matter how heinous.

     Celebrity and public support changes everything.

     How are we not living in a Batman comic book, minus Batman? In some ways, we're living in Gotham City, It's just that many of us are prouder of that than others.

     In 2008's The Dark Knight, the Joker goes after two prosecutors, Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes. He kills one, permanently disfigures the other. Before this, he kills a judge, the police commissioner, anyone and everyone who opposes him.

     It's all very reminiscent of how Trump is now going after Jack Smith and Fani Willis and Letitia James or Judge Tanya Chutkan or anyone who crosses his baleful radar. Trump might as well make his official campaign motto, "Do I Look Like a Guy With a Plan?"

     Because he really doesn't. It's all about revenge. "I am your retribution."

    

     That's a word cloud that Trump recently put up on his Truth Social account. He wouldn't have put that up unless he was crowing about getting through to his supporters. It was a word cloud that plainly shows what they want out of him. "Power". "Revenge"."Dictatorship". In other words, the motivations of a guy who doesn't have a plan. The late Heath Ledger's Joker was all about chaos. Joaquin Phoenix's Joker is motivated by betrayal. Trump is the perfect mix of the two.

     Trump is absolutely outraged at prosecutors going after him for his crimes. And Trump's not even feigning innocence as much as he's saying we should let him be a criminal because he was allegedly once the "president".

 

 

     And, as the Joker will no doubt do in the sequel what he'd only started in the first movie, Trump is turning this nation upside down because of a few million mouth breathers who don't understand they, too, could be victimized in a Trump dictatorship as those of us who plan to vote against him.

     Trump had already infamously said years ago that he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose a single voter. That is Trump's singular genius, to size up his fan base and know what they're capable and not capable of. The 5th Avenue prediction could've come straight from the Joker's mouth.

     And if you think I'm exaggerating with this running metaphor, allow me to show you a news article that was written in March 2023. When they began filming Joker 2 in New York City, they were shooting an outdoor scene that took place before a courthouse. They'd assembled a bunch of extras that were playing protesters during the Joker's trial. Then the cast and crew realized there was a real protest going on behind them that threatened to bleed into the production.

     As the journalist wrote, "Reality and make-believe were suddenly colliding."

     Life imitating art and all that.