Trump as Chance the gardener

In the film “Being There,” Chance the gardener is a simple-minded gardener who had never left the confines of his employer’s Washington D.C. townhouse. When the elderly man he worked for dies, Chance is forced to leave the house for the first time in his life. He encounters Eve Rand, who brings him home to meet her husband, Benjamin Rand, powerful and ailing industrialist who immediately believes Chance is a man of depth and insight. Chance’s vague gardening metaphors are mistaken for deep political commentary. The President of the United States seeks his advice and Chance’s slow, measured speech and simple observations about growth, seasons, and patience are interpreted as revolutionary political philosophy. He is soon being discussed as a future presidential candidate.

Well, OK, where Chance is taciturn, Trump is bellicose. But both are clearly bubbleheads and both enthrall people who ought to know better. 

Sadly, the GOP and the Trumpenproletariat who they proport to represent endure Trump’s dementing prattle, dismantling a century of investment and leaving America poorer, weaker and untrusted in the world. I know a family that is leaving for Canada in a few days to escape this clusterfuck.

The worst, I fear, is yet to come.

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