Donald Trump is turning the nation into Bizarro World, where up is down, wrong is right and all bets are off. (Photo: DC Comics)
For the uninitiated, Bizarro World–also known as htraE, or “Earth” spelled backwards–is a fictional planet in DC comic books.
In Bizarro World, everything is weirdly inverted or oddly opposite of the real world–an apt metaphor for Trumps’s governing style.
Since winning the November election, the president-elect has showcased his Bizarro behavior on Twitter, attacking critics. They are uniformly bad, incompetent, or worse, no matter what the circumstances, while he’s above reproach.
But that’s not all.
Besides continuing his running feud with a comedy television program, he’s attacked aerospace giant Boeing, lashed out at the head of Carrier’s union, offended the Chinese government and praised the Philippines’ murderous dictator.
In typical fashion, he’s showed utterly no restraint in his remarks, which will carry even more weight once he takes office.
Trump has also shown a total lack of regard for the conflicts of interest posed by his worldwide businesses and his presidential duties.
What’s more, the Republican-controlled Congress shows no interest in checking him on it, even though it spent millions of dollars launching one investigation after another of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Probes of her State Department email server, Benghazi and the Clinton Foundation failed to turn up anything approaching wrong-doing. But Trump should have no fears. Republicans like House Speaker Paul Ryan are already averting their eyes.
The most disturbing development of Trump’s Bizzaro presidency is they way Fox News and other right-wing media are bending reality to report on his gaffs, mis-steps and bizarre behavior.
Every move is brilliant. Anyone who disagrees is accused of “leftist whining.”
Fortunately, some Republican leaders are still resisting Bizarro World’s gravitational pull. But how long they can last is anyone’s guess.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) has already told Trump flat out that he will not support the reintroduction of torture by American armed forces.
You may recall, Trump said McCain was not a war hero, because he was shot down over North Vietnam and captured. Forget the fact that he was tortured as a prisoner of war. How bizarre was that.
Conservative South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham has also sent a clear message to Trump. He strongly suggested congressional Republicans aren’t rolling over on Trump’s draconian immigration plans and vowed to protect immigrant children.
In Trump’s Bizarro World, the blue-collar and hourly workers who supported him during the election are, naturally, the first to get screwed.
The Carrier deal is a case in point. Union leaders and plant workers have already called him out for lying about the number of jobs he “saved” with a taxpayer bailout.
Now, Trump appears poised to name fast food executive Andrew Puzder as head of the federal Labor Department. He’s no friend of labor.
Puzder is a leading critic of expanding overtime pay for workers and raising the federal minimum wage.
“President-elect Trump’s reported choice to lead the Labor Department has done everything in his power to undermine the rights of American workers, from driving down wages to opposing overtime pay,” said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in a statement.
“Even worse, Andrew Puzder presided over a fast-food chain that repeatedly stole workers’ hard earned wages.
“The fact that Mr. Puzder has now reportedly been selected to lead the same agency that uncovered wage theft at his restaurants is a cruel and baffling decision by President-elect Trump,” he said.
In his new job, Puzder will be responsible for enforcing workplace rules. Good luck with that.
Trump’s other major appointments have also been right out of Bizarro World.
Ex-Gen. James Mattis, his choice for Secretary of Defense, glorifies war and military adventurism.
Betsy DeVos, his choice of Secretary of Education, has been one of the leading opponents of public education.
Ex-Lt.Gen. Michael Flynn, his choice for National Security Adviser, was one of the purveyors of fake news during the election.
Jeff Sessions has been picked to be U.S. Attorney General. The office traditionally been in the front lines enforcing statutes, which specifically prohibit discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
Sessions is a leading critic of civil rights laws and was found to be unfit to be a federal judge in the 1980s because of his racist views.
Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma Attorney General who has been picked to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has been one of the leading advocates of the coal and oil industry.
In Trump’s Bizarro presidency, up is down, wrong is right, truths are lies and war is peace. If you don’t believe it, tune in to Fox News.
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