Democracy Has Prevailed.

December 9, 2015

Ladies And Gentlemen, Meet Senator Senator Beuregard Claghorn

Today, the editorial board of the Tribune-Review, a paper once owned by a batshit crazie right-wing billionaire, denounced another batshit crazie right-wing billionaire, Donald J Trump.

All by drawing comparisions between Trump and two (mostly forgotten) comedy caricatures from the mid-20th century:
Foghorn Leghorn is at it again. What's that? Some of you aren't familiar with Mr. Leghorn? Allow us this brief primer:

Foghorn J. Leghorn was the Warner Bros. Pictures cartoon character of the 1940s. The bombastic white adult Leghorn rooster was unabashedly Southern. He was a knockoff of Beauregard Claghorn, the fictional U.S. senator of Charleston, S.C., popularized on Fred Allen's radio show that same decade.

Indeed, there was a comedic nature to each. But their essences were pure blowhard. And astute minds easily could decipher their prejudices between the script lines.

Which brings us to Donald J. Trump. On Monday in Mount Pleasant, S.C., 20 minutes away from Sen. Claghorn's hometown, Mr. Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”

He was playing to the fears (if not the bigotry) of a Southern audience (if not a nation), stung and suspicious in the aftermath of last week's terrorist attack in California by a radicalized Muslim couple.

Yes, Muslim extremism is a growing threat. And America must quell the conflagration. But, where a fire extinguisher is needed, Foghorn J. Trump's broad brush only fans the flames
Good for them for calling Trump and blowhard.

But let's take a closer look at the fictional Senator, if only to see how far the crazie hasn't changed in Amurika.

Take a look:


Some highlights:
  •  Claghorn comes across an apple salesman who's selling "Northern Spy" apples and says, "Why do we have to import apples from foreign lands?"
  • When told that the apples grow up north, Claghorn says, "Well something's gotta be done about it." and his solution is to move the Mason-Dixon line up to the Great Lakes so that everything is the south.  "Let Canada be the north!"  Then, he continues, "anyone who couldn't talk with a southern drawl would have to get a pass port."
  • When he's told that "We all got the same American blood in us, whether we come from the north or the south" he answers with a stark "That's libel, son."
Compare the fictional stupidity of Claghorn with the real stupidity of Donald Trump and you'll see things have not shifted that much in 70 some odd years.

 At least at the end of his rants, the Senator would say, "That's a joke, son!"

The only problem with Trump and his many many followers in the GOP is that Trump's not joking.

Good for the braintrust for calling him out.

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