The Joke's on ...?

Dear Editor:
I've figured it out. Donald Trump's campaign is a joke! I mean, we've always known it was a joke, but now I think it may have been intended as a joke all along.
We've seen this before. There was Borat, that is, Sacha Baron Cohen, who traveled America to interact with the natives in all their (our) wackiness. He fed on gullibility, exactly as Trump is doing, getting people to reveal not only their silliness but their darker sides.
Then there was Guy Grand, the protagonist of Terry Southern's wickedly funny novel, The Magic Christian. Grand is wealthy beyond belief and spends his time perpetrating outrageous spoofs on the unsuspecting public. Sound familiar?
Donald Trump has skyrocketed to the lead in the Republican race for the nomination for President of the United States by uttering empty policy pronouncements and vacuous assurances, making hallucinatory factual assertions, putting forward outrageous proposals, hurling insults, making faces, and all around acting like a boor and a demagogue. Even his opponents, such as myself, have been suckered into becoming scornful and indignant.
But now I realize this could only be the most colossal political practical joke ever played on our shores. Donald Trump must be in cahoots with the Onion or the Harvard Lampoon or Mad Magazine on the spoof scoop of the century!
Now that I’ve figured this out, I'm almost tempted to hope he wins the nomination and the Presidency. His inaugural address could begin, "My fellow Americans, I was just kidding!" And then he might roll out a totally enlightened, liberal, compassionate plan of action for the nation, having won his office by the only practicable means, namely, appealing to the lowest common denominator. Does the end justify the means? In this dream of mine, I guess it would.
Unless, that is, President Trump decides to continue playing his joke on us for his whole term in office. After all, wouldn't it be an even grander feat to fool us into reelecting him on the basis of incoherent and/or awful policies actually enacted? Well, no, not really; that was already done by President George W. Bush. So the originality would have worn out by the time President Trump was elected the first time.
So here's to Trump's Presidency! Either that, or a Tony.
Insincerely yours,
Joel Marks
December 2015

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