It’s weird, where people find vindication, isn’t it? When Mitt Romney was running for President, he took a political hit when people found out he had tied his dog to the roof of his car on a family vacation. I mean, sure, the dog was in a pet porter but, hey, he tied his dog to the roof of his car on a family vacation, right? People weren’t as understanding as he seemed to expect and he had to carry that around with him for the (short) time he had left in his campaign.

In an effort to show she really is crazy enough to be a Roepublican VP in this day and age, Kristi Noem confessed in a book that she killed her dog, a 14 month old puppy named Cricket. Shockingly, that didn’t land with the masses any better than the idea of Romney tying his dog to the roof rack. Worse, even. Go figure. Now she may not get to be VP because she was too honest, too soon. (MAGA is trying to downplay their worst impulses as of yet.)

Now Romney is trying to redeem himself by pointing out that he “only” tied his dog to the roof rack, but Noem killed her dog. His point? Killing a dog is obviously worse that torturing a dog with a terror ride at 80 miles an hour on the roof with the wind cutting through your fur. I guess so. Marginally. I think HE thinks it could somehow vindicate the dog-tying scandal.

I’ll tell you this: I think they both suck…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Donny used his day off from criminal court to campaign a bit. He made two stops. He hit his litany of lies like he’s gone through it 10,000 times – which, of course, he has. He still has supporters. That part, alone, kind of surprises me. But from the quotes in the article, they’re all in on his stories. It continues to boggle my mind that so many people can so successfully disregard any and all facts to the contrary in order to maintain their faith.

Even with religions, people who don’t accept them often cite the fact that there is no supporting evidence of any kind, any where. They are NOT able to cite fact after fact, mountains of evidence, that prove the stories false. Religious people tend to assign good deeds to their gods. These deeds become acts of their gods, making those gods seem “real.” So, choosing to believe those things is not, necessarily, crazy. But bear in mind, there is no solid, provable evidence or experiment showing that these things are NOT true.

THAT defines the line between the religious faithful and Cult 45. MAGA’S task is NOT simply to choose to believe something that lacks evidence one way or the other. Their choice is to believe something despite all of the mountains and reams of available evidence against what they choose to believe. That’s GOT to be harder.

They believe the economy was better under Trump. Not true. They believe the world was at peace under Trump. Not True. They believe Trump is a man of religious faith. Not true. They believe Trump is a – and you can’t make this up – faithful marriage partner! Absolutely NOT true. (Four wives? He cheated on every one of them!) They believe Trump is being persecuted. Not true. They believe Joe Biden is orchestrating the whole thing behind the scenes between, apparently, bouts of debilitating dementia. Not true AND not true.

Question for the Psychiatrists and Psychologists out there: how long CAN a human mind maintain such a fragile fiction in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary? I know that any of us can do it for awhile. I even know that sometimes, it’s necessary for the brain to “re-write” events to protect our sanity. But this seems different. This isn’t image management, it’s delusion. They’re pounding their thumbs with a hammer, acknowledging the pain, but then denying the existence of the hammer!

So, how long CAN a human being gaslight themselves without achieving a psychotic break? I suspect the answer to that question defines the life span of the MAGA movement and I’ll tell you this: Enquiring minds want to know…