Just turning dark this early-evening Sunday here in California’s Central Valley, a soft ending to a gorgeous day of sunshine and warm temperatures — we’re whiplashing daily between deep fog and clear skies, but at least there’s a break from the thick gray every other day or so.
Weathering the weather is still a thingie.

Last night in Arizona, the weather forecast was full-blown grifting gibberish:

If you’re a cultist planning to go to the #TrumpRally, be sure and bring your wallet. It’s still one giant grift. #GrifterTrump ???#DemVoice1 #TrumpCult pic.twitter.com/JGzN3t662x

— Ashley’s Vaxxed & Votes Blue ?????????? (@KuckelmanAshley) January 15, 2022

Although there was a big crowd on hand for T-Rump’s 2022 crank-off rally — MAGA hatters galore — the orange-faced shitberg’s material appears to be getting old with the same old traplines and pep slogans (Anthony Fauci, however, did replace Hillary Clinton on the old standard, ‘Lock-’em-up’ pitch) from the not-so-distant past. A rally for the cult only without much country-wide notice.
Despite the continuous bullshit since maybe forever, the T-Rump might (hopefully) be finally burning out, losing the edge off repugnant horror news that was way-something on the national scene five years ago, but now has become old hat — same old, same old just not getting the play anymore, except to the loonies.
Matt Lewis at The Daily Beast this afternoon reads the room:

The Arizona rally may have been the unofficial kickoff of his 2024 campaign. But this time around, Trump will have to work harder to break through — and not just because the media is less likely to give him ample air time free of charge.

Call it the Andrew Dice Clay conundrum: If your entire schtick is based on shock value, eventually the audience grows inured, and the lack of substance becomes embarrassingly plain.

Trump made assertions in Arizona Saturday night that might once have garnered buzz (on Sunday morning, at least). But they’re getting little play.
In its writeup of the rally, Politico said Trump “issued a blistering response to Democrats” and that he “opened his speech by falsely claiming ‘proof’ that the 2020 election was ‘rigged.’”
A more telling fact is that this “blistering response” was not deemed worthy enough to be the site’s lead story. What might have spawned outrage and wagging tongues a few years prior now elicits a collective chorus of yawns.

Here’s the thing about moving the Overton Window: The process of shifting standards and assumptions matters greatly at the societal level. It’s bad when news consumers become desensitized to a former president erroneously claiming an election was stolen.
It also cannibalizes one of Trump’s greatest assets: his ability to shock and awe. His schtick is tired, and that can often equate to a professional death sentence.

Trump’s rock-concert rallies provide enough of his greatest hits for the fans and groupies who actually attend them. But for performers to remain relevant, they require new material. And politics is more stand-up comedy than rock and roll.
…
Trump seems like the sort of man who could appreciate the temporal, consumerist, and disposable culture of modernity. We fetishize what is new and what is next.
Yet, Trump’s obsession with relitigating an election that is now two calendar years past runs contrary to this modern American tendency. In this regard, his ego trumps his marketing savvy.

To be sure, Trump also benefits from the (bogus) sense he was wronged. But it’s hard to see how such a backward-looking 75-year-old man can remain in the vanguard.
On Saturday night, Trump wasn’t just stuck in 2020 — he was also stuck in the 20th century. There were numerous references to communism (more so than usual), including a reference to the Jan. 6 Commission’s witness interviews, which he compared to Stalinist show trials.

He’s still a dangerous, horrible creature, mainly now because of the asshole-atmosphere he allowed — people can now be shitheels, douchebags, general pricks in public because the T-Rump set the standard. Anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers bleed T-Rumpism in stores, school board meetings, everywhere there are other people.

Despite the ton of lying shit, T-Rump did utter a rightful nutter last night:

If you wait long enough, he always tells the truth. https://t.co/7vSVcAi4qr

— Ricardo Brooks (@Ricaaduh) January 16, 2022

Yet here we are once again…

Image out front is my favorite of the T-Rump mugs, though, ‘favorite‘ does not mean in any form or fashion, as in, ‘my favorite movie,’ or ‘my favorite song.’ It’s more of an anti-appreciation/like.

And aptly titled, ‘Basic Shapes,‘ by caricaturist/illustrator Chong Jit Leong (and found here), it’s an image that displays the elemental form of a purloined sociopath — a bloated profile of flatulent bile and arrogant ignorance.