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State of American History, Civics, and Politics

Fox & Friends and the Unpresidential Library

Fox and Friends Hosts Brian Kilmeade, Ainsley Earhardt, and Steve Doocy

Sometimes a president is remembered for fireside chats. Sometimes a president is remembered for the Gettysburg Address. And sometimes a president is remembered for hissy-fit tweets and Fox & Friends. In the Unpresidential Library there definitely will be an area set aside for Fox & Friends. When historians, citizens, and visitors seek to experience and understand our immature child president, his devotion to Fox & Friends is sure to serve as an important part of that quest.

Let’s examine how people in the decades and centuries to come will experience this phenomenon when visiting the Unpresidential Library.

1. Fox & Friends versus National Security

2 Samuel 11:1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. 2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking upon the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.

Once upon a time, when the American population was biblically literate, people would have been familiar with the story of David and Bathsheba. But sometimes now with all the fuss on their relationship, the critical opening sentence may be overlooked. According to the verse, it was the time of the year when kings go to war. Israel was at war. The king was not. He remained home sleeping late while others fought. In other words, the commander in chief was negligent in his duties and responsibilities. The author is tipping us off in the first line that no good is going to come of this and that is what happens.

The tour guide at the Unpresidential Library will point out to visitors that while the president was watching/speaking on Fox & Friends, it was the time of the daily national security briefing. In other words to rephrase the biblical verse, “in the morning of the day, the time when presidents attend the daily national security briefing, the president remained in his bedroom watching Fox & Friends on TV.” Even before the contents of the 30 minute tirade are presented, the astute visitor will already know then that something is wrong, that this president is not doing what his predecessors and successors did. Or to put it slightly differently, for this narcissistic president, his political security and vanity trumped We the People’s national security.

2. The Playmate, the Porn Performer, and the President: Who Is More Intelligent?

Next, the tour guide will engage in some compare and contrast. At roughly the same time and for the same amount of time (30 minutes excluding commercials), three individuals participated in televised exchanges or interviews. The three were a Playmate, a term which may require explanation to the visitors to the Unpresidential Library, a porn performer, a term which probably will not require explanation except perhaps to children, and a president. As a result, there is an excellent opportunity for visitors to compare and contrast the three discourses and to gauge the intelligence of each.

Key characteristics for analysis will be:

– the ability to communicate using a complete sentence

– the ability to communicate in consecutive sentences

– the ability to have a start and end to one’s discourse

– the preferences for run-on phrases

– repeating oneself

– babbling.

Visitors will be asked to rate the performance of the three speakers. The odds the Playmate and the porn performer will trump the president in intelligence and communication.

3. The Electoral College versus the Popular Vote

“They also like to always talk about Electoral College. Well, it’s an election based on the Electoral College. I would rather have a popular election but it’s a totally different campaign.”

 “The Electoral College is set up perfectly for the Democrats and this was an absolute total beating in the Electoral College.”

One of the topics of the tirade was the 2016 presidential election. The insecure immature child still needs to bring up his unexpected victory to reassure himself. He is correct to note that the chattering class, the political pundits, and elitists did not see a way for him to reach 270 electoral votes. He is correct to note that he defied the odds with his unexpected electoral victory.  He also is correct to note that victory under the rules was based on electoral vote count and not the popular vote. He claims he geared his campaign to the rules of the competition. However, one wonders exactly what he would have done differently if popular vote was the key – spent more time in California?

What is most surprising is what he did not say. He did not claim that he won the popular vote as well as he electoral vote. He did not claim that 3 million or 5 million or whatever number he needed to win the popular vote voted illegally and all for his opponent. There was no mention of the commission he created to investigate the voting violations and its proof positive documentation of widespread abuse beyond the confines of his mind and on the Bull Trump network. One wonders why he passed up this opportunity to boast both of his huge popular and electoral victory.

4. Who Runs the 100 Yard Dash Anymore?

During the course of his discussion about his victory in the 2016 presidential election, he contrasted the different strategies using sports metaphors. The two he chose were the 100 yard dash and the one mile run. He correctly notes the differences between a sprint and a longer run. What is interesting is that neither of those two races is an Olympic event anymore and they rarely are run either especially at the international level. They were once but not now.

Here the guide in the Unpresidential Library will explain to the visitors that the worldview of the immature child president was set in his childhood and early years. When he was growing up the 100 yard dash and one mile run were big events. Breaking the 10-second and 4-minute barriers were newsworthy items. It appears that those events were imprinted in his mind never to be replaced by the 100 and 1500 meter runs today. So it’s not that he wants to return to the 50’s but that his mind still is in the 50’s.

Consider this example as an indication that he is living in the past and hasn’t retained new information (unless it directly relates to him):

He said “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris” in explaining why he withdrew from the Paris treaty. He was and perhaps still is that not aware that he was not elected by the citizens of Pittsburgh although he was correct that as President he does represent them in the international arena. But it appears that when he thinks of Pittsburgh he is thinking of a manly city doing manly things like making steel the way it did when he was growing up.

When he looks at the world today it is through the prism of the world he knew as a child. He doesn’t know that George Bush used the phrase “Mission Accomplished.”  It just seemed like a good phrase and it is. Looking for historical connections to his utterances is a fool’s errand since he has no historical consciousness.

According to the tirade, he does now know that Lincoln was a Republican. This represents new knowledge, something he did not know until recently. He tried to use that knowledge to explain why blacks should vote Republican. He couldn’t remember the term Emancipation Proclamation, only that Lincoln did something that was good for the former slaves. And then they stopped voting Republican. He expressed no understanding of why this happened. He has no awareness what happened during the Depression and the connection between blacks and FDR. He has no awareness that after the Civil Rights Act of 1965, Confederates migrated from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party. He has no awareness that his support for the suppression of the votes by illegal aliens in practice has been an effort to suppress the votes of black citizens as well (because he genuinely lacks the mental necessities to make the connection between his actions against illegal aliens and legal citizens).

5. The 2018 Elections

The upcoming elections weren’t a topic of discussion but one can easily see why he is so confident regardless of the political prognostications by the same people who were wrong in 2016. After all, he stated on Fox and Friends that he has done an A+ job during his first year in office despite the witch hunt cloud from the Russian-colluding Democrats. He has accomplished more than any other president. And when it comes to the American voters, “I’ve taught them its fake news.” So now the American people know the truth. Now the American people know to ignore CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. Once again the talking heads will be wrong. Once again the real American voters will be heard. Once again he will triumph. You heard it here on Fox News & Friends.

Clearly a talk for the ages.

What else should go in the Unpresidential Library and where should it be built?