Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a Democratic presidential candidate, is greeted by his grandchildren Ella and Dylan Driscoll before speaking at a campaign rally at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum three days before the California primary, in Los Angeles, June 4, 2016. (Monica Almeida / The New York Times)
There are no jokes. The truth is the funniest joke of all.—Muhammad Ali
David French has officially announced he will not mount an independent challenge to Donald Trump. Virtually every sentient being on the planet responded to this epochal announcement with, “Who the hell is David French?” Bill Kristol, the always-wrong fool king of right-wing pundits who has been pushing the idea of an insurgent French candidacy tweeted in response to the announcement, “Surrender? NUTS” — a reference to the Battle of the Bulge. His use of the word NUTS is appropriate given the doings of the last few days.
The weirdest presidential election year in the history of modern US politics came down to one of the weirdest five-day news runs I’ve ever seen. Secretary Hillary Clinton gave a rousing speech on Thursday in stalwart defense of empire while cutting Donald Trump off at the knees. Trump, in response, spent the next several days spraying copious amounts of folly into the air as if he were the fountains at the Bellagio Hotel in Vegas.
It began with that Clinton speech on Thursday night. A great many people have been justifiably concerned about the Clinton campaign’s ability to, you know, campaign successfully. Those concerns grew by orders of magnitude after Trump emerged victorious from the fever swamp of the GOP nomination process. Clinton put paid to all those furrowed brows simply by making fun of the man with his own absurd words. She found the chink in his armor and stabbed him under the fifth rib with mockery, disdain and total disrespect, using a dry-wit…