American’s comedians are in the midst of a hilarity Renaissance thanks mainly to the dementia that caused Donald Trump to think he could be President of the United States. No one has provided more raw material for political humor since the thawing of Sarah Palin. And now that Caribou Barbie has returned to hibernation in the frozen wilds of Alaska, the Trump train could not have chugged along at a better time.

The latest treasure trove of Trumpian farce gushed from The Donald this weekend during a speech in Franklin, Tennessee. He was responding to the tragic shootings at the Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, that left nine dead and nine others wounded. In the course of his remarks he thought that it would be appropriate, and in keeping with the solemness of the occasion, to impersonate the vigilante character played by Charles Bronson in Death Wish. Unfortunately for Trump, he came off looking more like cartoon tough guy, Yosemite Sam.

Setting the scene for this theater of the Absurd is Tucker Carlson, host of Fox & Friends, who along with his co-hosts drooled lovingly over Trump’s pathetic rendering of machismo. Carlson prefaced a video (posted below) of Trump with this introduction:

“So every politician in America is talking about gun control this week after those horrifying shootings in Oregon. But no one has really talked about it the way Donald Trump talked about it the other day. Watch this.”

Whereupon they played Trump reciting his policy on guns (reading from a printout of his website) that focused solely on his perverse interpretation and idolatry of the Second Amendment. However, Trump had to interject some personal and dubious boasting to say that…

“I have a license to carry in New York. Can you believe that? Somebody attacks me, oh they’re gonna be shocked. Can you imagine? Somebody says ‘Oh, there’s Trump. He’s gonna be easy pickens.’ [Holding his finger like a gun] Whad’ya say? […] Can you imagine with Trump, somebody says ‘Oh, all these big monsters running around. He’s easy pickins.’ [pulls the finger again] And then p’ching.”

First of all, Trump’s swaggering BS is just plain delusional. Does he really believe that if approached on the street he could outdraw a would-be assassin who already has his weapon drawn? Does he think he’s better prepared than the highly trained police officers who have been ambushed and murdered while on duty? What a maroon. This pitiful attempt at bravado is not only stupid, it’s dangerous. He is practically daring some psycho to make a name for himself by offing the Dingbat Don.

More importantly, what he offered as substance for his gun policy was rooted in falsehoods and nonsense that make you wonder whether he already took a slug to the cranium. He made ludicrous claims that his opponents want “a gun that fires one bullet.” Like much of what he says, he simply made that up.

Trump also said the Oregon college was a gun-free zone and that if more people had guns they “would be a hell of a lot better off.” However, not only was he wrong about the campus being a gun free zone, there was an armed veteran there who decided not to intervene because of the risk that police officers would arrive shortly and, seeing him with a gun, might mistake him for the shooter. So the “good guy” with a gun made a rational decision not to use it. As for society being safer if more people have guns, a carjacking victim in Houston might not agree. A witness to the carjacking took out his weapon and fired at the suspects, but hit the victim in the head. Then he picked up his shell casings and took off.

Following the video of Trump, the Fox News “Curvy Couch Potatoes” returned and Carlson continued his fact-free reporting and Trump-fluffing.

“He makes an important point. Why is disarming normal people good for the country. I mean maybe it’s good for politicians who want a compliant population, but it doesn’t make us safer.”

Of course, no one is talking about “disarming normal people” except for Carlson, Fox News, and the rest of the NRA-theists. What’s more, his contention that politicians want to disarm everybody in order to have a “compliant population” implies that he wants an armed populace so that they can shoot politicians. And these people call themselves patriots.

It is the proliferation of guns, and the ease with which they can be acquired by people who ought not to have them, that makes our nation less safe. And that state of affairs is being reinforced by the gun lobbyists at the NRA, right-wing Dirty Harry wannabes, cowardly representatives, and buffoons like Donald Trump.

These people all comprise a special interest group that regards the loss of nearly 30,000 people – men, women, and children – every year to be an acceptable price to pay for unfettered access to firearms. And while people like Trump spew ridiculous comments and half-baked proposals that make great fodder for mockery, when you consider all the pain and suffering for which they are responsible, it isn’t really all that funny.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.