With less than a week until Donald Trump is sworn in to office, the world is still incredulous. Many wonder how a vulgar, thin-skinned, racist, pathological liar, with countless conflicts of interest, and unsavory ties to Russia, ever got to this point.
However, a television writer in Scotland may have had the best reaction to this unsettling state of affairs. Damien Love writes the program synopses for Scotland’s Sunday Herald. In this week’s listings he described the Trump inauguration in a uniquely troubling way:
President Trump: The Inauguration
4pm, BBC One/ STV
After a long absence, The Twilight Zone returns with one of the most ambitious, expensive and controversial productions in broadcast history. Sci-fi writers have dabbled often with alternative history stories – among the most common is the “What If The Nazis Had Won The Second World War” setting – but this huge interactive virtual reality project, which will unfold on TV, in the press, and on Twitter over the next four years, sets out to build an ongoing alternative present. The story begins in a nightmarish version of 2017 in which huge sections of the US electorate have somehow been duped into voting to make Donald Trump president. It sounds far-fetched, and it is, but as it goes on it becomes more and more chillingly plausible. Today’s feature-length opener concentrates on the gaudy inauguration of President Trump, and the stirrings of protest and despair surrounding the ceremony, while pundits speculate gravely on what lies ahead. It’s a flawed piece, but a disturbing glimpse of the horrors we could stumble into, if we’re not careful.
Love’s satire perfectly captures some very real concerns. This is indeed “a nightmarish version of 2017” and “a disturbing glimpse of the horrors we could stumble into.” And the fact that other countries perceive the new American government this way forecasts a worrisome decline in respect for the nation. This snarky TV listing is, unfortunately, just a preview of what’s to come.
How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.
Very realistic write-up. And just a hint of what the rest of the world thinks of him.
The Dumbing Down of America and how stupide people can be….utter stupidity. Now many are crying ‘buyers’ remorse’. Your own damn stupidity.
— Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone, Intro and outro to “He’s Alive” (with certain adjustments in the Intro to make relevant to the current situation).
Proving once again what an insightful observer of humanity Serling always was…
LOL
I am going to go out on a limb and suggest the first two world events that will show Trump’s true mettle. The first will be a North Korean long range delivery missile test targeting waters off Aleutian Islands. The second will be a Russian move to absorb the three east Baltic countries.
The first test with North Korea will be the most problematic. Drumpf would have to go through China to put pressure on North Korea and he has already burned bridges with that connection. As far as Russia is concerned, I think they will start to get more aggressive toward building a buffer zone with western Europe and rebuilding the Soviet map. Will Drumpf prove his Putin connection and be passive?