Speaking of Clowns

I was wondering who was going to jump out as another clown from Commedia dell'Arte (sorry, I misspelled it last blog--it's been some time since I was in graduate school studying the Italian theatre) when abricadabra, there he was.

He of the "You're fired" fame. Donald Trump. All of a sudden he's raising the birther theories again but this time also accusing Obama of plagiarism. The first charge has been disputed by the State of Hawaii so many times that the courts have ruled law suits over the matter frivolous and refused to hear them. Tiresome.

Re the second charge: No one has ever come forward to claim any authorship of Obama's work, and even with confidentiality clauses (trust me, I'm a writer) little words slip out here and there that lay hints. I've never heard a thing about Obama's work. Until I see proof rather than speculation, I'm not going to fall for this one.

What I can't figure out is why Trump and why now?

Since I love conspiracy theories--almost as good as millennium theories about the end of the world--let me try second guessing possible reasons. My first thought was that by taking the Tea Party rhetoric to its ultimate extreme, he was setting himself up to divert attention from Ms. Palin. Here would be someone unhinged enough to make her look reasonable. I have noticed lately that she's been keeping a low profile, even going over to Israel and trying to look informed. Could he be trying to help her? After all, she said recently that Obama's birth should be off the political table. That won't go down well with the radical fringe, but might sell a bit better to the more moderate (and much larger) block of voters.

But then I wondered if that was too obvious. What if there is something more devious? What if he was really wanting to run for president? What if his sudden attack on Obama is also an attack on Ms. Palin? Does he think she's gone soft? Does he think he can pick up her fringe and parlay his business background and his television exposure into a legitimate run? But then, why has he joined Fox when there are campaign laws against media exposure that gives unfair advantage?

I wish I could see some sort of strategy that might make me respect him. I weep for some intelligence rather than namecalling and lies among our political leaders, but I suppose that's asking too much is this world of dumbed down. We have no public intellectuals anymore--no William Buckleys for example--who can make sense of the political quagmire this country wallows in. We have only media "personalities", many of whom make their living by outdoing one another in attacking and yelling.

But then--on the other hand, maybe I'm overthinking this. Maybe Trump has joined Fox because that's where he belongs. If that's the case, Mr. Trump has done one honest thing.

In the words of Stephen Sondheim, "So send in the clowns/ there have to be clowns/ don't worry they're here."