Talking Heads A’Talking Nonsense

Let me be very clear. I am not a fan of Donald Trump, did not vote for him and have been utterly disgusted with all the decisions he’s made to date excepting – perhaps – his decision to initiate a dialogue with North Korea.

Trump is a tempestuous, narcissist, misogynist, bigoted, racist, self-centered man-child who perceives the United States as his personal casino, his allies as underlings, and the Global South as serfs. The fickle playground bully has gone into an unpredictable overdrive North Korea chess game with characteristic bombast and visceral emotions.

I have no problem with the ongoing meetings and discussions to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, and I am going to withhold judgement until the confetti of this on-again off-again drama settles down.

During the last 36 hours MSNBC and CNN news hour talk shows and their hosts have been feeding their viewers an around the clock staple of clichés and propaganda. Each talk show host has lined up an array of Talking Heads affiliated with the countless superfluous Think Tanks that have cropped up in the nation’s capital during the last two decades. These so-called Think Tanks/Heads include former White House cabinet and staff members, lobbyists, spent academicians, former politicians and over paid political hacks, and hard core partisan wannabes.

Almost without exception, the some fifty odd talk show “guests” on MSNBC and CNN were parroting each other, nodding in agreement to something a compadre uttered, and back slapping each other at their imagined brilliance and skills in political analysis and clairvoyant thinking. Trouble is that if one heard one set of four Thinking Heads Pavloved by their hosts at 9:00 a.m., one is likely to hear the same sycophantic sound bites throughout the day.

Since I don’t have the stomach to watch FOX & Co. hate programs, I am in no position to include their Talking Hating Heads in this discussion.

As though on cue, every single MSNBC and CNN talking head was deeply offended and indignant that the American and North Korean flags were positioned adjacent to each other. Funny how the liberals are now flag waving in The Donald & minions flag waving phony display of national pride.

And there was no shortage of diatribes (well-deserved) of Kim Jong Un’s brutal dictatorship. “He starves his people, … he kills his people with flame throwers, … his policies include murder, rape, repression, … whole families have been murdered, … he is the world’s worst dictator, ” ad nauseam.

And where were these same sanctimonious Talking Heads during Israel’s most recent brutally genocidal onslaught on Gaza? Over 100 sharp shooters were applauded by politicians and the media for picking off civilians as one would shoot fish in a fish tank. The prize for the most acerbically callous person in the world goes to Nicki Haley, an apologist for the murderers. As a forward thinking political beast, she knows very well that the path to the White House must first go through Israel and AIPAC. The Orange Monster gave his buddy Netanyahu a carte blanche to massacre Palestinians, and politicians on both sides of the aisle joined the chorus in a cowardly and deplorable fashion.

Over 125 Gazans were killed in cold blood, and over 13,000 have been wounded; even reporters and medical staff were killed in full view of the entire world.

While these Talking Heads of the forward-thinking liberal bent are addressing the egregious human rights violations and difficult circumstances under which the citizens of North Korea have been living, why have they gone AWOL on what Netanyahu, Muhammad B.S., and Field Marshall President for Life Sisi are doing in Palestine, Yemen, and Egypt, all of whom are bosom buddies of the Orange Menace?

And finally, if I were a cartoonist, I would lampoon Donald Trump with $$$$$ graphics spewing from his mouth, his nostrils, and his eyes. The poor fellow perceives and measures every single decision he makes in dollars and cents, ventures from which he and his family will benefit.

While the middle and lower classes are hurting, Ivanka and Jared are said to have raked in 82 million dollars in 2017. Who knows, they might go into the North Korean real estate business.

And, while I suspect that the Great Negotiator is hoping to grab the Nobel Peace Prize (God forbid) for his most recent North Korean venture, the world will be an infinitely better place SHOULD and IF the two Koreas are unified and denuclearized.

Raouf J. Halaby is a Professor Emeritus of English and Art. He is a writer, photographer, sculptor, an avid gardener, and a peace activist. halabys7181@outlook.com