Hoarse doovers ...

The pond's earlier piece this day was just the hoarse d'oovers for a fine gourmet meal of agitated megaphone Bolterisms ...

You see the  Bolter is warming - as mandated and suggested and proposed and required - by the Chairman - to his fellow climate scientist, teh Donald ...

And as an opera-lover with a delicious taste for excellent pasta, and a good red (if only someone could leave behind a bottle of Grange behind the ouch), the Bolter is in a perfect position to understand what it's like to be browbeaten by an out-of-touch elite ...

Let the out-of-touchery begin ...

Indeed, indeed, and as soon as the Bolter declares his intention to run, to lead, the pond will be ready to salute the new Führer ...

Let's face it, for too long, the modest lad has been prepared to hide his lamp under a bushel, for too long has he played the modest part of reporter Clark Kent, for too long he has refrained from playing a leadership role. An exciting program of fascist attitudes is just what the pond needs as a tonic and a pick-me-up ... enough of this do-gooderism, and hand-wringing.

Waiter, some jackboots for the pond, and don't forget the swish black leather jacket (hmm, always liked a three quarter coat smelling of dead animals) ...

After all, the media screams what must not be said, and it requires a defiant media man to defy the media ...

Now it's true that teh Donald is a bit of a loudmouth, and will be incapable of delivering many of the things he's promised, but where's the harm in that?

At least he'll deliver a lot of bullying bluster of a kind much loved by the Bolter ...

Phew, maybe a tad too shouty. Mustn't forget the Clark Kent pose.

Time now to organise a riot of insights ...

Indeed, indeed.

Who else but the pond and the Bolter would be prepared to discuss the banning of all Indonesians from entering Australia ... while at the same time shutting down the live cattle trade. And don't get the pond and the Bolter started on the Malaysians. No, not the president, he's just making a quick quid for retirement, we mean those dreadful Islamics ...

Oh you might think this sort of idle chatter is a tad inflammatory - or did you mean flammatory - and counter-productive, but who else will discuss the closing of the gates to all Islamics?

As for torture, the pond's right on with it. Forget the way the Yanks admonished the Japanese about what they got up to in the second world war. That's so yesterday ...

What we need is someone who's going to kick arse, or ass, as the case may be ...

Yes, that fucking Pope, just another fucking Latino politician ...

How lucky we are that all this discourse is conducted without ethnic prejudice.

You know, there'd be some that'd call the Bolter a dangerous demagogic anal retentive Dutch prick, and no doubt there'd be some do gooder hand-wringing totalitarian leftist clucking and tut-tutting in the crowd about such vulgarity and unseeemly behaviour.

But the Bolter shows how abuse is done. It's totally pure and correct to mock hopeless Latinos, and wogs and spicks and all the rest that create trouble in the world ... so where's the harm in calling him a Dutch dingbat?

What we need is more in your face confrontation, rioting in the streets, international warfare and a gigantic fuck you, I'm alright Jack ...

A wall, that's what we need, a wall. Could we convert Highway number 1 into a gigantic wall?

Well some of the pond's correspondents have a fortress mentality of the kind that would make any prepper proud.

By golly, that's not bad. Oh sure we'd give away the far north, but they're already deeply gone - could we push George Christensen up the top too? After all the homophobes are certain to get along with Daesh ...

As long as we could keep it safe below the Berrimah line ...

As for that dreadful violence ...

Oh okay, he's a liar and a fraud, but shame on the wretched media elite for pointing it out.

There's more at The Atlantic here, but the pond is warming to the Bolter warming to the Trump ...

Sure the Terrorists might try some cheap fear-mongering and a poll as a way to trying to touch hearts with the base and sell a few tree-killers...

Even the most impartial observer?

Sorry Norman, the Bolter's not just the world's top climate scientist, he's also the world's most impartial observer, and he knows where the trouble lies ...

Ah, that'd be the cultural elite that loves a good opera, would it?

Try getting those on the playlist of a Trump rally ...

Trump has provided this toxic American moment with its own distinct soundtrack — his rallies feature a variety of benign rock songs played at unforgiving volumes. And while the pundits have enjoyed some high-quality giggles over the quirkiness of Trump’s song selection, what matters far more is how this music shakes the air, how it shapes the psychology of the room. 

At first touch, Trump’s rally playlists look like typical trail fare. Lots of classic rock, lots of nostalgia sparks. What’s strange is how Trump has glommed onto the Beatles’ “Revolution” and Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” — two counterculture hymns that feel completely incongruous with his autocratic hoodoo-voodoo. 

If anything, this is an important reminder that once a tune leaps off a singer’s lips, it becomes a sort of public utility, a container that can be filled with opposing ideas. Ultimately, a piece of music represents whoever’s listening to it. 

Philosopher Slavoj Zizek has written about this — specifically, on how Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” has repeatedly served as an empty signifier, “a symbol that can stand for anything.” Adolf Hitler enjoyed listening to “Ode to Joy” on his birthday; the Soviets and Maoists liked it, too. Japan’s kamikaze pilots listened to it on the runway before takeoff, and, in 1985, the European Union adopted it as the continent’s anthem. (And more with links at WaPo here, including a Spotify playlist).

Never mind we know how it goes down when the cultural elites see a demagogic rabble rouser in action ...

Put it another way:

In addition to agitating audiences, the cranked volumes also stifle direct human conversation. Reporters say they’ve had trouble interviewing folks at these rallies, which casts an ominous little prophecy: If you’d like to be heard in Donald Trump’s America, your options will be to shout or to be Donald Trump.

No, not like that, you silly hand wringers you, like this ...