In which the pond thinks it might have solved the bromancer factotum conundrum ...

The pond spent an amiable afternoon yesterday attending to some mechanical typing chores, while in the background the coverage of the special election between Lamb and Saccone played out. Around midnight US time, it came down to the wire, and then the cheeky Lamb turned lionish, and claimed victory, though the cable networks turned coy and refused to call it …

It was good entertainment. The pond didn't mind how it turned out, had no cares about the seat, which is going to disappear by November, but did wonder if it was a sign that at least certain parts of the United States had begun to recover their sanity … since the Donald bump much touted on cable seemed to consist mainly of turning a +20 win into a  -narrow loss …

Along the way, the pond began to brood, as mindless typing allows, and began to think on the bromancer, and why his fragile mind had been o'er thrown and gone full feral Donald … (as the condition is known by diligent reptile watches)

The pond began developing a thesis that it was part of the hive mind that the X-Files first discovered was a feature of Fox News (well the pond's not sure that was a storyline, but it should have been and the pond could still whip up a reunion screenplay).

And then along came convincing evidence, supplied by the reptiles themselves …

It will be noted that this is actually from the colonialists, but exhibits all the exact same traits as the bromancer.

From the incipient triumphalism in the header - with the talk of "an edge" - and the hailing of a possibly defining moment, and the joys of disruptive diplomacy, the pond for a moment mistook it as pure essence of distilled bromancer.

There's the sure delusion that this time the Donald has got it right, that this time the revolving door has turned up the right man, and never no mind all the guff that was once written about Tillerson …and that this time the Donald will do over the North Koreans (and the Chinese and the Iranians and bring peace to the Middle East and build the wall to keep out Mexican rapists and the ones that know how to climb).

Of course it also gives the pond a chance to run a few cartoons …

The thing about this corporate shilling for the Donald is that the reptiles are always full of sublime hope, while offering a bit of coaching on how it should go down …

The tone is exactly the same as the bromancer's.

Cool calculating heads are in control, and what might look like chaos to outsiders is actually just a new set of steady hands ready to steer the ship around the iceberg.

All they have to do is agree with what the dictator wants - a modest set of demands, as channelled by the expert and knowing reptiles - and a deal can surely be done …

Sure it didn't work out last time, sure it hasn't worked out anytime, but this time with hardliners in charge, it's going to be a sure fire winner … trust the reptiles as they coach the Donald …

Just like the bromancer,  there's a willingness to smite the cynics and the disbelievers, and to live in hope that the Donald's form of disruption will work … with the reptiles certain that if their advice is followed, all will be well, and there'll be growth in the spring ...

Hmmm that sounds a tad worrying, especially as just a little while before we were assured that North Korea would want the Russians and the Chinese to go guarantors … hey, why not bung on a trade war with China just to help smooth things out?

As for the Ruskis, they're already solid …

And then for the wrap, while that air of delusional optimism might fray around the edges, the discerning reptile can still offer hope for a stable balance of power, stability having been a feature of world politics these last few thousand years ...

What to admire most?

The coach telling the Donald to get off Twitter and start reading, because a 71 year old man is certain to follow orders? Just like he did what John Kelly wanted, and he called good old Rexie in for a graceful and humane Rexit?

Or the coach thinking that Trump actually wrote The Art of the Deal and poor old Tony Schwartz had nothing to do with it?

No, what the pond likes most is the art of double-speak which is such a familiar part of the bromancer's work. The Donald might land a big fish, it's just not very likely …

… but, billy goat, butt, unless Trump can wed his non-conventional diplomacy with diplomacy in depth ….

… as demonstrated for the entire time he's been in office ...

As Pope himself might have put it here:

Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar; 
Wait the great teacher Death; and God adore! 
What future bliss, he gives not thee to know, 
But gives that hope to be thy blessing now. 
Hope springs eternal in the human breast: 
Man never is, but always to be blest: 
The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,  
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

And so to a few more cartoons, because that's probably all the Donald's really given to the world …