Three Stooges Syndrome

Last week on Daily Check-In 03/06/2018, I made a reference to an old bit from The Simpsons, Three Stooges Syndrome.  Mr. Burns goes to the doctor’s office for a complete physical.  After testing, the doctor gives him the news that he has…, well, everything.  Juvenile Diabetes, Hysterical Pregnancy, and several new diseases that they just discovered in him.  Mr. Burns asks what this means, and the doctor shows the diseases trying to get into his body through the door, but they get stuck like the Three Stooges.  Mr. Burns takes that to mean that he’s indestructible, but the doctor warns him that even a slight breeze could put his body out of balance.

“Indestructible,” Mr. Burns says to himself as he walks out of the office.

When I think of all of the different scandals that are flying around right now, and all of the craziness going on, we’re seeing Three Stooges Syndrome.

A sex scandal, an election funds fraud scandal, an obstruction of justice scandal, a sexual assault scandal, a collusion scandal, a can’t-do-the-basics-of-the-job scandal, a loves-tyrants-and-hates-democracy scandal, and a sold-out-the-country-to-the-Russians scandal.

And with all of these going on, his supporters think he’s indestructible.

What the poop?

Here’s the rationale they use…

Because of everything going on, there isn’t enough focus on just one specific scandal to cripple Trump and take him down, and because of that, he can’t be beat.  This mindset also assumes that Trump is constantly “winning” by not being removed from office each and every day.

What it also assumes is that with everything going on, the average person will get so worn out by the constant barrage of shit, that they’ll just give up and go “derp, whatever” and let Trump off the hook for all of the illegal shit he’s done.

Both of these mindsets are bullshit, but the second one is far more likely.  Hell, some people are already getting lost in the amount of bullshit.

That’s why I’m here.

One of the reasons why I write this blog is to keep track of all of the craziness, keep track of all of the scandals, and make sure that when shit goes down, I’ve got the paper trail to show the who, what, where, when, why, and how of everything that happened.

There’s a lot going on, but sometimes it does get overwhelming.  Trying to focus on Trump’s dealings with Russia one day, then having to figure out the nuances of what constitutes obstruction of justice and witness tampering, then research election campaign law, then circle back to the use of nerve gas in London, and keep an eye on what self-induced drama comes out of the West Wing.

If it sounds like I’m complaining, I’m not.  I like keeping track of the insanity, I like politics, and I love to write.  Putting the three together feels like I’m doing something worthwhile.

But, let me get back to the first part of Three Stooges Syndrome.  Does having 9,783 scandals flying around at once make Donald Trump indestructible?

No fucking way.

There is a finite amount of time, effort, energy, and resources that they expend to defend themselves on each of these scandals.  Each scandal, at least the big ones, require their own lawyers, maybe even a whole team of them like Russia.  One small misstep can put people in jail for a very, very long time.  Each time something new breaks, they have to figure out which team is dealing with the problem.  They pretty much need a manager to manage all of the crisis they face.

So, unlike Mr. Burns, Donald Trump is not indestructible. We’re gonna find out very soon, likely within the next few months, that he is very, very destructible.  Having 9,873 scandals doesn’t mean that he can’t come down, it just means the leftover pieces of him will be tiny.  Just like his hands.

That’s it for today.  Thank you, and have a good one.