From left, Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., entrepreneur Andrew Yang, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke and former Housing Secretary Julian Castro are introduced Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019, before a Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by ABC at Texas Southern University in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Donald Trump was a media darling. A celebrity. From all appearances, he didn’t seek to rub elbows with the rich and famous so much as they sought to make funny-bone friction with him.

Democrats called him one of their own.

Movies asked him to grace the screen.

Rap stars hailed him.

And not for a week or a year, but for literally decades.

For a LIFETIME — mine.

That’s why I still cannot believe the complete absurdity with which he’s been framed, as a spawn of Satan crushing the earth — ever since he put an “R” next to his name.

I’ll never forgive the world of politics for showing just how stupid it is.

And for a profound example of the dementia from which our society seems to be suffering, look no further than the falling of Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson for an internet hoax.

A bit of social media fake news made its way to her discerning device, and it was quite the headline indeed: President Trump had pardoned Charles Manson.

That would be, the man considered to have orchestrated the Crime of the Century — the murder of nine innocents.

The demon who “killed the 60’s.”

The psycho who claimed to be both Jesus and Satan. The dude with the swastika tattoo.

This guy:

https://twitter.com/joshmarks1729/status/1202050546263347201

And this one:

https://twitter.com/flatChewy00/status/1202982231934935040

And this one (he’s the cult leader in the upper right):

Famous Cult Leaders

1. Jim Jones 1931/1978 2. Charles Manson 1934/2017 3. David Koresh 1959/1993 4. Donald Trump 1946/ currently active.

Some cult characteristics.

Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, or brilliance. pic.twitter.com/qFgNuVzKhB

— 🏳️‍🌈Megan Biden🏳️‍🌈 (@BidenMegan) December 4, 2019

And the one on the left:

Two crazies:

“I'm Jesus Christ, whether you want to accept it or not." ~ Charles Manson

“If Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!)” ~ Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/OKYKHQCW7q

— Bob Geiger (@GeigerNews) October 8, 2019

Although, he was a good dancer:

Mindhunter used Charles Manson's music and no one seemed to care.

Also, Gary Glitter is in jail! pic.twitter.com/KKwh4HasPc

— TimeClaud (@ClaudioLeitaoSA) October 7, 2019

And perhaps some think he and Trump like to similarly get down:

They were separated at birth. pic.twitter.com/ZCqGaNNStk

— Cat 🆘️ Tassinari (@CatTassinari) November 4, 2019

But only in a world that’s lost its mind could the story of a pardon have been taken seriously.

But it was. By an adult woman running for the highest office in the land.

Marianne tweeted with disgust, shellacking her 2.8 million followers with wisdom and warning:

“There is something deeply sinister about Trump pardoning Charles Manson, even posthumously. Dog whistles of the very worst possible kind…”

This is absolutely the first thing Donald Trump will do in the morning when he sees this (just deleted) tweet from Marianne Williamson. pic.twitter.com/wGg9fGid5e

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) December 9, 2019

C’mon folks.

As reported by Fox, there eventually came a correction:

The self-help author, who’s running a longshot candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination, later deleted the tweet and admitted the information was erroneous in a follow-up tweet. “Glad To have been wrong,” Williamson wrote in a tweet that she also subsequently deleted.

According to fact-checking website Snopes.com, the story about Trump and Manson is satirical and stems from a phony article published on Nov. 16 by MoronMajority.com. It was then picked up by political website the Daily Kos, which didn’t label the article satire, and it seems Williamson picked up on it over the weekend.

To be clear, I don’t mean to deride Marianne; she just happens to be a spotlighted someone who took seriously a silliness that many others seem ready to embrace.

But on the subject of her gaffe, will this help or hurt her campaign? On one hand, in addition to highlighting the idiotic place to which we’ve arrived, it makes her look naive. But it also gives her some press.

And she could use it — personally, I’ve found her YouTube ad an unusual approach to reaching for the White House. It strikes me as she just came in from a smoke break to tell me she’s running for president.

Regardless, since 2016, a chunk of life as we know it seems to have just come in from smoking crack.

It’s political war, and war is hell. Ter Skelter.

-ALEX

See 3 more pieces from me:

A Utah Stepmom May be Convicted as a Sex Offender for Showing Kids Her Breasts. She’s Claiming Feminism and Fairness

The ACLU Wishes Guys a Happy International Men’s Day – In Particular, ‘Men Who Get Their Periods’

A Famous Chef Attacks Hypocritical Hollywood Climate Clatterers, and It’s a Beautiful Day in the United States of America

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