In 37 AD, a man named Gaius Caesar Germanicus ascended to the throne of the Roman Empire. He is not best known by this legal name, however, as history remembers him better by a childhood nickname gifted to him by his guards. These worthies were amused by the young Gaius's affectation of a Roman soldier's footwear. They gave him the name "Little Boot," which in Latin, comes out "Caligula."
Caligula was almost certainly the worst Roman emperor, and as you may know, he was up against some pretty stiff competition. He engaged in capricious execution of political opponents and even his own family members, ordered a statue of himself erected in the Temple at Jerusalem (although he was dissuaded from that later), and invaded and sacked Gaul; when his Gallic army of conquest reached the Atlantic coast, instead of springing on to Britain, he ordered them to collect seashells.
He was capricious, possibly insane, not very bright, and a very early example of the Dunning-Kruger effect in action. So in what ways is he comparable to political leaders today? Well, aside from the political assassinations - things aren't yet that bad (or are they?) - we have a political organization in place today that is characterized by dementia, stupidity, and overweening pride, and that organization is the Democratic Party.
Granted both parties have, historically, had bad examples. But the current Democrat leadership seems determined to make it the standard.
My colleague Nick Arama recently presented one example in the form of President Biden's speech before the UN General Assembly:
Just exactly how bad was it? Joe Biden didn't seem to even know what he was trying to say when his brain froze mid-sentence here as he started talking about the 21st century. He just looked off into space for a moment.
Biden's brain freezes during his UN speech: "The 21st century, 21st century results..." pic.twitter.com/hAJ1CiHH4U
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 19, 2023
We've seen time and again examples of the president's mental and physical failures. It's past the point now where one can feel anything but pity for the failing president and suspicion that he is being cruelly used by persons behind the scenes.
It doesn't stop there, of course. We also have Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, for whom Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (more on him in a moment) inexplicably changed Senate rules to allow Fetterman to continue to dress like a 12-year-old bound for a marathon gaming session. Senator Fetterman himself has made increasingly bizarre statements on this, as Arama has again pointed out:
As I reported, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) blasted this move as "lowering the bar." Fetterman tried to clap back at her by talking about her showing pics of a "ding-a-ling" -- a reference to the pictures of Hunter Biden that she showed on the House floor during a hearing. But he didn't seem to get this only highlighted the Biden scandal, so it wasn't quite the clapback that he thought it was.
But if all that wasn't bizarre enough, Fetterman added another weird chapter during an interview he did with Chris Hayes on MSNBC when Hayes spoke about the battle over keeping the government running and claimed the House was falling apart on the issue. While Fetterman praised his Democratic colleagues in the House, he also took a vile shot at the Republicans in the House.
Fetterman: "The House, the whatever they call themselves Team America or whatever they call themselves, bring your vote otherwise they need to go hump a different leg." pic.twitter.com/Hh6DGO8mfi
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 19, 2023
Another example comes to us from California, where Governor Gavin Newsom, in between signing laws and orders seeing to California' continued economic ruin, has come to the defense of the corrupt Hunter Biden. My colleague Bonchie has that story:
The California governor, who continues to seek out national media attention despite insisting he won't step into the presidential race for any reason, sat down with CNN's Dana Bash. The liberal "journalist" proceeded to frame a question on Hunter Biden's business dealings this way.
"One of the things that Republicans are relentless on, of course, is Hunter Biden," CNN host Dana Bash began. "There is no evidence that Joe Biden benefited from anything that Hunter was doing, but Republicans have shown that Hunter Biden – he tried to leverage his father's name, and that the president allegedly before he was president joined phone calls that Hunter Biden's business associates were on. Do you see anything inappropriate there?"
I'll get to Newsom's response, but can we all just pause for a moment and admire the sheer level of bias illustrated by Bash? It's not enough for her to just ask what the governor thinks. She has to first editorialize and insist that "there is no evidence that Joe Biden benefited from anything that Hunter was doing."
That's just blatantly false. We have emails from Hunter Biden complaining that he was being forced to give his father half his income. Income, mind you, that was being earned through the aforementioned corrupt business dealings. Never mind that Joe Biden is directly implicated in having meetings with his son's business partners, including a Russian oligarch who mysteriously paid the Biden family $3 million afterward (and then avoided being put on the Biden administration sanctions list).
Hunter Biden himself has indulged in a career worthy of that worst of all Roman Emperors; he carried on an affair with his dead brother's widow, indulged himself in weeks-long binges with drugs and prostitutes, impregnated a stripper and then fought bitterly to avoid supporting or even acknowledging the resulting child. In between debauched, Hunter has globe-hopped around the planet offering the support of the Biden Brand to any corrupt political figures in Ukraine, China, or elsewhere who were willing to write checks with plenty of zeroes on them, with 10 percent for "The Big Guy."
Folks, our political situation is venturing into the bizarre. Comparisons to the fall of Rome are inescapable. Washington City has become a refuge for the corrupt, the incompetent, and the senile. We have a Senate Majority Leader - the aforementioned Chuck Schumer - who essentially threatened the Supreme Court with bodily harm. We have a military for whom wokeness and climate change have replaced war-fighting as a priority. We have elected representatives from certain districts who lack the brainpower to pound sand but who keep getting re-elected. Our currency is devalued, and our national law enforcement agencies are compromised. It's hard to see a way back.
As the supposed old Chinese proverb states, we live in "interesting times."
This seems appropriate.
