A Thousand Stooges Syndrome

 There's an episode of The Simpsons (season 11, episode 12) where the evil, decrepit Mr. Burns goes to the Mayo Clinic. After a montage of examinations (including Mr. Burns getting stuck in the gears of an MRI machine), the doctor gives Burns the bad news: he's got everything. Every disease. 

"You mean I have pneumonia?" asks Burns.

"Yes," the doctor answers.

"Juvenile diabetes?"

"Yes."

"Hysterical pregnancy?"

"A-a little bit, yes."

But this isn't as bad as it sounds, the doctor reassures him. To explain, he takes out a tiny model doorway and a pile of little fuzzy toys of different colors. The fuzzies, he says, represent different diseases. The door represents Mr. Burns's body. They all try to cram in at once--the doctor grabs a handful and stuffs them into the doorway--but they get stuck. 

 

"We call it 'Three Stooges Syndrome,'" the doctor says, punctuating the explanation with sound effects and catchphrases from Larry, Curly, and Moe. 

Mr. Burns is enraptured. "So what you're saying," he concludes, "is I'm indestructible?"

 "Oh, no, no," the doctor counters. "Why, even a slight breeze--" 

"Indestructible," Burns interrupts, savoring the word.

This image crops up whenever I read the daily news about the latest mix of cruel, craven, and confused moves by the Trump (Trump/Musk) administration. They're doing so much, all at once, that's so objectionable on so many levels simultaneously. 

I get that's the aim--flood the zone and all that. But I'm wondering--hoping, at this point--that we might start to see some backfire here. Most of Trump's big-news executive orders (e.g., rescinding birthright citizenship, cutting funding for national agencies, firing independent councils, granting DOGE free rein and zero independent oversight) have been balked by court orders. Even some GOP senators (not nearly enough!) are now murmuring that Trump needs to back down and respect the rule of law. But instead he just keeps producing more and more toxic/unlawful/unenforceable executive orders.

Trump I was deft at deflecting blame. Since he faced a divided Congress, he was often able to foist responsibility for his administration's blunders onto the opposing party.

But right now Trump's wackadoodle plans (and/or their confusing and disastrous) are crowding the doorway of media attention. It's a thousand stooges syndrome--110% Trump craziness, all the time. And there just isn't a lot there that's positive. Even as so many of his moves appeal to the most fanatical parts of his base, their sweeping nature (and clumsy execution) impacts even his own supporters. I saw a clip of some farmers, for instance--Trump voters all--griping about how his tariffs-on-everything policy was making their lives worse. (I could wonder how these gentlemen could have been surprised by Trump's move; he was crystal clear that he was going to step boldly onto that rake.)

And right now, there's no other moves on offer that Trump could lift up as blameworthy. Now, it may be that he and the Fox/rightwing mediasphere can frame his crusade against the judiciary--the "activist judges" who dare to check his executive overreach--as a righteous battle by an embattled David (Trump, in his mind) against a corrupt Goliath. But I'm not seeing that catch on. 

Trump has a lot of trouble sharing a spotlight. He wants to be seen stuffing all those executive orders into the public consciousness, moving fast and breaking things, making strong (stupid, alienating, utterly unwise) gestures. I think--I hope--it might be harder for him to avoid the "find out" part of such F-ing around. 

He thinks he's indestructible. I'm hopeful such hubris will prove vulnerable to a slight breeze soon.