Twits: The Political Pony Show

As I was doing my morning ritual of trudging through the newsfeed of my Facebook page, I noticed there was picture of Ted Cruz. I was about to delete it because I thought it was political spam. However, I didn’t because it was a meme and like all political bunnies who are easily brainwashed before coffee, I read the meme and played along. The meme said “If you could describe Ted Cruz in one word, what would it be?”

Usually, I wouldn’t participate in such nonsensical wastes of time but I did.

I immediately wrote the word “zealot.”

Before I threw in my one word description of the man I saw one word descriptions like “president’ or “patriot” and wondered if my pre-coffee disgust of political games on social media got the best of me.

While Ted Cruz is certainly a contender for President, I am just annoyed at the fact that he is just another candidate who brings God into Caesar’s court.

When I was young I was taught that breaking the third commandment meant more than just using the name of the lord is a similar fashions as a curse word, I was taught that the lord takes very seriously oaths that are made in his name, that if these covenants and oaths are broken, this is a violation and that anyone who uses the name of god for political or even religious affiliation for economic, or social advantage are also in violation of this commandment.

This is why I gave my one word description of Ted Cruz and the word was, “zealot.”

It was after I used that one word description that the others that followed were “liar,” “suspicious,” “fraud,” “Satanist” and “Canadian.”

Of course, I smirked at “Canadian” because of the allegations that he wasn’t an American Citizen.

I then saw an entry on Facebook condemning all the haters on the thread and I thought whoever posted it asked for a one word description which seems to be an open ended set up for disaster.

I felt like I started something, and then it hit me – these one word descriptions sound like they could be coming out of the mouth of Donald Trump and that when Trump speaks and people applaud, it is because what he says seems to be right out of Facebook or Twitter.

Then I thought, this is why he is so popular – Donald Trump speaks the new inflammatory internet language that is often seen on Facebook and Twitter.

Keeping succinct jabs and epithets to a 140 character minimum is good for the Google algorithm.

Obama was once called the Facebook pacesetter back in 2008 as he used social media to connect with the public.

However, now we are realizing that long drawn out You Tube streams, bickering on Snap chat and all of the other internet banter is not always what a voter looks for. They are looking for confident, non politically correct rebelliousness, thus we see he popularity for an outspoken inflammatory populist, and a white haired anti-establishment socialist. By the way, Bernie Sanders has over two million hits on Facebook.

This is why the elections are unraveling.

Jeb Bush recently dropped out of the GOP race and it can be painfully obvious as to why. His internet presence lacked confidence and many say that this is what killed him.

For example, one of the most Googled questions on the Internet before he dropped out was “Is Jeb Bush still running for President?” Very telling of how the top of the mind awareness of Bush online was next to zero. Could it be because Jeb Bush’s campaign never bothered to buy JebBush.com? So the person who owned it, decided to do something else with it instead: redirect it to Donald Trump’s website.

People saw this as openly pathetic, but not as openly pathetic as the You Tube Video that went viral showing Jeb at a pre-political rally in New Hampshire begging his audience to clap after he spoke, or doing the most awkward thing of all and that is asking his mom to say bad things about the school bully that picked on him at the debates and that bully of course, is Donald Trump.

Trump has over 4 million Twitter followers because reading his tweets and sharing them moves quickly through the news cycle giving reporters and pundits fresh bait to feed on.

What Trump understands is that the best way to dominate the online discussion is not to inform but to provoke others to react to what he says and this gives him more attention without having to pay for nasty robo calls, billboards, or even campaign commercials.

It is also interesting to note that the heavy hitters in the election have all had cameos on Saturday Night Live. Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders have all been lampooned and have appeared as good sports to all of the political commentary.

SNL has made fun of Trumps ego, has made Hillary look crazed and power hungry, and Sanders as a grumpy, old Jewish uncle.

Meanwhile, Ted Cruz is depicted as a weasel, Jeb as a wimp, and Ben Carson as a mumbling light weight.

Is it a mistake that they don’t appear acknowledging their caricatures?

All of this has changed the dynamics of what captures the attention of the voters.

Authority and respect don’t matter on social media; they have to be earned at each moment. You’re only as relevant as your last tweet, you are only as personal and voter friendly based on your appearances on Ellen, The View, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert.

It is confidence over capability. It is grabbing the attention that captures the search terms on Yahoo.

When Kennedy debated Nixon, it was how good Kennedy looked on TV that won the debate.

Today, it is all about how a candidate’s personality and platform can fit on a cell phone, and whatever they are, will have to be said and presented fast, precise, and with a confident tone.

Twitter and Facebook, Snap chat, and Instagram have changed what the country wants and expects from its would-be leaders.

It literally has become a personality contest. What lurks on the internet are people who believe that they are anti-establishment.

Those conservatives that believe nationalism and America first values are rebelling against Liberal PC attitudes see Trump as a savior. Those who are liberal and feel anti-establishment are against big bankers, Wall Street, and the 1 percent. Sanders is the antithesis of Trump and since his internet presence doesn’t rely on abused political words like “Brave,” “Fighters,” “Stronger,” “Believer”— the youth see him as an innovator that will bring equality with democratic socialism.

With the internet and Smart phone politics, the victory belongs to those who can grab the attention of the perpetually distracted.

It is kind of like that scene in the movie “Revenge of the Nerds” where the Alpha beta Jocks always won the Greek Games with the same old tired skits and activities. It was the nerdy underdogs, who used fireworks and new technology to get the attention of the crowd and eventually win a seat on the Greek council, beating the Jocks.

Legacy and experience mean nothing.

A perfect example of this is how the phrase “Feel the Bern” has become the rallying cry of the Sanders campaign. Another example is how a weird and bizarre candidate named Vermin Supreme almost came in second place during the vote in New Hampshire.

Vermin Supreme runs as a member of the Free Pony Party, and wears a boot on his head. His campaign promises have gone viral on the internet, and those who see him as entirely anti-establishment have rebelled and nearly upset the voter percentages to the point of out polling Hillary Clinton.

Vermin Supreme has been running since 1987, but it isn’t until now that he has gotten the attention of voters who are tired of all of it.

Vermin Supreme is just a performance artist and not a real presidential candidate but that did not stop voters from writing him in as a candidate and making him come in fourth place, or third place if your don’t count Martin O’Malley’s votes.

O’Malley dropped out of the race before the New Hampshire primaries.

Supreme has made some interesting campaign promises which may or may not be the reason he has gained so much support.

He has promised to institute mandatory tooth brushing for every American. He believes that gingivitis has been eroding the gum line of this great nation of ours for long enough and must be stopped.

He believes in time travel research and says he is the only candidate that is willing to fully fund time travel, in order to go back in time and kill baby Hitler with his bare hands before he’s even born.

He is also a believer in zombie preparedness. He says that he is the only candidate who has a plan to protect America from the imminent zombie invasion and wants to harness what he calls the awesome power of zombies to create electric energy utilizing the latest in giant hamster wheel technology.

He also believes in free ponies for all Americans and will put into place a federal pony identification system where you must have your pony with you at all times.

It’s worth noting that he is not the only candidate who has said he would kill baby Hitler. Last November, Jeb Bush was asked if he would kill baby Hitler and he said, “hell yeah, I would.”

There aren’t that many people who knew this. Bush and others have been plagued with not generating enough public interest – and as you can already guess Vermin Supreme has.

Critics say that these strategies to gain attention are counterproductive and that these novelty candidates, namely Trump and Sanders are holding on to their leads in the poles because of low information voters.

These critics suggest that this will all fade and that candidates like Cruz, Rubio and Clinton will gain their true place as serious candidates.

But are they right?

They look at Trump as being as credible as Vermin Supreme and that he tarnishes the election with his provocative speech.

Vermin Supreme says he paved the way for Donald Trump by bringing ridiculousness to the masses – only it seems that Trump is more convincing.

Text – Check out Ground Zero Radio with Clyde Lewis Live Nightly @ http://www.groundzeromedia.org