Las Vegas magicians Penn and Teller have a television show called Fool Us. The premise of the show is that other magicians perform in front of the two masters of magic, and they try to do just what it says in the show’s title. They try to fool Penn and Teller. After they perform, Penn and Teller have a little discussion about how the trick was done and then speak in code to the performers. In some form of magic speak, they let them know if they were fooled or not.

99% of the time, they don’t fool Penn and Teller. 100% of the time, they fool me.

I’ve always been fascinated by magic—the ability to suspend disbelief momentarily.

Webster’s dictionary defines the phrase suspend disbelief as “To allow oneself to believe that something is true even though it seems impossible.”

The dictionary goes on to give the example of going to a movie where the plot is ridiculous, but if you can suspend disbelief, it can be an enjoyable movie. If you want to enjoy the story, you have to ignore reality.

I feel that half of the country has suspended their disbelief when it comes to what is going on in America right now. They have to do that in order to enjoy the story of this administration.

They suspend their disbelief to think that high tariffs will bring manufacturing jobs back to America. Even though every economist and trade expert says that if they do bring some of those factory jobs back, it will take years. By then, the workers will be replaced by robots and computers.

They want to believe that only criminal illegal immigrants are being deported. But the reality is that many of those who have been sent out of the country do not have a criminal record. Some are deported even though they have documentation that lets them stay here legally.

They want to believe that men are cutting off their penises just so they can play women’s sports or take a dump in the lady’s room. The reality of gender dysphoria is a much more complex issue.

They want to believe that all these cuts for “waste, fraud and abuse” are really uncovering waste, fraud and abuse.

Fraud is a crime. Where are the arrests? Trump has already pardoned five politically connected felons convicted of tax fraud. Two politicians, two reality TV stars, and a Florida businessman.

Wholesale firings of government employees don’t stop waste if it makes these departments less efficient. It isn’t stopping waste if the government must pay lawyers to defend those firings in court, only to have judges tell them to bring those workers back.

Wouldn’t you consider having a multi-million-dollar military parade on the president’s birthday a waste? Or the millions spent every weekend so he can fly to one of his golf resorts to play with big donors?

As far as abuse goes, what would you call federal agents barging into Democratic Congressional offices or arresting judges in their courtrooms?

President Trump got elected and reelected by voters, suspending their disbelief. They thought Mexico was going to pay for the wall. Or that he could stop wars in a day. Or that immigrants in Ohio were stealing and eating cats and dogs.

And you must really suspend disbelief to think that President Trump’s behavior is normal. Yes, people close to Joe Biden suspended disbelief when they thought he was able to continue the responsibilities of the presidency. Pointing out President Trump’s mental issues isn’t whataboutism. Both things can be true.

One of the latest examples of Trump’s craziness and lies happened the other day. He put out a late-night tweet claiming that Joe Biden was executed in 2020 and replaced by clones. (Yes, he really did that. I wish I were making it up.)

Suspending disbelief can be very entertaining. Fool Us is a fun show to watch. But what is happening in our country right now is not Reality TV. It is REALITY!!!

Penn and Teller speak in magicians’ code because they don’t want to ruin it for everybody by telling them how the trick is done.

Trump’s allies speak in political code, trying not to ruin it for his administration. But Mike Flood broke the politicians’ code by admitting he didn’t have a clue about all that was in that bill. Don Bacon admitted they were in a hurry to get home for the Memorial Day holiday.

If the House, Senate, the Courts, and the voters don’t speak up loudly, Donald Trump will have performed the biggest magic trick of all. He will have made democracy disappear.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

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