Howdy Doody

When I was a child (how many reminiscences start with that phrase!) when someone did something that angered me, I would face my opponent, scrunch up my reddened visage and scream, “You’re a doody-head.” And then I would take back my ball and go home. Now, I don’t think that this indictment referred to the television puppet Howdy Doody, whose show was hosted by Buffalo Bob alongside with Clarabelle, the clown and the eponymous wooden character. I did watch the show with childlike avidity and delight, and even recall begging my parents to enroll me in the seated audience gallery filled with children of my age group, but alas, my enjoyment was to continue seated on the floor before the black and white Philco television set in the family living room. Nor did the barb doody-head refer to the cheerful greeting, howdy doody! employed by my nana, Rose, who exclaimed as I walked through the door into her apartment, “Well, Howdy doody!” as she ushered me into her kitchen and sat me down with a piece of her home-made cake and a glass of milk.. No, my use of the taunt, doody-head, referred to the occasion of my enemy’s head become human excrement. As I got older the insult transformed into the phrase, “You’ve got your head up your ass!”

I recalled this connection with regard to the more recent childish retort rising from the potty mouth of Trump, though certainly not at all an isolated incident in the public discourse of this man. He has been too long at the fair. A Federal judge had ruled against the administration’s actions of deporting Venezuelans against court orders. Trump replied, “This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges I am forced to appear before should be IMPEACHED.” Trump continued, describing Judge James Boasberg as a “Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama.” In essence and in his frustration Trump was calling Judge James Boasberg a doody-head! And this seems to be Trump’s sole strategy when he experiences any opposition to his plans. The Red Queen would call out, “Off with their heads,” but even Trump cannot (so far) organize the execution of his perceived enemies, though he has thus far fired a large contingent of government workers. But who knows what he intends as we head into the reign of this wannabe autocrat . . . But to my mind, Trump’s rage mirrored that of a six-year-old child who had been frustratingly resisted by somebody. You’re a doody-head, he screamed. Except he is 78 years old and the President of a nation founded on the premise of division of powers in the branches of a democratic government!
            Enough. I’ve wasted a good hour of my time thinking about Trump. I’ve got to step out of the muck and engage in something lovely.