Cartoon Heroes And The Real Reason Trump Was Elected

Littlechild@emperorsnuclothes.com/ January 6, 2020/ Uncategorized

Of the many cartoon characters that I cherished as a youngster there’s one that I loved above the rest. The TV cartoon universe of the 50s (like the current 2020 Democrat contenders) was a crowded field! Unlike the 2020 Democrats however, there were many great ones. There was the madcap Daffy Duck, the perennial loser Wylie Coyote, the “smarter than your average bear” Yogi Bear, the endearing Mickey and Minnie Mouse, the not so clever Donald Duck, the “exit stage left” Snagglepuss, the suave Pepe La Pew, the ornery Yosemite Sam, the blue collar Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble, the futuristic George Jetson, Felix the Cat (and his “bag of tricks”), Casper the friendly ghost, the cool Top Cat, the heroic Mighty Mouse, the virtuous Popeye the Sailor Man, the lovable Rocky and Bullwinkle along with their adversaries Boris and Natasha Badenoff, the affable Magilla Gorilla, the ever optimistic Woody Woodpecker, the stuttering Porky Pig, and the visually challenged Mr. Magoo. All of these were wonderful in their own way. But, at the top of this august cartoon pantheon, there is one that I loved above the rest: Bugs Bunny. And, in this preference, I know I’m not alone. In my completely informal, and totally unscientific poll of fellow baby boomers, Bugs always comes out on top. WHY?

The answer is easy: Bugs Bunny was COOL. And, he was smart. Way smarter than his nemesis, Elmer Fudd. Way smarter than anyone, in fact. And there was the swagger: when a villain would foolishly underestimate him, he’d turn and look at the viewer and proclaim “he don’t know me very well, do he?” He was always one step ahead of his enemies. Just when they thought they had the jump on him, he’d size up the situation, take a bite of his carrot and say: “Eh, what’s up doc?” He was NEVER intimidated. And, if the reader will excuse a colloquialism, he was something of a “wise ass” to boot.

Some might call him an antihero, but whether he was a hero or antihero, he appealed to a large swath of baby boomers, myself included. Looking back on it now, it seems that, although we young baby boomers didn’t label it as such at the time, Bugs was a representative of an important vein in the American character, a vein that I’ll call, simply, the “individualists.”

Such “individualists” are independent by nature. They are self reliant. Suspicious of authority. Distrustful of elites. Egalitarian by temperament. Unafraid to draw their own conclusions and stick by them. Unafraid to stand up for what is right, no matter what others might think. Reverent when they choose to be. Irreverent when they choose to be. Willing to go their own way. Willing to march to the beat of their own drum. Inherently unconventional. Allergic to big government. Something of a cowboy, perhaps. In short, everything that today’s modern “politically correct” automatons are not. And we loved him for it.

And, so with it is with Mr. Trump. By his nature, he too is independent and unconventional. Rising to prominence in, what one commentator has called “the most vicious ‘shark tank’ in the world: New York City real estate”, he is tenacious. And cunning. He has an anti authoritarian mind set. He is inherently distrustful of “elites.” He has an egalitarian temperament, prompting one commentator to call him “a blue collar billionaire.” And he CAN NOT be intimidated. When Hillary, Pelosi, Schumer, Nadler, Schiff and their ilk throw what they think is a bombshell at him, like Bugs, he sizes up the situation, takes a bite of his carrot and says, nonchalantly, “Eh, what’s up doc?” And, back in 2016, when the elites explained to him (and us) how he’d never be elected, like Bugs Bunny, he turned to us directly and said: “They don’t know me very well, do they?”