More Like Lord Of The Rings

Last month,  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) made the rather hysterically funny comment that the current GOP resembles “‘The Office character Dwight Schrute, a power-hungry, mustard yellow shirt-wearing paper salesman who lives on a beet farm” (to quote Huffpost).

Honestly, truth be told and full disclosure…I didn’t get the joke at first. I don’t watch The Office. Never have. I’m one of those pathetic people who just can’t take cringe humor. When I see someone making a total fool of themselves and being mortified on the screen, I sort of get mortified along with them. Maybe it is because I’ve made a fool of myself in public so many times that it is just a little too close to the bone.

But, once I heard about Ms. Oscasio-Cortez’s remark, I did go look up Mr. Schrute, and discovered that he is, indeed, an interesting character. Does he resemble the modern GOP? Well, yes. Wikipedia notes that “Dwight craves authority over his co-workers, and relishes any minor task that Michael or anyone else will give him. Although Dwight acts superior to many individuals and is often resourceful in crises, he is shown to actually be quite gullible, ignorant, and naïve. For this reason, he is easily tricked and pranked by his desk-mate and fellow salesman, Jim Halpert.” The actor who plays him, the talented Rainn Wilson, refers to him as a “Fascist nerd.”

So, yes, AOC has a good point. Still, Schrute isn’t quite my idea of the GOP, with its abject servility to Trump, its abandonment of its own basic beliefs, and its all too apparent eagerness to betray the constitution and the nation as a whole. So, no. If we must have the GOP represented by someone from popular culture, let’s pick another character from another mythos.

Specifically, let’s do Lord Of The Rings.

And even more specifically, Gollum…

Craven, hideous and pale, corrupt, worshiping power and wealth…my precious…

And, most of all, in terror of the Sun…

Whose Light and Truth will burn him, and consume him, utterly…

And forever.