Is pretend politics—hawking a counterfeit self—the ultimate right-wing propaganda?

Hypocrisy is a tribute that vice pays to virtue.” – La Rochefoucauld

“The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy.” – Wm. Hazlitt

It’s no scoop tying MAGA with lying:
Recall only needless COVID dying;
But shameless, non-stop mendacity
Hides a worse crime: rank hypocrisy.

Sure, candidates relish make-believe,
Slippery slopes that dodge and deceive;
But lying differs from willful pretense—
Faking your self—the telltale offense.

The Donald leads GOP parades,
Pretend rage drives tedious charades;
Malicious pandering suits this snake—
Bogus branding fits a populist fake. 

His opening scam, as hot shot tycoon,
Collapsed when failure roiled the buffoon;
Candidate as troll his next scurvy scam,
All prep for lurid White House flimflam.

The worst loser morphs into martyr,
“I was robbed” cries the mock usurper;
Inciting a last-ditch insurrection,
More drama—but where’s his detention?

Up next counterfeit George Santos,
Dumb-bell lies hides his double-cross;
He playacted being a real person—
Instead arose cartoon perversion.

He overtopped mere mendacity,
Betrayed by his own rapacity;
His phony life had no there there,
A leaky balloon full of swamp air. 

Speaker McCarthy’s another spook,
A phantom imposter, two-faced fluke.
His leadership a wobbly delusion,
A pawn of vile MAGA collusion. 

For “real” Rethugs one looks in vain—
It’s quicksand, whether frauds or insane. 
Their monstrous burlesques never quit
All is pretense—all but real bullshit. 

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