“King of Hearts” was a French film released in 1966. Due to a confluence of events that could only happen in the midst of chaos, the lunatics take over the asylum.
It is World War I. The Germans withdraw from a formerly occupied village that contains, among other things, an asylum. As they withdraw, they leave behind explosives intending to destroy the village in their wake. All the residents flee the potential danger neglecting to unlock the doors to the asylum. Eventually, the lunatics leave the asylum and take over the village. Enter the Scotsman.
The Scotsman arrives to defuse the bombs. The tension builds as the Scotsman tries to convince the others to allow him to defuse the bombs. Do the crazies perceive the danger? Do they care? Will the Scotsman be allowed to save them all? Will the logic of the sane Scot or the certifiably insane prevail?
Any of this sound familiar? It does to me. You have an election denier and leader of the insurrection rising to defend and protect the Constitution — starting when? — and being elected speaker of the House of Representatives in the nick of time to close it all down (again). The new speaker is anti-abortion, -Ukraine, -debt, -LGBTQ rights, and -gun control. Wait, he doesn’t hate everything, he is a spokesman for a hate group, so there’s that. Also, he likes Trump.
Ah yes … Trump. Is what we are watching — Trump in the Courtroom — really just a lack of impulse control? Intrapersonally, it has made him morbidly obese, and that is life-threatening. Interpersonally, it has made him more lethal with a keypad than others are with an AR-15. A danger to himself and others – yikes, the very definition of insane. So, is he crazy, or crazy like a fox?
Matt Gaetz, alleged sex trafficker and solicitor of sex with a minor — what a guy! All charges against Gaetz were dropped (though his business partner is serving 11 years for the same charges), and he has established himself as a power in the House. If he hadn’t tipped the apple cart, would Michael Johnson — who? — be the Speaker? So, which is it? Are they all crazy or crazy like foxes?
Perhaps they are fast learning the art of minority rule while the other side is congratulating themselves that majority rules at the polls. I have absolute faith in the American public and its voting record, but governing occurs between elections.
In the end, does the sane Scot — with the intent of saving the world, or at least one corner of it — prevail? Or do the lunatics? Our last bastion against chaos in Congress, the moderate anti-Trump Republicans, held out for 17 days and then collapsed. In the last scene of “King of Hearts,” the Scotsman, the only sane person in the village, stands at the gates of the asylum prepared to enter the asylum, the bombs still ticking.
That is what we can see: the slow slide redefining sanity, the grudging acceptance of alternate facts — even acceptance of an alternate reality. Worst of all, we see the slow acceptance that might makes right in place of valuing other things. Accepting that having money means someone is smarter or more worthy of position — in place of valuing other characteristics.
Well, we can see all that. It is happening before our eyes. What happens in closed rooms and private conversations? Maybe these clowns and chaos makers are the crazies. Maybe in the shadows are very sane puppeteers guiding their actions until the ticking time bombs — unimpeded — go off.
