Christmas was definitely different this year – with the family coming down to Dubai and staying in my shoebox of an apartment. I got the sense that my folks don’t really understand why I like it here, but they are thirty-five years older than me so I don’t expect them to. What was strange, despite the fact that she is a grown up, is my Mom’s utter despair that I didn’t have a means whereby she could watch the Mrs Browns Boys Christmas Special. I don’t consider my mother an “Irish Mammy” but fuck me she kicked off something rotten when I told her the bad news. Apparently there was someone new playing someone old or some shit. I don’t really pay attention to small time entertainment so I couldn’t tell you what was going on. I don’t pay too much attention to celebrity gossip either and I am certainly not one to engage in politics. Yeah, I watch the E! channel on my days off and I love to catch up on Ellen, on YouTube, if I’ve been away and missed it. As far as politics go, I couldn’t tell you if Bertie Ahern is still the Prime Minister of Ireland although my gut tells me the old dog is still fighting away in Leinster House. What I have found confusing lately is that E! has drifted more and more into politics with their coverage of all things Trump and his family.

 

Anyway, I was just minding my own business the other day, catching up on the Golden Globes red carpet fashion, when some one suggested that Oprah is going to run for President in 2020. First things first, there seemed to be some sort of acceptance that everyone was going to wear black, which I’m not sure I fully understand but it ruined the red carpet for me. My best guess is it’s related to a protest about Black Lives Matter or something along those lines and maybe that explains why everyone is banging on about Oprah’s speech. I’m yet to actually listen to her speech, but it would appear that if she opens her mouth and strings a sentence together in an articulate fashion, she is potentially a presidential candidate.

 

I suppose America can only thank itself for what will essentially be a Presidential race between the King of the Fools and the Queen of Entertainment and Racial Equality. I am to politics what a ten year old is to driving cars. The concept is there but I can’t quite join the dots. I find it very hard to reconcile with exactly how it all works, but I genuinely thought that you had to be a politician to become the political leader of a country. My gut tells me I’m right, but maybe I am wrong and Donald Trump has always been a political activist and I wasn’t aware.

 

I’ve got no dog in this fight and I have to be careful how I judge the US Presidential election as in Ireland we have, on a number of occasions, had a rubber turkey run for President. However, if Oprah does decide to run for President I think that it would be great because she is actually a successful businesswoman! Trump on the other hand has a litany of business failures in his rear view mirror and also seems to suffer from some form of mental disorder that is most likely related to the silver spoon lodged in his rectum. It’s fair to say the spoon has most likely blocked his ability to cleanse his system properly over the years resulting in him being the most full of shit person in history. No matter what way this plays out I am sure that E! will be covering it with a hunger akin to Trump’s cheeseburger obsession. My only misgiving is that the two-party system will eradicate the possibility that Kermit the Frog will get the opportunity to enter the race. Better than Pepe the Frog all the same.

 

Photo by Lloyd Dirks on Unsplash