The Ass Clown of the Year for 2016

First of all, Happy New Year!

2016 was a terrible year for a lot of reasons - the number of noteworthy people who died during the course of the year and the election of the most manifestly unqualified person ever to run for president for starters. It was the easiest year ever in which to select the 26 Ass Clown awardees for this blog ... in fact, my biggest problem was in deciding where to set the cutoff line for qualifications.

The people have spoken, and I have received a huge number of responses to my call for votes for Ass Clown of the Year. For the first time since I've been presenting this award, the winner won in an incredible landslide - not even the most rabid Trumpian believer in vote rigging would call for a recount with a winning margin this big.

Here's how it looked at the end:

In fifth place, the Gatlinburg Arsonists - twenty-one (21) votes.

In fourth place, Fake News Authors - twenty-six (26) votes.

In third place, The Republican Party - thirty-one (31) votes.

In second place, Donald Trump - eighty-two (82) votes.

And the winner, taking first place with a staggering one hundred fifty-five (155) votes -

The Ass Clown of the Year

for

2016

The American Electorate

One of my old friends who lives in Germany said he was tempted to vote for the American Electorate, but voted for Donald Trump instead because it was not fair to blame the American Electorate as a whole for the outcome of the election - after all, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly three million votes, even though she lost in the Electoral College*. Nevertheless, I think the award is justified by the credulousness of those who voted for Donald Trump and the fecklessness of those who did not do their duty and vote.

For voting to turn the leadership of the Free World over to a thin-skinned, narcissistic billionaire whose idea of civil discourse and responsible statesmanship is sending insults by Twitter, The American Electorate is named our Ass Clown of the Year for 2016.

Sadly, we'll need to live with the consequences of their award for the next four years.

Have a good day and a happy new year. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

* And try explaining that to your friends in other countries. In a foreign language.