America in Wonderland: Lewis Carroll’s Prediction of Things in his Alice Story

Alice in WonderlandTrump’s presidency in the first week brought back to mind Lewis Carroll’s story of Alice in Wonderland. Perhaps you know of it how Alice arrived in the court of justice and the king was in the judge’s chair and the jury was assembled. How the indictment accused the Knave of Hearts of stealing the Queen’s tarts. The trial took evidence and then:

`Let the jury consider their verdict,’ the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.

`No, no!’ said the Queen. `Sentence first–verdict afterwards.’

`Stuff and nonsense!’ said Alice loudly. `The idea of having the sentence first!’

`Hold your tongue!’ said the Queen, turning purple.

`I won’t!’ said Alice.

`Off with her head!’ the Queen shouted at the top of her voice. Nobody moved.

How well we now experience that in America.

We know that the Trump “[t]his week, . . . told members of Congress that he would have won the popular vote, were it not for 3 to 5 million votes cast against him by “illegals.” And when asked about it at the Tuesday press briefing, White House press secretary Sean Spicer affirmed that “the president does believe that.”

Now it is important whether this is true because it is in the head of the president since he has clearly stated it. You would think, unless you were in Alice’s world where the person was to be sentenced before the verdict, a statement by the president that there were millions of illegal votes would be based on something.

I know the Trump team and his supporters are pointing here and there to justify his statement. Just like they try to tell us that Trump was not lying when he said at the CIA that his inauguration was attended by a million or a million and a half people. Keep in mind his statement was preceded by him saying how he woke up and saw people showing pictures that the Mall was half full and that he saw the crowd out to the Washington Monument; or that his press secretary Spicer blamed the new flooring  (which wasn’t new) or the use of security devices (which were not used) and touted the transit figures (which were wrong). Rather than accepting Trump lied, his supporters try to justify his lie by changing the issue suggesting despite the clear evidence otherwise Trump was talking of the audience on TV, the Internet, etc.

This scares me because otherwise intelligent people who should know better are blindly accepting lies and justifying them by changing the question. That’s how society crumbles when people no longer call a lie a lie but look to justify it.

Now back to the three to five million people. What is remarkable about that is that now Trump himself admits that there is no evidence to back up his statement. On Wednesday he tweeted: “I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD . . .  . Depending on the results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!” 

We’ve already heard the verdict  from him — 3 to 5 million; now he wants an investigation. Isn’t that putting everything jackass end backwards? Conclusion first investigation afterwards.

Worse, he admits he has no idea of any voter fraud. Why else say “depending on the result.” He just makes up things and throws them out.

Alice in Wonderland Chessire CatWhich brings me back to Alice in Wonderland. When seeing the Duchess’s cat grin she said, “I didn’t know that Cheshire cats always grinned; in fact, I didn’t know that cats could grin.’

`They all can,’ said the Duchess; `and most of ’em do.’

`I don’t know of any that do,’ Alice said very politely, feeling quite pleased to have got into a conversation.

`You don’t know much,’ said the Duchess; `and that’s a fact.’

Alice in wonderland Donald-Trump-If the Duchess was around I’d have to guess she would say the same thing to Trump.

19 Comments

  1. I can hardly wait to hear what the talking heads have to say about Glorious Leader, tomorrow. He’s had a great first week in charge. Trump’s endorsed torture, been publicly humiliated by the Mexican President, and, shown to have serious ego problems. What’s up for next week’s blunders? I have faith our beloved President jackass will move on to even crazier behavior

  2. Marty Walsh is ootz-pin-pin, the Quiche Mayan expression for outstanding! Resist Trump!

    It’s a big day for DAESH. Glorious Leader alienated the entire Muslim population of the globe. Many Americans work in the Mideast and South Asia. Thanks to President jackass, they’ll be in a lot more danger, now.

    • Nah, they’ll follow the strong horse just as Osama opined.

    • “They’ll be in a lot more danger” because they will be among the adherents of the “religion of peace”? Does that not confirm the bias?

      • Tadzio and Ed, have either of you worked in the Mideast? I have. What do you base your opinions on? I have only personal experience to back me up. Does your expertise on Muslims come from reading Breitbart alt-facts?How about Christian terrorism?Do you think the Lord’s Army that terrorizes Uganda and CAR is reflective of the values of Christianity? Using your logic, perhaps, all Christians should be tarred with that brush. You are blinded by sectarian and racial prejudice.

        • “Lighten up, Francis”.

        • I would have to chime in on this with my biblical perspective. The US is going to fall, when? is anyones guess. We have $200+ trillion in debt. It would take us about 130,000+ years to pay off the 20 trillion debt alone. the world is in perplexity, the global markets are extremely fragile. No one has the answers. Babylon, Medo-Persians, Greeks and Rome, the 4 beasts of Daniel represents the beast, the current world system. We might have a short season to continue but somehow, someway, the US will fall. History repeats itself. Trump is crushing this global beast, a world governmental system, the beast. Heavy hitters like George Soros, Rockefellers, Warburgs and the like could very likely be in the midst of suffering for their sins.

          Qanon has put out a lot of powerful information. As Trump drains the swamp here, Saudi Arabia’s prince Salman is cleaning out his swamp. He has apparently held the royal family in custody in a Saudi power struggle which also cut off Hillary’s money supply from the KSA.

          2018 will be a huge year in the US.

  3. Part I:
    Oxford mathematician and photographer Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s, whose pen name of Lewis Carroll was a variant of his own name, created a story for the amusement of Alice Liddell, daughter of an Oxford Dean, and her female siblings. There are a few things of interest, including the concept of a world underground presented by karst geological features of northeast England, coal mines and subsidence.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Carroll

  4. O.K. folks: Name the top three Wikileaks leaks that changed the course of the election.
    Hint: #1 Chelsea’s spoiled
    #2. Debbie W. S. screwed Bernie Sanders
    #3. fill in the blank

    • #3 CNN’s Donna Brazille leaked debate questions to Hillary! (See #s1&2supra)
      And even with the rigged debates, and the MSM on her side, and most of the international press on her side, and outspending Trump by 2 to 1, Hillary still lost.
      So, the Tea Party’s happy, the pro-life movement is happy, and conservatives in general are happy . . .
      Like Humpty Dumpy, Hillary had a great fall . . . good for us all!
      God bless America:
      Trump has his faults and his many detractors. True!
      It’s good to hear many opinions, pro and con.
      Signed, a witness for the defense.

  5. Matt, usually I let you have the last word, but yesterday . . .
    1. I stated accurately Comey whitewashed Hillary! You said what about Comey’s October surprise? I say he whitewashed her then, too. He cleared her twice on the emails (in July and October), and he failed to prosecute on perjury before Congress.
    2. I stated accurately the DNC/Podesta emails were out by July. Zero effect on election. You replied Wikileaks leaked through November. Please indicate what Oct/Nov leaks, besides someone saying Chelsea was a “spoiled brat”, that had any effect on the election. I don’t recall any! What specifically did these leaks say? I’d like to know! I’d guess few voters know!
    3. Yesterday you said 4 million protested against Trump; the facts are 63 million voted for Trump. He won fair and square, as did four presidents who did not win the popular vote.
    4. You said Saudi Arabia never undermined a democracy. Foreign individuals are not supposed to indirectly contribute to campaigns, which I contend they did through the Clinton Foundation. How many elections has the U.S. undermined and attempted to undermine. I posted earlier a site referencing 80 attempts since WWII. Regime change is not a novel concept.
    End of story!

    • Bill:

      1. The opening by Comey of the investigation 11 days before the election while the polls for early voting was open gave Trump a huge boost. Deny it if you will. His subsequent exoneration two days before the election did nothing to remove the taint that followed the 9 days when suspicion hung heavily over her. To deny that is to deny reality.

      2. You were obviously wrong about the Podesta emails since they were not out by July. It was a drip, drip, drip up to election day. You now want to change the topic by admitting these went on through August, September, October and into November but then suggest they had no effect on the election. I and the Russian forces who put them out feel differently.

      3. Trump won with the help of Russian intrusion and interference and Comey’s indiscretion. That is not fair and square.

      4. Saudi’s contributions to Clinton foundation were open and notorious; the Russian interference was secretive and undermining.
      4.

  6. Excellent post, Matt.

  7. There is a wide range of opinion as the numbers of non-citizens voting.
    Here a qualified academic expert estimates well over 800,000 non-citizens voted in November 2016.
    https://www.odu.edu/directory/people/j/jrichman
    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/26/hillary-clinton-received-800000-votes-from-nonciti/

    Whatever the numbers we should all agree that any corrupter of our democracy deserves summary deportation. There is no excuse, no mitigating circumstance, that can justify this crime. They are cuckoo birds in the Republic’s nest.

    Further, prosecutions for any citizen or, more importantly any public official, who contributed overtly or negligently to a non-citizen voting, should be pursued. Elected officials who look the other way, send signals, appoint compromising individuals deserve the severest punishments allowable for each and every infraction.

    Zero tolerance for those who undermine our inherited form of governance.

    Whether the true numbers are near the high estimates or near the low estimates, a thorough investigation is warranted. Legislation and corrective measures will evolve out of the findings.

    Sunshine being the best disinfectant Congress must vote funds for a comprehensive study of the problem. Further funds may be needed to purge and reconstitute the voter roles in jurisdictions where the issue is acute.

    A country that has the means to determine the creditworthiness of hundreds of millions of market transactions per day can surely manage to assure the integrity of our democracy one or two or three days a year. Face it, opposition to verifiable honest elections is a sign of a person consumed with partisanship and a person who did not vote for President Trump.

    Let’s drain the swamp.

    • Tadzio:

      True we should only have those eligible to vote doing the voting and we should have a system to ensure that happens. I don’t think however that if there is skulduggery it is limited to one party so a thorough impartial investigation of the voting system and making sure those who are eligible to vote have easy access to the ballot and those who aren’t are prevented from voting and punished for any attempt to do so should be welcomed by all. Good comment.

  8. Matt and anyone else with intellectual curiosity: Please read the article cited below.
    Let’s start with the facts: A peer-reviewed paper published in 2014 by three university professors (with no axe to grind) concluded that at a minimum 38,000 illegals voted and at a maximum 2.5 million voted in the 2008 presidential election. In the 2016 election, with Trump threatening to deport, and with Obama promising no one would check voter registration rolls, many more illegals likely registered and voted.
    Read it with an open mind. It gets a bit complex, but it fairly presents all sides of the academic debate: http://www.justfactsdaily.com/substantial-numbers-of-non-citizens-vote-illegally-in-u-s-elections/
    2. The original authors have rebutted every criticism. The N.Y. Times, Wash. Post and Politifact never mention the original authors’ rebuttals.
    Read the end of the above article: “The Fact Checkers” which shows how the Washington Post’s FactCheckers and Politico’s Fact Checkers lie via omission, distortion and spin.
    3. The article uses plain language, although we all know that the ins-and-outs of research can get quite complex, and there are infinite variables, and humans are fallible and statistical tools are fallible, and it’s difficult to conceptualize things like “multivariant regression analyses” or “multifactorial analyses” or even calculus – – -but illegal voting is not to hard to conceptualize, and it seems to be a fact of life, like illegal immigration. The question is one of degree.
    4. As the above article concludes, even allowing for the illegals, it’s likely Hillary still would have won the popular vote . . . but the governor’s race in North Carolina may have turned out different.
    5. At least this article proves beyond doubt (to me) that the Wash Post and Politifact “lie”.
    6. Now, I’ll check “the rest of the story . . .”
    P.S. There is another group in Houston Texas, “True the Vote”, I think it’s called, that supposedly has data showing high numbers of illegals voting. Said to be publishing soon . . . Stay tuned!!!!

  9. John King McDonald

    He is a Showman ; a political Phineas T. Barnum. He is also an extremely shrewd business magnate. In a celebrity obsessed culture, pumped up like a life support lung bellows, by the Press, he has played the game and won the game.

    You are judging a Twenty- First Century Man by Eighteenth Century standards . And I am not talking about Alice In Wonderland! 🙂