The Fair

Leave it to the local GOP to muck up a good time.

There’s no escaping the fucker.

So last night I attended the Sea Country Festival, the annual weekend-long carnival held in Laguna Niguel. And, as always, it was fantastic. Tons of rides, games, food, vendors. As a guy who was born and raised in a small town with a centerpiece summer fair, I’d argue Sea County is one of the best such events in all of America.

And, truly, one of the things I dig about these things is the unity. The festival never feels left or right, combative or intrusive. It’s a celebration of locals. Of us.

That being said …

Because I am a man of the people, I made sure to stop at the booth for the South Orange County Republicans, where a fleet of (friendly, warm) people handed out literature and fielded questions. In the moment, the organization’s big issue is Proposition 50, aka the Election Rigging Response Act brought forth by Gavin Newsom. Lord, does the local GOP loathe Prop 50. They talked about it, slammed it, bemoaned it, offered a petition to be signed and handed out this brochure …

And, honestly, I can understand their stance. Prop 50, without context, sucks. It’s an action no sane human would (again, without context) back or support or touch. It sucks, it sucks, it sucks.

However, at the same time the South Orange Republicans were crying into their soup about Gavin Newsom and Prop 50, they were urging people to come pose for a photo with the cardboard cutout of their Dear Leader and King—Donald Trump. Literally, the man who demanded Texas “give me” five extra congressional seats; the man who has shown zero interest in fairness or decency; the man who led a revolt on the Capitol after losing an election; the man who is sticking his nose in universities and museums; the man who is about the send military into Chicago, as he has Washington, D.C. And I don’t think Elaine Gennawey, the club president and a woman I met (and chatted with—warmly—for several minutes), gets the irony and hypocrisy of it all. I don’t think she sees how preposterous her organization’s objections are. It’d be one thing were Gennawey and the crew ripping Trump’s Texas moves. But they’re not.

Hell, they’re cheering them on.

So, sadly, here we sit. A divided nation, a divided state, a local Republican group slinging nonsense …

And a fair that remains resiliently lovely.