The definition of Dumbed Down is, “The act or process of making something less intellectually demanding. To lower the level of difficulty and intellectual content, in order to make it more popular.”

I admit, I used this process with my kids when explaining why they had to take the Amoxicillin the doctor had just prescribed for them. When I realized that they bought the story about tiny Ninja warriors that were camouflaged in the pink sweet liquid, assigned to fight the tiny scoundrels from Bactirium, I actually recreated the battles for them. I went on to explain that the prescribed laxative was necessary to clean up the battlefield carnage. Harmless approach, with successful results.

Not so harmless, there is a daily dumbing down of America occurring, and it’s being led by a man that needs it the most. For example, a journalist that writes honest and controversial stories is lured into a Saudi embassy in Istanbul. We see him walk in, and he is never seen again. Turkish authorities tell us that he was tortured (fingers cut off) and beheaded…and, they have proof.

Afraid that we will become angry and demand anti-Saudi sanctions and penalties, the President is dumbing it down for us, “He might be dead.” Thanks, Don…we got that! Pompeo has assured us that the Saudi government will get rid of the bad guy(s), if there are any. Phew, problem solved…let’s move on.

Back in 2016, when Trump said that maybe it was Russia who broke into the DNC, but it could have been China or a 400 lb. man, he was dumbing it down. What he was actually  saying…stop looking at Russia.

In response to an accusation that he paid no taxes, he just replied that that “made him smart”. Probably to his Base, but to the rest of us, it made him a criminal.

As his cronies started getting “pulled over” by the courts, we believed Trump when he said that Michael Cohen is just a PR person who did small legal work, sort of like a coffee boy. Of course, we also believed him when he introduced Cohen in a rally in 2016 as his personal lawyer and wistfully said, “I haven’t seen Michael in a month. It’s good to see you, Michael. I miss you, man.” Trump must REALLY like his coffee. Duh!

These days, among other issues, he’s dumbing down the caravan of immigrants from Central America. An intelligent view would be that there are atrocities happening in these countries that people are seeking safe haven from. But, as Trump explains it, it’s a conspiracy by Democrats that paid the immigrants to come to America for political reasons. In his words, “It’s going to be an election of the caravan”. No matter how down in the dumb I try to get, this is ludicrous.

His Base has been described as white rural, non-college educated men over the age of 50. Added to this, he has the support of white evangelicals who cite Bible verses that have been cherry picked to support their views. My image of them is a bunch of Archie Bunkers running about spouting support for a man who has told them exactly what they want to hear…but he dumbs it down for them, so they see it exactly how he wants them to. I wish he was capable of dumbing down the Golden Rule for them to understand…but someone will first need to dumb it down for him.