I am not making this up. I really wish I were.

Reading a WaPo column by opinion editor David Ignatius, I was stunned to learn that, among other things, former Devin Nunes staffer/ chief of staff to former Secretary of Defense Miller/ deputy to the Director of National Intelligence/ unsuccessfully-proposed Deputy Director of the FBI/ unsuccessful proposed Deputy Director of CIA/ you're getting the picture here, and current director of Trump Media & Technology Group (owners of the ironically named "Truth Social)- deep breath- Kash Patel, longtime Trump sycophant and apologist, has- written a kids' book?

Yes, according to Ignatius, among his other "accomplishments", Patel has "written a children’s book, The Plot Against the King, in which the evil Hillary Queenton tries to spread lies against King Donald claiming that he’s working with the Russionians — until a knight called Kash exposes the plot."

Well, as a fairy tale, that "plot" certainly qualifies. But it bears as much resemblance to reality as Pinnochio (and certainly sounds less entertaining than The Princess Bride, to pick a title at random).

And it raises the question- How could someone with such a contorted worldview and such obviously slavish devotion to one wannabe dictator have ever risen to such a succession of prominent public positions?

The answer, of course, is "Donald Trump". In Trumpworld, slavish devotion is the chief and only qualification (although a willingness to endlessly repeat and amplify your master's lies certainly helps). In Trumpworld, anyone who opposes the Fuhrer's- I'm sorry, The Donald's- will is The Enemy.

Incidentally, Adolf Hitler was the hero of children's books in Nazi Germany. As Menachem Wecker wrote, of a WW2 museum he visited, “The strongest manifestation of anti-semitism in the exhibition is in the children’s books. Anti-semitism really has to be introduced at the earliest possible moment in the education of German children”.

So, in this creepy parallel, MAGA-ism is to be instilled even in children, who haven't yet developed the critical thinking processes they need to detect the absurdity of the idea that Hillary Clinton was the source of all of Trump's woes.

Unfortunately, too many adults haven't those skills either.

The Ignatius column appears here:
[washingtonpost.com]