Know Your Buffoons! Buffoonicus extremis

Want a sneak preview of the book? Here's the tenth in our series where we help you "Know Your Buffoons", featuring the amazing art of John Pennisi - Buffoonicus extremis. 

This is the Lunatic. They tend to lose control, except their response goes beyond any reasonable loss of emotional control. When we meet the Lunatic, s/he already possesses a delicate, albeit skewed, mental state. Often, s/he already actively engages in politics on a regular basis either through activism or as an active observer. S/he is the product of confirmation bias, seeking out favorable partisan media that reassures the Lunatic that s/he is on the right side of history, even though s/he is missing half of the story. 

Over time, wave after wave of tribalist influence leaves the Lunatic firmly entrenched within an extreme political perspective, and every social media “battle” which challenged his/her tribal views have made the Lunatic’s shin paper-thin. The ultimate outcome becomes predictable. 

I can't think of a better example of a Lunatic than "Auntie" Maxine Waters. During the Trump administration, Waters told a crowd in California over the weekend. “If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd, and you push back on them, and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”

When reporters dared to compare those remarks to alleged incitement during the January 6th march on the Capitol that devolved into a riot, Waters proclaimed that there was no comparison. 

Because reasons. 

I have a lot more to say about Lunatics and other Buffoons discussed in my book, "Schnooks, Crooks, Liars & Scoundrels" so pick it up on Amazon today!