In a Molly-free world, mediocrities like Trump thrive

Sometimes the good actually do die young.

It just depends on what you mean by young. Molly Ivins was 62 when she died of cancer in 2007, not that young for an athlete but as a columnist she might have had another 15-20 good years.

She was the one who coined the name "Shrub" to describe George W. Bush, the one who described a lesser Texas politician by saying he was so dumb that if he lost any more IQ points he would need to be watered twice a day.

That was when we first heard the outraged whine from the right wing.

"Molly Ivins can't say that, can she?"

She could ... and did. For more than three decades she was the funniest, most sardonic voice of Texas liberalism. More than just being liberal, though, she was the voice of the average person against the rich and powerful.

A 2019 film.

In the early '90s, when Rush Limbaugh was becoming popular, he was ranting about how racism was a thing of the past and liberals should stop complaining. Ivins was in a Texas diner and heard several men agreeing with Rush. "What will the ni**ers find to complain about now?" one of them said.

When his fans raved about how funny he was, Ivins pointed out that the definition of humor is exactly the opposite of what Limbaugh does.

Humor is about making fun of the powerful, not humiliating the powerless. Ivins said Limbaugh's ridicule of the homeless, of people with AIDS and poor people in general was about as funny as kicking a cripple.

I don't remember if Ivins ever wrote about Donald Trump. He did have some political involvement in the 2000 election, although he was never as big a deal during her lifetime as he became later.

I think Trump is damn lucky Ivins isn't around to write about him.

We will never see her likes again.

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Here's an example of her greatness.