An American tells a Russian that the United States is so free he can stand in front of the White House and yell, "To hell with Ronald Regan." The Russian replies, "That's nothing. I can stand in front of the Kremlin and yell, 'To hell with Ronald Regan,' too."
Well, most Donald Trump supporters would take offense upon hearing how you characterize their idol. But since most of them are unlikely to be lurking round these parts, I guess that's okay.
Some of us Trump unsupporters grew up under actual totalitarian regimes and are extremely sensitive to certain types of behavior at the top of government. Canaries in a coal mine, if you will.
Funnily enough I never assigned "megalomaniac" to a certain name; it appears it was just assumed I was talking about Trump.
That being what it is, seeing it as an outsider to the US, the glove certainly appears to fit. If good people can't stand up to this sort of behaviour, and call it for what it is, I am rather worried.
I wonder: in today's political climate, would saying this joke, substituting "Donald Trump" for "Ronald Regan", get you arrested by the US Secret Service and/or KGB this time round? ;-)
No. This has to stop. For the love of all that is good and holy this has to be the line in the sand that we do not cross. This is too much for the English language to take and still survive.
There's a modern one on that (circulated in Russia pre-US election):
"Today, violent clashes between Clinton and Trump supporters occurred at Red Square and Manezhnaya. Moscow police had to resort to tear gas and water cannons"
An American tells a Russian that the United States is so free he can stand in front of the White House and yell, "To hell with Ronald Regan." The Russian replies, "That's nothing. I can stand in front of the Kremlin and yell, 'To hell with Ronald Regan,' too."