Instant test for imbecility

by Richard Schulman

Readers will be grateful to learn there’s now an instant test for imbecility. Any politician or commentator who uses the all-time cliché of all clichés, “speaking truth to power,” is a Certified Imbecile®. Such an individual by way of cost savings could be replaced by an AI-powered robot. Few would notice the difference, except for the greater semblance of intelligence and factual knowledge in the robot.

We recently ran an impartial Google search to see who qualified as a charter member of the Certified Imbecile® club. Here are the results of our first search:

Joe Biden, who recently posted to Twitter that “Captain Crozier was faithful to his duty—both to his sailors and his country. Navy leadership sent a chilling message about speaking truth to power.” (emphasis added)

Seth Moulton, a Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, also writing on Twitter about the removal of the captain: “I learned on my first day in the Marines that having the courage to speak truth to power is grounds for respect, not grounds for relief.”

Chuck Schumer, Senate minority leader, on President Trump’s removal of Michael Atkinson, inspector general for the U.S. intelligence community: “Being fired for having the courage to speak truth to power makes him a patriot.”

Adam Schiff, chairman of the misnamed (in his case) House Intelligence Committee, also condemning the president’s removal of Atkinson: “[O]ur country…needs people in the intelligence community to speak truth to power.”

Irvin McCullough, a national security analyst at the Government Accountability Project, also Atkinson’s removal: “I can’t see how this wouldn’t chill civil servants across the federal workforce from speaking truth to power.”

Congratulations, charter members! We have no doubt you’ll soon be joined by new boobs. We may doubt your commitment to truth — but not to your pursuit of power through mind-numbing clichés.