Two streams of distinctly American idiocy -- one self-aware, the other anything but -- converged when Republican presidential "candidate" Donald Trump declared in a public forum that Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens is, indeed, an elite quarterback.
It's doubtful Trump had any clue of the magnitude of the debate he was wading into.
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Trump held a live Twitter question-and-answer session Monday in which he answered -- and didn't answer -- a range of queries. Included in the former group there was the question of Flacco's eliteness.
For the uninitiated, the question of Flacco's eliteness is an ironic meme of sorts that's sprung up among football fans on the Internet over the past couple years. Most notably spurred on by the parodying caricature Twitter account known as @PFTCommenter, the question mocks the incredibly self-serious, hot-take culture surrounding much of NFL coverage and fandom. Picture the morons you see yelling all-too-passionately on ESPN's First Take or at your grimiest neighborhood sports bar.
In short, the question of Joe Flacco's eliteness mocks a sizable subset of American culture -- and says something unflattering about American culture in general.
And so the stage was set for Trump's Q-and-A. The question was submitted, it somehow (or very intentionally) got selected from the deluge of submissions -- and Trump delivered an earnest answer.
.@HighSock_Sunday #asktrump pic.twitter.com/qVakUzXZAb— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 21, 2015
This is the picture of American democracy in 2015: A billionaire farce of a presidential candidate giving his earnest viewpoint on a parody sports-talk meme.
We're screwed.
And for the record, Joe Flacco is an elite quarterback, thankyouverymuch. Donald Trump said so -- it must be true.