I was never an obsessed comic book reader, but I certainly read my share of DC and Marvel comics as well as the occasional Classics Illustrated, and, truth be told, not an insignificant number of my sister’s Archie & Jughead comics. Superman was still on TV (reruns mostly since it aired from 1952 – 1958), but George Reeves was busy pretending to take off and land from his flying episodes and had little time for the finer points of the Superman story that came from DC Comics. DC’s Superman had been around since 1938, so long that the cognoscenti break it down into the Early Years (1938 – 1945), the Golden Years (1945 – 1956), the Silver Years (1956 – 1970), the Bronze Years (1970 – 1985), the Modern Years (1985 – 2003, despite the release of The Death of Superman in 1992), and the Post-Modern Years (2003 – Infinity and Beyond…sorry Buzz). One antagonist that never got any mention in the original TV series was Bizarro Superman.
Bizarro was first introduced by DC Comics in 1958, making his debut in Superboy #68. He was created by writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp as an imperfect duplicate of Superboy. The character is typically portrayed as a flawed, twisted clone or copy of Superman, created when Superman was exposed to a “duplicating ray.” Bizarro has chalk-white skin, angular features, and speaks in a peculiar backwards or inverted way (often saying “me am” instead of “I am” and meaning the opposite of what he says). This Pig-Latin-like speech seems to be a favorite thing for American youth. Over the years, there have been several different versions and origin stories for Bizarro in DC Comics, but the core concept of him being an imperfect duplicate of Superman has remained consistent. The character has appeared in various Superman comics, TV shows, and animated series, becoming a significant part of Superman’s rogues gallery. The concept of Bizarro became so popular that it spawned the term “Bizarro World” (also known as “Htrae” – Earth spelled backwards), where everything is done in an opposite or reversed way from normal. The term “bizarro” has since entered common usage to describe something that’s grotesquely strange or the opposite of normal.
I think it is fair, based on the events of this week, particularly in Washington, to say that we have entered the Bizarro World here in the United States and may be living here for a while. In the last two weeks we have had many bizarre things happen, but this week in particular has taken us from bizarre to Bizarro. I am specifically talking about several things, starting with the revelations about how certain actions by the Trump administration have unfolded, apparently without even the knowledge of the White House (hard to say if that part is true or not, but either possibility is distinctly plausible in these uncertain times). Then there was the first formal post-inauguration White House Press Conference, managed by Trump’s latest podium sweetheart, Karoline Leavitt, the 27-year-old White House Press Secretary (the youngest in history). Her career consists of an internship at Fox News (no surprise) followed by five years of work in and around the Republican base (the White House under McEneny and for Elise Stefanik). So clearly, she is ready to be the truth-teller for the American public about the goings on within the Trump Administration. And then, last and certainly not least, there was the Trump social media diatribe about the causes of the tragic American Airlines crash into the Potomac River.
Every one of those things moves us more and more into the Bizarro World because they are, quite frankly, wholly unbelievable and a reverse reflection of reality. Let’s start with several of the Administration moves that have gotten so much press. There is the proposal/offer sent out to over 2 million U.S. Civil Service workers giving them the option to take 9 months of paid leave”severance” to get the hell out of their jobs so that DOGE can eliminate those jobs from the Federal roster altogether. It was called a Deferred Resignation Program and it was made available to ALL full-time federal employees except members of the military, the postal service, ICE and any other positions excluded by the employing agencies. Funny thing that we have now learned is that this action was initiated by DOGE (Musk and Ramaswamy), which is not an official agency of the U.S. Government and was done without consultation with all of the impacted agencies or, for that matter, the White House. I think that qualifies as pretty Bizarro…federal employees being given their notice by someone not really part of the federal government. The other big move was the injunction levied by the OMB, being “run” by the man who crafted the Project 2025 plan that has been disavowed repeatedly by Trump and who is yet to be confirmed by the Senate to head OMB. This put a freeze on all government grants, loans and aid of virtually any form. It cut even more heavily into Republican districts and voters than it did anything else and it is hugely unpopular based on recent polling. This too, apparently, was promulgated without the knowledge of the White House…supposedly. This is turning into quite a neat trick. Allow things to happen that can either be claimed for credit by the White House or disavowed based on the degree to which negative fallout takes place. Good trick if you can get away with it, and so far, so good.
The press conference led by Karoline Leavitt consisted of the classic Trump approach of being organized for an audience of one, with Leavitt sounding remarkably like Trump, doubling down on all of the beliefs, true or false, espoused by trump. These tend to be all about the power of the Executive, also known as the omnipotence of the office. No matter what any reporter asked Leavitt as to the legality of controversial actions taken this week by Trump and his administration, her answer was consistent in that anything Trump does, is by definition legal. Does that sound like anyone you remember…oh, say, Richard Nixon? Maybe its just me, but for those of us who lived through the Nixon era, it is a complete reversal that the voting public seems to be willing to not just tolerate Nixon-like attitudes, but feels its all totally believable and justifiable.
And then came the fatal crash of the American Airlines flight landing at Reagan National Airport. None of us expect much genuine empathy from Trump with regard to any national tragedy or human suffering, but he showed us an even more despicable side with this crash. Before any significant facts were yet gathered about the crash and its causes, Trump went on the defensive and declared that not only was the event not a function of the recent turnover at the FAA caused by the new Administration’s policies and cost-cutting, or the diminished control over the military flight protocols, but that the crash was a direct result of the diminished quality of the FAA, air traffic control, military and even airline personnel all due to the preponderance of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies. In other words, rather than being presidential and both consoling the families of the victims and taking a balanced wait-and-see approach to assessing blame, Trump did what he does best, he jumped to a convenient conclusion that blames anything bad on anyone other than him and his approach to governance. This culture war approach is somewhat normal during a campaign, but very much Bizarro World while governing. But the real Bizarro America comes from the upside down attitudes of the public to this Trumpian approach of gaslighting. The technical definition of gaslighting these days is a psychological manipulation technique wherein a person tries to convince others that their reality is untrue. It is a tactic often used by narcissists to gain control of their intended target. Sound familiar?