Truss Snaps

If one wishes to hitch a ride on the Musk/Trump bandwagon - if one wishes, so to speak, to catch the Mumps - it is vital to exude the proper vibes. One cannot, for example, respond to a political prank by dismissing its basic assertion with a light laugh and then coolly making a case as to why the assertion isn't true. The only possible dignity in such circumstances is the sort that is outrageously, undeservedly wounded; the only possible response an immediate flounce followed by loud, righteous squeals of denunciation.

Presumably whatever misplaced and malformed gall bladder serves Liz Truss for a brain was operating on the basis of some such calculation when she flounced out of a West-saving book-rah after pranksters lowered a banner bearing the slogan I crashed the economy. Later she took to social media to demand whether people would have sniggered quite so much had the far right carried out a similar stunt; to which the answer is of course No, since the far right (a) would be unlikely to stop at lowering a non-violent banner, and (b) even had they done so, would be unlikely to proclaim anything that was either true or amusing.

On the face of it, the fact that La Truss and her cohorts did indeed crash the economy should matter little in rebutting the assertion, since in these circles truth is hardly an issue. But for a Mumpsterite, particularly a Mumpsterite with British values, self-pity must take precedence even over defensive mendacity; although in proclaiming that the stunt wasn't funny La Truss did manage one quick fib when leaving the stage.