clownish

Over the coming days, the owners of Four Seasons Total Landscaping did their patriotic duty and cashed in on their temporary notoriety, selling souvenirs to commemorate the fiasco; to Trump’s detractors, the debacle epitomized the clownish incompetence that had defined his presidency.

But because of how that happened and under what circumstances — and because the only American political party that pretends to stand for constitutional democracy, rational government and broader equality will once again blame its own voters, or the Russians, or the ignorance and bigotry of people it views with contempt, for the catastrophic consequences of its own incoherence and uncertainty, and for the fact that it could not prevent the entire system it claims to cherish from collapsing into clownish anarchy.

Although Trump “says stupid, clownish things, and he’s a buffoon,” Rowland said, “he’s the best choice of the two.”

Trump glowered, rolled his eyes, and clenched his mug into a clownish grin whenever Harris succeeded in getting under his skin, the thrust of her debate strategy.

I’m not talking about Fox News or Newsmax, whose coverage I have not read or watched but assume it’s ranged from cultish to clownish, as it always does.