The Hightower Report

Is it just me, or has American politics regressed from its normal abnormal to become full-blown wacky? So many politicos these days seem off-the-wall, personally peculiar ... and, dare I say it: queer?

Not if Rep. Daryl Metcalfe is within earshot. He gets spooked by such talk. A raging homophobe, this Republican legislator in Pennsylvania blocked a gay colleague from delivering a speech on the House floor about the Supreme Court's June decisions on same-sex marriage. Metcalfe, the self-appointed sheriff of permissible speech, shut off the gay legislator's intended comments. He had to, Metcalfe blathered, because the speech would've been "just open rebellion against what God has said, and just open rebellion against God's law." Imagine how pleased God must be to have Metcalfe translating for him. Or is it her?

Whatever, let's move on to Texas, where U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess is always full of little-known "scientific" facts about abortion. For example, to explain his support of an extremist bill to ban mothers from having any choice of abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy, Burgess revealed that even the teenie-teeniest of fetuses feel pain, for he knows they feel pleasure. How does he know that? Because he claims to have seen sonograms of 15-week-old boy fetuses trying to masturbate. I have to ask: Don't our privacy laws protect fetuses from Peeping Toms – and shouldn't you have to have an IQ above room temperature to serve in Congress?

Scratch that last question, for such a standard could eliminate all the amusement value in American politics, including this guy, who recently declared, "Everybody tells me: 'Please run for president.'" Yes, that's The Donald – Donnie Trump – still babbling about his favorite topic: himself. Every circus needs its clown, so run, Donnie, run!