We are living in the Matrix

Or some equally bad movie about re-presenting reality through a decidedly cracked lens.

Mike Pence last night made much of the "insult driven campaign" of Hillary Clinton.*  Donald Trump was so excited he couldn't stay off Twitter:

I will be live-tweeting the V.P. Debate. Very exciting! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2016

Well; this is gonna be great.  But, as I say, Mike Pence kept complaining about the "insult driven campaign" of Clinton/Kaine.  Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

"@RoadkingL: @mike_pence Wow, Kaine couldn't go 12 seconds without a lie. Marines and military are scared of the liar running. #bengazi"

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2016

And then:

"@elisac006: @nycmia @realDonaldTrump I agree. Kaine looks like a fool!!"

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2016

Followed immediately by:

"@Jnelson52722: @realDonaldTrump @Susiesentinel Kaine looks like an evil crook out of the Batman movies"

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2016

This is the guy who is supposed to improve by Sunday night, to be more "Presidential" and less easily inflamed.  If you wrote this into a script, the comic contrast of Pence denouncing insults even as Trump re-tweets them, would be such a cliche as to be banal.

When life is so determined to imitate what can barely be called art (and only in the most generous understanding of the term), it's time to expect the clouds to be rolled up and water to start running up hill in preparation for closing the whole thing down.

*I really have to illustrate the full mendacity of Pence's position, just for the record:

“I can’t imagine,” said Kaine at the opening of the debate, “how Gov. Pence can defend the insult-driven selfish ‘me first’ style of Donald Trump.” Pence had a simple reply. “Let me say first and foremost that, senator, you and Hillary Clinton would know a lot about an insult-driven campaign. It really is remarkable,” he said, before accusing Kaine of launching an “avalanche of insults.”

Despite the obvious truth, Pence’s response was to call these quotes—taken almost verbatim from Trump—a kind of “insult” against the GOP ticket. These insults? These insults were quotes. Kaine was quoting Donald Trump, telling viewers that Trump had called Mexicans “rapists and criminals” (true); that he had called women “slobs, pigs, dogs, and disgusting” (true); and that he had attacked an Indiana-born federal judge “and said he was unqualified to hear a federal lawsuit because his parents were Mexican” (also true).