Writes Tim Cunningham, the board president of Clowns Without Borders, which is, we're told, "a nonprofit that performs clown shows for communities facing hardship."
I'm reading "I’m a clown. Donald Trump is not one of us. Real clowns bring joy to the world, not chaos to Washington."
I'm just waiting for a professional organizer of buffoons to take umbrage.
What are we to make of the clown/buffoon distinction? I see that back in 1584, Samuel Johnson defined "clown" as "A rustick; a country fellow; a churl" or "A coarse ill-bred man."
And that doesn't sound like Trump. He's a city boy.
Meanwhile Samuel Johnson, in 1785, put "buffoon" in his dictionary as "A man that practises indecent raillery" or "A man whose profession is to make sport, by low jests and antick postures; a jackpudding."
That sounds more like Trump. I await objections from the International Society of Jackpuddings.
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110 comments:
Greetings from Local 312 of the International Brotherhood of Charlatans, Thimbleriggers, and Mountebanks.
A Bell Labs vice president, after a morale-raising memo to the troops, found himself enrolled in a clown college.
Cunningham has immeasurably reinforced my fear of clowns.
A lot of this sounds like W.C, Fields to me.
Which is a good thing.
Trump would more appropriately be called a "fop." A dandy. Everett McGill.
Pam Bondi is the clown in this show.
Jackpudding sounds dirty.
Founder Clowns without borders = Moshe Cohen, aka Mr. YooWho, Since 1987, he has performed in Burma, Kosovo, South Africa, Nepal, Guatemala, Haiti, Croatia, Chiapas (Mexico), South Sudan, and Baton Rouge, LA. Moshe continues to perform and teach internationally.
Not shocked people in his organization aren't Trump supporters.
BTW, am i the only one who hates circus clowns? I've never liked them even when I was six. And I'd say the same about "street performers".
But "Jackpudding" is now my favorite word, and I inflict it on my family and friends at the earliest opportunity.
"A man that practises indecent raillery"
A "butt munch." Otherwise known as a Tootsie Roll pusher. A "fudge packer." Nancy Boy. Poofter. Friend of Dorothy.
Trump is not a clown. But John Wayne Gacy was. You should be proud, Timmy.
Good Lord love a duck.... I was certainly disappointed that clowns (until now) didn't dive deep into the Orange Man Bad cesspool.
That every-damn-thing is political and hateful is certainly better for us all? Right? 'Splain it for me lefties.
I'd bet a detailed search would find that "Clowns Without Borders" has been funded through SAID.
Anyone willing to take the "Nah" side of this bet?
Are jesters clowns? Their job was to disrupt and bring chaos. Clowns have been shown as chaos agents in horror movies. Not sure how Trump fits in but the whole thesis seems off.
An aspect of Trump's personality is the adept carnival barker.
When did clowns become creepy and circuses become seedy? Somebody should write a book about that.
FLC: Words to live by:
https://althouse.blogspot.com/2025/07/many-of-counselors-and-campers-didnt.html?showComment=1752154328570#c1308250070353600845
Like 👍👍
Where does Cunningham belong in the taxonomy of TDS?
He's not railing — decently or indecently — against Trump. He hates Trump but he's complaining about other people hating Trump the wrong way. They're only calling him a clown. But clowns are good. Those haters need to hate more hatefully.
I remember when a Rodeo clown wore an Obama mask, and got fired. He wore Presidential masks before, and there was no outcry...but HOW DARE HE MOCK the messiah of the left??
Trump is a total jackpudding.
A clown can be a court jester, a partisan ass, a DIC. Toxic.
Samuel Johnson was not around in 1584. His dictionary--linked in your post--indicates 1755 for the clown definition.
Obama deemed the clown a "burden", so he was canceled. He could have been Planned.
If you fear clowns you have Coulrophobia.
Mac Jackpudding here. I object to your slapdash use of my surname. We have always referred to these people as 'comedians'. Mr. Trump may tell jokes, but he is no comedian.
You are no comedian.
"I'm just waiting for a professional organizer of buffoons to take umbrage."
I've been waiting for a professional organizer of public servants to take umbrage at the Democratic Party.
"I’m a clown. Donald Trump is not one of us. Real clowns bring joy to the world, not chaos to Washington."
A real clown loves clown world. Facepaint me surprised. Honk Honk🤡🤡
Seinfeld- Do you like Clowns? Crazy Joe Davola freaks out Kramer!
wow - more complaining from the left. We cannot get enough.
Leoncavallo's I PAGLIACCI
Eric doesn't know who Bozo is.
How appropriate that clowns are the next leftist victim group
Trump is rampaging through the Left's nightmares like an evil clown. And when they wake up, he's still there.
RR
JSM
Freaks (1932)
I understand Doctors Without Borders, as many areas lack the resources and education to produce quality doctors to provide even basic healthcare. Clowns Without Borders seems like a scheme to make vacations tax deductible. Or worse, receive taxpayer funded grant money to completely pay for your trips and them some. If the scheme were to fall apart, I would expect the beneficiaries to complain.
I have the terrible fear of clowns. I never liked the circus,and wouldn't go with my family. But I also have a fear of dolls, I wonder if it's related.
"Clown" and "buffoon" (bouffon) may be one of those English-French pairs. "Buffoon" passed over to English and "clown" to French, but at heart or at root are the words' meanings really that different?
Cunningham isn't necessarily a deep thinker. Clowning often involves some malice, cruelty, and violence. It's parodied and made comical. It's often a satirical response to the cruelty in the world, and therefore not harmful, but it's there. Some clowns are sad, some playful, some foolish. Others can be real jerks. They aren't all loving and kind any more than John Cameron Mitchell's punks are.
PETA tells us that animals aren't clowns and don't belong in circuses, but how many people would go to the few remaining circuses if there were only clowns and no animals?
Homey didn’t roll dat way!
The clowns need to lighten up.
Shakes was a true leftwing clown. 🤡
Who will rid us of this insane clown posse?!?!
How does he feel about "The Joker"?
Chaos is a "tell" word to signal he's a leftist. Unless you live in a Democrat run hellhole like LA there is no chaos out there. And I would dispute his accusation of ho is causing that "chaos" anyway. What a clown. Bozo was the only clown I ever liked, including the original Jack-in-the-Box order-clown and all the rest.
Trump reminds me of the Pogo character P.T. Bridgeport.
This is getting close to lawyer jokes.
Some claim DeeDee is a jackass, but I must protest. I raised jackasses, they are hardworking animals. DeeDee is no jackass. He’s a ninny.
Clowns are an interesting category. Clowns are now predominantly scary and evil figures for today's generation.
That started as a response to the prevalence of clowns in mid-20th century culture (Bozo, Ronald McDonald, etc.). The idea of clowns as scary or as villains is ironic creativity, but then this ironic form almost entirely dominates now. Which makes me wonder of other examples where an ironic adoption of a cultural element entirely co-opts the original experience.
The bad apple has affected the whole bushel. Now no one wants to eat any apples.
Are the clowns punch drunk when performing?
Clowns must get Federal funding that's threatened...
Jackpudding, the English counterpart to Germany's Hanswurst, almost literally. There are several English puddings which border on sausage-dom.
Iman said, "Who will rid us of this insane clown posse?!?!"
From what I've seen, juggalos mostly rid themselves of themselves. Meth and Faygo are a deadly combo. Lots don't make it past 40.
Thanks for introducing us to Samuel Johnson's dictionary. I want to read up before the next social function.
"What do you do for a living?"
"My profession is to make sport by low jests and antick postures. In short, I'm a jackpuddinger."
"Oh, I see. That's a good job, is it?"
A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants.
I’ve wondered if blackface wasn’t inspired by clowns. As our culture rejected blackface, that rejection grew to encompass all clowns.
Look at the harlequins!
I guess WaPo is going with "clown nose on" approach to news.
I'm waiting for the announcement of the remake of DODGEBALL. The good news is that Vince Vaughn is a Republican. Or at least "a Libertarian", which is what conservatives in Hollywood have to call themselves in order to keep working. (Long live Friends of Abe!)
I don't like clowns. Not fear. I've always found them to be dumb and not funny. Same for cross-dressing men/drag queens. Dumb and not funny.
When Lyndon Larouche put a toothbrush mustache on a picture of Obama, my thought was "that's another fine mess you've gotten me in to "
Mary Beth 👆🏽😆
Clowns are not good. Why mask and hide one's identity? A good juggler is far better, or better yet a decent magician. My wife and I saw a hypnotist who was fantastic.
The idea of clowns as scary or as villains is ironic creativity, but then this ironic form almost entirely dominates now.
I was ambivalent to most clowns as a child but hated mimes. I didn't like them. I don't fear them. But they are lumped in with mimes now.
Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am
Stuck to the griddle with you
Tim Cunningham is probably the guy that killed Jack Handey's dad.
Just don't drag us Narrs into it.
I'm surprised at how long it took for someone to correct the dates. Good work, Amadeus 48.
The masking I believe is part of the exaggeration deportment. Everything is either bigger than normal or smaller than normal. Check out the Althouse tag big and small; she finds it hilarious.
Whatever happened to rump-fed ronyons?
And I hardly ever see any jackanapes anymore.
Two things:
Did Clowns Without Borders get USAID money?
Are rodeo clowns a Trump constituency?
"If there's a smile on my face,
It's only there trying to fool the public.
But when it comes down to fooling you,
My Honey that's quite a diff'rent subject"
Smokey Robinson
Clowns Without Borders, the new name of the Super Adventure Club.
Your community has just experienced hardship.You're faced with healing the injured, mourning the dead, and rebuilding your lives. Who do you long to welcome? A group of brawny men armed with tools, distributing wholesome food, clean water, and warm clothing, or a swarm of disguised creeps who can't do anything but cavort, honk, and paw your kids?
Damm, Iman beat me to it!
Whatever happened to rump-fed ronyons?
Instead of munching chestnuts, they've all opened OnlyFans accounts.
The correct question to tonight's trivia answer is Who is Michael Madson?
"Well, I don't know why I came here tonight
I've got the feeling that something ain't right
I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair
And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs
Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you"
Tim Cunningham, the board president of Clowns Without Borders
When the Left got that rodeo clown fired for doing to an Obama dummy what he did previously to a Bush dummy, Mr. Cunningham no doubt leapt to his defense.
So a buffoon whose "antiks" and low humor cause his enemies to be-clown themselves? Yeah, I can see Althouse's point.
"The correct question to tonight's trivia answer is Who is Michael Madson?"
Back when Madsen passed away, one of the Althouse commentariat recalled his one of his earlier film roles, specifically in the Matthew Broderick vehicle, War Games, as an USAF security guard who neglects his duty to flirt with a nurse. I immediately thought this was mistaken, but by the time I was certain the relevance was expired. Thanks to Howard, I can do my mega-pedant schtick that you all have come to love and admire.
Yes, Michael Madsen did have a role in War Games, but much earlier in the film.
The Clowns have spoken. Now it is official that Trump is NOT a Clown. Anyone who calls Trump a Clown will be subjected to all those merry pranks that Clowns do to “unite people in laughter, levity and creativity”.
It’s clowns all the way down.
Trump should be proud to be called a clown. The original clown was the king's fool who was the only person in the realm allowed to speak the truth to power.
According to many of the top stand-up comedians, Trump is a stand-up comedian.
It sounds like the clown doesn't know what it means to be a clown when he tries to insult the president with flaccid flatulence.
Sorry about misdating the dictionary. Fixed.
I asked Grok “ I’m trying to think of witticisms in the form of saying something like I’m sorry I called you x, that’s an insult to X” and the first example it came up with was “I’m sorry I called you a clown. That’s an insult to professional circus clowns.”
I’ve heard this type of joke many times. To say you are as dumb as a rock is to insult, rocks, etc. etc.
The WAPO descends ever further into irrelevance. The Graham family lucked out in finding a very rich man foolish enough to take it off their hands.
What kind of person becomes a clown in a post-clown culture? A clown in the 19th and even into the late 20th century was a humor role. But now we have standups or magicians. Nate Bargatze's father was a clown when he was growing up who transitioned into being a magician.
But someone who owns being a clown now is definitely not the sort who became clowns 100 years ago. It's a statement of some kind and likely someone who isnt funny but is somehow drawn to the cultural artifacts of humor
Someone wondered about grants. Hard to read details on my phone but the clowns garnered $316m in "grants and donations" last year. A breakdown might be interesting
Form 990 here
https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/204102508/202501349349300640/full
John Henry
When TDS strikes, the sense of humor is the often the first thing to go. It's a devastating condition for comics and clowns especially, turning them from delightful entertainers into humorless scolds.
I''ll wait until we hear from the mimes to form an opinion.
The Epstein List follows…
https://x.com/BarronTNews_/status/1943042760182768008?s=19
USA Spending shows that Clowns Without Borders Inc took in about $20,000 in COVID Relief Funds. Nothing else after FY2021.
This is all very interesting, but I want to hear what the mimes have to say.
Poor fellow sounds bitter, like he was getting money from USAID for his "nonprofit that performs clown shows for communities facing hardship," and is no longer is getting that money.
John Henry, I think it is a "k", not a "m". Still $317k is nice when your expenses are only $210k.
I see several errors in the form.
On page 8, they list two board members receiving compensation, but on page 11, they list only one their compensation as an expense.
Further, page 8 asks that they list the top 5 compensated employees, but they only show 2 receiving compensation for a total of $45,000. Yet on page 11, they show $80,000 in salary and wages as expenditures, but don't list who received the salary and wages.
How much of the $317k went to the mission of the 501c3? $87k Well, actually only $47k, as the other $40 is listed as "other expenses" including $6.5k spent to raise that $317k.
Good to see a non-profit double their net assets in 2024.
"I don't like mimes, minstrels, thespians, acrobats, jugglers, troubadours or tumblers. Flutists give me a headache. I particularly hate jesters. As a rule, I'm also not crazy about the corpses of old women. For the Night Mother, I'll make an exception. But Astrid is the only mistress I serve."
Nazir of the Dark Brotherhood, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
You mess around with Grok you get teh horn…
https://x.com/AlfredAlfer77/status/1943349444226736535
No Leland, $317m $317,000,000,or for the scientically minded $3.17x10^5
Im American. I speak and count in American
John Henry
But someone who owns being a clown now is definitely not the sort who became clowns 100 years ago.
Some time between 1960 when the movie "Toby Tyler" about the boy who ran off to join the circus came out, and whenever it was rerun on the "Wonderful World of Disney" a lot of the magic went out of the idea of the circus.
Chaos is a "tell" word to signal he's a leftist.
Yep.
Now you've got me confused, Leland.
$317m is 317 thousand, not 317,000,000
John Henry, you should just give up your fixation on Roman numerals. The digital age has totally taken over, and as someone who favors Greek over Latin I heartily approve.
Seems metric to me, John Henry. Are you French?
Maybe more in science, but that’s a financial document and M in those is for millions.
Yes, Quaestor, you are correct- I had a clear memory of Madsen in the movie but had the scene confused with that one- he just seems in my memory to be exactly the creepy guy harassin the nurse.
Yeah? Anyway......
“I don't like mimes, minstrels, thespians, acrobats, jugglers, troubadours or tumblers….”
Shouldn’t that last word be “tummlers”?
I carry a tumbler with me everywhere.
If Trump is a "clown", he's more like a rodeo clown who is responsible for getting a 2000 lb. bull to quit paying attention to the cowboy the bull just ejected. My father once hired two rodeo clowns who were heading to the Calgary Stampede, but were in between rodeos for a week. My brothers and I watched them tame a horse called Chocolate who would kick at a person when the person was trying to climb into the saddle. As my father had a hole in below his knee the size of one's thumb from a landmine wound in Korea, the horse needed to be broken of that bad habit to be useful. The clowns were amazing professionals, athletic, clever, and good with large animals. Chocolate became one of my Dad's favorite horses after that.
In the metric system, ‘M’ (upper case) means million, but ‘m’ (lower case) means one-thousandth.
I await objections from the International Society of Jackpuddings.
Is a Jackpudding anything like a Jackwagon?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vqQ_J3YgI8
The "clown" label risks oversimplifying a complex figure. Trump’s been called everything from a genius to a demagogue, and the truth likely lies in a mix of intent, improvisation, and opportunism. He’s polarizing by design—whether that’s clownish depends on your lens.
I’d say he’s not a clown in the literal sense but a polarizing showman who thrives on attention—sometimes to his detriment, sometimes to his advantage. The label’s more about how you view his style than an objective fact.
Both of my sons got on the famous Bozo's Circus show on WGN-TV in Chicago (and nationally for a while, WGN was a "super station.") Parents got on a waiting list as soon as they had a kid it was so popular. Both got picked to play in a game. It wasn't random, sponsor's kids usually were picked but my wife was good friends with a woman whose father was magician Marshall Brodien who also played the clown
Wizzo the Wizard. My older son was in a one on one balloon popping contest against a girl. The girl won...having the advantage of longer fingernails. He got teased a lot at school. My younger boy was on a team relay contest that won. They both won some dumb toys and a bunch of Bunn Candy Bars, which are delicious.
Nothing worse than a clown with no sense of humor.
Answer: “Yes, there are clown schools and programs available for those interested in learning the art of clowning.“
I don’t believe there are comedian schools.
Clowns to the left of me, jackpuddings to the right. Here I am, stuck in the middle with Trump.
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