Thomas Lifson, American Thinker, May 31, 2017

The video apology that Kathy Griffin has issued for posing with a bloody decapitated head representing the president of the United States is almost clinical in its professional detachment.

As far as she is concerned, it was simply a joke that went to too far, a punchline that bombed. People don’t like it, so she is moving on. This is what comedians do. It is always about the joke.

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After Griffin’s apology late yesterday, President Trump this morning tweeted about the very personal impact Griffin’s meme is having:

Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017

Griffin is now poisonous as a pitchwoman, which has to be the most lucrative potential activity for D-list celebrities. Fox News:

Squatty Potty announced Wednesday that it has cut ties with Griffin. “We were shocked and disappointed to learn about the image Ms. Griffin shared today, it was deeply inappropriate and runs contrary to the core values our company stands for,” wrote CEO Bobby Edwards in a statement sent to Fox News. “In response, Squatty Potty has suspended its ad campaign featuring Ms. Griffin. We have acted swiftly and decisively to demonstrate our commitment to a culture of decency, civility, and tolerance.” The company previously announced its partnership with Griffin on May 10 and launched a commercial featuring the spokeswoman. Squatty Potty, which designs bathroom products, is a small family business based in Utah that was previously featured on “Shark Tank” and is well-known for its viral social media ad campaigns. Edwards revealed the company has sold more than four million products in the U.S. to date.

There is always the possibility that she will become some sort of martyr and hero to the most deranged among the TDS Cult. Maybe a one-woman show off-Broadway?

But for the rest of the nation, the sane seventy percent, Griffin has created an image that can’t be unseen, and that will serve as an icon of Trump Derangement Syndrome, visually embracing the methods of the Taliban, specifically calling to mind the video decapitation of Daniel Pearl. That sort of image operates on different parts of the brain from where words do.

While she failed to be funny, Kathy Griffin still managed to create an immortal image, generating a meme – that on a fantasy level (for now), Trump haters in some ways resemble Islamists in their affinity for violence – that will live on, perhaps even becoming the symbol of the extreme Trump hatred of our current era.