So dumb it squeaks

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

I have an itinerant column I trot out every month or so I’ve dubbed “Dumb of the Week,” which highlights the sheer stupidity at work — usually by politicians.

This week, I’m merging our “Back of the Book” space with “Dumb of the Week” to give you this uber-dumb collection of nonsense that flowed through the toilet pipe during the past week. To wit:

Heather Scott

While many of us breathed a sigh of relief when Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, was shuffled off to District 2 after redistricting (a move she, of course, claimed was partisan and directed entirely at her), Boise still has to deal with Idaho’s dumber version of Marjorie Taylor Greene. 

It was no surprise to see the first legislation introduced at the 2025 Idaho legislative session was by Scott attacking gay marriage, which was legalized nationwide in 2015. Scott’s introduction isn’t a bill, but a memorial, which serves as a sort of petition to the House. In other words, it’s window dressing and dog whistles for the worst of us. 

Also interesting is the second bill introduced, from Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, which was a resolution commending the Boise State University women’s volleyball team for forfeiting its matches against San José State University in protest of the team having a transgender athlete.

So right off the bat we’re attacking gay marriage and applauding bigotry. Yeehaw.

Korn and the LARPing LARPers

Incoming-Bonner County Commissioner Ron Korn made no attempts to hide the fact that he’s very into militias while campaigning. He used to call his local gang of LARPers the Three Percenters, but after that organization was listed by Canada as a terrorist group, he changed the name to “Seven Bravo,” but don’t worry, it’s still the same group of bearded fools playing grabass with assault rifles and trying to convince the rest of the world that they are serious.

Now Korn wants the rest of us to embrace his militant philosophy with a plan he brought forward at the Jan. 7 Bonner County board of commissioners’ weekly business meeting. Korn introduced the idea that we should form a “Bonner County Civil Defence and Resilience Team,” which sounds pretty dang close to a militia. They even have a nifty logo.

Look, there’s nothing wrong with being prepared for disasters, but the ignorant delusions that fuel this paranoia were out in full force at Korn’s meeting Jan. 8 with the People’s Rights group. If there’s any group of people I don’t want coming to defend me in my time of need it’s political extremists who are scared of Antifa burning down cities but think the Jan. 6 insurrection was A-OK.

The dumb is strong with this one

Finally, we get to President-elect Donald Trump, the king of stupid. The man over half of Americans voted for — despite being charged with almost three dozen felonies, despite his being found liable for sexual assault, despite four years of an unstable presidency followed by almost four years of an unstable ex-presidency — is now on the warpath for… Greenland?

Lately, Trump has been ejecting stupidity from his mouth like magma from Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E.

At a freewheeling press conference on Jan. 7, which is essentially an hors d’oeuvre for the next four years, Trump rambled about the following:

• He said he would pursue acquiring Greenland and retake the Panama Canal. He refused to rule out military force or economic pressure to achieve either. Trump has also said he wants to take Canada and make it the 51st state, as well as Mexico. At one point, he referred to the border with Canada as an “artificially drawn line.” He also proclaimed he would rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”

• Trump expressed “deep sympathy” for the Jan. 6 rioters and waffled on whether he would pardon them all. He also claimed Hezbollah was somehow involved in the Jan. 6 riot, which he inspired.

• Trump railed against low-flow faucets, shower heads and windmills. He reiterated he’d seek steep tariffs against both Canada and Mexico. He said Jack Smith “executes people.” He said Biden “wants all gas heaters out of your homes.”

Stable genius, indeed.

Sometimes, the dumb is so dumb it squeaks.