Kris: “So Germany is now the leader of the free world?”
Murphy: “So you’ve heard that too.”
Kris: “That, and a whole bunch more!”
Murphy: “Yes, well, I’m not quite ready to start conducting my classes in German just yet. I’m sure the Chinese would have something to say about who is leading the world.”
Kris: “And the Russians?”
Murphy: “Don’t Russh to conclusions. Though I will say this: if Mr Trump continues as he’s been, he’s sure fixing to become the leader of the expensive world!”
Kris: “Ba da boom. As if he’s got a monopoly on that.”
Murphy: “Not for want of trying.”
Kris: “You got that right. He’s very trying. And because he’s trying, we’re trying to survive!”
Murphy: “We do have tenure …”
Kris: “Big whoop. Tenure and $5 might get you a cup of coffee, if the funding cuts wind up meaning we won’t have a university to have tenure at!”
Murphy: “Not the way the market boom is supporting the endowments.”
Kris: “And just how much longer do you really think it’ll be before the investors realize they’ve been duped, and unleash the bears?”
Murphy: “Which that little girl on Wall Street isn’t even looking for.”
Kris: “I’m sure they’ll give her a decent bearial.”
Murphy: “Hmph. And you complain about me!”
Kris: “You are the least of my worries. Even with the lame puns. Back to the Germans.”
Murphy: “Safer to face them.”
Kris: “Precisely! So if the Germans are fixing to replace the USA as leaders of the free world – and who can blame them? – they’re also the leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, yes?”
Murphy: “It’s more complicated than that, but I’ll bite for now. Where are you going with this?”
Kris: “Wasn’t it the very first NATO head honcho who said that the purpose of NATO was ‘to keep the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down?'”
Murphy: “Seems to be well enough documented …”
Kris: “So you’ve got the Germans fixing to lead the free world, displacing the Americans, who, by all accounts, are in bed with the Russians big time. To hear Facebook tell it, Trump and Putin are kissin’, um …”
Murphy: “Puts a whole new twist to the word ‘screwballs’, doesn’t it?”
Kris: “That’s it! No more vodka martinis for you!”
Murphy: “But we haven’t had time to order anything yet!”
Kris: “Well then don’t start! A nice herbal tea might start the detox process. Sheesh. But hey. You started with ‘the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down’, right? Doesn’t all this mean that what you’ve got now is ‘the Americans out, the Russians in, and the Germans up?”
Murphy: “That’s about right.”
Kris: “So what’s NATO going to do about this?”
Murphy: “What else? Pun…t.”
Kris: “Well played, Murphy. Waiter! Card this guy! I don’t think he’s old enough to drink tonight …!”