In today’s political landscape, it seems the absurdity scale just broke through the roof and kept climbing. The latest spectacle featured a mash-up that one could only compare to a rerun of a comedy show, except this time, the joke was on us—America’s ever-hopeful audience. The greatest hits included a smattering of political proclamations, strategic sound bites, and head-scratchers that had one questioning if they’d stumbled into a parallel dimension where logic has taken a permanent vacation.

Let’s begin with the bewildering journey through the world of social media diplomacy. Someone had the presumably brilliant idea to mix politics with the zesty world of TikTok, or as the slip of the tongue deemed it, Tick Tac Toe. As if political chess wasn’t challenging enough, now we’re lowering the stakes to a child’s game, aiming perhaps to capture the elusive attention span of voters with the strategic depth of a playground dispute. It’s said they’ve concocted “concepts of a plan,” which might involve anything from meme warfare to emoji-filled peace treaties. But until these mysterious concepts evolve from Pokémon fantasies to something a tad more tangible, it’s a guessing game at best.

Next in our survey of the surreal, we find our leaders borrowing lines from blockbuster movies, then admitting, predictably, that they’re about to build Iron Man. Why not toss in Jedi mind tricks or unveil the Bat-signal while they’re at it? It’s all part of the radical image they’re trying to project—as defenders of whatever the cause of the day might happen to be. But here’s the kicker: just when you thought high political drama couldn’t flirt any closer with fiction, we’re reminded these grand declarations are “paid for” by an unlikely sponsor.

Now, one can’t help but reminisce about simpler times when campaigns boasted of good old middle American favorite pastimes, like baseball or apple pie. Instead, we’re courting votes with avocado toast and goat-milk lattes, possibly washed down with a bit of goat yoga on the side. It’s the hipster fantasy, I suppose, tailored to charm urbanites dwelling far from the heartland’s more traditional, slightly less artisanal pursuits.

Maybe sanity will return, though it’s not hiding anywhere near this rollercoaster of tweets, tropes, and treaty tantrums. What we witnessed was an event people might want to sear into their memory—or eject entirely to regain some peace of mind—in the hopes our dear leaders will one day rediscover the benefit of earnest dialogue over curated sound bites. For now, those staying tuned to this reality special should brace themselves for more op-eds like this, where the truth is sometimes funnier—and infinitely stranger—than fiction.