EXTRA: Just a thought about HW, Jr.

If we can have the return of country singer Hank Williams, Jr., to ESPN for "Monday Night Football" broadcasts as announced Monday even after his insipid comments six years ago comparing then-President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler, then any kind of comeback is possible.

It's just a matter of time until the return of Kathy Griffin to her "D list." And in the meantime, we'll once again get to have the son of legendary singer Hank Williams ask, "Are you ready for some football?!!"

  -30-

Is the ultimate ‘D-List’ comedian the perfect basher for a D-List president?

I have no doubt there are some people determined to see comedian Kathy Griffin’s professional prospects wither away into nothingness. Just as I’m sure they’re still holding a grudge against those mouthy Dixie Chicks.

What will replace Griffin's lost CNN gig?

Remember that outcry? When one member of the country music trio let it be known she was opposed to the U.S. military efforts in the Middle East?

HOW DARE THAT woman think to speak out against then-President George W. Bush! How dare she say anything that wasn’t complete deference to their own ideals (even though many people back then were equally critical of Bush)?

When I remember the degree to which certain people were determined to sabotage the Dixie Chicks, I see the similarities to the way some are bound to react to Griffin – the so-called star of the D-List celebrities who managed to offend everybody with a gag image depicting her with a bloodied, severed head that – with its funky hairdo was clearly meant to be reminiscent of President Donald J. Trump.

Yes, I thought her gag was lame, tacky and somewhat gross. It pushed the boundaries of good taste.

But let’s be honest. The very behavior of Donald Trump as both a presidential candidate and as a government official has been equally tacky and offensive. Some might argue if there’s anybody who deserves to be treated in such a callous manner, it is Trump. Just as how Trump-themed piñatas are at hit on so many levels at Mexican celebrations.

THE IDEOLOGUES AMONGST us, however, are determined to express such outrage that, in their minds, Griffin fades away into insignificance. She’s finished for having the unmitigated gall speak out in this Age of Trump we’re now in.

Griffin's critics the same people bashing Wonder Woman?

The comparison to the Dixie Chicks is relevant because within country music circles, the ladies remain irrelevant. To the point where a recent New York Times report indicates they don’t consider themselves part of the country scene – their attempts at making records are now regarded as pop music.

Which makes me wonder what kind of career change Griffin will have to make to allow her to remain relevant as an entertainer? While some amongst us will want to forever lambast her, there are others who will be willing to give her sense of humor a second chance.

Star-spangled shorts make her American?

If anything, she may get a boost by gaining the perception of being politically relevant – the comedian for those people who don’t mind offending the sensibilities of Donald J. Trump and his ilk!

AND AS FOR those people who will want to look down on Griffin, they’re probably the same people who these days are upset with the new Wonder Woman movie – which they say depicts the Amazon princess with incredible strength in ways that aren’t quite “American-enough” for their sensibilities.

I haven’t seen the film (and don’t exactly feel compelled to rush out to the theater to do so), so I don’t know what their objections really are? Maybe they just don’t like the idea of Gal Gadot, an Israeli actress, wearing the red, white and blue outfit that Lynda Carter made so popular on 1970s-era television.

Or maybe they’re the people who, back when Carter’s Wonder Woman was fighting off Nazis, they were secretly rooting for the men in the swastika armbands? Perhaps they find the arrogance of Trump to be reminiscent?

Please Kathy, don't give us a similar image to silence your critics

My point being that some individuals amongst us just aren’t satisfied with anything. They’re going to be whiny and demanding enough that they will always find something to complain about.

WHEN IT COMES to the whole affair involving the alumnus of Oak Park/River Forest High School who made being on the “D List” not quite so low a place to be, there is one aspect that I must admit terrifies me.

It is that I still remember the Entertainment Weekly magazine cover the Dixie Chicks did in the weeks following their own controversy – the one of the three of them nude, with their bodies covered with tattoos depicting the many slurs (“Dixie Sluts,” “Saddam’s Angels” and “Traitors,” to name a few) being thrown their way.

Please Kathy, keep your clothes on. We don’t need the sight of you trying to give us a similar image to illustrate the harassment you’re undergoing these days.

Even though, on a certain level, forcing your critics to endure the sight might very well be the perfect way to shut them up big time!

  -30-

How close to a coup will we come with regards to the fate of Donald Trump?

One of my distant cousins felt compelled to express her disgust with President Donald J. Trump, taking to Facebook to let it be known she’s among the majority of our society wishing he could be removed from office.

TRUMP: How can we dump him from office?

Me, feeling the need to be a complete smart-aleck, responded by saying such talk amounted to a coup d’ tat and was un-American. Although I then added in full sincerity the part I really believe – that we’re stuck with the buffoon in the post of president and commander-in-chief of the U.S. armed forces and that we’re going to have to suffer a bit.

THAT IS OUR penalty for picking to be our president the rube who thinks all his money buys him sophistication and knowledge. We, the people, picked him, and now we’re going to pay for our moment of vacuousness.

Even though we had an election in which 54 percent of people who voted chose someone other than Trump, the rules under which our elections operate allowed Donald’s 46 percent support to be sufficient to give him an Electoral College majority.

And as various polls show, those who were among the 46 percent are largely satisfied – mainly because they enjoy the thought that Trump’s presence in the political post so offends the people they disagree with.

Considering that those same individuals are the ones who gave Republican interests their current control over Congress, there’s just no way that we get any serious effort toward impeachment.

THE PEOPLE WHO are in control would likely find themselves on the wrong end of the conservative right’s retribution if they were to do anything to harm Donald Trump. As for those who think their sense of shame would become too intense; well, that’s nonsense talk.

What's worse? Trump thinks this is still real? Or worth defending?

Many in government have no sense of shame. If they did, they probably wouldn’t have been able to bring themselves to run for office to begin with.

So for us in the real majority, we’re going to likely have to endure the nonsense of moments such as Trump’s public withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, where he said he did it to support people like those who live in Pittsburgh, rather than Paris or any other foreign place.

Of course, the mayor of Pittsburgh quickly came out and publicly criticized the president for undermining a measure that would go a long way toward making the Pennsylvania city a cleaner- and more-pleasant place to live.

GRIFFIN: Too absurd to take seriously

WHAT I SUSPECT Trump really means is that he did something to benefit those people of the rural parts of Pennsylvania who provided much of the voter support that caused such places as that state, along with Michigan and Ohio, to swing over to the Trump column last election night.

It’s not like Trump is the kind of guy who gets too wrapped up in comprehending the details of his actions – his real quarrel over the environmental agreement most likely is a bad meal he once had while at a French restaurant somewhere in Manhattan.

So what should we expect in the way in expressing opposition to this Age of Trump that we’re now in?

There are the protests such as the one scheduled for Saturday outside the Dirksen and Kluczynski federal complex in Chicago – along with various other cities across the nation. This particular event is going to focus on Trump and Russia and the notion that the president is in an unhealthy collusion with that nation.

WHICH WILL GIVE an outlet to express the frustrations of those of us ashamed to live in a nation with a sizable batch of knuckleheads who had no problem with the image of former President Barack Obama facing a lynch mob but now are grossly offended at the latest nonsensical ramblings and images of comedian Kathy Griffin.

For the key to comprehending Trump’s actions is to realize he’s not fully aware of the details of his trash-talk, which enables him to spew such nonsense. It often may be based on the stereotypes of the past – such as his Pittsburgh comment.

CAPONE: Does Trump think he's still real?

It makes me wonder if something similar is happening every time Trump engages in trash talk of Chicago and its crime rate. Perhaps he thinks Al Capone is still on the loose in the Second City and needs to be reigned in?

Which probably has Trump wondering why that damned G-man, Eliot Ness, isn’t responding to any of his phone calls to order up a federal raid or two on “Scarface’s” South Side operations! Or maybe he's so confused he thinks he's really calling actor Kevin Costner?!?

  -30-