GHOUL NATION: Pop culture’s decade-long descent into cruelty and bloodlust

Once upon a time, displaying the bloodied head of a U.S. president could get you canceled. And it did.

This was before cancel culture was a thing, a time when Americans had a shared sense of decency and found obviously heinous acts … heinous.

Earlier this year, ‘Saturday Night Live’s’ Weekend Update teased a Trump assassination joke that roiled the crowd.

No need for context or explanations. The culture at large acknowledged certain unwritten rules of behavior that should be followed. Now, those rules are fading if not gone entirely. And we can track that descent, seen across the political landscape, from a pop culture prism.

Head case

Comic Kathy Griffin thought she was being clever by holding a pretend President Donald Trump head up high, ISIS-style, for a