Events Will Overtake

The election, such as it was, is now three weeks old. For some, it was the Second Coming, American style. For many others it brought on waves of fear, foreboding and depression. Another Trump presidency promises lawlessness, oppression, worsening climate disasters and international instability.

It took me a few days to regain my sense of perspective and optimism. The prospect of four more years of Trump is almost unthinkable, but here we are. We’re cooked.

So it seems. But seeming isn’t the same as actual. Donald Trump may not, for one reason or another, be inaugurated on January 20 of next year. His mental state is pretty well-known: deranged criminal sociopath, narcissist, bully, fraud merchant, demagogue, pathological liar, clown, glutton and sexual predator. It seems obvious to many behavioral scientists and clinicians that he also is in decline. He has difficulty remembering things, though it can be hard to separate forgetting from lying. He has trouble focusing, speaking in a wandering, incoherent manner, saying whatever comes to mind, making no discernible point.

He also has uncontrollable anger, making him a dangerous person to be president, but making him also a danger to himself. His preference for low quality fast food can be seen as further evidence of pathology - food addiction, with inevitable health effects.

This isn’t exactly cause for cheer, but the prospects for another four years of Donald Trump don’t appear so likely. Project 2025, blah, blah, blah. The fascists are coming. Make plans to move to Canada, Europe, Australia, etc. Or wait a while.

So Trump himself is more Wizard of Oz than Adolph Hitler, and his fifteen minutes of fame are way past expired, but what about the wrecking crew he is bringing in? Won’t they do his dirty work whether he is here or not? His threat to “burn it all down” can take place with or without him.

It isn’t likely. The threat of Trump’s revenge crusade (after all, he is the Messiah of vengeance) depends entirely on him. If his health fails and he is incapacitated, his phony power ceases. Without the illusion created by endless bluster he has nothing.

So Donald Trump, deranged and in decline, 78 years old, six-foot three and obese, is an implausible dictator. Not for lack of want or trying. He would like to be worse than Hitler, Stalin, Franco, Pol Pot, Pinochet, Suharto and Amin put together. In addition to his declining mental and physical health, he is lacking in intelligence and competence. His life is a pathetic study of failed businesses, unpaid debts, fraud and disgrace. His only talent is as a performer – a mob inciter and entertainer. A hate monger. He has an audience. It worked for the past nine years. It won’t be for much longer. Events will overtake.
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Here's a song. A movie. Another movie. Otis Rush. A going away song for Trump. A lesson he was incapable of learning. Maybe when Trump is gone we can do this.