I am a man of little talents. Trust me, this is not false modesty nor an attempt to solicit favor which, though, unsolicited is always appreciated. I am sincere when I say I don’t have much to offer anyone and not much going for me. I suffer from these frustrating facial tics and God-awful tremors, made worse by a sense of social awkwardness which I mask with comedy. I’m not good looking. I’m out of shape. I’m not strong, nor athletic. I don’t have a lot of money. Depression is always there lurking there in my horizon, like some distant buzzing always surrounding me (and incidentally is the reason why I prefer limits and enjoy sunsets at the ocean.) I’m divorced without kids. My lifeline apparently dies with me. So many are truly blessed in ways that I will never be. 

Etc. et. al.

All true, as I say. But..and there is always a but, for in truth, I wish to focus and exaggerate the importance of what follows…but I do have ONE talent, really only one. I have an uncanny ability to see, so clearly, as if there is a light inside each and everyone of us, the true nature of someone’s character. So, Trump. Herr Trumpen Bumpen. Our shame. Our disgrace. Are end of the American Republic, may she Rest In Peace.

Politics again? Yes. Why? Because, we must. It is all that matters right now. A disgust for politics is immoral. We had a moral duty to vote for Hillary. That was Chomsky, hardly an apologist for the Clintons. We had a moral duty, and we failed. But the weighting of minorities (inelegantly and inaccurately described as concurrent majorities) were able to guarantee that the will of the people be dammed. 

So this talent makes me keenly aware as to the true nature of our repulsive President-elect. Impossible to listen to, disgusting and crude. Abusive and sexist. Ignorant and lazy. Dull and insipid. That, Trump. I am able to see the dawn of kleptocracy. The shake-downs, and abuse of power. The flaunting of democratic norms.  I am able to see the rise of Neo-fascism and the extra-judicial attacks on citizens. 

And I am begging, pleading, desperate to make others understand what is going on, what is happening to us. Not because I want people to tell me I’m right (though again, much appreciated), but because I am afraid. I’m afraid for my family and their futures and a Republic that will no longer be for them. And to those who say my fear is exaggerated, that these are truly small things, how do I convince you that a bleak period is descending upon us? How do I make you understand that now is not the time to be uncommitted, standing on the sidelines watching this train wreck unfold. 

It is hard to convince someone about the validity of your position. Harder still when people have become so misaligned with their own interests. But I guess I never understood the appeal of despotism, the ignoble charm of tyranny. 
Republics die. They die by lethargy. They die by our own idle hands. They die when institutional practices become eroded, when civil discourse is channelled into echo chambers, when civil society collapses under mistrust and paranoia. They collapse when despots, men who speak of the easy solution of political revolution, subvert the rule of law for personal enrichment. How many strongmen began their careers as revolutionaries promising a glorious future: al-Assad, Castro, Gaddafi, Hussein, the Kims, Khomeini, Mao, Mengistu, Minh, Mussolini, Mugabe, Pol Pot, Stalin…

Did we truly vote for this Revolution that will devestate lives and leave so much ruin? Why this desire to tear up the system? Why now? Or were we always so susceptible?  

Whenever I hear the chants of his forlorn followers crying Drain the swamps! To many, I am sure this sounds like normal heated rhetoric. But not me. I shudder when I hear those words. For in my ears, I can hear the unmistakable cry to Cut Down the Tall Trees.  And I can see as clear as the setting sun, the militancy that it is meant to unleash.