The Pilgrims

 Isn't it odd that a political party would run a one term, defeated candidate against the man who beat him (soundly) once already? And that that second-place finisher, angry at his loss, would have gone on to try a futile, half-assed, violent coup against his country in a ridiculous attempt to change the election outcome and to stay in power; and then run again as if it were normal? That's the stuff of South American or Eastern European countries. In what point in US world history had that made sense or even hinted at happening? Crazy, huh?

Yet we have moved on from the ugly events of January sixth as if were just a blip on the radar of democracy. Had it even really happened? Are we sure? Well, thanks to the perpetrator himself we know damn well it happened because he won't shut up about it. With no proof whatsoever, he continues to complain that the 2020 election was *stollen* from him and that the winner- Joseph R. Biden- had been an illegal president, having hijacked the election in broad daylight. You would think that he'd shut up about it and let any aspersions about his political prowess die a slow death. As if it weren't weird enough that the culprit hasn't moved on, it's plenty weirder that the media and many of the people have moved on. 

Well, we are a weird country. We ran around the states here and the world all over, telling everyone how great we were, seemingly for forever; but at least since we won WWII. If you take a good glance at the US, we aren't all that. We're not that great. We've certainly done some wonderful things like going to the Moon and back couplefew times, but we did cool things like that while also denying people of color the same civil rights as white people. We had to argue and think about things like that for decades, even though the answer was plainly stated in our own constitution. It was right there, all that time. A sixth grader could have pointed that out. 

Nothing has ever been as it seems in this country. I mean- it seems like it has, but it really hasn't. Has it? I'm getting confused now!

This country is a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction, taking every wrong direction on that lonesome road back home. It's a poet! It's a picker. It's a prophet! It's a pusher. It's a Willie Nelson song written by Kris Kristopherson. And you know what else it is? It's fucking Trump!

I think it really is. This is not a good thing. I am by no means here to praise Trump. It's just that somebody decided that the stupidest motherfucker in the history of the world should be THE guy to lead the United States of America, off the meandering path of greatness, away from the futility of democracy, and into the warm embrace of fascism. I mean- that must be it because that's exactly what he's doing. It seems to be working. And it makes a lot of sense if you don't think about it. Like, don't think about why this should happen. The easy answer from the media is, why not? They easily lost the plot of who, what, where, when and why, long ago. They now believe that, if your mother says she loves you, check Trump's sources. The answer may surprise you!

We have a history of rolling with the punches here, and 2026 is just an extension of that. Our media doesn't so much pick the winners as they roll right into the mud for them, at their editor's behest. Most media in the US are owned by six massive corporations. I wouldn't say they are competing with each other. Sure, they are greedy, but at some point, money is just a tool to be used to get what you want, and of course, more money in the process. Media-wise, cover all the bases, collect all the profits and giggle all the way to the offshore bank. They can report all day, every day on the pedophilic exploits of Trump and guys like him, but they know it doesn't matter. THEY decide when and if anything becomes of him and his crimes. No one else. Think all you want that he dances to Putin's tune because of pee tapes or film of him violating Russian children, but Putin dances for them too. Did he make it big in the lucrative spy business? Nyet. Not without help. Not without playing ball. And he probably throws like a girl. Who cares?

Everything is connected. The stupidest idiot becomes president- again- after failing once. Seriously, how the fuck does that happen? Well, I don't know. I just know that it had to be him because no other republican had the wherewithal to pull it off even once- not against Hillary Clinton. Certainly, no democrats. Every stupid gay-themed dance move he does is likely some part of the plan. He seems harmless, yet he's the toughest man on the planet. Huh. He's an ambling, rambling contradiction. He fools no one but the dumbest among us, and somehow that's enough to give agency for others to be fooled, like media and other politicians. We are used to hillbillies declaring their love for him, and as weird as that is, it's easily bolstered by legit politicians doing the same. EVERYBODY loves him. Everybody also hates him, but that's just how that works. It all comes out in the wash, right? So typical of great men, even those who could do all their dancing in a phone booth. 

In short folks, it's not just that we deserve him (because so many do) we are him. Not the physical parts so much, though many of us are obese and ugly, but more in the historical way. Much of America was born after WWII, on second base, and made their way into some form of exceptionalism. Trump was born on 3rd base, thought he hit a triple, and immediately got picked off third. He really hasn't done much in life beyond play the game under protest. He's no more special than any of us. It's just that (with millions of exceptions) we as a whole are no better than he is. He sucks. Hey- have you met us? We taught Hitler eugenics. We're just not all that, but we can talk a good game! I dunno, but we just might deserve this asshole. We'll see in November. Maybe. We'll see if it's thumbs up or down on democracy. I don't see how we can stop it, but we have to try.