Mephistopheles...

© 28 November 2020, the Griot Poet

“All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible.” Frank Herbert, author of Dune

 

Twitter is finally flagging his gaslighting,

No-less-than “created realities.”

Karl Rove, and,

Knock-off Yosemite Sam

“The Room Where it Happened,”

John Bolton has told Baby Huey,

It’s time to throw in the towel.

 

But that wouldn’t be foul!

He has to go out in the manner and style that he came in: trolling,

Anti-Zen Buddha’s bizarro meditations, 140-character foils,

Are always composed from a golden toilet,

After cheeseburgers and flatulence,

As amazing as this chagrin:

We were “lucky” to have had him!

 

Because: the next authoritarian completely understands their audience.

 

Mike Pompeo is a Harvard graduate and evangelical.

So is Ted Cruz, and Tom Cotton,

Don’t forget “little Marco,”

Or, Mr. ALEC, Ohio Governor John Kasich, who supported Joe Biden for president,

And, let’s not forget “Brundle-fly” Mike Pence!

Each man plans to run for president,

Trading in their klan sheets for Armani three-piece,

Will try to rehabilitate evangelicalism: making it “great again,”

On-point, and convincingly kissing white, Anglo Saxon Protestant cisgender babies,

And “ride this birther Kraken.”

Ridden by Orange Satan to power,

And the right-wing echo chamber,

Starting with AM Talk Radio,

That has lied to its constituents,

For four decades,

 

73 million Americans are the byproducts of 40 years of programming by hate radio,

Alex Jones,

Dark Internet sites and state TV Fox propaganda.

They all decided to, despite the evidence, in the words of Tom Nichols, vote for the sociopath.

 

Trumpism is just modern-day buncombe speeches,

To practically empty chambers, but not beyond the reach

Of staff reporters from the Congressional Globe,

For consumption by constituents back home,

Enraging them about northern overreach,

Into the institution of slavery,

We’ve been where lies and propaganda leads,

 

Chanting manically “build the wall”; “lock her up”; “you will not replace us”; “blood and soil” like a scene from Orwell’s “two-minutes hate,”

That, for all intents and purposes, is their “base.”

 

The next authoritarian will seem reasonable.

 

He, it’s always a “he,” will be skillful, adept,

Perhaps a Harvard graduate,

With the bonafides of being,

A white, Anglo Saxon Protestant cisgender male,

With more skill than court jesters tweeting

Middle school insults,

Or, openly courting strongmen and tyrants,

 

Reagan is a paper saint,

He started the birth of this dragon in Philadelphia, Mississippi,

Blocks from where Cheney, Goodman, and Schwerner

Were KKK-murdered,

For registering black Mississippians to vote,

 

When you cannot win a popular vote, you probably won’t want people voting like Paul Weyrich.

You might restrict election boxes In Texas counties,

Or, in California by fiat: outright steal them!

Which is why the Georgia runoffs are so significant,

We have to put our shoulders behind Warnock and Ossoff,

Grit our teeth from every incessant text message and tweet begging for money: it’s grassroots - you and me - versus corporate dollars.

That’s the trade-off!

I give them ONE dollar,

Every time they ask,

Because in my mind: I’m multiplying by hundreds of thousands of respondents,

350% matched!

 

Democracy isn’t something we do every four years,

Democracy is something we HAVE to do every year: every DAY!

The fascists aren’t going away.

And, their preening Ivy League toadies are sucking their teeth,

Waiting like ghouls for their opportunity,

Like they’re sifting our meat and gristle,

Off our corpses,

E Pluribus Unum!

 

We don’t get a break because authoritarianism and fascism will never take one,

 

Remember how we couldn’t stand George W. Bush,

And, the lies HE told to get us in Iraq?

He’s so rehabilitated his image, in comparison,

He’s more acceptable to speak at the funeral of Civil Rights icon John Lewis,

Than our current Oval Office occupant,

 

Heed this:

The next authoritarian will ride this Kraken,

The next authoritarian will exasperate our factions,

 

The next authoritarian will make us swoon for these “halcyon four years” because

 

The next authoritarian will likely, not be a buffoon.