State Of Play - Coup d'état

 

I can't seem to face up to the facts

I'm tense and nervous and I can't relax

I can't sleep 'cause my bed's on fire

Don't touch me I'm a real live wire

Psycho Killer

Qu'est-ce que c'est

Fa-fa-fa-fa... far better

Run, run, run… run, run, run away…

- from Psycho Killer by the Talking Heads

 

In the waning hours of the great Robber Baron/Trickster King’s reign… here in the land of the free… his desire to remain in power, increasingly consumes him. Even after one of the most scrutinized elections in modern history, the Trickster King is unrelenting. He pursues a victory he failed to achieve… a high honor the American people did not renew. Yet he imagines it, still within his grasp…

 

In his narcissism, the Trickster King is outraged at the injustice, the unmitigated gall of a world… his world… passing him by. The changing tide of fortune erodes the ground beneath his feet… even as political capital sifts through his fingers. He is enraged… because the election’s outcome wasn’t fair… in the eyes of the Trickster King.

 

During his reign, calculations of prophet and loss dictated decisions of State. His many grifts, recklessly enriched his personal fortune. Every move, from the open bribery scam, where “interested parties” booked every available room at Trump hotels, while not bothering to actually check in (emoluments clause be damned!), to the hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars paid for the security of his kids… every move, has turned a profit for the great Robber Baron/Trickster King’s empire.

 

  

Every enacted policy was designed to benefit his empire and/or the new corporate overlords (that he may be beholden to). His 2 trillion 2017 tax cuts, which accelerated the flow of wealth from the 99%, to the 1%, mostly benefited his (now our) corporate overlords. Case in point… the international shipping colossus, FedEx paid $1.5 billion in taxes in 2017, prior to the tax cut. The next year, FedEx owed nothing. Its effective tax rate had gone from 34 percent to (less than) zero.

  

Devoid of empathy, his policies were framed in populist jargon, all the while decimating existing policies designed to protect the American citizenry. His hollowing of agencies such as the EPA stripped public protections, betraying the environment while benefiting corporate adventurism. Even his accomplishments, like quickly getting those initial stimulus checks out, feels more like a bribe than a benefit.

After the election, the great Robber Baron/Trickster King’s grift turned to swindling his faithful supporters. In the Ironically named Stop the Steal campaign, the Trump syndicate raised $207.5 million since Election Day, most going to a new leadership PAC Trump formed in November. Trump’s fundraising scheme funneled the money to a new political organization created by the president: a leadership PAC called Save America PAC, a type of vehicle (popular with both parties on Capitol Hill) that is a slush fund, with little-to-no restrictions on how the money is spent.

Ominously, the Trickster King purged the pentagon of key staff, in favor of those loyal to either him, ex-lieutenant general Michael Flynn, and/or Q Anon. However, I can’t help but ask the question: Is trump pulling the strings… or is it Q Anon? Unshackled from his advisors, has he completely given himself over to an internet meme? Is the tail wagging the dog? Don’t even get me started on that conversation.

 

The other contingency measures that he took in the lead-up to the election, didn’t seem to be transactionally paying off. To date, at least 86 judges from across the political spectrum, including some appointed by Trump, have rejected one or more post-election lawsuits filed by Trump or his supporters. The SCOTUS twice rejected attempts by Trump’s allies to contest the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

Delusional Desperation soon began to set in… the 11th hour phone call to Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger sounded like your basic goodfellas shakedown… “I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break.”

 

In the weeks leading up to electoral college confirmation of president-elect Joe Biden, the great Robber Baron/Trickster King had encouraged his paramilitary minions to converge on D.C.. He promised that the rally  would be “wild.” Incredibly, he kept his promise. During his rally in front of the White House on the morning of January 6, Trump “pulled the trigger” on his planned coup d'état. He was aided and abetted by Giuliani and Donald junior. Together, they incited his minions to move on the Capitol  building, for purposes of insurrection. His faithful paramilitary promptly sacked the Capitol… our Capitol… that hasn’t been sacked since the war of 1812.

This was the beginning of the promised “boogaloo” that White Supremacist factions have been waiting for…

Even as the Capitol was breached, the Trickster King tweeted that VP Pence “didn’t have the courage” to do what needed to be done. The shocking lack of security around the Capitol building, stinks to high heaven of a co-conspiracy. Unbelievingly, the Capitol police appeared to aid and abet the storming of the Capitol. It is not necessary to point out how other, more peaceful protests have been dealt with, in our near-past.

Like PKD's quote "the empire never ended" ...clearly, the Civil War never ended.

So it was that the great Robber Baron/Trickster King, in his megalomania, committed the treason that many knew him capable of.  He, at-last, openly incited the violent takeover of the legislative branch of the American government. He perpetrated traitorous acts, in his delusion, to maintain power. In the words of Billy Butcher… Diabolical!!!

So why did he do it? Why did the President of the United States incite insurrection? Is it because he fears incarceration once he leaves office? Given all the grifts he has brazenly pulled off, given all the crimes he has committed while under presidential immunity… given all the existing law suits and investigations being leveled at him and the Trump organization… fear of a long prison term, once he leaves office and loses presidential immunity, could be a motivation.

Is it his extreme narcissistic personality disorder? It is clear that the Trickster King is a megalomaniac. After he incited the mob to walk up Pennsylvania avenue on January 6th, hinting that he would join them, he instead snuck back into the Whitehouse. While watching his plot unfold on television, did he congratulate himself for how he duped his base? Did he chuckle at his cleverness? Wallow in his self-aggrandizement?

 

Amazingly…  outrageously… inconceivably… this is the political state of play of our times. As I have said before, the veneer of Democracy is paper thin. It is now clear that tyrants such as the great Robber Baron/Trickster King, can indeed destroy Democracy… at his whim… in his megalomania. 

Make no mistake, his actions are far worse than any alleged “Deep State” ...for he preys upon people’s fear of a deep state, to line his own pockets. He takes advantage of his faithful's confusion by appealing to their baser instincts, tricking them into doing his dirty work. He deceives his followers… those who he would call the cops on, if they dared show up in his neighborhood. 

Such are the events that we, as a democratic republic, may not be able to recover from.

The question is… what response? Should the 25th amendment be invoked? Should a second impeachment begin immediately? Should both be pursued? The great Robber Baron/Trickster King is clearly unfit to faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States. Nor does he have the capacity or the desire to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. He is a danger to our Nation, and likely to himself, as well. 

Regardless, the January 6th insurrection feels more like a beginning, than it does an ending. These are conundrums we are faced with. These are the riddles that must be answered… and quick. A con-man and a grifter is not the messiah promised by Q Anon… but then again, we knew the kind of guy he was before he took office...

We are vain and we are blind

I hate people when they're not polite

Psycho Killer

Qu'est-ce que c'est

Fa-fa-fa-fa... far better

Run, run, run… run, run, run away…

State of Play

 Part 1   /   Part 3