Curdled

Kari Lake, Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump– names being mentioned in the same breath as 2024. My oh my. The cream rises, eh? The peoples’ desires are apparently voiced through this unholy trinity, these superstar… options for high office.

There are at least two countries between the shores, two distinct audiences tuned into totally disparate sound- tracks. If Lake, DeSantis, and Trump remain at the top, if no other candidates can break the stranglehold these ugly people currently employ and enjoy, then next year we will have 2020 on steroids. Many will find a quiet place to hide for the duration, many will turn off their phones and tvs and tell their loved ones to wake them when it’s over.

These three are candidates only in the most tortured and contrived sense of that word. And the other hopefuls aren’t much better. The Republican party has nothing to offer us except fatigue and paranoia, an infatuation with authoritarianism, a strict moral code born of an unformed Christian faith, and a penchant for deregulation that makes their industrial donors happy and the earth more inhospitable.

There is no vision of a better day for all. Their motivations are informed by more basic things, primarily grievance and power. Childish drama on a wildly destructive level.