The alarms have been sounding for a while now, but just since the beginning of the new year, there has been a whirlwind of activity. Well, more a cyclone of debauchery and nonsense. The human refuse pile we know as Donald Trump is ratcheting up the insanity, which, incredibly, is still possible after all the ratcheting that’s already been done. Whether or not this has anything to do with distracting from a focus on the Epstein files is anyone’s guess, but either way we find ourselves as a country dealing with historical and hysterical (not funny) possibilities, maybe even eventualities.

Threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act, assuming the Presidency of two nations when he can’t handle one, threatening Greenland with annexation and worse, jeopardizing our relationships with Canada, Mexico, western Europe and our membership in NATO, gaslighting all of us with a rush to judgment regarding the circumstances surrounding the killing of Renee Good. And to top things off, Trump’s willingness to accept the Nobel Peace Prize from the person who actually won it. All since January 1. All unilaterally.

The hedge against further decay and dereliction of duty is a blue wave in November, but that is still ten months away. There is no guarantee that Trump and the brain trust around him won’t have sufficiently tilted the playing field and sabotaged the voting apparatus by then, or even tried to cancel the elections. That they will try is a sure bet.

We can’t wait until November. Congress has to act out all those euphemisms we toss around—grow a pair, grow a backbone, etc.—and stand up to Trump, hand him a few losses. Now. That ought to really mess with his already fragile sense of himself, deflate the balloon of invincibility that has held him aloft for way too long already, piss him off to the point of attempting something so rash that no one will indulge him any longer.

One has to hope that even Republican loyalists will finally have had enough of Trump and Miller and Vought and Vance and the god-awful direction they are trying to take this country. Maybe clear-headedness will yet prevail, and someone will finally look into the price of eggs.

There are so many questions.

How many of these ICE agents are offenders from January 6 who Trump pardoned a year ago? Why do they wear masks? Do their Moms know where they are? Why do they not have search warrants? What are they being told is their mission? Did they indeed respond because they stood to be paid $50K and they don’t like immigrants? What kind of training have they had?

Why isn’t Congress stepping in and confronting Trump with his abandonment of and lack of respect for checks and balances? Who are the voices he either listens to or gets his orders from? How can so many in this administration seemingly be so convinced of the propriety of what we’ve been watching unfold? What are Trump’s intentions in the long term? Is there an end game, and what might that look like?

Is there any polling that legitimately reflects the climate among voters? If Trump is polling poorly, does that even matter? Do politicians not see any wisdom in trusting the polling and acting accordingly? Is anyone going to stand up to this and forcefully say No More? How soon before we start battling in the streets and looking like Iran?

And one more thing… who in Trump’s position covets an award he doesn’t deserve, and ends up with anyway? In what universe does this pass for mature behavior?

Have we not seen enough?

It might be an insight or maybe another shot in the dark, but something struck a chord after hearing that Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minneapolis. Minneapolis, of all places!

He’s been aching to do this for a long time, and now, apparently, he has a perceived reason for doing so.

He has some sort of cause for sending in military troops to restore order in a situation he fomented. Unrest and anger he’s sown may soon be addressed with additional manpower and weaponry and even less margin for error when it comes to opening fire on civilians who are going to be even more angry and on edge and fed up with this manufactured drama.

With all his assumed Executive power, Trump could stop this nonsense in its tracks, theoretically, since, I assume, much of the impetus and devil-on-the-shoulder prodding has been coming from Stephen Miller. But Trump has neither the courage nor moral grounding to do so, and may not want to, because he enjoys the mayhem and the power trip. Besides, he may not have enough sense to recognize motives or the ill-conceived nature of much of what has transpired since he took office. And his heart has always been at least ten sizes too small.

So, here we are, perhaps about to cross another Rubicon. Can’t be many more before all hell breaks loose.

When I think about the passage of time, it’s tempting to compartmentalize, meaning, for example, my college days seem like they happened in another lifetime.

I still remember certain details of being in first grade. I can recall certain events like they just occurred, while large segments are seemingly lost forever… until a prompt of some sort—a song or smell or someone’s recollection. Then the fog is cleared, and the memory shines through.

The brain certainly is a remarkable organ. Highly complex, a vessel of unbounded mystery, a storehouse of memories– all of which, when you think about it, unfolded just a minute ago, or a few, a few hundred, a few thousand days before yesterday.

Not even a veneer of concern.

Serious governance is not on the agenda, but survival is. The Trump administration is too far gone to think about actual governance.  That was never going to be their thing. Instead, it’s been a witch’s brew of strange bedfellows and questionable alliances, a patina of “patriotism” scratched off to reveal authoritarian intent, along with vengeance, paranoia, mind-numbing incompetence, and a conveniently interpreted, ill-conceived, heavy-handed brand of Christianity.

Governance as the founding fathers envisioned it is too hard for this collection of impostors. They prefer a white, subservient, ignorant populace, only good for filling positions on a front line of some war that didn’t need starting, or to work at jobs that end up enriching the one-percenters somehow and at some point. This is not tenable for much longer.

America the truly beautiful may have never existed, but many of us were optimistic that it someday could. The descent to some much lesser place is in progress, happening quicker than many had anticipated. And it is as if the Trump administration is daring us to fight back, so it can unleash the real ugliness, the unmistakable evidence of a takeover.

It’s laughable that Trump encourages the people of Iran to keep protesting–and dying– while the same thing happening here, in solely Democratic and ethnically diverse strongholds, is met with an influx of ill-trained ICE agents and maybe members of the military, always one panicked move away from bloodshed.

It’s only the middle of January. Trump and his cadre of Snidely Whiplashes seem intent on shielding their felon/POTUS for as long as they can from the relentless specter of the Epstein files, or maybe just from his stunning cluelessness and constant lies. So, we have a buffet of distractions– an invasion of Venezuela, a criminal investigation of Jerome Powell, talk of acquiring Greenland either the easy way or the hard way, saber-rattling directed at Iran and Mexico and even Canada, and a POTUS who is so immature and needy that he can’t rule out accepting an undeserved Nobel Peace Prize from its rightful recipient.

It’s enough to make one wonder if we are unable to awaken from an epic nightmare.

Each day, we think the bottom must be in sight, but the slide into the pit appears interminable and irreversible, with no one seemingly interested in doing anything about it.

No long-suffering indignance will leave a mark. Neither will righteous anger. Nothing will get through to the old man who’s losing his mind and who must still believe that everyone waits with bated breath on his every word and gesture.

Colbert’s take on why Trump got up and walked to a window at the meeting with oil executives is as valid as any other theory—he had to fart and didn’t want to suffer the embarrassment of letting one fly at the table. Or it might have been his penchant for “all eyes on me.” Or maybe he was just wandering and losing his train of thought.

We must come to terms with the fact that there is a long list of things to try when it comes to distracting from the Epstein files. Trump and those around him will go to great lengths to use every item on that list, and the actions taken, words spoken will get increasingly more outlandish and consequential. It’s like the ultimate throwing of spaghetti against the wall, in hopes they can keep up the ugly ruse.

People keep saying America is in trouble, and that we have become the rogue state. So, what happens next, Russ?