Epstein.

Flood the zone.

By the time November 3 gets here, it seems most of us will have a much clearer sense of what that means. If the Republicans can’t find their backbone in the next month or so, then we may be in for the tussle of our lives if Democrats carry the day and Donald Trump’s desperation explodes into truly maniacal behavior.

His authoritarian tendencies will be in full view, and we could have a Constitutional crisis on our hands. The “cornered rat” analogy will come to life, and Trump will lash out in ways we’ve feared since he took office 10 years ago. The S will hit the F and all bets will be off.

Variables include if the military will follow orders, if the Supreme Court will give some green light to hastily developed injunctions and oppressive prohibitions, and if the general public will throw down the gauntlet and say, “No more.”

The exasperating, truly tragic thing is that it didn’t have to be this way. Still, if this is the price we must pay for an uneasy truce after Appomattox, then so be it. If it goes even deeper than that, and we must face down this latest assault on our republic from the far right, well, buckle up everyone. It might be a long, cold winter.

Fuck you, Donald, and the escalator on which you’ve descended. And shame on you, Republicans and MAGA disciples, for aiding and abetting.

Epstein

What still boggles the mind but shouldn’t anymore is the fact that the Trump administration has a seemingly endless supply of distractions to roll out. Not only that, but he and the rest appear unfazed by much of anything we can throw at them.

I assume some of our demonstrations and vocal dissatisfaction get through, but it has long felt like no matter how angry we get, how loud we get, how often a judge puts a stop to some hair-brained action floated or taken, Trump and Hegseth and Miller, etc. never really get derailed.

They’re like those toys that bump into a wall but just keep moving in a different direction—undeterred, relentless, built for perpetual motion.

Still, we won’t forget about the Epstein files.

I might be suspicious of pretty much everything anymore, but I wonder about the FlyDubai incident. The first thing that came to mind was Bibi had something to do with it.

A plumber (undercover security?) apprehends the assailant and employs knowledge gained from a TV show to pull the plane out of a dive? And there just happens to be a third capable pilot on board (actual airline policy?) who can land the plane safely?

I suppose this could be a genuine hero story, but the fact that my first inclination was to discount the whole thing says something about me, I guess. But it also says something about the times we’re living in—that not much of anything is as it appears or as someone reports it. I can’t just hear this story and take it at face value. There must be something more, something that takes the shine off.

Something we’re gonna learn down the road that changes it from a miraculous turn of events to some choreographed, politically motivated, and shockingly depraved plot.

Europe suffered through a blazing hot summer with wildfires galore, Arizona is keeping an eye on a stressed dam and people are facing flooded highways and dwellings, the Outer Banks and other east coast spots are assessing damage after a massive, lingering nor’easter unleashed strong winds and dumped massive amounts of water.

I suppose it could all be coincidental. After all, droughts happen, heat happens, this is the season for tropical wind and rain, along with clashing warm and cold fronts at the change of seasons. But let’s leave some room for the likelihood that this collection of instances of excess is something more than coincidence, that there’s rhyme and reason to it.

Maybe the increased volatility and strength of some of these systems is indeed because the atmosphere continues to warm at an accelerated rate, as it has since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution and more strikingly since the late 1950s.

In the long—or maybe not-so-long—run, we won’t be able to handle it. The water will keep getting deeper and reaching places it previously never reached. The heat will reach a point where crops won’t grow and there will be no place for us to hide.

The current administration is acting as if none of this is real. Donald Trump conveniently and ignorantly calls it all a hoax, as do other elected officials beholden to Exxon and BP and oil sheiks everywhere. We should be incensed by this purposeful neglect. Besides not deserving one more vote, maybe it’s just time to put our faith in the private sector and concerned citizens who know a problem when they see it and apply themselves to finding solutions. While they still can.

I realize there are no perfect people, and it supposedly takes all kinds to make the world go ‘round. I’m not enamored of that tired, maxed-out cliché anymore.

There are some people—Donald Trump, for example—who go out of their way to be worthless. To be the center of attention, to be the loudest voice in the room or in the media, but nothing more. That’s it. That’s all they can muster, all they’re good for.

I’m all for someone who can show restraint, who keeps whims and urges in check. Trump isn’t built that way. All that matters to him is that all eyes and mics are on him anywhere he goes. Imagine that.

No thought given to actually doing his job, no consideration for tending to the traditional responsibilities of the high office he’s been handed for an unfathomable second time. All he’s done is embarrassed us, rendered us a laughingstock among nations, and he’s viewed by many as a bloviating failure unfit for any supervisory role at any level.

He’s wasted 11 years of this country’s existence, indulging his anger and selfish tendencies, cozying up to the world’s top human rights violators and despots, and skewed visionaries here at home. His negligence and incompetence are the only truly legendary things about him, certainly not anything to be proud of.

Seventy-seven million people, many knowingly, voted for a horrid human being to speak for them, to maybe work on their behalf, and almost certainly indulge their own fears and hatreds. Now, finally, maybe, they are beginning to regret their choice.