Who’s at the wheel? Anybody?

As much press and blame and… praise?… as Trump gets, many of us know that he’s as much puppet as string puller, and there’s more going on than just a vindictive man child usurping power and reaping the benefits of his title.

Surely we cannot leave out JD Vance, Stephen Miller, Kevin Roberts, Russell Vought, Steve Bannon, Peter Thiel, and the rest of the filthy rich who have skin in this game of power consolidation and political favoritism and sham Christianity. And let’s not forget all the enablers at Fox News and OANN and the rest—the farm system for more than a few who serve in this administration.

Plenty of words and theories get thrown around, when it comes to putting a label on what we’re witnessing—fascism, authoritarianism, dictatorship, throwback Naziism, amateur hour—a gaggle of losers pining for the days when men were men, women were pretty faces and baby factories, and white people enjoyed their undeserved status as masters of destiny. And there was always someone to pick on, to blame for one thing or another.

Weakness masquerading as strength, incompetence running rampant, a President tilting the playing field and challenging everything that has made America a true experiment in self-rule.

It’s not that Trump thinks his way has merits and benefits for the citizenry. He doesn’t have a way, or a plan, other than self-enrichment and revenge. It’s more that others are telling him what they want and what they think best fits their vision for a country run top down by zealous capitalists and out-of-touch “visionaries.”

People who are on their way to Mars, while many more are just trying to put food on the table, or grasping for ways to validate their existence.

“Cantankerous” doesn’t begin to cut it.

At some point, if it hasn’t happened already, there comes a realization that no amount of indignity or offense taken is going to register, or even matter. It seems the louder the cat calls and critique and outright anger, the more entrenched and ridiculous Donald Trump and Co. become. Miller and Vance and Trump himself feed off of our rage and become even more hideous versions of themselves.

The latest move we have to somehow absorb is removing MLK. Jr. and Juneteenth celebrations and adding Trump’s fucking birthday to the calendar. He’s playing now, or has been all along, just doing and saying things that drive us crazy and distract us from all the damage and the dearth of expertise running rampant in this sham of an administration.

Most Republicans in Congress have made it plain that they have no plans to counter the stupidity, and Democrats are hiding behind their status as minority, so it’s up to the rest of us to embrace the role of citizen and do our job.

Almost half the country thought Trump was a good idea, but that percentage has to be dropping. Is anyone else daring to imagine the possibility that all the gerrymandering ends up being for nought, because enough Republicans in these designer districts decide they, too, have had enough of the deception?

Daily writing prompt

What could you do less of?

View all responses

Less consumption of junk food, less moping, less sitting around, less doom scrolling and surfing in general, less talking and more doing.

Trump’s Cabinet meetings are among the most pathetic, cringeworthy things I’ve ever seen. How can the people sitting around the table rationalize their behavior, as they grovel and pay homage to an immature tyrant who’s either not listening and sometimes nodding off– or maybe he’s in an almost orgasmic state letting the compliments wash over him?

How can these people, time after time, continue to play along? It’s hard to watch, to see adults reduced to ass-kissing automatons.

Seventy-seven million people voted for this?

The tragedy of tragedies, in the end, might be that we wasted so much time and energy and resources in the development of war implements. It’s shameful and sad on every level—that we’ve never been able to rise above, move beyond the intrinsic distrust and wariness of others.

All the trillions could have been spent more altruistically, on better things. But instead, contracts are awarded, pockets are lined, while diseases make inroads, people sleep on the streets, ignorance runs rampant, the planet warms, and neglect rages on.

We are just selfish animals with a more evolved brain that’s never been used to its full potential. We inflict needless pain and suffering, we look the other way, we hoard and take care of “our own,” we get distracted and overtaken by delusions of grandeur and the allure of power. A relative handful of people act like they have the best ideas while trying to make life miserable for everybody else.

Shit. I’m rambling, not finding the words. Maybe this is why I still have those dreams where I’m unprepared and can’t find my way—it’s because I’m constantly searching, trying to say things in a succinct, insightful way, and the words just aren’t there. My mind is a jumbled mess some days.

Daily writing prompt

Share five things you’re good at.

View all responses

Loyalty, patience (in some things), persistence (in other things), attention to detail, and lawn care.