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The Fascist Takeover of our Body Politic is Complete [1]

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Date: 2025-01-20

As a man who is over 70, I’ve witnessed it all from a distance. From the joy of our first black president being elected in 2008, to the horror of the Vulgarian Orange Blob winning the electoral college while losing the popular vote by 3 million in 2016, to the sadness and shock of the assassinations of the Kennedys and MLK, to the righteous indignation I felt of a president who was forced to resign in 1974, and anger I felt about our country invading and occupying a Middle Eastern country on the basis of lies in 2003. I’ve seen it all on a TV set or iPad, depending on the time of my life.



But I’ve never seen this. A national self-own of electing a known criminal and divisive figure who also happens to be an adjudicated sexual abuser and corrupt to the core. Worst of all, bringing back to power a man who is ruthless, lawless, and will stop at nothing in terms of gaining what he feels is retribution against all those who called him out and tried to hold him accountable in the public sphere. This is worse, in fact, than a self-own. This is national humiliation!

How to cope? First, I will not watch the inauguration ceremony on my TV or iPad. I won’t watch it at all, though I’m sure I’ll see the highlights on clips after the event. Second, I will think less about politics and more about how to enjoy my retired life and maintain good health. Thinking about Trump 2.0 certainly isn’t the way to do that! We all should go about our daily lives while hoping, beyond hope perhaps, that this country’s citizens try to take back what’s their’s, the right to self-government.



Self-government is now officially a quaint idea, with the inauguration of Trump for a second time. As President Biden pointed out (but did nothing to prevent), this is now an oligarchic form of government, a plutocracy, controlled by the billionaire class and a small handful of business interests. Not just the “Tech Industrial Complex” as he pointed out, not just the “Military Industrial Complex” that Eisenhower warned about, which is bigger and more threatening to world peace than ever. But also the Energy Industrial Complex which will try to make more $$$ than ever at the expense of a more rapidly warming planet, and the Health Industrial Complex, which will profit more than ever from our illnesses and injuries, and other Industrial Complexes that will advance private interests at the expense of the public good.

The United States of America is in a worse place right now, today, than at any time that I’ve been alive. Americans are asleep at the wheel, which is why this is happening. I liken Trump supporters to the “pod people” in the movie “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, either the classic movie or the remake. As with any horror story like that fictional tale, or as with anyone who actually does fall asleep while driving, a devastating crash approaches. Don’t look behind you, but the speeding car of fascism is about to crash into us. To survive, we need to stay out of its lane!

America wont get through this era unscathed, or even intact. This truly is a slow motion train wreck we are all witnessing. An unforced error brought on by the American people who have been asleep at the wheel, and either didn’t vote or voted for a man on the basis of social media algorithms that manipulated their brains into doing the wrong thing. There will be consequences, both short term and over a period of decades that will be felt long after Trump is gone.

And until enough Americans wake up and a brave new leader emerges who unites the resistance, there is little to no resistance to what’s coming. Enjoy your day and don’t tune in to today’s travesty! That’s all I have to say.

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