Low Expectations

A wise old Byzantine once said (and I translate): "If you elect arseholes, you get trumps!" The bad smell emanating from the White House over the last four years has certainly proved that maxim.

The majority of new incumbents to the position of POTUS have previously been senators, state governors, legislators or military leaders, public servants bringing with them to the highest office in the land a wealth of experience and gravitas. By contrast, Trump was a jumped-up playboy businessman and 'reality tv star' who dealt by dirty rules while pumping out trite slogans during his campaign ("drain the swamp", "make America great again"), populist mantras that lazy and embittered minds could latch on to.

As outside observers, our expectations of the 45th President of the United States were low, but he managed to exceed them. No sooner did the Donald install himself with undue pomp and (badly attended) ceremony, have his trophy wife assume the FLOTUS position and his children sign on as advisers, than good practice and principle headed south. 

Sure, we thought his tenure of office would be poor, but it has turned out to be far worse than anyone feared, as the tiny-handed narcissistic demagogue, who put his own and his family's interests above those of the nation, reneged on international alliances and obligations, reversed progressive social policies at home, embroiled himself in scandal, suffered  impeachment and finally, as we witnessed last week, encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol building to try and disrupt the vote to approve Joe Biden's appointment as his lawfully elected successor. 

Trump has been a disgrace and an embarrassment as well as the worst president the USA has ever had. It was a relief he didn't get re-elected, though his supporters are adamant they will still try and stop the inauguration of Biden in two weeks time. I hope Trump does get impeached for a second time and that measures can be put in place to prevent him from standing for office again in 2024. It would also be good to think that the American people will learn from the damage that's been done by this crass and divisive cult of personality, but my expectations are low. I fear the effect of decades of dumbing down and the distorting power of unregulated social media. It's a tide that will be hard to turn.  

"This ain't no party, this ain't no disco"

I'm sure this image above (and many like it) will be familiar to most people by now, Trump's insurrectionary cohort storming the Capitol building in Washington "in support of democracy " ha ha ha! It flavours my latest poem...

This Ain't No Discourse *
In the old days we'd have been able to
gather together round a table, drink a
glass or two of wine and discuss this;
could have debated, swapped views,

read in-depth analysis not fake news,

talked all of the implications through
in a rounded way that allowed us to 

arrive at some collective understanding,

a shared sense of what is happening

and why. Instead we're bombarded by

media bots, tiktok, influencers, memes,

all skewing and manipulating truth into

soundbites, shaping lazy minds, designed

to polarize inflexibly, a binary blindness 

that discourages dialectic and discourse.

These days we drink our glass or two

of wine at home, diminished and alone.   

* The title is a nod to a line from the Talking Heads song Life During Wartime off the album 'Fear Of Music', linked here as an audio bonus if you'd like to listen: Life During Wartime

Thanks for reading, stay safe. S ;-)