I like to write. It’s fun, it brings me peace. There’s something amazing about creating something from nothing—a thrill in the challenge I accept gladly every time I sit down, fingers or thumbs ready to deliver a thought. Unfortunately, while writing is a passion, I can’t do it on demand. I need something—an occurrence, a moment, an idea—to kickstart my third eye. I know I’m not alone in this, but it’s the only place I can speak from. Once inspired, it’s pen-to-paper, posthaste, but I’ll be honest: I arrive here, in this place with you now, dubiously. Inspired for sure and I do want to write, but the topic twists me up inside. It’s like knowing you need to throw up but can’t. You walk around with this feeling, and then, out of nowhere, it all bursts out, uncontainable. That’s what this is: an absolute need to get something out that won’t rest until I do; an upchuck no doubt.
The topic? Trump. And by “upchuck,” I don’t mean spewing venom or piling insult upon insult. It’s more about the feeling itself, this sense that I have to get it out of my system. This is how it started: “But someone died…” It was meant to be a deep dive into the absurdity surrounding the assassination attempt on Trump—the parts left unsaid because, well, someone died. Peace to his family and loved ones. May he rest in peace. I'm sure that's what kept folks from talking about it like it was staged, certainly me, but, let’s be absolute: no scar on Trump’s ear after having had an encounter with anything AR-15, an instrument meant soley for destruction? Come on, we don't need the great Inspector Gadget on this one, but, once again, indeed, someone did...Full stop, always. Right?
Here’s the thing: does pointing out the actual bullshit dishonor the life or death of someone? Trump told people to drink bleach during a crisis. People actually did. They died, but we don’t know their names, we’ve never seen their faces. There’s no story to tell, so somehow that's not bad? We’re told as children not to drink bleach, yet somehow, when the leader of the free world suggested it, people did. Cult or not, no one should be subjected to such blatant disregard. They should know, they were told as kids, some would say. Well, so was he and it is he who has the responsibility to them. Fast forward, a person died at a Trump rally, and now we know their name, we’ve seen their family. We have a story. It resonates, it becomes real. Two acts of devastation, but only one registers. Why?
I always used to wonder why JonBenet Ramsey became a name I knew, a name I know even today, synonymous with having been murdered, even though, no offense intended, murders happen all the time. It's all about the ones the media chooses to focus on, to focus our attention on. Same with school shootings. They happen often, the media chooses which ones to bring to the forefront, usually at a time when they want to make a point of some kind. Election time usually makes for great theater. To be clear, I'm not making light of other's lives, at least that's not the intention. I actually feel the opposite, that it is legacy media that makes light of their condition by only telling the story when it suits. Legacy media, you literally direct attention. Shame on you, Fox News, in particular, and if anyone ever has the good mind to file a class action suit against them for trafficking in misinformation, purposeful and reckless endangerment, and surely costing the lives of millions upon millions for your Covid coverage alone, I'll gladly sign up.
It’s mass-media murder. Lying about an election cost them nearly a billion dollars, lying about a pandemic cost lives. Yet they’re still on the air, spreading misinformation that fosters division and distrust. They should pay for that, especially considering the money they’ve profited from it.
I’m not mad at Trump. He entered the scene as a huckster, loud and proud, and he’ll leave as one too. We are who we are when we got here. Word to Jay. There’s a kind of perverse admiration in it—he ran the greatest con of the century, twice, and pulled it off, all without a shred of confidence beyond his willingness to show us every flaw he has. Does that count? He did become president, so surely there is genius in that. Again, I’m not here to tear him down, really. He won, in his way. Bad game, move on.
But when I think about someone like Kamala, and she could lose, probably will. And still, she showed us something we haven’t seen before. She ran for president in 100 days, inspired millions, showed out in the debate, and demonstrated capabilities Trump simply does not possess. Sure, he won when it counted, but does anyone really believe he’s more capable than she is? Trump’s been running for President for ten years and still has yet to sit in front of a camera and explain one policy. It's not about that. What it’s about is an accomplished Black woman besting a rich white man on a global stage. That’s what’s really threatening here. It's not about trump anymore, it's about protecting an ideal, one that fabrics this country. Any threats to that will be quashed immediately. Even Obama wasn’t this kind of threat. Black, educated, highly capable, AND a woman? Nah, we can't have that. Ladies and gentlemen, we have identified America’s New Nightmare. Word to O-Dogg. Sisters, take a bow.
Kamala didn’t meet a perfect storm or anything so grand as that; she ran up against a structural, systemic stronghold that activated to reinforce itself just because she showed up. Folks like the Koch Brothers hate trump, they have made that clear countless times, but you think they'd rather trump at the helm, one of their own essentially, or Kamala Harris? We can add all the adjectives and superlatives that can go in front of her being a Black Woman to scare them off-strong, articulate, capable, and so on-but we can also take them away, leaving just "Black Woman". You think those rich white men want that at the helm? Next. Trump is the perfect candidate for that establishment: he’s rich, willing to be openly racist, and, with a wink and a nod, they let him go on.
She ran into not just an opponent, but an entire foundation that braced itself against her. All she did was run a campaign that gave a glimpse into what her presidency would be, exactly what a presidential campaign is suppose to do. Dope to see. The saying is a woman gotta be twice as good as a man, thrice when she’s black. I added that part, but you feel it. Let's face it, though, she was...better than him. He knew it, that's why he ran from her. Trump ran a campaign providing evidence beyond the past long 9 years of what another crack at it would look like. A mess does not summarize. To his credit, he did say out loud what he would do in a second term and he effectively did what no circus has done before him, which is stay. The circus comes to town and leaves, making it fresh and new when it eventually returns. Folks are willing to be duped, fooled, and such because it's fun and it will be over soon, until the next cycle. Everyone understands this dynamic and happily play their respective roles. Trump came as circus and stayed. Wow. I imagine he is both the admiration and ire of one Barnum and Bailey alike.
It’s easy to dismiss politics today of all days, but I’m turning the page for a different reason. I’m not sure I believe in “politics” anymore, at least not in the sense of politics being the active functioning of government. Did you know there’s a known rapist in Congress right now? His name is Matt Gaetz. Everyone knows it, and he’s still there, walking the halls, passing judgment on others. loud and out loud. Could you do that at your job? Could a known rapist stand around the water cooler, talking sports or the ills of life with you? There’s also Jim Jordan, who looked the other way when his players were molested. Imagine that character type making executive decisions in your organization. Trump, himself, oh never mind, the question is how could a functioning government be run by such dysfunction and still stand? Is government so automated, so on autopilot, that it just goes on without any real need for oversight? Trump’s known flaws, his public failures, they’re part of his track record. Yet the government went on. It kept working, in some form, outside of him. Is that just how it’s built? If so, what does that say about the real role of the presidency? Why would a superpower settle for a figurehead who undermines it at every turn?
Then there’s the media. Smirk-worthy doesn’t begin to cover it. They created Trump, built the lane for him, even as they knew his flaws. In their hands, his sensationalism became an asset, not a flaw. Legacy media took a deeply flawed, insecure, incapable man and made him a mythical character. What they buried were the parts that mattered. They created the beast, then sat back to watch him roar, and he did, while they cashed in. I think about Trump now, his legacy hanging in the balance, hoping for that second term to redeem him. I don’t know if he’s more or less important than all the structures that empowered him. Because if government is perpetual, automatic, then we’ll probably be fine, right? Literally half the country doesn’t vote. They’re totally oblivious to the mess in front of them, and maybe they’re the smart ones. Ignorance is bliss, because being informed sometimes makes you not want to vote. Sad to say, but the more I know of government makes me not want to participate, namely on a federal level. Government practices on that level, just the ones out in the open are a joke. How dare you even mention taking away my parents social security, something they payed into since the very moment they began working and Roe Vs. Wade was settled law since before I was born. Come on, man.
Billy Bob thinks Obama caused COVID and he gets to vote. Meanwhile, someone doing time for what’s legal now and rich white men now dominate, can’t vote, even after getting out. And the guy in the Oval Office, whose chief responsibility is to uphold the laws of the land, be a picture of virtue even, is a felon. Welcome to crazy world. Book closed. This is Trump’s legacy, and somehow, he became a transformative president—not in vision, but in the way he stripped down the machinery, exposing its gears and showing us how little we’ve been steering.
I would be remiss if I didn't give trump an honest shot out. I admire you, dude. Let me be clear, not you so much or who you are or your conduct or leadership or anything at all about you really. In fact, I honestly believe you don't have any redeeming qualities at all, at least none that you've chosen to show publicly and your "behind the scenes", when those exploits come to the fore...despicable, obviously, time and again so, truly, that leaves us nowhere, BUT, always the proverbial but, your ability to not give a fuck inspires me. Trump doesn't care, like does not give a shit...AT ALL. I could clear a field of trees with the paper I'd use for example after example, but for the sake of expedience, let's just say he doubled down on every mistake, every flub, he took a sharpie to the dry erase board in front of the world, bleach, pussy grabbing, again, I could go on, and they all, ALL, including me, laughed at him, and still he's standing. Decrepit? Sure. Beaten? Badly. Have you seen him? The forever loser who continues to fail forward, who put a middle figure to every norm, every truth, slid in where he fit in when he could, and used the tunnels of deceit that were available to him. All right in front of us and he got a way with it. Gotta salute that.
But I don’t want to live in Trump’s world, even if I see how others are pulled in—not by his ideas or leadership, but by his defiance of the status quo. He’s a spectacle, a circus that never left town. And maybe, just maybe, that’s the point: Trump’s real legacy may not be policy or governance but rather the endless show, exposing the machinery beneath our democracy, sparking outrage, confusion, and a sense of awe at the chaos he leaves in his wake. In a way, he didn’t need to break the system; he just had to hold up a mirror, showing us how broken it’s always been. And I can see how some people might feel pulled by it, like Stone Cold Steve Austin flipping off his boss in WWE—a figure of rebellion. He’s the envy of everyone who’s ever wanted to say “screw you” to authority. In that sense, Trump really is the people’s heel. And maybe that’s the point: Trump’s real legacy may not be one of policy or governance but of the endless show, revealing how eager we are to tune in. My brother told me once "it don't matter what they say, long as they tune the fuck in". Word.
In the end, he didn’t need to change America; he just had to reflect it. And like it or not, we’ve all become part of his act, playing our roles in the drama he keeps alive. I salute you, trump, you won. Now, please go away. The clowns are no longer funny and the elephants smell like shit. One Love
-Smirk
Ditto my friend!
Nice 👍🏾