Trumpism by the Numbers; the Year of Ugly Stats

I.

Digital or analogue or sundial:

COVID-19 re-set every clock.

Backbeats, heartbeats, and downbeats

no longer found a common 1.

COVID said the life you knew

is over as of

mid-January 2020.

That’s when the West woke up.

The West looked around and saw it coming.

From Wuhan,

they cried.

A spiky virus bringing death.

While back in Washington

on any given day

53 senators

surrendered their voices

like so many red bricks to shore up

the towering but fragile ego

of the 45th President of the United States.

Elected officials on their knees,

without shame,

kissing the ground

and placing their gift

of red bricks at the feet of number 45.

The other side had warned

in the year 2016

this man would be the worst

president in history.

Worse than Andrew Johnson.

Than Ulysses S. Grant.

Than George W. Bush.

And they were right.

Thus it happened

in this year of COVID-19

(1) when on any given D.C. day

this worst-ever president prevailed

over his 53 slavering puppets

and

(2) when this worst-ever president

was tasked with dealing with a deadly disease,

The United States of America logged this statistic:

4 percent of the world’s population/

25 percent of the world’s COVID cases.

We stood split and stupid

before the gaze of a wondering world.

II.

As if the plague wasn’t bad enough—

When we needed a leader like never before—

To help fix problems tearing us in 2—

We got this instead:

On the 25th day of the 5th month in the year 2020

A man named George Floyd was 46 years of age.

An African-American.

From Minneapolis, Minnesota.

While 1 policeman pinned George Floyd’s neck to the pavement

3 others stood by

shootin’ the breeze while George Floyd begged for help

with each dying breath.

8 minutes and 46 seconds.

The video went viral.

Streets erupted.

And the worst president in history did nothing

but decry those protesting

this death

in a series of 100s, nay

1000s of similar deaths

that came before.

City to city

town to town

people shouted

8-4-6! 8-4-6!

and the imposter-in-chief did nothing—ZERO—

while his 53 lackeys

continued to place red bricks

at his feet

after licking the soles clean.

And while the world watched in wonder.

III.

From his red bricks he built Q-crazy theories

to house the brains

of his addled base.

Starting months before

the 3rd day of the 11th month in the year 2020

he yelped lies about the coming vote

incited violence

tweeted idiotically

defrauded the P.O.

played the thug

ramped up rallies

demonized demurrers

whipped crowds into MAGA-frenzy

prepped mobs for a coup

subverted laws

sabotaged the ballot

fueled insurrection

assaulted democracy itself.

So that on

the 6th day of the 1st month in the year 2021

roused to rage by the whine of the worst president

who has ever drawn breath

they marched

with his blessing

on the Capitol, swinging bats and clubs and fists and brandishing guns

Seeking vengeance on blue members

of the 117th Congress

and the vice-president

whom the ex had deemed a traitor

for doing his sworn duty.

Besotted with lies

they came to claim

the chambers any way they could

with his voice

(but not body; he had run the other way)

at their back

And for the 1st time in 232 years

change from ex to elect

was stained by chaos and death.

Windows smashed.

Rooms breached.

Furniture toppled.

5 dead.

140 injured.

Once again we stood shamed before the gaze of a disbelieving world.

IV.

With worse to come!

After the ex’s attempt

to level the Capitol itself

and all it represents

The House impeached

this lawless ex,

making him the 1st

ever to be impeached TWICE,

further ensuring his doom

in the history books.

232: yea.

197: nay.

(In 1 way, enough.

In another way, not nearly enough:

too many names to spread the shame around.)

Next, the chamber where

the red-faced lapdogs

would prove themselves spineless

if not wholly demented:

more loyal to party than to principle:

so badly blinded

they could not foresee judgment

to come in a land they nearly broke,

ensuring their doom

in the history books.

7 (14%) of 50 did come through:

Burr of NC.

Cassidy of LA.

Collins of ME.

Murkowski of AK.

Romney of UT.

Sasse of NE.

Toomey of PA.

But

43 (86%) chose red over red-white-&-blue

though guilt was in plain view.

43 (86%) chose red over red-white-&-blue

though nothing he had said was true.

43 (86%) chose red over red-white-&-blue,

disgracing the flag that flew.

And the world had seen enough.

This shameful end on full display,

There was nothing left to say.

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