CSI: American Carnage (Sunday, December 1, 2019)
BENEATH THE CENTRAL PLAINS – Far below ground, undisturbed by the bomb cyclone and pop-up tornadoes raking the dregs of this year’s harvest, far below the lines of ragged beggars ringing the tractor auctions so popular with Chinese investors from Jiangsu, deep beneath the starving cattle garishly decorated with LEDs and dyed feathers designed to attract tourist dollars, the elder Dark One sits in the Antechamber of Anamnesis on the far western fringe of the vast Central Plains complex. He ponders a waxen figure bound by hemp and laid out on a linen tarp, brown leaves scattered about. My brother, says the elder, you have grown so taciturn of late. Speak, with your wise counsel! The waxen figure remains mute. The elder continues, Our vassals have become increasingly ineffective in addressing the threat posed by the Gambler Showman. He continues apace with his reckless dismantling of all the systems and institutions we have worked so hard over so many decades to maintain and improve, as father did before us. Oh! Father would not be pleased! The Hoosier Puppet has proven useless. He has been traveling with the female he calls Mother, seeking to engage her in strange rituals. Pompey has traitorously thrown in with the Showman’s rebel forces. Imagine! Our carefully calibrated system brought down by a teevee celebrity. What would Father say? The waxen figure lurches up and says in a croaking voice, Get a hold of yourself man! Our vassals are moving to impeach! Subvert McConnell and we emerge triumphant, our system intact! The figure slumps back to the floor. The elder ponders the words. He says, Yes. It is possible. Our vassals are promoting our dearest values — the heroism embedded in unbridled militarism; the patriotism of unthinking support for our global cartels; the worship of so-called norms. Oh, the norms! The norms! What are norms but the way we have arranged for things to be done for as long as anyone can remember? Who would subvert the time-honored system of bait-and-switch which we have used so effectively on behalf of America and on our own behalf. McConnell has now thrown in with the Showman, but will he stand with the Showman when the heat begins to rise, and the next great performance begins to unspool on screens across the world? The Showman can never finish what he begins. Oh my brother! There is much to consider! – Sunday, December 1, 2019