Curiosity Killed The Cat Revisited

This piece is in two parts. The first is a stroll down “cabinet lane.”  The second part is the piece.

Oh, the outrage.  Oh, the lamenting, the throwing up of the hands makes me want to, well, throw up. How can he possibly pick these people for his cabinet posts, cry Republican lawmakers? Denial, denial, denial. Wishful thinking dies hard. Why are you still surprised that he does what he says he will do?

Strolling Down Cabinet Lane.

Kristi Noem – Homeland Security. Who else do you want overseeing this agency but someone who cruelly killed her own dog for not listening to her? And let’s no forget the goat she shot for good measure. Who knows, maybe she will spare those dog-eating Haitians in solidarity!

RFK Jr – Head of Health and Human Services. What he will do it’s hard to say. I doubt he will stop vaccines as he doesn’t want to be known as the man who created an epidemic of polio. I doubt he will take fluoride out of the water as he doesn’t want to be known as the person who created a toothless America. However, his nuttiness can be embodied in this back-andaforth with a reporter: when asked if he was afraid of dying because he wouldn’t wear a mask during Covid he responded “There are worse things than death.” The questioner asked “What?” He answered “Living like a slave.” Umm, last time I looked he wasn’t Black so appropriating the position of being a slave is not cool Jr. But I guess he is getting at his personal liberty and freedom to make his own choices like cutting the head off a whale or running over baby bear, leaving it in Central Park near a broken bicycle he had in his trunk to make it seem the bicycle killed the bear. That’s some kind of freedom. Using the bicycle as a murder weapon doesn’t give us confidence in his capacity for “strategic thinking.” One more thing: what’s his view on killing dogs and goats?

There is also a rumor that he will declare a national holiday called “Kill a Bear Day.”  But wait, this is not the only option for this holiday; if you still have warm feelings for Winnie the Pooh, and you can’t stomach offing the bear, you can behead a whale instead. For some extra cash Kristi Noem will be happy to shoot the bear if you are a little queasy.

Mike Huckabee – Ambassador to Israel. One he is not a Jew, but he is an Evangelical Christian, so is perfectly placed to lead the rapture. What is the rapture? It is a source of the phantasmagoria (in the Book of Revelations) which claims that after the battle of Armageddon, Jesus returns, lifts all believers to heaven…and anyone who doesn’t believe in Jesus is incinerated. Yikes. Not so fast. Does this imply that when all the Jews are in Israel they are given a choice: to renounce your Judaism and embrace Jesus, or…poof? It’s amazing how the Jews always get the short end of the stick. I want to believe that when Jesus returns, he will say: “What hell is this rapture shit. I’m a Jew. My mother was a Jew. Man you really fucked this shit up!” 

Matt Gaetz – Attorney General. The Don’s hit-man is ready to do some damage. He is foaming like a rabid dog to use the D.O.J to go after The Don’s enemies. He barked: “Yeah, I’ll go over there and start cuttin’ f — in’ heads.” Two thoughts: what’s with the fucking cutting off of heads? First whales, now people? As a rabid dog himself he better watch out as Kristi Noem might shoot him. 

Gaetz is also a sexual predator. He and The Don are cut from the same putrid cloth. They both believe that they will protect women “whether they like it or not.” He recently resigned from congress because on Nov 15, a congressional investigation by the Ethics Committee was supposed to release the results of a three year investigation into sexual misconduct allegations and other transgressions (Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is trying to put the kibosh on releasing the report and so far has been successful). Markwayne Mullin, a very conservative Republican senator from Oklahoma, told CNN last year that Gaetz had shown colleagues (on the floor of the House of Representatives!) videos “of the girls that he had slept with (Peter Hesgeth, nominated as the next Defense Secretary has also been involved in some unsavory sexual exploits. More about him soon.) Remember the conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton running a child sex ring from a pizza shop in D.C? Well, let’s just call it “Saturday Night Boys Club at the White House!”

Tulsi Gabbard – Director of the F.B.I. Who else is  better suited than a Russian apologist, who some think is a Russian asset. Can’t you just imagine Putin, Elon Musk, the Don and Tulsi on some private island in the Black sea with the vodka flowing. Gabbard turns to the Don and says: “He wants Poland.” The Don replies. Haha! He wants Poland. So let’s give him Poland.” They raise their glasses for a toast: “Next year in Poland!” 

Peter Hegseth – Secretary of Defense. Hegseth is a former Fox News anchor which makes him eminently qualified for the post. Regarding January 6th: “You don’t have to believe the election was stolen to know that the system has begun to undercut people who love our country” Hegseth has championed service members accused or convicted of crimes. He wears a tattoo that is known as a symbol of White Supremacy.

He wants to do away with DEI and women serving in combat. He sees:  “social justice saboteurs” as more dangerous to America than any external enemy. Sounds familiar? Here’s The Don: “It’s the enemy from within.” All the scum that we have to deal with that hate our country. That’s a bigger enemy than China and Russia.”

In Hegseth’s  book, “The War on Warriors.” Hesgeth thinks that Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., a decorated veteran and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, should be fired for being too “woke.” Brown, an Air Force pilot with 40 years of service, is Black.

Hesgeth has paid off a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by him. The Washington Post reported it obtained a copy of a memo sent to Trump’s transition team this past week by a woman who said she is a friend of the accuser that details the sexual assault allegations. Rumor has it that when the White House received the memo, the Don said: “Well, that seals the deal. He’s in. With that body he’s going to really juice up our Saturday Night Boys Club.”

Grandiosity Killed the Cat Revisited.

I want to believe that the craven, dangerous, maniacal and delusional positions that The Don will stake out will hopefully lead to his doom. Like in a Shakespearean play, the mad king’s grandiose belief in himself will ultimately lead to his undoing. 

Believing he has a mandate to do whatever he wants may soon prove to be a serious political liability for Republicans and The Don. Continuing to embrace him out of fear of reprisal ties them to him like a ball and chain. Their sycophancy, moral decrepitude and need to retain their positions in congress may ultimately lead them to abandon him (and face his ire). In the 2026 House elections, it will be very difficult for any moderate to justify their embrace of the disaster he will create.

In order to survive in the party of The Don, your loyalty is essential. Look what happened to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for standing up to him. Some of the Republicans like MTG and Matt Gaetz may actually believe that his agenda for America is inspiring; but many in congress, who supported him know he brings chaos and a vision for an American dystopia. They can’t pretend they don’t know what’s coming; they’ve seen this act before. And this time, with a politicized Supreme Court, granting him immunity from prosecution for any actions he takes as president, leave few guardrails to protect us from his worst impulses and megalomania. As Obama said: “The sequel is usually worse.” Any illusions that these despicable, spineless lawmakers maintained, that he speaks in hyperbole and really won’t do what he says, has been shattered by his dangerous and cartoonish cabinet picks.

The sadist in me wants to watch them twist and turn until they want to vomit from the deep shame that sold out our country. When it all falls apart (as it ultimately will) and the dust settles and the damage is surveyed, I want them to have to face the American people in some kind of moral tribunal, where they are publicly shamed (maybe a bit of tar and feathering?) And when they protest: wah, wah, wah, how can he do these things? I say fuck you! You are traitors to our country for supporting a man who is going to try to bend America to its knees and bring us into a very dark place. And you are all guilty for colluding in his attempt to destroy democracy. Without you he is nothing. If you had convicted him after his impeachment for fomenting an insurrection to overthrow the government, he would have been relegated to the dustbin of history, living in ignominy as the first president in our history to be convicted  by the senate. 

All of you sniveling shits, like Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, and Kevin McCarthy, who were mortified about what happened, stood up after January 6th and said he was personally responsible for that heinous day but still decided not to vote for a conviction. Then, when the dust settled, they surveyed the political landscape and joined up again, even though they knew he was a danger and that the election wasn’t stolen from him. Not a fucking peep out of any of them. The desire to keep their power overruled any decency. Their silence gave him the support to push the big lie over and over again; his lies convinced his followers to believe that elections are a joke, its results  not to be believed. 

It’s reprehensible, and a deep-stain, on our democracy. I would like you to wear the equivalent of Hawthorne’s maligned Hester Prynne’s scarlet letter-maybe a big T for Traitor, or maybe a tattoo on your foreheads that reads Unamerican-Morally bankrupt. Then we can parade you through the streets for all to shame you. The people voted you in and you swore to work in the interest of our democracy. Countries that have politicians with no souls or moral centers are doomed to meet a nasty fate. 

What I hope and believe is that in his attempt to implement his harshest policies he will ultimately make parts of his coalition uncomfortable and alienate some of his more moderate supporters. Business leaders will start to freak out about his tariffs and attempt to deport millions, leaving us a serious shortage of workers. But you cynical, selfish business people who supported him who just wanted your fucking tax cuts. You greedy pricks! 

I wrote a piece when The Don was first running for president called “Grandiosity Killed the Cat,” suggesting that if you get too cocky about your ability to survive falls from high places (“I can shoot someone on 5th Ave”), that this grand belief, that you can do and say anything and still wind up on your feet, may prompt you to jump from so high that you underestimate the impact and like Humpty Dumpty you fall and can’t be put back together again. 

What we have witnessed these past years of The Don is an uncanny, almost otherworldly, attempt to defy convention, escape peril, the description Teflon Don doesn’t even do it justice; it is more Houdini than Teflon. Back when he was running in 2016, I believed his grandiosity and his ability to denigrate (which flows from his grandiosity- I am better than everyone would be his undoing (Think Access Hollywood Video; “people in the military are suckers and losers”), but he defied the odds. Now he wants to be dictator for a day, go after all his enemies, and deport millions of people. Sadly, my wish in 2016 that his grandiosity would be his undoing, was a pipe dream.

I’ve learned that you can never count The Don out, but his victory has emboldened him more; he feels even more invincible. He has convinced himself that he has a mandate from the people, which may lead him, like the over-confident cat, to go too far: the chaos and extremism of his need to be king will hopefully create a Humpy Dumpty moment for him and his coalition. 

There are two competing impulses in him that are connected to his grandiosity and are clear components of a narcissist personality. One is his need to have endless admiration and loyalty; the other is to destroy anything in his path that betrays that loyalty and criticizes him. It’s not hard to see him strike back at those Republican legislators who may not follow him blindly into his dystopian vision for America; there will also be a loss of support from some who voted for him, who didn’t believe he would do what he said he would do. His misguided diehard supporters will soon recognize he can not deliver. They are excited that he is going to burn down the house. They don’t get that, after they burn down the house, they won’t have a house and The Don will be nowhere to be found.

Denialism and short memories rule the day. Though he didn’t get to do all he hoped for in his first term- because there were “adults” in the room to prevent his worst instincts -(Mark Esper stopping him from shooting protesters!), they did live in his world of chaos and craziness. They saw his insane and destructive response to Covid. Drink bleach. Use ultraviolet light. Take Ivermectin. They witnessed tens, maybe hundreds of thousands, of people die unnecessarily because of his arrogance and ineptitude. They watched the insurrection on TV; they saw the rioters assembling a gallows for Mike Pence while chanting hang Mike Pence which he instigated with a tweet. They  know that he sat around for 3 hours watching the horror show on TV, basking in his glory, that the true “patriots” were fighting for him. Turns out six hundred of his beautiful patriots pled guilty or were convicted of crimes; some like the leader of the Proud Boys were sentenced to 18 years in prison. Incredibly, some of his ardent supporters believe the rioters were invited into the Capitol!

They have forgiven a convicted felon and a sexual predator. They have forgiven a man who denigrates women and is a racist to the core. Despite all that, he was able to incite deep fear in the populace and convince them somehow that he would be their savior. Facts and reality lost; his  ability to connect them to their limbic system, where fear and security overrule rational thought won. I have to believe that at some point it will become clear to some who voted for him that rather than be their protector that he will become the one they fear. 

Let’s circle back to cats. I imagine almost all cats (unless they have a screw loose) instinctively realize what risks they can take when they jump; humans aren’t that smart. Anger, greed, envy, power, and impulsivity can blind people to do things they come to regret, and sometimes lead to their ruination. Trump has all these flaws, and believes his greatness makes him an unstoppable force. We have seen how he has ventured into high-risk games with the belief he will always emerge victorious. I think winning this election will take him to higher levels of risk because there won’t be anyone in his administration who will be an obstacle. 

In The Don’s mind he was born to remake America in his image. In his America, White Supremacy is supreme; The Don is the grandest of all KKK Wizards; some believe he has been sent to them by God.

As king, he believes he can sit in the White House with his feet up extorting money from world leaders and decide who, by virtue of their loyalty, will be winners or losers in the economy. He also believes he can revamp the entire military, removing all generals and high ranking officials, with loyalists so it will be “his” army (like “Hitler’s generals”). Soon people will realize this is not hyperbole: it is not a reality TV show called “What Would You Do If You Were King.” This is reality. 

He also believes he has the power to shut down media organizations that criticize him. He feels justified in having the D.O.J round up his enemies. This is fascism.

In his grandiose fantasy world he imagines America is now The Country of Trump. He envisions his face  emblazoned on all currency, the Federal seal, and putting up Trump signs across all federal buildings. His belief that he is entitled to this and has been given a mandate to remake America will drive him to reach for these things. My hope is that this time his delusional beliefs will become so detached from reality that he will create his own doom.

Here’s the the thing. Unlike others, I want all his crazy appointees to be approved. Really? Hear me out. Trump is going to do damage, a lot of damage and I want the craziness to be fast and furious. I don’t want a slow drip, as the longer it unfolds the more likely he is to cement his attempt at taking over the country. If we want to break the cycle of immorality, cynicism and chaos that is The Don and The Republican Party, we want his failure to be so mighty, stir so much outrage and fear that the delusional vice grip finally breaks. 

So bring on the chaos and dysfunction in the most “bigly” way. Unleash him. What Americans will soon see is that instead of security they will get chaos. Instead of lower prices they will get higher ones. Instead of competence they will get the most incompetence ever seen in an administration. Instead of feeling seen and having him work for them to create a better life, they will see him making rich people richer and that he  doesn’t give a shit about them. Instead of a safer America they will see more violence. Instead of protecting the planet and our children’s futures due to the dangers of climate change, he will deregulate and remove environmental laws leading to more devastation. 

I would like to believe that most people have a moral center and that most people, at their core are decent. Most don’t want to live in a country with rancid division and vitriol. Most people want normalcy. Most want to feel their children’s future is safe from gun violence  and cruelty. Most want access to good health care. Most approve of vaccines and fluoride in the water. Most don’t want the justice department to become an arm of a vindictive and vengeful leader. Most  don’t want the military to work for the president. Most  don’t want to live in a world where they fear that their president is selling secret intelligence to the highest bidder. Most people do not want journalists prosecuted or media companies shut down because they disagree with the president. Most don’t want the constitution nullified. Most  don’t want the government dismantled as the government ensures that the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe is protected; it provides essential services for many in need; through medicare and social security it provides a safety net for the elderly and makes it possible for people to live with dignity as they age. Most  don’t want to be witness to the  savagery and cruelty of rounding up people and putting them in internment camps before deporting them, separating children from families. 

These are all part of the 2025 project. This is what they want to do. I have to believe that most people believe in freedom of religion; they are not supportive of America becoming a Christian nation. Most believe in the rule of law. Most people believe in the right to vote. Most  believe that we should be free to love who they love. Most believe in freedom of speech. Most people when confronted with horror feel outrage. Most people, despite their beliefs or who they voted for, are decent.

So let’s hope this time the man who seems to have 9 lives goes too far. Let’s hope that his grandiosity leads him to take risks at higher and higher heights. Let’s hope that his nightmarish high wire antics are so repulsive and frightening that the spell is broken. Let’s hope that his belief in his own transcendence, that the adulation he believes will be unending makes him jump from such a height that he finally meets the fate he deserves. Let’s make sure we don’t catch him. Let’s make sure we are ready with a plan to sweep him away and know how to put back the pieces so we can unite again and continue our struggle for freedom and democracy as imperfect as it is. Let’s bury them all and allow decency to reemerge from this dark episode in our history.