THE SECOND COMING... Of Donald Trump

“Wisdom comes through suffering. Trouble, with its memories of pain, Drips in our hearts as we try to sleep, So men against their will Learn to practice moderation. Favours come to us from gods.” ********************************************************************* -Aeschylus ******************************************** ************************************************************************************** Let me save you a bunch of time. And let me save you even more disappointment and embarrassment. Upon my pilgrimage to my “adopted hometown” a couple of weeks ago, I experienced one of those bizarre, Alice in Wonderland descents down the proverbial “rabbit hole.” ************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************** This is no joke, most of my conversations with my beloved Navasota friends were almost adversarial in nature, as I crashed into their collective delusions. I had heard of “QAnon” but had never chased that silly rabbit. Now I was surrounded by its converts. And it would have been hilarious had it not been so terrifying. ************************************** *************************************************************************************************** Incredibly, as I went from friend to friend, people who in some cases did not know one another, and had not visited with each other, served up the latest word on the street, which shared several common themes. And, as far as can be surmised by objective, uninitiated persons, these urban legends have matured into a full-blown mass delusion. ******************************* ****************************************************************************************************** “Q” is an anonymous social media informer who has created the hottest narrative ever, designed to appeal to die-hard Trump believers. Nobody knows who Q is, or where Q gets the wild speculations now clutched by many formerly rational Republican voters. One popular video which launched this movement before the past election, calmly decries that QAnon is not a cult. Since it has no bible, no mecca, and no identifiable spokesperson, QAnon is rather an emerging Faith without an acknowledged prophet, a runaway train with no driver, a wanna-be cult which appears to me to be an anonymous hoax. Or, as my grandmother would say, a lie from Hell. ************************************** ****************************************************************************************** I sat through the intro video on You Tube, out of respect to trusted friends who promised that it would explain everything, everything which I unfortunately did not know, and needed to know to face the future. And the bottom line, I was promised, according to this shameless, unfounded fiction was this: “EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OK.” Well, that part I liked. **************** ******************************************************************************************* QAnon followers believe, fairly uniformly, that things got so bad in our country that, right before President Trump stepped down, he took action which turned the government over to three American generals who have silently been pulling strings of power and justice since the days of President Biden's Inauguration (which was staged); That Biden is now their puppet who is hidden away somewhere, to be used as a Media decoy, and that the power of the presidency has been (temporarily) restored to former President Trump until an honest election can be arranged. He is quietly cooperating with the military until it is safe to announce all of this. Since the Constitution requires that any such military coup would be strictly a sunset committee, an election has to be called within 90 days after this takeover has been acknowledged. So finding their clean-up job far more complex and overhwelming than the U. S. Constitution provides for, the military trio, (headed by none other than former General Flynn) which is now controlling our country has postponed announcing what happened right after Biden's election, pre-empting the prescribed 90-day count-down, thus using a loophole to delay elections until they (A) Can arrest the bad guys, (B) Conduct military trials to punish the perpetrators, (C ) Arrange for an honest election, and (D) Return Donald Trump to power legitimately. “Fake News” has taken a beneficient turn, now in the hands of the “Good Guys” and everything you see on the news is staged. Everything. The generals now control the Media, and use look-alikes and Media tricks to create an impression, a delusion, that the Democrats are still in control, putting everyone at ease, when in fact our whole country is under Marshal Law. Congress is not really meeting. The Halls of Congress are actually empty. Half of the congressmen may be in jail. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani's home was not really invaded and his private papers taken as evidence by the Feds. He is not actually suffering from, as he put it, “pure political persecution.” ****************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************************* Everything is really OK. ******************************************************************************************* ********************************************************************************************* THERE IS MUCH MORE, BUT I WILL SPARE US BOTH. Yes, I know, you have a hundred legitimate challenges about this narrative, but don't even waste your time... What is of concern to all of us, or should be, is that halfway intelligent Americans we know, and love, believe this. And perhaps millions of others as well, all over the country. Maybe I ran in a circle of nut-jobs in my adopted hometown... Being an artist, I have a high tolerance for persons who indulge their imaginations. But I do not think I was swaggering through a NUTHOUSE. ******************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************************** And if you are one of those valued friends who informed me of the treasured hope you have for tomorrow, I have to thank you on one hand, for the ultimate compliment, because almost all of you were sharing something dear, and largely private to yourself, something you would not tell everyone. Even Jesus understood the psychology of telling his followers to “go and tell no one.” Of course they went and turned the world upside down. People love secrets, and relish in sharing them. Lucky me. I pray you do not read this essay with any sense of betrayal. I believe that you are ultimately seeking the truth. Please know that I care about you, and I am not making fun of you, but understand that my first obligation to you and my country is to be, as best as I can, a truth-teller. And I think that is why you shared your “truth” with me. It's just that, in this perfect storm, you are drowning and do not know it, and you will not realize it until you are at the bottom of the sea. **************************** *********************************************************************************************** QAnon may be the most clever mass delusion ever perpetrated on disillusioned modern Americans; Persons who were suffering the loss of an election, and they believe the loss of their beloved way of life, have found a paradigm which they can accept. And Q has served it up on a candy dish. ************************************************************************************* ************************************************************************************************** When I tried to reason with them, my friends instantly became condescending, confidently assuring me that I would know the truth soon enough... “It was all about to come out.” And they serenely went their blissful way, grateful for the good old “Red, White and Blue” military having saved our country. *************************************************************************** ************************************************************************************************* I decided that QAnon may be saving many lives, or at least preventing many nervous breakdowns, as brains are pickled, providing a hopeful, fantastic delusion which supersedes a crippling truth, bringing calm and pleasant rest for its converts at night. Of course, it also buys time for the Democrats to subdue and sweep up all the powers which threaten them, eliminating their opposition while Qanonists hum their way to the nail salon. By the time they wake up and smell the sleeping gas, our country will be that much... more... lost. **************************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** This clever lie has found and nailed the Conservative Achilles heel: A deeply passionate love of an America with integrity, unable to conceive or accept any other, willing to accept the military takeover of our government and an information blackout rather than... rampant corruption and cultural and political decline. I'm afraid that these fellow Americans are demonstrating all too clearly the intellectual standard revealed by the jury in O. J. Simpson's murder trial. “If it does not fit, we must acquit.” ******************************************************************************************************** ************************************************************************************************** QAnon could only have happened with the Internet, mass hysteria, and the human proclivity for denial. It is the work of a genius... a masterwork inspired by the Great Deceiver. ************************************************************* ************************************************************************************************** The Bible wisely, repeatedly warned about false teachers, false prophets. It warned that people naturally choose the wrong paradigm... our sin natures more often than not reject truth in preference for what “tickles our ears.” We thus consistently “strain at a gnat while we swallow a camel.” That is how and why the Israelites would have chosen to return to slavery over the uncertainties of freedom. How and why the people of Jerusalem chose to save the murderer Barrabas and instead to crucify Jesus. Why Americans chose a Civil War and the death of many thousands over free moral agency, when they had no plan to actually enfranchise blacks for another 100 years; Slavery was bad. Killing tens of thousands per battle and destroying homes, families, farms and whole towns was defensible. My younger brother, who has always had a way with words, likes to say: “Man is at his supreme best, when justifying that which he wants to do.” ************************************************************ ****************************************************************************************************** In the world of QAnon propaganda... both political parties, in real time, are having their way, simultaneously. The extremes on both sides are happy and encouraged. There is peace in the land. Sooner or later both sides will shake off the lies each political pole is perpetrating, and perhaps all will be worn out and ambivalent in time for the next election. But one will be much farther behind, having dismissed everything they have heard for years, anticipating instead Donald Trump's Second Coming... But they will only be able to extract a disheartening mess from Qanon promises of an American messiah. *************************************** ********************************************************************************************************* And most importantly to the Democrats, Conservatives will not only be largely confused and uninformed, they will be hugely discredited, and the Republican Party will be considered the refuge of the weak-minded and impressionable- Thus insuring Democratic control of the final remnants of the American Brain Trust.