The Headlight at the end of the tunnel....

 

   I have always enjoyed that expression, i.e. "...the headlight at the end of the tunnel...."  Maybe it's because it can go in any direction.  It can be the freight-train that is coming to run you over, or it can be the angel that is coming to show you the path to the other side because you are dying and need a guide.  It can be a good thing or bad, up to you and your imagination.  

   In this case, however, it's not good.  It is a reference to the fact that people predicted years ago that the Idiot was going to make a hash of his office and especially of leaving it.  He's such a truculent and just plain nasty piece of work; how could it really be otherwise, eh?  Now that he, on some level, recognizes that the American people out-voted his Kool-Aids and the other fools who actually think he's awesome--talk about having the wool pulled over your eyes--ol' Donny the Brat is going to have a prolonged tantrum of epic proportions.  He will do all the harm he can, not merely to those he sees as his enemies and as disloyal to him, but to Americans at large.  It is everybody's fault that he's been rejected, and he means to make us all pay for that. 

  So, we start with inflicting as much financial pain as possible....on EVERYBODY.  Well, okay, maybe not the uber-rich...but, certainly everybody else.  It is crystalline by now that he doesn't care about anybody but himself, so if he can cause as much pain as his office and his monstrous ego are capable of causing.....all good.  We knew this was coming and now we need to find ways to hunker down and make it to January 20th when the asshole will no longer have the immense power of the presidency to wield.  He's going to commit all the mayhem he can, so batten the hatches and put on your gumbie suits (the orange marine rescue suits) ; it's going to be rough sailing for these few weeks.

"How did it ever come to this?"

    Knowing something bad is happening doesn't make it any easier in most cases.  It just removes the aura of surprise and can make it a little easier if we can do something to prepare.  For most Americans who have lost their unemployment, however, there is not much to be done.  The somewhat paltry stipend has been all that stood between many millions of Americans and being destitute.  It's not their fault that this pandemic has landed on our doorstep.  In fact, if one is to be perfectly honest, it is the Idiot's fault that it has been so much worse than it could have been....if it had been dealt with according to scientific guide-lines....and, yet, he's willing to let the people who are suffering already suffer at even more dire levels because, hey, what does he care anyway.  He's so enmeshed in his ego problems around becoming one of history's biggest LOSERS, that he cannot be bothered to do much outside of playing golf and tweeting his mal-contentment.  Poor little Donny is such a victim.  

  He makes me nauseous at the very sight of him.  I used to be able to tolerate his slimey, orange visage much better than I can now.  He's infected my mind with his despicable, whining lies.  The great irony in all of this is that he could have done any number of things to begin rehabilitating his image after the election.  He could have learned to pretend that he actually gives a flying fuck about people suffering.  Hell, there must be a few people left who would still believe him if he faked it well enough.  But, no, that is not something he could ever do as long as he is self-convinced that the election really was stolen from him.  As with so much of his mental illness, it is not difficult to spew out opinions that land on susceptible peoples' weak minds and infect them with exactly what he has: i.e. a world made out of lies, delusions and fantasies.  

  A perfect example of this is QAnon.  Here--as I have pointed out previously--you have one of the least believable conspiracy theories that has been created in modern times.  You might have to go back to the days of Ptolemy and his contention that the Earth was the center of the Universe, in order to find a more dubious theory.  To remind you: QAnon is the idea that the world is being run by a cabal of liberal and satanic dems who....ahem....EAT BABIES.  They first molest them, and then drain their blood to make life-extending potions of some kind...and then they devour these poor, wee, defenseless souls.  

  The evil creatures who do all of this are...wait for it....people like Oprah, Tom Hanks, Hillary Clinton, and all of the Democratic leaders in congress. Clearly, you really need to put on your tin-foil hat and start rocking back and forth, sucking your thumb, in order to believe something this ridiculous.  And, sure enough, it is now gaining followers at an apparent rapid rate. Two Qs have been elected to congress and will be there in January. 

  This is where I just want to say: Are you fucking shitting me?  How can ANYBODY be that incredibly STUPID?  People who believe in QAnon should have to wear warnings on their clothing: "I am a QAnon believer.  WARNING: stupidity is as catching as Covid!"  In fact, in so very many cases, stupidity actually is lethal.  I can give you endless anecdotes where someone got themselves killed just by being dumber than a sack of pounded thumbs.   It happens all the time. 

  If QAnon and the fatuous bullshit that the Idiot is pedaling about the stolen election, were actually true, that would be bad.  But, having supposedly functional adults believing that democrats dine on wee babies is so far out there in Idiot-ville that one can hardly make a start on understanding why people choose to believe such crap. 

  This will be Donald J. Trump's final legacy: he was the worst president America ever had and he was easily the most dishonest and corrupt politician of the 21st century.   He will be a chapter unto himself in the history books because historians will be debating and dissecting his presidency and his personality for generations to come.  Future students of American politics and history will find it difficult to understand how it came to pass that such a dull-witted and flawed human became the holder of the highest office in the land.  They will wonder what the hell we were thinking...and, they'll cast about for theories about the conditions that led to this sorry state of affairs.  

  In the meantime, hunker down, pull the shades closed and get into a 'waiting it out' mode of being.....because it's going to be a long 24 days.  Just take solace from the fact that we did succeed in voting his sorry ass out of office and that will not change.