Locomotive Breath

“In the shuffling madness
Of the locomotive breath
Runs the all-time loser
Headlong to his death”

Jethro Tull

During the winter of 1982 I was home on Christmas break from my studies at University of New Hampshire, where I majored in political science and journalism. At some point my report card from the fall term arrived in the mail. Anxious to show my father his investment in my future was paying dividends, I presented him with an honor roll caliber masterpiece.

My dad was a miser with compliments, particularly ones tossed my way, so I wasn’t expecting effusive praise. Yet and still, I hoped he would at least show some satisfaction that his first born, who escaped high school with a 1.77 GPA was now making tangible progress on his journey to responsible adulthood.

He took off his glasses to study the data for a few moments and kind of muttered a “not bad” loud enough and with the necessary emphasis to impart he was pleased with my marks. But, as was his way, the gaze turned a bit quizzical… “What’s this class, 20th Century Dictatorship and Totalitarianism,” he asked with the wry smirk he reserved for anything he deemed less than serious. I explained how interesting the class was, and how George Romoser, the Professor who taught it, was renowned in the field and had studied with the famous political scientist, Hans Morganthau. “Billy, you live in the one country where that crap is the very least of your concerns,” he chuckled. “I’d get a bit more practical if I were you.”

I go through this life confirming time and again how wise and prescient my father was, but he sure stunk up the joint on that one. Nihilist fascism’s diapered rear end is perched at our doorstep and everything about our shameful national journey to this point was foretold to me 42 years ago in Thompson Hall classrooms. It is textbook.

History’s presentation of totalitarianism is largely an abstraction that’s hard for any who have not experienced the phenomenon to fully grasp. When studying Germany’s descent into Nazi hell the usual reaction within a vibrant democracy is incredulous puzzlement at how millions could become so uniformly servile to such despicableness.

The best observers could do was to document the characteristics and organize chronologies. That way, like a disease, its symptoms can be recognized when they present themselves in other situations. You can’t simulate history; whatever catastrophes it creates must be lived through to be adequately understood. Our journey through one continues.

America is perched upon a runaway train propelled by the chaos our all-time loser must constantly create to maintain his relevance and assuage his constant insecurity. His supporters no longer try to make sense of what has steadily devolved into a constant stream of personal grievance gibberish. They will follow him anywhere he goes.

It’s exhausting and futile at this point to dwell on Trump’s vileness. Of course, he isn’t just “unfit” for office, he is an unhinged criminal who if empowered will endanger everybody. Those who surround him these days are as replete of talent or any basic duty to the country or its constructive governance as the fascist braintrusts of history past; and they are as enthusiastic as any to delve into atrocity’s dark potential.

Trump has told us clearly and often about his nefarious intentions. His Capitol Hill toadies have promised their unquestioned servility. No lie will be challenged, no outrage will be resisted. Whether the trains run on time is of no concern, only the pursuit of a narrative with no rhyme or reason past the aggrandizement of dear leader, and the legitimacy of his hatred for most of our nation. Those are the promises made that his wretched core will expect to be kept.

Nothing makes sense when the country tasked with leading the free world seriously considers for POTUS a rabid fascist whose “closing argument” in Georgia this week included performing mock fellatio on a microphone he spent the previous fifteen minutes cursing, before promising that CTE-addled former football star Herschel Walker will head up US efforts to build a missile defense shield. How will future generations studying our descent possibly be able to empathize with that?

Some time back I began texting a Republican friend who has maintained my respect since 2016. He is a pastor from Pennsylvania and a thinker, but also partisan and unquestioningly supportive of GOP candidates. Trump lost him long ago, but “Jim” has stubbornly continued to wall him off from the party he now fully controls. Throughout our correspondence this election I have argued that merely refusing to vote for him is not enough. To adequately confront him one must make a clear choice and support democracy. I convinced myself that Jim was a true bellweather; if he could vote for Harris, the “Never Trumper” bloc could prove to be determinative and the rout necessary to diminish MAGA was possible, polls be damned.

This morning Jim told me he was writing in former GOP Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse’s name for President, and would vote straight Republican down ballot. Given his tone, I sensed the only thing about the Presidential race he is certain about is refusing to vote for Harris. Whether he will, within the privacy of a voting booth, decide to forgive and forget Trump seems possible.

Whatever happens today, those of us stunned and bewildered about how we could possibly be back in the exact same nightmare we lived four years ago, should take heed of my response to Jim, and perhaps let it guide their interactions with those we know who won’t oppose the nihilist fascism Trump embodies…

“What Would Jesus Do, Jim? Witnessing Trump’s vile descent into madness this campaign, I simply can’t fathom how anybody would not run to vote against him. Why you can’t do a Liz Cheney is something I don’t know that I’ll ever get my head around. But I am certain that in the aftermath of the worst that could happen, the burning ashes of a dystopian landscape his Presidency pledges to produce, you will never be able to say you did everything to stop it… at least not to me.”

Pray for your country… And for God’s sake vote Harris. BC