Good, Bad, & Ugly

Inauguration, &tc.

Dear Friends,

I am sure you are getting your fill of Inauguration commentary! It was either a day of rejoicing or a day of infamy and there just isn’t much in-between. One friend said Jesus Christ himself had “saved the United States of America.” Others say Elon Musk performed a Sieg Heil on stage and that we’ve installed a new Adolf Hitler.

Do you know what I can provide? Dispassionate analysis. That’s what you get when there aren’t any passions involved—I haven’t cared less about politics in my entire near-half-century of living. That includes my infant years. It seems obvious to me that the United States of America is not in a particularly healthy place, civically speaking. We are bouncing wildly between extremes, action and reaction, and that is no way to husband a mature and long-lasting society. Arguably topping the list of what this country needs most is a leader with a scintilla of magnanimity. Welp.

What we are going to get from a second Trump Administration is three things: good, bad, and ugly. Sadly, the vast majority of people will be completely incapable of discerning or recognizing which is which because they have joined one of two religious cults: one filled with raging fanatics who think Donald Trump is the second coming of Hitler, and the other filled with raging fanatics who think Donald Trump is a Messiah. Well, he is neither and we are in for a very mixed bag. Some good things will happen by accident; some bad things will happen on purpose; some good things will happen on purpose; some bad things will happen by accident; and some ugly things will be mixed in.

I aim to distinguish and discern which is which, and to tell you which I think is which. So here’s a rapid-fire Quarter Inch reaction to the news of the day.