When I was still a member of the servile classes it wasn’t uncommon for me especially after a long weekend to lose track of the days. The critical absence and palliative effect of Monday instantly altered a settled network and in doing so perverted the equivalent of global regularity. Usually after an embarrassing confusion I restored myself to the currency; but the imperative of the Christian week never vanished. Increasingly I am accommodating that once native though lingering curiosity by assessing the days not by numbers, sequence or months but by the weather. Today for example was what might fleetingly be called unpleasant. Flat grey clouds, raw temperature, constant drizzle (but never a diverting storm). In all an overwhelming platitude.
Six months ago when we were still on Longboat Key – before the Canadian government threatened to close the border – our dear neighbour Bobbie from Maine sadly proclaimed that President Donald J. Trump was making her ill. With unusual disregard on my part I dismissed her political assessment as theatric only. This seeming slight is in fact no small compliment because the majority of people with whom I spoke in the United States of America and elsewhere had expressed an almost identical opinion. Though perhaps somewhat less poetically. Unwittingly I have fallen victim to the same political poison. And with the same result. As the US presidential election approaches November 3rd the fuel in the system has enlarged exponentially. Like a cocaine addiction it is impossible to escape either a news article or one’s own curiosity about Donald J. Trump. We are now far beyond the legitimacy of government policy. Everything now is about loving or hating Trump. It has therefore reached a point where no one cares why; they just want it over!
There are many things which affect our so-called sense of amusement or boredom, what I call my binary summary of the Universe. It is however useful to recall that repetition tends ultimately to dilute the spices of life whatever they may be or no matter how logically they are arranged. It is for this reason that I spend time to analyze my life; otherwise there’s a very real risk that one will be overcome by disinterest not to mention miscalculation (or in the case of Trump, psychosis).
If one were to believe the “fake news” about which Trump is so volatile, the upcoming American presidential election may be one of the most significant of a lifetime. Apart from the obvious competition for president, pundits are exceeding this particular news cycle to embrace the possible destruction of the GOP. Depending upon the outcome there may be an unprecedented shift in American politics from capitalism to “socialism” (in what is certain to be the highly managed American model). And indisputably women will make a huge impact on the public political stage. In addition there are more “popular” predictions. At least one of the national news offices has dwealt at length upon the foreseeability of Trump’s incarceration, a privilege extended to Trump’s family and in-laws. Mingled within these extremes are unsubstantiated threats by Trump either before or after the election specifically involving his removal from the White House. Such absurdities only contribute to the continued chemical imbalance of the Union.
And I am afraid that many others throughout the world live in agitated anticipation of the future. Some for example have speculated that Trump is only part of a global phenomenon – the basic theme of which is Isolationism, White Supremacy, capitalism and totalitarian government. There are clearly enormous stakes at play, involving not only the global interests of capital but also the possibility of social uprising through modern media. It’s difficult at this point to know which side has more ammunition. But one thing is certain – both sides have the same audience, one which will make a choice.