With the psychopath Donald Slump sticking his knives into every facet of our lives, why are millions of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving is beyond belief.
For the most part, Americans are a very conformist bunch. They do stuff because they are told to do so, or because everybody else does, or because of the Joneses... they don't want to be the only ones not doing the stuff. Herd mentality, basically, and regardless of whether the stuff has meaning or value.
This year, there is nothing to celebrate with all the heartbreak around us. American democracy is in dire straits. Even if the Moron leaves the Golden Outhouse in three years, he's already caused irreversible damage by setting disastrous precedents that could inspire later wanabe dictators. If in ten years a Democrat president decides to screw with the country, he/she can always shelter behind Trump's precedents. It is hard to imagine American democracy restored intact after Trump.
Looking a Julius Cesar's criminal pathway to power, the similarities with Donald Hump are uncanny, although the Imbecile-in-Chief does not have the stature of Julius Cesar when all his "accomplishments" are to hurl insults and demented comments on social media.
Julius Cesar eviscerated the repository of the Roman republic, the Senate, committed war crimes (his troops massacred 400,000 people in one episode of his Gallic War), eliminated all the checks and balances in place (he degraded the Tribunes, representatives of the Plebe -i.e. the common people - the equivalent of the House of Representatives, and eliminated their veto power over the Senate's decisions), he placed the Magistrates (who were elected by the Plebe directly to make laws) directly under his control. He forced the Senate to grant him the "temporary" powers of a Dictator for a period of one year, had them extended to ten years first, then for life, whereas a Dictator was normally appointed by the Senate for no more than 6 months to handle a crisis. He appointed his own con men to prestigious positions and humiliated those who dared oppose him. He took away for himself the Senate's control of the Armed Forces and the Finances.... He illegally led his troops across the Rubicon river - the border of the Roman Republic with the Gaul region (southern France / Northern Italy) which he was conquering - and marched on Rome to illegally seize power. Basically, Julius Cesar destroyed the Roman republic that had existed for 500 years under the rule of law and the legitimacy of the people's election of its representatives, and replaced it with a one-man rule - that of an emperor - whose later excesses (Nero, Caligula....) led Rome into decline and to its ultimate demise.
Donald Lump inherited a republic, is screwing it inside out, attempted a coup, has rendered Congress a useless, non-functioning subsidiary of the White House, has transformed the Supreme Court into a rubber-stamping bunch of functionaries, is an avowed criminal who has no compunction breaking the laws and violating the constitution. While Donald Trump is no Cesar, he is engaged in a pattern of conduct of public affairs that is unprecedented in the history of the country and that resembles how Julius Cesar destroyed the Roman Republic. Again, it is hard to see how American democracy can survive the damage done by Donald Trump.
For those of us living this moment in the history of the US, this Thanksgiving Day cannot be more bitter. So I am not celebrating it this year.
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