I woke last night at 1 am, shaking with fear over how close we are, right now, to a nuclear exchange with Russia. My head rolled with everything I've not taught my kids, especially the tiny amount I know about radiation (It's in the dust! Stay in places where dust doesn't accumulate! Middle of paved roads! Never the forest! Stay inside! Um...), wondering how we would gather for survival in a post-apocalypse urban desert (of course we will all survive!), and I did not sleep the rest of the night.
Five years ago, Trump brought us his autocratic approach to democracy -- a self-aggrandizing style towards a personal vision, using the strength of not giving a shit about anyone or anything else. Rules be damned if they were in the way. The more power he got, the more he wanted, and even expected, to the point that a National Election must be lying if it disagreed with him.
Some of us apparently love The Strong Man. Do we admire him precisely because he treats someone else (not us) like dirt? No one seemed to be offended for the theoretical man he would shoot on 5th Avenue. That care is the weak, effeminate stance of the detestable liberal democracy.
He became deluded by his own power. It's the lesson of the One Ring. The longer you wear it, the more you want the power that it gives you. Even sweet, kind Frodo finally gives in, and wants, at the very end, to keep it for himself, and fuck the rest of the world.
For 22 years, Putin has simmered in the juices of the One Ring. He started with fine principles, said nice things about democracy. Now has become the Hitler of his era, frothing over NATO's Versailles-treaty-expansion as a personal humiliation, invading sovereign states next door to "cleanse" them of opponents, scaring his own generals.
Will Putin nuke the entire West to get his way?
"Yes, He Would" is one expert's answer.
I cannot do anything directly to avert nuclear war. Lord, give me the strength to change what I can change, accept what I cannot, and know the difference between them.
What I can do (in the event we are not turned into a glowing glass plate any time soon) is recognize who among our politicians at home strive to wear the One Ring, and never fucking vote for them.
Because, eventually, a man like Trump -- Yes, He Would too.
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