"advancing in a new direction"

Now, Cuba honors private property;
incentives still move humans when we act.
While Trump wants a Command Economy,
contemptuous of History, and facts.
Dictating what a Kansan gets for oats,
or what a lobsterman in Maine should earn,
indebting us to banks to buy Red votes
and there's no nobler purpose to discern.
The latest flailings from the orange dolt
two centuries of progress in reverse
until Republicans join the revolt
our children's prospects fade from bad to worse.
Undoing what Enlightenment's best made
our decadent republic's retrograde.

command economy

Our Founding Father feared a Populist
would raid our Treasury to bribe his friends
to re-elect him, and his faction's list.
So only Congress gets to tax, and spend.
"Democracy" to them portends mob-rule
and all the terrors of the Paris mob.
They meant to spare us from this orange fool
who's so mal-educated for the job.
Yet Trump wants to dictate the price of oats,
and soy and pork should jump at his command.
And farmers ought to trust him with their votes
like Mao's believers bought each Five Year Plan.
Command Economies that we eschew
get spun for Trumpsters like they're something new.

Watergate's shadow II

Bob Mueller's unsheathed Use Immunity;
Paul Manafort's brief candle's burning down.
A million places that he'd rather be
were he not shackled to this orange clown.
The five who feared to self-incriminate
would face contempt should they seek to defy
the Special Counsel, acting for the State;
they'll rot in jail if they don't testify.
The stonewall Lawrence Walsh could never crack
won't stop Bob Mueller and his all-star team.
The Fifth amendment won't turn questions back
since this great innovation of John Dean.
The slickest lawyers millions can afford
can't stave off Lady Justice's fell sword.

Watergate's shadow

Bob Mueller's unsheathed Use Immunity;
Paul Manafort's brief candle's burning down.
A million places that he'd rather be
were he not shackled to this orange clown.
The five who feared to self-incriminate
would face contempt should they seek to defy
the Special Counsel, acting for the State;
they'll rot in jail if they don't testify.
The stonewall Lawrence Walsh could never break
won't stop Bob Mueller and his all-star team.
The Fifth's no haven that a perp can take
since this great innovation of John Dean.
The slickest lawyers millions can afford
can't stave off Lady Justice's fell sword.

Helsinki

Helsinki hosted Putin and his bitch
who came to fetch new orders from the boss
the world hoped for an aviation glitch;
had both gone down in flames, 'twould be no loss.
The rubles laundered through the NRA
were never mentioned. Would it be uncouth
or spoil the mood, to interrupt foreplay
by interjecting any word of truth?
A century of U.S. influence
ephemeral as Dorothy Gayle's dream
discarded in Trump's gross incompetence
goes dark, like the last freeze-frame on the screen.
Proud bear shows off the doting pet he's got
who dances on his chain of kompromat

summer storm

Coy virga leave the ground unsatisfied
it's hot, thick breath's been wasted on thin air
the gust-front kicks around what laid there, dried
but all its moisture's carried off, elsewhere.
The desert flora specialize in dearth,
but every year or two, still need a storm
delivering redemption to the Earth
in places where to desiccate's the norm.
Bright scarves of rain, dark veils of steel-grey sleet
with thunder syncopating melodies
still leave this courtship dangling, incomplete
nine times in ten, it's just a dry-run tease.
When wadis gush, and grabens inundate
each Blue Moon sees this drama consummate.

booming

Monsoons graze California in July
arroyos that lay dust-choked race, and churn
But where coy virga leave the surface dry,
the desert vegetation's prone to burn.
Convection that a pilot rides all day
can over-do it with a  frightful jolt.
It's time to fold our fragile wings away
before the valley greets that lightning bolt.
Mulholland stole their river for his town
and Owens farmers still revile his name.
Now, what was orchards' all sage-green and brown
and episodic'ly consigned to flame.
Firefighters don't appreciate the joke;
the empty Owens Lake's now filled--with smoke.

faux deal

May's BREXIT's only BREXIT in its name
her lot's been ducky in the status quo
when even Boris Johnson gets her game
it's manifest to all who aren't slow.
The Europeans hate the precedent;
to quit the Union must incur a cost!
If every tiff meant members up and went
their own ways, Kant's grand vision would be lost.
A world at peace, forever and a day
where lawyers settle grievances with words
when bombs, and and guns at last were thrown away
'cause war's as obsolete as it's absurd.
Let others pay  the price of endless war;
loud Nigel earned his fee as Putin's whore.

war-time powers

John Bolton's eager for a trade dispute
and fans it fervently towards something more
if anyone's provoked to really shoot
Trump's re-election gets back-lit by war.
Americans are loathe to change their horse
when once embarked the crossing of a stream
incumbents learned that military force
persuades some voters they should keep their team.
Some other mothers' sons must fight, and die
to cram another Trump term down our throat.
Who cares the rationale's a flagrant lie
who didn't bother to get out and vote?
His walrus deems a war'd be just the thing
to arrogate the powers of a king.

no one wins

When Scaramucci cedes Trump screwed the pooch

there's change afoot for this November's race;

the trade war too moronic for the Mooch

could alienate half Trump's voting base.

Kentucky whiskey can't sell in Japan

Wisconsin cheese won't travel past our shore.

As faith erodes in Mercer's orange man,

the heartland sees no profit in this war.

Let Harley-Davidson join with GM

to advocate for pork, and soy, and cheese

they've learned this bozo doesn't work for them

and reevaluate old loyalties.

Brute strong-arm tactics Cohn thought worked so well

could drag his protégé--and us--to Hell.