comic relief

The maggots quickly died in Bobby's brain;
that toxic sewage would have gagged a shark.
Such language skills as--more or less--remain
now only serve to keep us in the Dark.
This haggard scion of a leading clan
had testified in court he's not all there.
The umpteenth Kennedy who"also ran"
once rated "promising", now seems less fair.
The Andrew Wakefield fraud has been withdrawn
but Bobby's set his teeth, and won't let go.
convinced the vaccine makers are a pawn
in service of the devil--and so's Joe.
His father as a candidate was cool;
between his ears, this namesake son has gruel.

spoiler

The parasitic worm in Bobby's brain,
played hob with deep convictions ere it died.
Old speculation that he's gone insane
find new corroboration from inside.
Conspiracies expand to fill the space
where  once he'd learned to weigh cause and effects,
Virology conflates with wealth, and race
and geopolitics, and--always--sex.
Trump'd hoped a Kennedy would sink Joe's boat;
an erstwhile Democrat who'd lost the plot.
but Trump had owned the kooks inclined to vote
for this estranged black sheep of Camelot.
A three-way race suits anarchists just fine,
but Rule of Law itself is on the line.

meddling

Ike put advisors into Vietnam
but no one thought to tell John Kennedy
the Dulles brothers didn't give a damn;
they'd get deferments for their progeny
and Turks deployed out missiles in their East
one more of Eisenhower's reckless bets
one more surprise, and this one not the least
at least to Jack, if not the Soviets
and Bay of Pigs was icing on the top
an amateurish job, thrown for a loss
as if he'd run to rescue their Black Op
the president reminded them who's boss
transition in strategic disarray
was orchestrated by "our" CIA