White smoke

The greenest Speaker in a hundred years
reliant on his masters for the rules
The sum of Founding Fathers' darkest fears
"The People's House" entrusted to such tools.
"Young Earth Creationism " might make sense
to one as stupid as the MAGA mob.
Mike Johnson led the chants to "hang Mike Pence"
Exquisitely ill-suited to the job.
This Putin fanboy, hostile to Ukraine
would cut our allies off without a thought.
Without the prospect of some private gain
he's only "honest" in that he "stays bought".
If Bannon's hyper-partisans have won,
be certain nothing useful"s getting done.

Fourth Turning II

The blare of Trump/Pence heralds End of Days

although it's been mis-spelled in  all our texts.
The Second Horsemen slays us with a plague;
The Wise among us shudder at what's next.
Apocalyptic fires devastate Oz,
as Bangladesh subsides beneath the waves.
Still Trumpty Dumpty doubts a human cause
and soon, there'll be no bodies left to save.
Pat Robertson swears God is in control
and sends disease to guide us on His way,
chastising bodies to refine the soul,
and when that fails, he'll blame it on the Gays.
Steve Bannon's all alone to find it "good"
we didn't prep for this one, 'though we could.

rudderless

Steve Bannon buffs Trump's ego with his lips
because he knows contagion's spread by hands
so certain we need the Apocalypse
he roots for this pandemic to expand.
"Fourth Turning" in his mind cannot be ducked
no other pathway forward could suffice
'though billions of our brothers would be fucked
Steve figure's he'll survive, so it's all nice.
Rasputin to a pewling Tsarevich
he knows how to make Trumpty-Dump react
ignoring anyone who isn't rich
Don still eats propaganda up like facts.
Reactive, where we need someone to lead
Trump furnishes the bed where Nazis breed.

what lies beneath

The mumbo-jumbo Robert Mercer sells
can't reconcile his claims of grand results
the maths beneath the whistles, and the bells
betray that his veneer conceals a cult.
Practitioners of Nixon's dirty tricks
stoke files like Hoover's, fat with kompromat.
While facile charms of Alexander Nix
let clients lie about just what they've bought.
Bob Mueller knows the statutes, and they're clear;
campaigns are circumscribed in space, and time
if strategy's made anywhere but here
this may be yet another Trumpish crime.
From Michigan to Kenya, and Nepal,
an empire of deception's poised to fall.

bribery

Her Majesty's disposed to prosecute
Bob Mercer for his bribes, 'though overseas.
To dangle real-estate, or prostitute
gives all of Britain a bad name for sleaze.
Our FEC says workers on campaigns
must hold a green-card, if they're not from here.
But in the service of old Shit-for-Brains
such qualms of ethics blithely disappear.
They warned Steve Bannon, but he paid no heed.
The White House bid had only been a ruse
to build a brand, to feed the Donald's greed.
The very GOP's now poised to lose.
Another in his litany of crime
that hasn't--yet--been worth team Mueller's time.

puppetry

Bob Mercer stays in shadows, when he can
preferring that we see another's face
behind Trump lurks this humble, evil man
whose machinations handed him the race.
"Conspiracy!" as Clinton diagnosed
describes his venture, and it's duly vast.
But Mercer's too discreet to ever boast
and if he laughs, is 'cause he's sure he's last.
Steve Bannon interfaced between the twain
and stoked each ego, keeping them apart.
As soon as he'd cast off the Cruz campaign,
he trimmed his sails and took this putz to heart.
Competing masters tug the dummy's strings.
We'll know their names when Mueller's witness sings.

Analytica

The Mercer-Bannon axis shows the strain
as each is linked to Alexander Nix
'twas less big data driving Trump's campaign,
and more Dick Nixon's school of dirty tricks.
These plumbers delved offshore their pirate lair
beyond the reach of Robert Mueller's writ.
But rule-of-law's got allies over there.
And Analytica's in British shit.
It's not the best of brains that Donald's got,
and not the platform one'd show off in town.
But Bannon manufactures kompromat;
where Trump can't soar, he'll tear the whole field down.
Elections were corrupted from abroad,
but Putin's prints are nowhere on this fraud.

machinations

Bob Mercer gave Steve Bannon as a prize
when Trump's wild White House bid was going down
to orchestrate the whole campaign of lies
Rasputin in the shadow of his clown.
And Kellyanne, to hold the Kushners' reins
a pollster interfacing with the Press.
Despite the calm the moron blithely feigns,
this team was always one chaotic mess.
Now Bannon's out, and Gorka's gone to Fox.
The seismic shocks convulse the West Wing's floor.
A whole administration on the rocks,
we pray Mike Pence will show his boss the door.
If Congress can agree that Trump's unfit,
we may yet salvage fragments from this shit.

Genius!

Roy Moore's got issues with authority
enough to give his party's elders pause
he claims a place above society
beyond the writ of any man-made laws.
Steve Bannon'd thought the state was safely Red
and wanted an insurgent to irk Mitch.
But Alabama's not so meekly led,
and balked to play that carpetbagger's bitch.
It's not clear Trump could work with Bannon's zoo;
Steve's proteges report to him, alone.
But as the Senate's shifting towards the Blue,
McConnell's looking shaky on his throne.
As Alabama goes, so goes Trump's world
'cause jerks can't keep their hands off teenaged girls.

house of cards

Steve Bannon's out, is Gorka far behind?
The background check proved more than he could pass.
If Trump can get along without his mind,
for sure, he'd never miss this pompous ass.
The politics of Hungary's arcane
and what he learned there isn't relevant.
to keep him on, one'd have to be insane
(or merely stupid) like this president.
John Kelly's tasked to rein in what's run wild
by winnowing some wheat out of this chaff.
But handlers roll their eyes; Trump's just a child
whom nobody expects would hire good staff.
The clown who ran casinos for a loss
is now a nation's nightmare playing "boss".

qui bono?

Steve Bannon's on the loose, mad dog unchained
his reign as shadow-president's been burst;
a private citizen, he's unconstrained
now back at Breitbart, eager for the worst.
Religious conflict's always on his lips
as if we hadn't seen this film before.
He means to profit from apocalypse;
there're fortunes to be made inciting war.
Inside, or out, still Mercer pulls his strings,
corrupting policy to serve his own.
The man in shadows nominating kings,
Rasputin revenant behind the throne.
Yet Trump's oblivious, a preening boy
who can't see he's been made the Nazis' toy.

Fourth Turning

Like Flynn, and Spicer, Scaramucci's gone
and speculation turns to Bannon's fate
how long can anyone sustain this con?
Uncashed, that check will just evaporate.
Rasputin sank his claws into a Czar
but never monetized his influence.
His dream, like millions' died in the Great War
when Lenin won the People's confidence.
Apocalyptic ravings can wear thin,
when what Trump really craves are hymns to Trump
and all he truly trusts are links of kin.
Steve might soon hit the sidewalk on his rump.
Trump claims to love the chaos and the churn
but every bridge he's crossed is quick to burn.

will you do the Fandango? II

the strategist who failed the RNC
still weaseled a position under Trump
but his ideas were scorned as comedy
Sean took the fall as Bannon's hapless chump
To clear the palate after Spicey's reign
the media must douche and then re-douche
the pattern of mendacity's the same
but now, we're getting it from Scaramouche
this little man with carefully coiffed hair
projects an outsized image on TV
and Donald sees, 'though there's no substance there
the perfect dummy made for Bannon's knee
the cast's on stage to ring Trump's curtain down
that tiny car's disgorged the final clown 

out of touch

our "representatives" hide from Townhalls
unwilling to confront what they would find
this year's Republicans don't have the balls
to legislate what's on the voters' mind
Paul Ryan's gotta know that Trump's no friend
his Party loyalty's not worth two cents
this Speaker's term is grinding to an end
if he can't swap this Bozo for Mike Pence
while Trump does Bannon's will, the People seethes
and culmination's not far down the road
the flux of lies each time the Donald breathes
the mid-term's primed and poised to just explode.
While Mueller sifts the WhiteHouse for what's true
we mobilize to paint both Houses Blue

Punch and Judy

Steve Bannon and the Kushners are at war
competing for the president's black soul
no cabinet official can do more
from day to day, these three are in control
Trump's shallow mind can't entertain a doubt
he snores serene in puerile certainty
on matters that he's never thought about
he thinks himself the world's authority
the Dunning-Kruger paradigm writ large
the slightest gust could sink our Ship of State
as if it were a wormy garbage barge
the helmsman's just deluded that all's great
how long before the president's inspired
to tell Rasputin that his ass is fired

the official story II

Steve Bannon wants the Press to toe his line
like Tass disseminating Stalin's word
he'll issue them opinions to opine
to argue with his truths would be absurd
but that's not how democracy is done
the people need to weigh all diff'rent views
before we can converge on a right one
we need each side laid out, so we can choose
republics die, deprived of a free press
or if dissenting views are deemed obscene
we need a bit of tumult and some mess
free citizens don't bow to the Machine
conformity exalts the fascist state
grim parody of what had made us great

closed loop

the Swedish terror fiction spewed by Fox
confirmed Trump's expectation of the place
unchallenged, 'cause it fit  his  mental box
about how civic virtue tracks with race
the echo chamber in between Trump's ears
will resonate if struck by the right note
strange orange champion of the  White men's fears
at least that class that register, and vote
American democracy's decline
won't be reversed if not by a free press
but Breitbart's blaring out the Party line
an eager partner in the fascist mess
while Bannon slanders Muslims, Gays, and Jews
Trump face-plants in his own mire of fake-news

influence

Steve Bannon murmurs sweetly in Trump's ear
"all liberal fact-mongers are the same
distracting voters from our theme of fear
implying you might somehow be to blame
it's Putin that you ought to emulate
no paper dares insinuate he's wrong
by acclamation, what he does is great
your peasants want their leader to be strong"
Ivanka struggles for her father's soul
convinced he really wants to do what's right
but Bannon exercises more control
the Orders Donald signs, are Steve's to write
when Kellyanne dared to extemporize
she's muzzled for broadcasting the wrong lies

image-maker II

O'Donnell's taking Bannon to the shed
to show him how he looks to the world's eyes
Svengali crafting half the words Trump's said
and letting Conway fill it out with lies
to write the orders Donald gets to claim
without the input of the OLC
dark vizier ruling in another's name
a cynical stroke of effrontery
apocalyptic sketch of what's to come
is marketed as if he really knows
a satirist suggesting that he's dumb
might tip him off his faux-heroic pose
twin presidents are tempted to invoke
StateSecrets to enjoin the telling joke

image-maker

O'Donnell's taking Bannon to the shed
to show him how he looks to the world's eyes
Svengali crafting half the words Trump's said
and letting Conway fill it out with lies
to write the orders Donald gets to claim
without the input of the OLC
dark vizier ruling in another's name
a cynical stroke of effrontery
apocalyptic sketch of what's to come
is marketed as if he really knows
a satirist suggesting that he's dumb
might tip him off his faux-heroic pose
Trump fantasized he'd earned our deference
but many'd love to swap him out for Pence