Sharky's end II

The snares of logic Saruman deployed
when Fangorn'd pent him up in Orthanc's tower
by light of day, were easy to avoid
mixed company had bled them of their power.
King Theoden remembered Hama's fate
who fell defended Rohan, and his liege,
his mutilated body at the gate
the last atrocity of Helm's Deep's siege.
'Twas Wormtongue, did for Sharky, in the end.
His last companion in an ill-spent life
a beaten cur's untrusty as a friend
and rhetoric's no proof against a knife.
Deranged arch-mage aspired to be a king
corrupted by long study of the Ring.

dog-whistle-stop

Trump lashes out as his poll numbers slip.
The demagogue deplorables embrace
increasingly, is seen to lose his grip
on anyone beyond his basest base.
In Phoenix, he's defending Charlottesville
as if the West were part of the Old South
encouraging the Klan to hate, and kill.
But always, it's their hands; he's just the mouth.
Campaigning for the office that he's got
orating to his ever-dwindling mob
as if he could become what he is not,
a grown-up, adequate to do the job.
Despite the knowledge Pence is next in line,
Americans wish Trump would just resign.

unstatesmanlike

aspiring autocrats try to suppress
the mere idea they shouldn't grace the throne
and Freedom of Assembly, or the Press
seems dangerous for citizens to own
 a citizen asserting civil rights
expecting that his government pay heed
is apt to disappear one of these nights
with no investigation of the deed
the age of Putin, Trump, and Erdogan
twelve score years human progress gets rolled back
assaults on Universal Rights of Man
Enlightenment itself's under attack
who dares speak Trumpelthinskin's proper name
gets tweet reprisals thick with unearned blame

Raygun's legacy

The poorly-educated love the clown
whose little words and even smaller hands
incite them to tear the whole system down
in terms a working-dog would understand.
"The government's the problem" Reagan crowed
and maybe he believed the words he spoke.
At least that's what the teleprompter showed
and no one told the geezer that's a joke.
Since Gingrich, not a lick of work gets done
throughout the calendar, or 'round the clock
unless you pay to play in Washington
the nation's business stalls out in gridlock.
A vote for Trump's a vote for what can't work
but some still seem enamored of the jerk.

shtick

Trump let it slip that he gets quid pro quo
among his wild ad hominem attacks
that regulators bend for donors' dough
and mayors court them by foregoing tax
the rest, he makes up as he goes along
improvisations from his stock of barm
and dares the media to prove he's wrong
for daring to display what he calls "charm"
debating Clinton's a whole 'nuther game
of deficits and revenues and tax
his repertoire of jokes and slurs and blame
is unsupported by the published facts
the wonk talks past his rhetoric of rage
combating her discomfort on the stage

paper tiger

artisanal TP will fool some folk
who'll buy whatever Rush says is the rage
but Berners know that ticket is a joke
no better than an old Sears-Roebuck page
the orange clown sells a mirage of class
to angry Whites of woeful self-esteem
who don't know even how to wipe their ass
but roar approval of their fav'rite team
a demagogue who fronts for the elite
won't even give the little people thanks
relieves himself in public on Main Street
and never blush to blame it on the banks
the poorly-educated who've got sense
won't waste a paper ballot on Trump-Pence

big game

assassinating Trump would make no sense
as long as he's devoid of self-control
if he were on the ticket-top, Mike Pence
could out-perform the big guy at the polls
for Hillary, this ought to be a cinch
a technicolor nightmare for Karl Rove
if she were half as charming as the Grinch
Republicans would take her side in droves
but she looks awkward parrying attacks
and slurs like Donald shovels out wholesale
a wonkish recitation of dry facts
beside the Orange One looks wan and pale
two less-loved candidates have never run
so many ache to mark our ballots "none"

coming to a head

the neo-fascist keeps his crowd entranced
with promises to build a great white wall
the boil just festers 'til it can get lanced
it's most repugnant just before the fall
Trump's backers represent the underside
whom civic education couldn't reach
they lack the calibration to decide
he waxed fat on their labors like a leech
infections fulminate through the long night
where ignorance fuels candidates of fear
no disinfectant's better than sunlight
if journalists would just get it in gear
the Donald's rhetoric's over the top
and just gets worse until it has to pop

cold-read

Trump wants to punish women who abort
then checks in with his handlers, who dissent
it's doctors should be hauled before the court
while she goes free (as long as she repents)
he's making it up as he goes along
and dares the journalists to catch him out
the columnist who dares to show he's wrong
would see his livelihood cast into doubt
the Dunning-Kruger paradigm writ big
the guy can't comprehend that he is dense
although he's just a fascist blow-hard pig
he never thinks to doubt his competence
Americans are taken by his spiel
that hides the emptiness beneath the deal

a dangerous man

like Mussolini, Searle spell-binds the class
to contradict him, one would sound uncouth
whatever nonsense spews out of his ass
is held by broad consensus to be truth
he sets the grounds on which the game is played
and by decree, rules what's beyond the fence
whatever progress computers have made
he smugly deems is not "intelligence"
charisma clouds discourse where logic fails
dry arguments suffice where the truth's clear
a slick delivery can sell the tale
where on the merits there's no substance there
he thinks he's Socrates, corrupting youth
but Searle can't give a rat's ass for the truth      

Cruz's game

Ted Cruz casts veiled aspersions on the Jews
attributing Trump's rancor to "New York"
as if it's somehow sinister to choose
a hotdog made of beef and not of pork
at frequencies that only some can hear
he lashes followers into a rage
by fanning politics of hate and fear
his tantrums make George W. look sage
dog-whistle rhetoric plays to his base
but make no tort that one could prosecute
he never quite attacks one's faith or race
but those with ears to hear perceive his roots
a Cuban scoring points on immigrants
is making bank on public ignorance

united front

Ahmadinejad bolstered the Likud
and got--in trade--help on the Persian Street
opposed in policies, alike in mood
so East, so West that at the poles they meet
George Orwell taught us that external threats
can mobilize a voter-base at home
no matter how intemperate it gets
it guarantees more cash for IronDome
but since Ahmadinejad's off the scene
and since the Persian rhetoric's becalmed
it's Bibi who's outrageous in his spleen
obsessive in the matter of the bomb
when not at war, Israelis fight for sport
and only unify at last resort

new Isolationist

when Mario Cuomo held us enthralled
he conjured a shared vision of what's great
a country vast, dreamt by each migrant small
who married in to build and be our State
but nativists now cultivate discord
as if the only prudent course were fear
of them that swarm our shores, a baleful horde
who threaten us and all that we hold dear
this year, it's Trump that wants to slam the door
to guard what's good and already inside
to let the larger world dissolve in gore
that we should stand aloof wrapped in our pride
corrosive thought that We can't include All
and ought to cower sniping from our wall