Lock Him Up

Trump now refers to rioters as"we"
like insurrection weren't an offense.
While Vance seeks refuge in his sophistry,
dementia's carried Trump past such pretense.
Disinhibition's gussied up as "BOLD!"
by handlers charged with selling the big con.
We're not supposed to notice he's too old
to finish thoughts, or glop his makeup on.
Superlatives are all he seems to know;
no nuance complicates his thoughts, or speech.
Reality, transcending TV shows
slips daily ever farther out of reach.
Malignant ego's left him largely blind
a legend in his own sclerotic mind.

The Greater Threat

Dick Cheney shot his lawyer in the face;
the victrm happened to apologize.
To drink with Vice spills honor on the base!
And surgeons think he won't lose both his eyes.
In lieu of politics, it's tribal war
where no dishonesty's accounted "sin".
Like autocrats have often done before,
Trump tears the heavens down, to claim a "win".
The deference Republicans bestow,
to Democrats, smells of idolatry.
However low their nominee might go,
they'll"stand" by him--is"standing's" on one's knees.
When even Cheney's playing the adult,
Americans link arms against Trump's cult.

Blood simple

Another class cut short, and still we balk
to curb this carnage in our very schools.
The lobbyists make sure we only talk
--at most--about the felons, not their tools.
The lecture halls have rows of empty chairs;
the college dorms have floors of empty beds.
Incoming freshman simply aren't there;
the entrance bar's too high, when they're long dead.
Since 'Heller', individuals claim rights
that theretofore inhered unto the States.
Scalia, ruling by his special lights,
abused our highest bench, to legislate.
With time, our whole republic comes undone;
a nation's future's picked off, one by one.