Henry Duff Linton and Edmond Morin: Awakening (19th century)

"…American Dreams emerge from Awakenings."

The question of when our incumbent might start to seriously bleed supporters has been prominent in the minds of his many detractors. For us, and I consider myself a prominent detractor, it was always unthinkable that anyone might even imagine supporting him, for he seemed simply vile. His incoherence alone rendered him unsupportable since nobody has ever successfully parsed even his simplest utterances. Still, he seemed to possess some hypnotizing power, an astonishingly strange attractor, that reliably attracted and retained what he labeled his base. His base seemed at least aptly labeled, for they seemed to follow their leader beyond the depths of conventional political depravity. This devotion was truly disgusting to me. He’d famously insisted that he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue in New York City and shoot somebody and nobody would raise an eyebrow.

That “Teflon Don” capability seems to have started weakening lately. I see some promising signs that his long-somnambulant cult followers have begun Awakening. The backstory couldn’t qualify as believable fiction, but I’ll accept it if it contributes to this clown’s downfall. Some of his most virulent supporters have long contended that our society has been infiltrated and corrupted by a ring of elite Democrat pedophiles who prey upon vulnerable children. In its original telling, spread by a shadowy entity referred to as QAnon, a far-right political movement founded in 2017, Hillary Clinton led this pedophile ring, which periodically met in the basement of a pizza parlor in suburban Washington, DC. This story broke into public view when a deluded young veteran traveled to DC with an assault weapon to confront this ring in their pizza parlor headquarters. He scared some children and was arrested and later sentenced, but managed to unearth this rumored conspiracy in the process.

Of course, Hillary or any Democrat has never been proven to be linked to any movement even remotely resembling the one QAnon had predicted. Still, that very lack of evidence seemed to encourage the notion for many that she was probably guilty as suspected. Logic runs sideways in such circumstances. The lack of proof becomes more definitive proof. Absent evidence further encourages speculation, which can lead to something more closely resembling unshakable conviction. Our incumbent embraced these conspiracies, seeing in their followers just the type of gullibility his viability had always relied upon. He had already established himself as a mythical successful executive while his company suffered from a seemingly endless series of bankruptcies. He fancied himself a strongman while appearing every inch the wuss. He had always talked bigger than he ever appeared, and a surprising many heard and followed.

The incumbent had been charged, convicted, and fined for a serious sexual assault before he was reelected. Further, he’d had a shadowy relationship with a fellow who had been convicted of trafficking young women, who’d died under curious circumstances while in prison pending prosecution. But he left a record of his innumerable indiscretions, naming names and situations. Our incumbent was prominently mentioned in those archives, including phone records, flight logs, and personal effects. Furthermore, the incumbent had made a campaign promise to release that material once he’d been reelected. He learned soon after being sworn in that the materials in question prominently featured him performing in a role that could be properly characterized as the one QAnon had accused Hillary Clinton of fulfilling in that mythical pizza parlor basement. The documents apparently show the incumbent as a pedophile assaulting underage women. QAnon’s conspiracy seems as though it would have more truthfully characterized that pedophile ring as Republican and led by our incumbent. Irony often accompanies conspiracy theories.

The incumbent shut down the government to prevent the release of those indicting materials. He began alienating even his loyal QAnon followers. The realization seems to be spreading among even the longer-standing cultists that their leader has been steadfastly scamming them. How they avoided noticing this years ago escapes me, but these latest revelations have been landing like breaking news to them. They’d apparently never imagined their leader a scammer, even though he’d been convicted of perpetrating innumerable scams in the past. Also apparent to them were the revelations that he was not precisely the ladies’ man he’d so proudly characterized himself as, but more into little girls. Many of those on the “religious right” might have never held many scruples, but they seem to have finally found their gag reflex with these latest revelations.

Our incumbent has come unhinged, and he was never properly described as being well-hinged in the first place. He seems increasingly unable to maintain anything appearing like a stable countenance. He has taken to calling his loyal followers “stupid” and has lost the support of some of his most stalwart congressional leaders, including his QAnon queens. The incumbent has always gaslighted, though he often managed to keep his flames focused on defaming his feared Democratic opponents. He’s started second-guessing his base, telling them the kinds of lies even the thoroughly entranced easily see through. Do not, under any circumstances, argue the price of eggs with someone utterly dependent upon them. Never insist that prices have fallen when they clearly haven’t for anyone. His tariff tantrums seemed destined to blow up in his face, and they’re reliably bringing our economy and world standing to their knees just in time for the holidays.

It’s taken the political equivalent of firing a cannon in the hallway to finally Awaken our incumbent’s most ardent admirers, and many, even farmers he screwed over again in this second administration like he had in his first, finally hear the din. We seem likely to experience a self-inflicted Great Depression-quality economy over upcoming months. We can reliably expect our incumbent to increasingly focus upon his ever-growing list of irrelevancies, each seemingly crafted to alienate further and anger his long-vaunted base. It seems inexorable now that he will be impeached following the midterms and that his base will continue eroding as his lame-brained schemes increasingly undermine the American Dream. This will be a lesson for the ages, assuming we survive to remember it. The fever dream of making America Great Again had all the makings of a perfect nightmare. Let us, please, remember that American Dreams emerge from Awakenings. The next one coming true will follow after this most recent nightmare ends.

©2025 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #Decency, #PureSchmaltz