Came like a whisper
The grandiose theatrics
The faulty facts
The bravado
The self-aggrandisement,
It all seemed so surreal,
Could not be reality
Would not be accepted
So outlandish
So contrary to our culture

Yet here we are,
Masked and unbadged hoodlums
dragging people from courtrooms,
schools, churches, their cars,
to places and fates unknown,
Ignoring due process

Legislative bodies heavy
with the kowtowing spineless
who love 
    their lifetime pensions
    their lifetime medical insurance
more than their Constitution

And the dissolution accelerates,
people, mores, social safety nets,
decades of progress
dismantled
chipped away
devoured
by the endless cycle
of graft, grift and greed

And we sit in our (mostly white & college educated) privilege,
and we gasp, appalled by the amoral
police state that’s now our country

truth is, this didn’t happen overnight
our  privileged perch let us
ignore those deep-pocketed malevolent male millionaires
with the patience to plan for decades, saying
“Crackpots” “Extremists” “Impossible”

racism and white nationalism now run rampant, and
all our national shames have come home to roost
(Jim Crow, Isolationism,restrictive suffrage, misogyny to name a few)

The time for rhetoric (and gasping) is over
our country needs bold, focused, informed citizens,
rolled up sleeves, commitment
And grit, lots of grit