Our National Nightmare

The other day I Googled the words, “Hubris as a fatal flaw.” I did not have anyone or anything in particular in mind. Or maybe I did.

The top hit:

Hubris is extreme pride and arrogance shown by a character that ultimately brings about his downfall. Hubris is a typical flaw in the personality of a character who enjoys a powerful position; as a result of which, he overestimates his capabilities to such an extent that he loses contact with reality.

Who does this remind me of? Oh, yes – of course – that president who, as I’ve said elsewhere, has all the warmth and charm of a spiny-tailed iguana. On principle (at least for this blog post), I will not allow his name to taint this page. It’s a word associated with bridge, the card game, but more nowadays with a scowling, gloomy misanthrope.

Most of my Facebook feed is decidedly anti-Iguana. Consequently I’ve seen a barrage of stuff there, purporting to show his true colors. Most of it, with shadings, is probably true.

Someone posted a 1997 New Yorker profile that really caught my attention. In case you missed it, or didn’t have the stomach to read it all, it said this pretender drinks a gallon of Diet Coke per day (or did then). He does not, however, drink alcohol, or even coffee; nor does he smoke. These are among his few commendable attributes, as far as I know (though the coffee thing is highly suspect).

The reporter described some of the iguana’s obvious lies, and then added this:

Salesmen, and [he] is nothing if not a brilliant salesman, specialize in simulated intimacy rather than the real thing. His modus operandi had a sharp focus: fly the flag, never budge from the premise that the universe revolves around you, and, above all, stay in character.

He has only been in office for about six months, as this is written, but we’ve been subjected to a wearying stream of chaos and bullshit. Yet everyone is on to this fraud. In a recent Fresh Air interview, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) suggested that behind closed doors, with no cameras or microphones around, his Senate colleagues, even (especially?) Republicans, acknowledge this.

Surely there will be enough of them, in due time, willing to go public and help make a difference. He is too obvious, too transparently corrupt, and too dangerous.

Right?

After Nixon resigned, Gerald Ford, who had his own skeletons, famously said, “Our long national nightmare is over.” God only knows where this new nightmare is headed. It will not end well – I’m sure of that. Whether that means bad news for the United States, or for that humorless authoritarian, that terrorist in Presidential clothing, remains to be seen.