Downfall

In 2003 a spasm of populism in California led to the recall of Governor Gray Davis and the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger, a man I always dismissed as a clown.  There was the bodybuilding, the awful movies, the way he left office on a sex scandal -- something for everyone to laugh at even before The Simpsons used him as the template for McBain.  And now I have to change my opinion.  Thanks, Trump.

In a tweet today Schwarzenegger, born in postwar Austria, reaches past the beerhall Putsch and Reichstag fire analogies we've all been hearing and compares Wednesday's insurrection to Kristallnacht committed by "the Nazi equivalent of the Proud Boys."  He talks about his father, who belonged to both the Nazi party and the SS, and men like him "drinking away their guilt" and abusing their families.  His grief over the event born in his own party is unmistakable, though I could have done without the music and the Conan sword.  Nobody loves this country like an immigrant.

Too bad Trump won't see it because Twitter "You're fired!" him, as did Facebook, Reddit, Instagram,  Twitch (whatever that is), YouTube and Shopify, which no longer carries his campaign merchandise.  (Sorry, collectors, if you haven't bought it yet, you're out of luck.)  Silenced!  He can't communicate unless he holds a press conference or releases a statement, social media unavailable to the rest of us.  Or calls in to Hannity or Carlson or "Two Foul Balls and a Miss" or Alex Jones or Giuliani's podcast or flies to the Mexican border with a couple dozen press in tow.  Wait...he is?

Tomorrow he will hail himself for building four hundred miles of wall on the 1,954-mile border; no moat or snakes, alas.  Not one peseta from Mexico, either.  Otherwise, a total triumph except for the part that fell over during a wind storm last summer.  A legacy to stand with TR's Panama Canal and Ike's interstate highway system.  And another trip on Air Force One.  After that, I imagine it's hard to get used to even flying Emirates (the one with staterooms and showers, if I'm not mistaken).  

It's pretty obvious that the wall party was hastily organized to distract from the events back in Washington, where the House will hold its first impeachment do-over.  With only nine days left in this nightmare it's far from moot:  If eventually convicted, he's barred from holding elective office again, which won't deter him from fomenting more violence or extracting more money from the rubes.  The Constitution is clearly an instrument of the eternal Deep State Plot against Trump personally; it's only a question of where and when the next Day of Broken Glass will occur.