Trumped Again

The workers climbed in the scaffolding, attempting to bridge over a small section of the construction north of Matamoros. They lacked the marvelous tools and technology of the previous century, and the wall resisted their simple hammers and chisels. Without explosives, the current plan called for going over the top, but progress was slow and food supplies short.

The Monsanto plague wiped out the breadbasket crops and worked its way into the soil and ecosystem. The dust clouds made the construction effort more difficult.

All of the remaining arable land on the continent lay south of the Folly, in Mexico.

100 words. For this week’s Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers prompt:

See also: Trumped

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Decline and Fall

I scuttle out of the waves like a hermit crab seeking a fresh shell. The tide is rising, and I loathe what’s coming.

The internet is proving to be one massive ocean of teeming ignorance, its hungry waves eroding whatever sense and restraint my country ever had. The world laughs at our politics, a cheap circus sideshow. Powered by the lowest forms of human life, the social media Lie Engine has replaced journalism with empty spectacle and dangerous nonsense.

The middle class ebbs away in the final days of the Suburban White Fantasy Empire That Never Was. “You got what you was supposed to get, bluesman! Ain’t nothing ever as good as we want it to be!”

Would anyone like to share some bread and circuses?

126 words, inspired by this week’s FFfAW prompt:

Trumped

“Captain, we’ve got a real problem.”

“What problem?”

“They’re trying to cross the border again, thousands of them. Fleeing oppression, asking for sanctuary, lined up for miles on the Interstate. But shall we close the border?”

The captain climbed the observation tower and scanned the horizon. He gasped at the sheer mass of SUVs headed south. “Do we have any idea what they’re fleeing from, Corporal?”

“Best guess is the election, sir. You know how ridiculous the rhetoric became, near the end—really scary shit—intolerant, xenophobic, bigoted, and hateful.”

“So what happened?”

“According to the polls, he’s actually winning.”

100 words. Inspired by this week’s 100WGCU prompt.

See also: Trumped Again.

 

 

Stop telling me to be scared.

I’m not a Democrat.

None of the likely Democratic candidates inspires me, and I don’t agree with many of their talking points. But I find myself being pushed over into their voting column this year anyway, thanks to the circus antics taking place on the Other Team.

The Other Team keeps us Safe, and to prove it they started the last pile of wars. Including the “War on Terror.” It’s worked about as well as the “War on Drugs” (which is to say, it didn’t). Then there was the War on Iraq (cost us billions, was built on lies, and did wonders for terrorist group recruitment). Thank you, Halliburton.

The Other Team preaches Fear and Defeatism and Darkness and Despair. It preaches Intolerance, we need to build a Wall to keep those Scary People Out.

Berlin Wall?

We need to register and database these refugees, make them wear a patch that clearly identifies them. Surveillance on mosques.

Jews in 1939?

Better yet, send ‘em back where they come from, we don’t want their kind ‘round here anyhoo.

Klan in 1955?

Forget about those pesky American values written on the Statue of Liberty. We need to keep the Scary people out, by any means necessary. How’s that again? When did this happen?

Refugees. Muslims. Islamics. Radicals. Terrorists. Despite what you may have heard on the media, these are not synonyms.

The more extreme the Republican candidates get, the less likeable they are. The Republican Party has been using Fear to drum up votes since the Cold War (remember Commies? “Family Values?” “War on Drugs?” The Flavor of the Decade is “Terrorists”) It works amazingly well, and always has. Rich White People get really, really paranoid about hanging on to their first world advantage.

The Republicans weren’t quite as far around the bend in most of those previous elections. They were just (generally) propping up complete stiffs as candidates. But then, so were the Democrats, and the tradition of both parties propping up “no one you’d really want to vote for” worked out just fine for the last few decades.

This election, we have a billionaire demagogue who has views remarkably close to that mustachioed gentleman from Germany. And he’s being pushed further and further into the extreme Right by the other whackjobs in his debates.

And he’s extending his lead! Has this country completely lost its collective mind?

Be afraid, be very afraid, all the bloody time. There might be a nonwhite person sneaking up on your Walmart with a pipe bomb! Look at what happened in Paris!! Stampede to the Right and cower under your desks!

This is America.

Home of the Brave.