The Final Season of the Trump Show – Part II: a Failed Supernova That Goes ‘Poof’ Without a Trace 

By Colleen O’Connor

When will the chaos all end? Will democracy survive the tumult?

Heady questions.

No need for polls or op/ed pieces to divine the answers. Nor even a need to read Shakespeare, eloquent tho’ he be.

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”

Rather, look to the scientists.  Sometimes scientists are amazing. No, not the ones currently fighting COVID-19; or rushing for live-saving treatments and effective vaccines.  They are very good. Even now, they are writing Agatha Christie-worthy descriptions of the epidemic.

“In this sense, Covid-19 is like a burglar who slips in your unlocked second-floor window and starts to ransack your house. Once inside, though, they don’t just take your stuff — they also throw open all your doors and windows so their accomplices can rush in and help pillage more efficiently.”

But, the most amazing scientists are those who study the stars; blackholes, and supernovas; such as the “Kinman Dwarf galaxy some 75 million light-years away in the constellation of Aquarius.” How they seek to learn, did the world begin?  With a “Big Bang?”  How might it end?  With a “Whimper?”

Recently, these “scientists of the sky,” became puzzled by a massive star that suddenly vanished, without a trace. “Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have discovered the absence of an unstable massive star in a dwarf galaxy.”

According to “Ph.D. student Andrew Allan of Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, “this would be the first direct detection of such a monster star ending its life in this manner.”

An unstable star that implodes in space? A colossal vanishing star?  Guess which politician fits that description?

Some identifying marks.

“Its’ mass was somewhere between 85 and 120 times the mass of our sun, and its volume was vast, too; “between 50 and 400 times the size of the Sun.” “So, it is a supergiant star.”   “A monster” mass. Or was.  But, it suddenly disappeared.  “Poof.”  Gone in a moment’s death spiral.

How could the “biggest star in the universe” disappear so quickly? Evidently, “The end of the life of such a mega-star proceeds really fast.”

“If gravity is too strong, the star implodes altogether and transforms into a black hole with no visible explosion.”

In other words, a “failed supernova.” “Poof.” “Gone.” “Failed.”  “Without a trace.”  Vanquished.

But, wait. There are remains visible here on this earth.  More than just a trace. Indeed, countless, often illegal and unsavory behaviors, have undermined trust in our fragile democracy.

And the President has pursued each of these abnormalities in almost gluttonous fashion.

As long ago as the 1830s, the French politician, Alexis de Tocqueville, chronicled what he observed while traveling the young United States, and uncovered early signs of the that tensions that menaces America today. Tocqueville argued that “a mild, stagnant despotism was the greatest threat to democracy.”

The despotism that is the core feature of the Trump presidency.  Indeed, of the President himself. The instances are too numerous to list and without parallel in U.S. History.

However, one of the most telling examples of Trump’s avarice just surfaced. Seems that while in France to honor fallen U.S. soldiers, Trump opted out due to rain. With about six hours spare time, Trump decided to loot abscond with some antiques (worthy $750,000) from the U.S. Embassy in Paris.

He ordered Benjamin Franklin’s bust and portrait, plus a set of figurines of Greek mythical characters, to be loaded onto Air Force One and flown back with him to D.C.

“The figurines that caught Trump’s eye found a new home on the fireplace mantel in the Oval Office.”

In reality, the figurines and bust were all fakes of wannabe 17th century sculptures, and of little value. And Trump, himself, when told of the “fakes” he flew with on Air Force One, remarked that, “he liked the fake better than the original.”

Self-description.  Self-implosion.

Or discovery of the “failed supernova” that collapses into its own black hole.

“Poof.”