Who is in charge now?

Not that Donald Trump was ever in charge.

In fact some would argue that actually no US Presidents have really been in charge for at least a half a century, since Presidents are transient whereas the so-called Intelligence Community is free to set, and execute policies unburdened by the need for popular support. But the question remains, who will represent the United States in the world, now that Donald Trump has lost (almost) all of his political support throughout the country, and on Capitol Hill. Who will have necessary conversations with the leaders of Europe, South America, China, Russia, not to mention California and Oklahoma, now that Trump has put Neo Nazis at equal moral status with the protesters who went to Charlottesville to confront them.

Will our shadow government find it necessary to cast a sharper-edged shadow as the likelihood of more deadly civil unrest grows by the hour?  What should people of conscience and courage do, while our thin-skinned, wretched-minded third rate demagogue further isolates himself, even from his chief strategist, the actual fascist and newly unemployed, Steve Bannon?

Trump has fewer and fewer people with whom he can maintain the pretense of legitimacy. If he wants to keep the job he’ll have to start doing what he is told. Is that the deal that Donald Trump made to get where he is today? Was he put there to prove that democracy is just too much trouble? Will his unwillingness to behave like a civilized human being finally prove to be the one (almost) admirable quality he has? And what if he does refuse to go along?

With how things are going, it’s hard to dismiss the notion that Trump was just a straw man, put in the White House to hasten the demise of even the trappings of democracy, especially when one considers how he ‘won’ the office in the first place. And with this in mind, it’s hard to avoid drawing comparisons to, say, the suspicious circumstances under which Al Gore ‘lost’ to George W. Bush, whose election has led to the rise of ISIS and seemingly unending military engagements that enrich the ultra powerful and subjugate the rest of us.

There is, after all, “broad agreement” that our election was hacked by the Russians. Or was it hacked by someone here at home? Or is there a difference?

How corrupted is our news media? Is it worse than ever? How corrupted is our democracy?  Can we ever have an open society again? Did we ever have one?

I’m asking. I don’t know. But in the current atmosphere, if I did know, I’d probably keep it to myself. This is the first time I’ve been afraid like this, and I was born before color TV was a thing.

Meanwhile, I remain skeptical of conspiracy theories. But I can’t help paying attention, and there is ample, precedent-establishing evidence of actual, non-theoretical conspiracies perpetrated by un-elected and unaccountable people on the inside, that have infected the course of history in America and the world.

So, I guess we’ll find out.

Or not.