A 21st Century Diary

For several years now great minds have looked to plumb the depths of the sociological complexities that have led to the burgeoning cult of personality which follows DJT.

For even after the very narrow electoral win and its dubious legitimacy in 2016, the cult seemed to inexplicably grow and become galvanized despite displays of sheer incompetence and verifiable and demonstrated official falsehood.

The answer now is plain after uncounted scores of political essays, statistical analyses, and historical interpretation.

It was, like Poe’s famous purloined letter, right before our eyes: existing in the need to fill an irreplaceable deep longing in the American public for something that disappeared only in recent years.

No, not the idea of the facile simplicity of the 1960’s or the machismo era of American foreign policy dominance.

Nor, was it the longing for the time of low-energy prices and an American post-war boom.

It was this:

Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus performed its final show on May 21, 2017, at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and closed after 146 years.

Americans, as it turns out, must always have a circus. Now, to paraphrase H. L. Mencken, we just have to figure out who is really in the monkey cage.

-Albert Turner Goins