FIGURE EIGHT
A tank loaded with washing machines wrapped
like Rodins looted from disemboweled apartments,
on its way to join mercenaries who’ll half-dig graves
in a half-frozen pine forest before taking a nap,
passes a cruise missile lodged nose-first
in the road and painted “for the kids,”
passes a bullet-sprayed car and soup kitchen
worker who will change his walking route
trailed by a campaign of dogs, past gouges
in the square where a kid in clown makeup dances
a figure eight, for whom terror clings
to the sound of tambourines, to balaclavas,
to the scent of a busted tomato, leaking.
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Even before February 28, the reasons for Donald Trump’s imploding approval rating were abundantly clear: untrammeled corruption and personal enrichment to the tune of billions of dollars during an affordability crisis, a foreign policy guided only by his own derelict sense of morality, and the deployment of a murderous campaign of occupation, detention, and deportation on American streets.
Now an undeclared, unauthorized, unpopular, and unconstitutional war of aggression against Iran has spread like wildfire through the region and into Europe. A new “forever war”—with an ever-increasing likelihood of American troops on the ground—may very well be upon us.
As we’ve seen over and over, this administration uses lies, misdirection, and attempts to flood the zone to justify its abuses of power at home and abroad. Just as Trump, Marco Rubio, and Pete Hegseth offer erratic and contradictory rationales for the attacks on Iran, the administration is also spreading the lie that the upcoming midterm elections are under threat from noncitizens on voter rolls. When these lies go unchecked, they become the basis for further authoritarian encroachment and war.
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