After a lot of Derby fun and a lot of Derby Week rain, the sunshine is back. I wish I could say the same for US politics, as the US political weather report continues to be apocalyptic. A hellscape. Where to begin?

Rather than simply repost or link to a bundle of bad news, there’s a theme for today’s essay – I’ll call it the Mad King Donny “oppugnant strategy”. At times it seems that chaos is MKD’s only strategy, but another pattern emerges if you look closely. Oppugnant means “hostile, opposing, and antagonistic”. Donny and his minions have been systematically placing oppugnant people in positions of power. Here are some examples:

• JFK Jr., a weird health science skeptic and denier, is now the US Department of Health leader
• Pam Bondi, a lawyer who has made it clear that she has no respect for the law unless it benefits Donny, is now the US’s top lawyer
• Sean Duffy, former child actor and Congressperson who voted against support for the auto industry, is now Secretary of Transportation
• Pete Hegseth, Fox News personality who has failed in every small management job he ever held, is now in charge of the world’s largest and most dangerous organization, the US Department of Defense
• Chris Wright, a former oil and gas executive, climate change skeptic and enemy of the EV industry, is now Secretary of Energy
• Linda McMahon, a spectacularly unqualified “wrestling executive” (?) and Trump friend who has vowed to destroy the Department of Education, is now the leader of the Department of Education
• Kash Patel, a conspiracy theorist with zero law enforcement experience who has blamed the FBI for multiple unproven and wild “crimes”, is now the FBI Director – America’s “top cop”
• Kristi Noem, aka “Ice Barbie”, a dead-eyed egotistical dog killer, is now the US Secretary of Homeland Security. She is responsible for border security and air travel security, among other things. An incredibly important job, and she has zero interest or experience in protection. Her interests appear to be punishment and cosplaying.

I could go on. Every MKD appointment is for someone whose background and beliefs are the antithesis of the mission of the organization they are named to lead. Up is down, wrong is right, unqualified gets the job. Oppugnant, in other words.

I find this trend particularly disturbing, as it flies in the face of logic, and logic is my happy place. I like for things to make sense, and this only makes sense if your goal is to tear down the entire government.

I have friends who say that’s a good thing, that the federal government needs to be torn down. They’re right in saying that it’s too large and too expensive, and wildly inefficient in spots. But if you tear it all down, quickly, then what? All the checks and balances, the rules of law and order that everyday people depend on are gone. All the good things that government does for citizens are gone. All you have left is raw power. And MKD and his minions are determined that only the Presidency (soon to be a kingship) will hold that power.

It’s hard to see how we can survive four years of this wanton destruction and still have a functioning democracy. 2024 could easily be the last real democratic election in US history. Something big has to change soon, or…game over.