Day: October 21, 2017

How Did He Know What To Expect?

Fandango2 Comments

When I wrote my earlier post today in response to today’s one-word prompt, I quoted Abraham Lincoln, who famously said, “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

After publishing that post, I remembered something said by Henry Louis (H. L.) Mencken, a prominent newspaperman and political commentator during the first half of the 20th century. His quote, featured in the image at the top of this post, was published in the Baltimore Evening Sun on July 26, 1920.

Well, old H. L. was quite prescient, wasn’t he? It took 96 years, but in 2016 “the plain folks of the land” would elect a moron as their president.

How did he know what to expect?

Oh right, the emails

Fandango6 Comments

Related image

“What did you expect?” Blake asked his co-worker, Aaron.

“I really thought he’d change after the election. You know, become more presidential.”

“Oh, for crissake,” Blake said. “He’s a 71 year old man. He is who he is. He’s nothing but a loud, obnoxious carnival barker. And he’s a conman. Everyone who voted for him fell for his con.”

“But I honestly thought he’d grow into the role,” Aaron responded. “I figured that the things he said and the way he behaved during the campaign was just a bunch of  bravado and that if he won the election, he’d become a serious president, maybe even a great one.”

“A man that age doesn’t ‘grow into the job.’ And that old man, the one who is now the most powerful man on the planet, grows more senile with each passing day. Thanks to people like you, Aaron, who ate up all of  his bullshit, our country is being destroyed from within. It’s like what Abraham Lincoln said. He said, ‘America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.'”

“Yeah, well, Blake, I just couldn’t bring myself to vote for his opponent,” Aaron said. “You know, man. The emails and all.”

“Oh right. The emails.”

Written for today’s one-word prompt, “expect.”