Skepticism of those who rule over us is embedded in human nature. Though the folk tale of the Emperor’s New Clothes is attributed to Hans Christian Andersen, its origin traces way back into antiquity -- perhaps even beyond Aesop.

Until he assumed the presidency, Pres. Trump only had authority over those under his employ… and he, of course, had to pay them for the privilege. We serfs of the modern mega-state are compelled to pay the government just so it can constrain our personal freedom -- and perhaps even do some useful things such as occasionally fill a pothole or “appear” to defend our national sovereignty.

Trump’s presidency represents either a significant turning point or just an exception to the prevailing status quo. For it to be a turning point he would have to have a successor of very similar inclination. Several in a row would be even better, since doing the damage that was done to our world on behalf of his predecessors (Obama, Biden-Harris etc.) was a much easier task than it is for the damage to be repaired.

Moving down the political food chain, local corruption and incompetence is the real elephant in the room. National issues get the most attention because we’re all in the same boat… but the collapse of our urban environment is where the bulk of the damage is really being done. Can you say, “crime and squalor”? Recently a spate of mayoral and prosecutorial recalls along with failures of others to get re-elected has rattled the cages of many hack politicians. But who is there to step in and straighten things out?

Here in Oakland, we dumped an obviously corrupt mayor early in her first term… only to replace her with a blatant commie. By a series of rigged elections, Barbara Lee assumed “Red” Ron Dellums’ congressional seat back when he retired in the middle of his term so he could become mayor. At that time, Lee was described as the head of Dellums’ field office in Havana… but that record has been expunged. There is still substantial evidence of Lee’s affinity for the Castro brothers.

Back in the olden days, corrupt urban machine politicians at least made sure the trains ran on time, just so they could keep the voters sufficiently satisfied. Nowadays, the corruption has been even further enhanced by ideology. Festering conspicuous vagrancy (a.k.a. homelessness) is more than just tolerated… it is being enabled because the naked local tyrants have long been telling themselves and us that rapacious capitalism is the real cause of this problem. The same goes for rampant crime.

Back to Donald Trump: He is nowhere near being corrupted by ideology -- he hardly has any to begin with. He’s nothing more than an experienced executive with a reasonable amount of talent for being a problem solver. The same qualities would also benefit his successor(s) as well as local pols interested in making their cities a lot more livable for ordinary citizens.

What’s in the way of all this? The naked tyrants have taken over most forms of education. Not just grade schools but colleges and universities as well. Still the survivalist underpinnings of human nature call into question the ideology that is pushing the decline of the human environment. Several, at best, mythical dogmas dictate the agenda for the naked tyrants -- and the rest of us just get to witness their malfeasance.

For starters is racism. Come on… the Civil War is over. America is what it is: mingled ethnic groups, religious diversity with mutual tolerance. Pandering to pseudo-victimhood only goes so far, especially when it isn’t real.

Next up is the big kahuna, Climate Change. We just had catastrophic floods in Texas… and before white could fall on rice the naked tyrants tried to blame Trump’s DOGE, and when that failed because FEMA had more than the usual boots on the ground in Texas, they started blaming climate change…without any supporting evidence. Who cares? It’s for a good cause. Right?

We have settled into two opposing constituent groups: the MAGA group whose motto is "results matter" and the useful idiots who like to enjoy the soothing balm of pleasant sounds such as the utterances of “compassion” gurgling up from the bowels of the fetid swamp. To the useful idiots, results mean nothing… just the aura of compassion. Being lulled into rhapsodic slumber by soothing signals of virtue, they easily notice how nice the emperor looks in his new clothes.

Image: Georges DeLaw