Lost in the Madness of the Land of the Trump Beast

When I was a boy no book made more of an impression on me than did William Golding's Lord of the Flies.

And no scene was more horrifying than the one when the gentle Simon comes across the Lord of the Flies himself, a pig's head on a stake.

And as the other boys rampage across the island, with their sharpened spears and painted faces, is made to understand that we are The Beast.

Shortly before he is murdered.

So welcome to my nightmare.



Or welcome to the madness of the Land of the Trump Beast.

Where even as the traumatized teenage survivors of the Parkland school massacre board buses, to go and lobby legislators to work for gun control.



The right-wing hate machine accuses them of being pawns trying to exploit a tragedy. 

In these baseless accounts, which by Tuesday had spread rapidly on social media, the students are described as “crisis actors,” who travel to the sites of shootings to instigate fury against guns. Or they are called F.B.I. plants, defending the bureau for its failure to catch the shooter. They have been portrayed as puppets being coached and manipulated by the Democratic Party, gun control activists, the so-called antifa movement and the left-wing billionaire George Soros. 

Or of being too young to know what they are doing.



And the alt-Right Cons dance around the bonfire like the born again savages in Lord of the Flies. 



Even as the students prepare to bury their dead.



Or remember their fallen heroes.



Like Aaron Feis, who sacrificed his life so others might live.

One of the first victims identified among the 17 people killed was Aaron Feis, an assistant football coach and security guard. Feis was shot after reportedly throwing himself in front of students during the rampage.

Or 15-year-old Peter Wang who was killed helping others to escape.



But did have his dream of making it to West Point come true anyway. 

And when I think of him and all the others who died, and I think of how the right-wing hate machine is going after the survivors.

Or how their poison is leaking across the border...



As the depraved Cons, and other toxic Trudeau haters, threaten to destroy everything  good and decent about this country.

It's hard not to feel first angry, and then depressed.

But then I remember how when I was a young teenager, I too came face to face with the Lord of the Flies...



And I had to decide whether to fight the bullies or flee for my life.

I chose to fight, and I am absolutely confident that the young people of America will do the same.

This will be the beginning of something big...



The madness of The Beast cannot continue. 

A new generation is rising to destroy the Cons.

They will be destroyed.

And we will change the world...