Well, like a lot of the world, I was riveted by the spectacle of last week – 45 firing Comey, and then finally admitting, publicly, on TV,  that he had done so in an attempt to shut down Russiagate. Admitting to an indictable offence of shattering consequence. But that was matched by the equally riveting absence of spectacle as the GOP said, “okeedokee”. BAU.

But, word has come down the pike, not yet verified, that 45’s days are indeed numbered, and that his fall will take Pence and Ryan with him, settling a wounded presidency on the number four guy (Hatch).
We could not, and cannot, turn eyes away, though so much else is concurrently boiling over. The bills being rammed through, effecting not only the US, but also world health, safety, stability, prosperity and justice have also commanded attention, albeit an attention fragmented by the maelstrom of the White House soap opera. Through the din, these also have shattering consequence.  And our world is reeling under theses vicious and indecent assaults on human dignity and welfare

The great unravelling of the US self narrative is, in many places, being claimed as the harbinger of world civilization unravelling, to the extent that the US dominated both economy and culture, and in its death throws will no longer be able to do so. Already, other state actors are hovering to step into the breach. And, while such an implosion is fundamentally terrifying, it is also liberating – in the spaces opened up to imagine alternatives: utopic, dystopic, and diversely different than the status quo. Hope and fear in equal measure.

This is the time when the twin virtues of courage and compassion, in an indivisible combine, must be our lodestar. When Power falls, and shards rain down, we will need to find steady nerves and resources of amity, that the destruction be fertile ground for emergent hope – and not an event horizon calamity.