The Crack of Dawn #798

10/15/2025

10/15/2025

Newsletter #798

The Crack of Dawn

I will be attending the No Kings protest this Saturday, October 18. I attended the other one in June. In the intervening three months between these protests, the Trump regime has attacked democracy and disregarded the constitution more than all of the previous presidents combined. I feel certain that Trump’s intention is to stop or disrupt the midterm election, one year hence. He would love to stop mail-in ballots, confiscate all of the crooked voting machines, and have a ballot with only his name on it. In lieu of that, come election day Trump will invoke the Insurrection Act, proclaim there are riots in Portland, L.A., Washington, D.C., or wherever, send in the military and stop the election.

I hope I’m wrong. But my sense as a dramatist who studies people’s motivations is that power is the point. I’m constantly hearing that money is the point, but it isn’t. Money is a stepping stool to power. Right now, Donald Trump controls all three branches of government: executive, congressional, and judicial (with the Supreme Court in his pocket). He has absolute power.

As has been said, Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Donald Trump cannot lose his present absolute power, and he will do anything within his short-sighted means to keep it. Should the Republicans lose the midterms, as they very well might, Trump would ergo lose his absolute power. He can’t let that happen.

In any case, I’ve now heard the smirking Speaker of the House, Maga Mike Johnson, state that the upcoming No Kings protest is actually a “Hate America” rally funded by George Soros—a ninety-five-year-old Hungarian Jewish billionaire who has given away most of his money. So right there, Johnson’s comment smacks of Antisemitism. He went on to say that everyone who attends the protest is a radical liberal, Antifa, Hamas-loving terrorist who ought to be arrested. Therefore, as per the Speaker of the House of Representatives, I am potentially liable to be arrested for attending the No Kings protest this Saturday? Really?

Approximately five million people attended the last No Kings protest. It was entirely peaceful, good-natured, upbeat, and patriotic (I waved a little American flag, as did many others). The local cops were as nice as could be. I expect that it will be the same this time, but bigger—lefties are, for the most part, friendly upbeat people. However, in the intervening three months between these protests, I think sentiments have changed. I think there are a lot more disaffected citizens. I think there are quite a few disappointed Republicans thinking, “I’m getting screwed. I didn’t vote for this.”

Should the National Guard show up; that’s a horse of a different color.

On a brighter note, the songwriting and recording is going great. We’ve got ten songs recorded, and more coming. I absolutely love writing lyrics. I’ve got way more lyrics than will ever be needed, and I keep cranking them out. Here’s one I really like that’s as long as American Pie. It’s a Zen anthem.

Just a song before I go . . .

Be Here Now

The point of life
Got lost somehow
It’s not to be amused
It’s to be here now

In the ancient past
Was a thing called patience
When people congregated
They had conversations

People expressed opinions
Ideas were exchanged
They were good, bad, happy or sad
But times have changed

Now people sit silently
Absorbed in their phones
Though they sit together
They’re actually alone

Some people live in the future
Some people live in the past
There’s no going slowly
Everything goes fast

The past has passed
The future’s unknown
The secret of happiness
Lay not in your phone

Life occurs in the present
Most don’t know how
It’s not all that difficult
Be here now

Why know anything
If it’s all in your hand
If you don’t know anything
What’s to understand

Critical thought is gone
It vanished in the air
If you don’t know anything
What’s there to compare

Everyone’s got ADD
Not a thought in their head
When asked a question
Their eyes go dead

With buds in our ears
And cells in our eyes
We’ve all become zombies
More dead than alive

The good old days
Have long since passed
We dream of the future
We’re stuck in the past

The point of life
Got lost somehow
It’s not to be amused
It’s to be here now