19 January 2020 | Much Worse Than You Think

This is a country not only in decline, but staggering towards failure: the active shitter in the White House has merely exposed the craven hollowness of these federal agencies and institutions we were all told were full of wonderful, bipartisan men and women who are doing the quiet work of “defending the Republic,” only to see what a sick farce that’s turned out to be.

Couple that with the maddening learned helplessness of the public (“Oh, whatever shall we do? Why hasn’t Mueller/Pelosi/Whoever saved us yet?”), a compromised judiciary, out of control and openly bigoted law enforcement personnel and a military having its war criminals feted, well, a well-worn phrase like “banana republic” almost looks like a compliment.