Tuesday October 15, 2024; 12:22 PM EDT
- During the years when the living models were Stalin, Mussolini, and Hitler, W. H. Auden made this six-line character sketch of tyranny:#
- Epitaph on a Tyrant
Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,
And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
He knew human folly like the back of his hand,
And was great interested in armies and fleets.
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets.#
- Think about line 5. So-called respectable senators are already treating Trump that way, laughing when he laughs, lying when he is marketing his latest lie, jumping when he says jump. Elected officials who behave that way will not protect the country, the people of their home districts, the Constitution, or any number of decent values. Risk of tyranny? We're already there.#
- Think about line 2. The simplifications, the slogans, the lies, the ranting, the emotional outbursts -- yes, these are easy to understand and they work up a crowd, and when one crowd responds to a manipulative line he hits that line harder in the next town, working people up to more and more of a pitch of emotion. That's dangerous, and in an era when elected officials from his party jump when he says jump, and when journalists can't figure out how to call him out for his excesses, or don't care to, it's particularly dangerous. Risk of tyranny? We're already there.#
- Think about line 3. He knows all about vanity and greed and fear, he knows all the buttons that can be pushed to bring out the worst in people. He has no self-control, and so he uses that knowledge freely and selfishly. We know this very well by now -- risk of tyranny? We're already there.#
- Think about line 1. He wants a tidy world, cleaned up after a model that appeals to his vanity and fear and greed. He's not interested in politics of the kind that involves listening to others or compromise. He wants victory and power, neat and clean. Will it require the national guard or the army coming out? Maybe so, and he's talking that way now. Risk of tyranny? We're already there.#
- Think about line 4. He's running for the office of President, where he would direct the world's most potent military. He loves power no matter how corrupt it might be. He's keenly interested. Risk of tyranny? We're already there.#
- And the consequences? Auden had one line left in his six-line poem. Think of line 6. The consequences include but are not limited to the death of the most vulnerable. Risk of tyranny? For sure? Stakes? Everything. We're already there.#
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- Auden's poem was published in 1940, in a book called Another Time.#