As we approach the 250th anniversary of American independence, I took three photos that explain what this country is like right now.
Lincoln’s Fight Club
Bedecked with ads for crypto scams and monster trucks, the Lincoln Memorial looks like a scene from Idiocracy. If a time traveler from 2016 arrived and saw this, they would assume that something had gone terribly wrong. They would be right. America elected Donald Trump.
The federal government cannot endorse products. Nor can it accept ads. Yet, it has done both at the Lincoln Memorial, as it turns over this sacred temple to a blood sport.
The law no longer exists in America. Well, it exists for you and me, but if you’re an oligarch, you can do as you please.
Congress, supposedly a co-equal branch of government, refuses to intervene, afraid that a Trump mob will sack the Capitol again.
The only resistance comes from ordinary people, who sue in court, taking on an illegal administration and their dangerous followers. They are braver than any of our so-called leaders.
National Guard Doing Nothing
The National Guard is still here, supposedly to keep DC residents and visitors safe from crime.
The cost of these walking patrols is immense: more than $1 million a day just to have squads of men and women in camo stroll around the National Mall.
They stay in a boutique hotel downtown. I see them all the time in my Logan Circle neighborhood, in front of the Whole Foods, watching shoppers emerge with arugula at 10 AM on a Wednesday morning.
I see them on the Metro, too, but only in the DC stations, but not in MD or VA, as if crime magically stops when it crosses an invisible border. They’re useless here, too. I watched a woman slip through the faregate without paying; the Guard were busy on their phones and didn’t notice.
We could’ve used their help over the winter, when DC was hit with a massive snowstorm. Nope, they just walked around and watched as the city dug itself out.
Maybe not totally useless; they have been busy brutalizing DC residents (especially teens) after dark. One unit stole a couple of DC flags and displayed them as war trophies.
I wonder about their true purpose. If ordered by Trump, will they shoot Americans?
A Lone Protester
A friend of mine who lives abroad asked why Americans are so quiescent? Why aren’t they in the streets setting fire to things?
It’s dangerous to protest. Get your face on social media and you could be doxxed by chuds or investigated by a three-letter agency.
Also, because we’re optimists. Raised on an idealized version of this country, we just assume that things will work because of our system of checks and balances. The MAGA cult cannot last because it is innately un-American to worship one man as a king.
Lost in our own information bubbles (wizardry employed by the oligarchs to distract), it is hard to pierce that illusion.
Rising gas prices will do it. AI slop and breezy Fox News assurances cannot distract people from $4 or $5 gallon gas. Americans may not know who represents them in Congress but they can tell you how much their last fill-up cost.
The Lincoln Memorial turned into a fight club. The National Guard on a mission unknown. A lone protester.
Three photos that sum up the nation’s capital as we approach the 250th anniversary of this great (and possibly doomed) experiment.
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