Brethren, this Ain’t Our Fight, POTUS — And Other Midlife Musings

You know that moment when you see something so ridiculous, so absurd, that you have to pause and wonder if you’ve finally crossed the line from peri-menopausal brain fog into full-blown hallucination? That was me the other day — staring at old clips of Trump in court, looking like a malfunctioning Sims character whose user left the game running too long. Then I realised that episode, though early last year now seems like it happened decades ago.

Trump isn’t in his regular 46th president of the United states era — oh no no no!! he’s in his Champagne-for-the-oligarchs, foot-on-the-neck-for-everyone-else era. The kind of era where the only currency that matters is loyalty pledges, and the vibe is less awkward has-been and more aspiring overlord who’s tired of pretending democracy was ever the point. Dude is openly selling US citizenships for mullahhhh!! Wonders shall never end… Is THIS America or Nigeria? LOLLLLLLZZZZ…

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It’s giving “openly auditioning for permanent power”, like a washed-up 90’s Popstar demanding a Vegas residency,... .except the residency is the entire country. 

And the terrifying part? There’s an audience for it — a whole stadium of people chanting, ready to buy the MAGA merch, and absolutely unfazed by the fact the whole thing smells a lot like racism, elitism and fascism.

The Ted Turner CNN Breaking News era trained us GEN XERS well. We grew up watching the greatest hits of collapsing regimes, complete with fire-sale economics, frantic late-night deals, and the final helicopter dash to some villa in a country with no extradition treaties. Dictators left to ride out in the sunset like the hero In old western movies.

But Trump? When his time comes… HE WON’T be packing a go-bag. This man has no plans to go gently into that Mar-a-Lago night. We have seen this before , as with most dictators, they stay in power for however long they feels like, because why bother with rules when you can just rewrite them mid-game? Any great African dictator who knows their worth will tell you he is one of them.

This Trump-ian era, he’s brought the full circus:  a gang of uneducated, scared and conspiracy-pilled senators  and an entourage that looks like the cast of the apprentice rejected for being too unhinged.

The plan? Burn the whole damn house down — and charge admission for the bonfire.

Because in the so-called land of the free, turns out there’s nothing people love more than a white man in a bad suit, promising to make everything 'great' again while actively setting it on fire.

What a time to be alive — or at least, whatever this is we’re all doing.

Hmmmmm….This Ain’t Our Fight

There’s a specific type of secondhand embarrassment that makes you physically recoil — the kind where you instinctively mute the video because the cringe is just too loud. That’s exactly how I felt watching Trump and his band of uglies, small-boy’d President Zelensky.

The sheer disrespect.

They treated him like the help — all awkward grins and desperate attempts to stay composed while Trump and his cronies made it painfully clear that Ukraine wasn’t an ally, but some 2nd class beggar. They are strong handling the dude to give away their natural resources…. No matter if there is a legitimate deal between the US and Ukraine, the latter party will come out in deficit.

For all the cringe, something about it felt oddly familiar — like a rerun of a show I’d been forced to watch my whole life.

Because for anyone raised with even a passing awareness of African geopolitics, this was textbook.

The patronising tone.

The performative photo ops.

The condescending body language that said, “We own you now.”The whole thing had the distinct scent of post-colonial nonsense, the kind usually reserved for African or African Diaspora leaders invited to Western capitals to beg for aid while stealing all our minerals and resources being treated like they snuck in through the back door.

I felt sorry for him.

It was so bad, I had to shake my head, and whisper to the screen, “Damn, Zelensky — I am so sorry. No one, especially you — a battle-worn president literally fighting for your country’s survival — should have to endure this level of public hazing.”

Because that’s exactly what it was — less a diplomatic meeting and more a frat party gone wrong like in the movies.Trump as the pledge master and a gang of badly dressed nincompoops in ill-fitting suits snickering behind him, and poor Zelensky forced to stand there, and take all that s**t.

It was the kind of performance that reeks of insecurity and Ignorance with a loud, lumbering exercise in power dynamics where the goal wasn’t diplomacy — it was humiliation.

Which brings me to the larger point that’s been s