A day of infamy in Washington

The old world perishes and with it dies the American Idea.

Once again, I am very grateful to you for reading The Debatable Land, more grateful still to those of you who have shared posts here with other people, and especially grateful to everyone who has upgraded to a paid subscription.

They were vindictive people, Donald and JD - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together. They enjoyed watching the spectacle unfold as others did whatever they could to come to terms with this strange new reality they had created. We are the masters, they crowed, relishing the pain they inflicted on smaller people whose affairs mattered little and whose anguish only confirmed that Donald, and his supporting picador, were correct all along. Can you hear the squealing? How sweet it is, how very sweet indeed.

With apologi…