There is something in the human soul that finds destruction on a massive scale ‘beautiful’. The dreadful draw of a tornado, a hurricane- humans are drawn to the spectacle like moths to a flame. Sure, the scene may be horrifying, and tragic- but at some level we find it undeniably beautiful, and magnificent.

Take for example the image of a nuclear explosion. It is emblematic of everything wrong with the human race, it is pure evil from its conception through to its execution- it was created with one goal in mind: the indiscriminate annihilation of countless human lives- but despite that, or perhaps because of that, we cannot look away. Countless people spent countless hours to conceive and create something evil, something they knew was dangerous, something that could annihilate everything they valued. Countless dollars that could have spent for good, were instead wasted on this evil- yet watching it self-destruct is awe inspiring, and magnificently beautiful.

The events of the past week are no different, we are watching the result of decades of effort burst into the world in a bloated orange fireball that annihilates itself and everything around it. Countless politicians, pundits, and useful idiots spent their lives creating the GOP that exists now.

First they convinced the faithful that all we had to do was allow the wealthy and the corporations to be free of any restrictions, or obligations. That by giving them free reign immense wealth would follow, and it would trickle down on everyone.

When the divide between the wealthy and the rest of us only widened as a result of the non-existent trickle-down they promised, they simply convinced their remaining middle class followers that the fault lay with the poor, with the immigrants.

When THAT lie became old, and the corruption of the corporate interests became impossible to deny, they worked on whipping up fear and conspiracy theories. They crafted a fantasy world because only in a fictional world could their policies and actions be justified: Our President is really a foreign born secret muslim agent. The democrats want to steal your guns and leave you powerless against the terrorist immigrant hordes. The president is working with the terrorists. The muslim president is also a secretly gay heroin addict. Global warming is a hoax designed to cripple America. And on and on…

The problem with fiction is that in a wild fiction even the most insane plot line is possible. When you convince people to swallow bullshit, there is no guarantee they will only swallow the bullshit YOU want them to.

And so now we have Trump- a ‘man’ that is a fiction unto himself. He speaks only lies, and his followers know it- they understand it is a fiction, but it is a fiction that makes them feel good. The GOP establishment is helpless, because they only have the old fiction to offer, and people have grown tired of it. If you have already abandoned your intellect to buy the fiction the GOP sold you, why not buy another when a more pleasing fiction comes around?

Except now we are seeing the problem that comes from buying from the lowest bidder. The fiction they bought is unraveling- They signed on for a rousing lighthearted adventure that would end with making America great again, but what they got was a dystopian nightmare where everyone they trusted in before is their enemy and their only guide is an increasingly erratic madman that seems intent on self destruction.
But they cannot afford buyer’s remorse- because that would mean leaving the comfort of fiction and acknowledging the reality… the fact that they let themselves be fooled.
So if Trump loses, and they look like fools, what will the deluded mob do? They are delusion junkies, they need a new fiction- and so they will write their own… and it will be an ugly fiction indeed.
“The election wasn’t lost, it was stolen”
“The entire system is stacked against true patriots such as themselves”
“It is time for second amendment remedies… THIS justifies us using whatever means necessary”
“We are forced to use our guns before they are taken from us”

The GOP as it was is likely dead, vaporized by the horror they helped to create… There is a magnificent absurd beauty in this spectacular meltdown. The question now is: “Will the rest of us survive the fallout unscathed?”