We Walk Headfirst Into Flames

We walk headfirst into flames, and I don't even see the people engulfed bother themselves with screaming. They simply smile with a red hat on, and only when it is too late do they regret their actions, and even some don't even do that as their bodies remain a charred husk to be dragged away by the sycophants of an orange dictator.

"Must not have been a real supporter," as alarm bells echoed beyond vallies, yet it mattered not, for the sycophants cut their ears off years ago to maintain their blind devotion to the Orange Man.

There I stood peering at a giant screen, faded and covered in stains, audio caked with interference as the splendor of the Orange Man had faded with every broadcast. Yet I remembered what he had said and what was repeated and touted, torches lit in his name, bretheren treated as common refuse, to not be trusted any longer, and the sycophants chided and jeered at my brothers around me.

"When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people." June 16th, 2015 campaign announcement.

"You also had people that were very fine people, on both sides," which was said in response during the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white supremacists and court protestors clashed.

"He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured." in reference to his own alliance, the Republican Party to John McCain, July 18th, 2015.

"Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?" in reference to Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries on July 11th, 2018.

“Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” response that spread Islamophobia and discrimination after these statements were uttered on December 7th, 2015.

“Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came?" On July 14th, 2019, targeting four democratic congresswomen of color over a tweet.

"I'de like to punch him in the face." at a rally in Iowa to a protestor.
"If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you?" in February 1st, 2016.

"Send her back." towards representative Ilhan Omar, July 17th, 2019. 

The chants continued, the sycophants cheered, and they each cut each other's ears off and opened their mouths wide to chant his name, screaming digitally and vocally for all to hear.

And then, as all hope faded, he lost. The sycophants, pearly eyes covered in tears, took to their clubs, pitchforks, and guns, storming The Capitol the day the transfer of power was to be enacted to an old sensible man with beliefs that any would find sensible in a sensible world. Yet, to the sensible and even the sycophants, this was not a sensible world anymore.

"The election was rigged!" they said.
"The justice department is rigged!" they said.
"The FBI is rigged!" they said.
"The courts are rigged!" they said.
"The media is rigged!" they said.

It was all rigged; even the judges he appointed were rigged to the sycophants to the Orange Man, yet the sensible considered the positions and reviewed evidence for widespread fraud across many states and districts, empty-handed of the evidence they said they would find. Yet it mattered not. For the sycophants cut off their ears and only spoke louder.

There they were along the Capitol building; they screamed the names of politicians: "Where's Nancy?" and "Hang Mike Pence!"

"Fight like hell," said the Orange Man to the angry crowd. He sent out information to his vice president: "Do not certify this election." He told them, and his vice president said no, and there they were storming the Capitol, all because they cut their ears off and would not hear the truth. But it mattered not, for they had Orange Man behind them, and he would never steer them the wrong way as they tread into flame, would they?

The Orange Man, who had long since left the conflagration at the foot of the Capitol, was quietly watching TV from the White House. It was only hours after heavy pressuring from his own staff that he begrudgingly said over video, “I know your pain. I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don’t want anybody hurt.” 

Though it was already too late, for their ears were cut off. It required the slow deployment of law enforcement and the national guard. The mayor declared a 6 p.m. curfew for arrest, the leaders spoke high and wide to stop the violence, and then and only then did the rioters eventually disperse. This left the once beautiful United States scarred in its democratic process for years to come.

"It could never happen here," spoke my parents, from Chile, who knew what coup d'etats looked like from memory. "We have too many checks and balances of power to prevent this from happening," they said. He refused a peaceful transfer of power, but it mattered not, for the sycophants have cut their ears off as they walk into flames blindly smiling with a red hat on.

The sycophants were included among the others under the sole condition. An unconditional demand for loyalty, and they handed a dagger to each one and stitches to close the wounds shut where their ears were. The Orange Man revered himself as the only one capable of saving our beloved country.

"I will be a dictator for one day," he said. But why would that matter? Their ears were cut off long ago. They would not listen to reason. They walk into flames covered and even request gasoline to cover their bodies to be even more splendorous in their doom.

He vilified his opponents, he spread misinformation and blatantly false statements, and he reinforced his image of a strong leader. He gave his "America first" rhetoric, calling those who were also citizens rapists and criminals. It mattered not to the sycophants. Their ears were cut off long ago.

He scapegoated the minority, often marginalized group that amassed no more than 2% of the total population. By stoking the flames of xenophobia, they could play into the natural fears of others. There were those on his side who refused to cut off their ears to the truth. The sycophants angrily shoved the knife in their hand, demanding they cut their ears off to the truth, and they tossed it in the trash.

"Must not have been a real supporter. RINO! RINO!" They chanted and jeered, teeth bared and ears cut off.

"The press is the enemy of the people," said the Orange Man, screaming at journalists and media covering him. "FAKE NEWS!" he yelled, and the sycophants screamed in unison, and the media cowered and feared, only doing their jobs as they have been doing for over 100 years. They thought they could not trust the media, who had a vested interest in preserving their reputation by speaking the truth. "Biased source!" they shouted, and those without ears replaced their media with those that had no journalistic integrity, often going to social media websites for their "facts" instead, effectively replacing something that sometimes lied with something that had no barrier to lying at all.

"The nationalization of our masses will succeed only when, aside from all the positive struggle for the soul of our people, their international poisoners are exterminated." Mein Kampf— Adolf Hitler.

"We have people coming into the country or are trying to come in—we're stopping a lot of them—but we're taking people out of the country. You wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't people. They are animals." Orange Man, 2018, in reference to certain immigrants.

"The stronger must dominate and not blend with the weaker, thus sacrificing his own greatness," wrote Hitler angrily.

"When the looting starts, the shooting starts," referring to the protestors during the George Floyd unrest.

There it was, straight from one of the most damaging leaders in history, arguing his xenophobia similar to the Orange Man, but yet, the sycophants cut their ears off years ago and would not hear the truth as they walked themselves into the flame, skin coated in gasoline. They spoke with their populism, their nationalism, and their xenophobia; they frame themselves as defenders of the nation against external and internal threats; they use their racially charged and inflammatory language; and they always target others as the demons of their world.

Yet the sycophants did not care, for they cut their ears off long ago, walking into flames with a red hat. Then there is myself, who turned away the knife to cut off my ears as a purveyor of truth. One who looks at facts and argues what is empirically verified, being asked a completely insane question of "who should I vote for?" Well, as for me, as one who did not cut his own ears off: I think you know the answer.

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Author's Note: My name is 1stAmender and I run a youtube channel which can be found here: https://youtube.com/@1stAmender
I am a progressive Youtuber and debater that argues in favor of progressive politics. If you like what I do, consider subscribing!