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We are in the audience of the most disturbing blood and gore horror movie ever made.

First up has been the imprecise rough cuts to long-standing NGOs (USAID), Arts and Culture programs, the federal workforce, and countless others.

A primitive chainsaw was used. The world was mesmerized by Elon Musk who wore his signature tee shirt and MAGA hat to stage mayhem.

More bad theater.

No one is being spared. The blood of farmers is pouring out into the heartland.

Next, and most dramatically, a poisoned dagger was passed around to “kill” the ambitions of peace sought by Ukrainian President, Zelensky last week in the White House Oval Office, when his character was unceremoniously assassinated-on live television by the US president, vice president,

their silent partner in the crime Marco Rubio, amidst the chorus of the “appropriately” dressed mob of Cabinet members, some lesser officials, and the media!

This tragedy was acted out with brutal cruelty, and authoritarian gestures.

The consequences are still unfolding. After more than 80 years of mutual support amongst western democracies, we are living in a dystopian new world order. Our European alliances have been recalibrated; our former allies are taking a position to ease America out of their efforts to protect themselves from Russia’s aggression and tyranny.

At home, DOGE continues to slice and dice its way through governmental institutions, stoking outsized and well founded fears about the fates of Medicare, Social Security, and other safety-net programs.

I have a theory about why all this is happening, and at such break-neck speed. It might sound bizarre, but I believe that DOGE is being used to threaten and inflict universal pain which might then drive us all toward a universal feeling of disdain for Musk, thus, bringing the country together, again.

So, focused, we might be tempted to look away from the real, quiet villains behind the curtain.

Sounds absurd, right? Except, much like during the great depression, or the unified responses after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the unanimous outcry after the assault on the Twin Towers, the

American people have been known to rally around a common enemy: this time, DOGE and Musk.

So, contrary to popular punditry, instead of being torn apart, the country is being forced to commiserate together: unity in misery, as my theory goes.

And, what’s the point of taking the chainsaw against the highest policing and military agencies?

I say, that once completed, Americans will fall in line under the new law and order sheriffs (FBI Director Kash Patel, US Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth) who have been licensed to take over any/all wayward persons: first illegal criminal aliens, followed by other aliens under cloudy status, e.g., nearly 500,000 Haitians are under threat of deportation, followed by our own criminal element.

It is twisted logic I know, but then again, how else to make any sense of what is happening?

It’s a strategy of misdirection, distraction, and manipulation. It is a brilliant, odious strategy: Stoke fear amongst the general populace and keep everyone guessing if they will be next.

Promises made. Promises kept.

But gnashing of teeth, pearl clutching, and hair pulling are of no avail.

The Democratic party is regrouping over how to “win” again. Republicans are gloating over their complete control over the three branches of government. While the bureaucracy is being obliterated, constitutional scholars are twisting themselves in knots in arguments that may take a century to resolve.

And, Black folk are being asked to help put the country back together: to strengthen our coalitions with historical alignments: the Jews, being at once pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian, the Hispanics/Latinx, the working class whites, with labor unions, etc., yet, we are also cautioned about letting more of our blood be spilled onto the proverbial field of dreams.

We understand that our collective power, our economic, political, and cultural capital, are prime bargaining chips in the battle for maintaining civility and democratic ideals. But we must use our leverage at each turn, as we have done before: financial boycotts, block voting, refusal to “perform” or entertain without fair returns, recognition, and ownership across all sectors of commerce and society.

Stop waiting for the invitations and learn to build our own tables. How?

Start/support Black news media outlets, own more sports franchises, increase holdings in retail operations (online and box stores), pledge to “buy Black," become patrons of Black art, dance, theater, visual artists, and more.

Teach our children the truth. Toniwg1@gmail.com