By Hal Brown
Preface
On Monday I wrote a diary saying that I was sick of seeing Trump’s picture used to illustrate so many articles.
Yesterday I wrote an actual story about Donald Trump and in keeping with my previous pledge not to subject readers to pictures of Trump I put a paper bag over his head.
Nightmares
When I was a child I used to look through the volumes of our Encyclopedia Brittanica at random reading articles that piqued my interest. I came across the entry on medieval torture devices which had several illustrations. This is their current online article. It has the photo I used above. One of them literally gave me nightmares. It was the Iron Maiden. Of all the devices that scared me the most the thought of being locked inside was the worst.
I thought I could use the top of the device to hide Trump’s face for this story. It turned out it wasn’t particularly difficult to make the image so I made the illustration. Then at 2:00 AM after I wrote this I realized that someone might report this to Daily Kos as violating the rule against posting anything suggesting violence towards anybody so I took it down and replaced it.
I suppose the notion of being crushed alive held a special terror for me since the only other nightmare I had several times as a child came from one scene in the lushly photographed movie which won the Oscar for best cinematography, King Solomon’s Mines (the 1950 version — there have been five versions). This one starred Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger. My parents obviously thought it would be a suitable adventure movie for a six year old to see. Unfortunately even though it was an amazing adventure movie it featured a realistic animal stampede which ended very badly.
(Click to enlarge image)
The scene that was imbedded in my mind and caused nightmares was the where one of the natives had his head crushed by an elephant. I am not sure if my memory embellished what was actually shown onscreen but I recalled and dreamed it as extremely graphic and gory. I can remember how red that Technicolor blood appeared.
What does this have to do with Donald J. Trump? I think it is that of the many ways the era of Trump has been described one of them it that it’s been like a nightmare you can’t wake up from.
News like this doesn’t help me sleep better: 'Unhinged, lame-duck president wants to start a war': Warnings as Trump blames Iran for rocket attack.
Like all of us who also feel trapped in the Trump nightmare I can’t wait to spend January 20th watching Joe Biden and Kamala Harris being inaugurated. Finally I will shake off the four year nightmare.
I don’t think this illustration breaks any Daily Kos rules.
The Poll
Sharp eyes may notice that this was posted at 3:30 AM Pacific time. I have often awakened in the wee hours worrying about Trump. Sometimes this is when I get the idea for a story. When this happens I put it together in my mind and realize I’ll never get back to sleep unless I get up and write it. Trump has effected all of us in negative ways. It’s impossible to separate the stress caused by Trump and the stress caused by Covid. Here’s a list from Mayo Clinic of what stress can do to people.
Emotional symptoms of stress include:
- Becoming easily agitated, frustrated, and moody
- Feeling overwhelmed, like you are losing control or need to take control
- Having difficulty relaxing and quieting your mind
- Feeling bad about yourself (low self-esteem), lonely, worthless, and depressed
- Avoiding others
Physical symptoms of stress include:
Cognitive symptoms of stress include:
- Constant worrying
- Racing thoughts
- Forgetfulness and disorganization
- Inability to focus
- Poor judgment
- Being pessimistic or seeing only the negative side
Behavioral symptoms of stress include:
- Changes in appetite -- either not eating or eating too much
- Procrastinating and avoiding responsibilities
- Increased use of alcohol, drugs, or cigarettes
- Exhibiting more nervous behaviors, such as nail biting, fidgeting, and pacing
Note: Some of you may have seen my story about the remote chance Trump would pardon the Black Lives Matter killer cops. It was only online for about 20 minutes. The first commenter reminded me that all or most of these cops would be guilty or charged with of the state crimes of murder or manslaughter so Trump couldn’t pardon them. I unpublished that story. The mere fact that I even thought he might do this shows what a nightmare I am caught in.