America has been a nightmare when it has seized upon some notion of destiny which requires land theft, genocide, subjugation or just plain combat. Ask the descendants of the decimated indigenous people of North America. Ask the descendants of the indigenous people of lands now known as Hawaii and Alaska.

And while you are at it ask the people of Vietnam, Iraq, the Caribbean, Latin America and Afghanistan. The global legacy of this country is not without global benefits, but too much of that legacy has involved true tragedy for too many millions of people for centuries.

And now, it would appear that America is turning inward and, not liking what it sees, is now punishing itself in so many ways. Consider the following:

Part I – Trump as Pyromaniac in Chief

Donald Trump has transformed from being the shallow and meaningless scam artist and self-promoting hustler to becoming a danger to this nation and humanity. All because his stint as the worst president in the history of the United States whetted his appetite for adoration and his addiction to domination and humiliation of anyone and everything.

In the whirlwind of his brave new world he has amassed millions who adore him and will follow him lemming like into the abyss. The denizens of MAGA Nation will literally follow him off that cliff, each one of them aspiring to be the next to go.

And now, when multiple indictments and criminal charges are about to rain on him like hail from Hell, Trump is prepared to unleash the demons who worship his cloven footprints. As he prepares to unleash those hounds Trump is revving up his masses – predicting “Death and Destruction” and “The End of America As We Know It” and other portends of doom and gloom if he is indicted for any of the many crimes that he has committed.

Trump predicted “American carnage” during his inauguration speech in 2017. He urged his supporters in 2021 to “fight like hell” in order to overturn the 2020 elections and now he is predicting ‘death and destruction” if he is arrested on criminal charges – charges that he most certainly deserves.

And the truth is that Trump can create a national firestorm that could consume these United States that will be hard, if not impossible to extinguish.

Part II – The United States of Gun Continuing Horror Show

Groundhog Day in America has a ghastly image these days. That is because every few days some deranged individual goes into a school or church or synagogue or supermarket or dance studio and kills as many men, women and children as possible.

And the aftermath is so sadly and pitifully predictable. The parents and children of the slain are mourned with tears that will never stop flowing. Safety advocates keep hoping against hope that each slaughter will be the last one.

And all the while, gun worshipers with their skewed and twisted interpretation of the Second Amendment and their pockets bulging with megadollars from gun manufacturer dollars spew asinine phrases regarding “the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun””.

And while millions of good guys with guns and bad guys with guns has resulted in a national circular firing squad, all of America is at risk at becoming collateral damage -over and over.

Part III – When Parents’ Rights Begin and Where They End

Finally, we have seen the notion of parents’ rights regarding K-12 education take a disturbing turn. We are now seeing that opponents of truth in history contending that if they don’t want their children to learn of the genocide and slavery and land theft that are the foundation of the American narrative, then these parents have the “right” to have their children miseducated in the miasma of unreality and insular ignorance.

And if that “right” is fully exercised we will soon have a nation of men and women more ignorant and more bigoted than what we have at present -and that cannot possibly by a good thing.

Afterall, ignorance sows the seeds of self-destruction in all who partake.