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You are here: Home / Guest Posts / Guest Post: Kakistocracy

Guest Post: Kakistocracy

by John Cole|  January 20, 20211:18 pm| 68 Comments

This post is in: Guest Posts, Open Threads

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Cole is not at home at the moment, so he just wrote and asked me to publish some of the write-ups that came in.  Hopefully whatever he is unexpectedly up to is more like the missing mustard and less like the shattered shoulder.  ~WaterGirl

Paul Wartenberg

Looking Forward

In taking a minute to look back, I have this feeling since November 2016 of just everything in my life getting put on hold because of what happened to put donald trump in the White House. It was like, here’s the universe chugging along, Hillary Clinton certain to get the popular vote, the political landscape mostly in lockdown because the Congressional Republicans were likely to freeze anything Hillary could do, and yet it felt rather normal: Because since 2011 those Republicans had put a hold on Obama’s ability to transform much of America, and yet we still had a more progressive nation with Gay Marriage rights legitimized along with a general sense that the long arc of history bending towards Justice was still bending that way.

And then trump won the Electoral College and that long arc turned into a pretzel.

I still remember two days after the results were pointing to trump’s victory over normalcy, where one of my library co-workers came up to me and said “get familiar with this word ‘kakistocracy’ because it’ll be everything that trump’s misrule will be.” Good thing I was in a library with a dictionary and found the definition: “government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state.” I knew with trump in charge – having witnessed up close some of his atrocities of broken land deals and his destruction of a decent spring football league (BRING BACK BANDITBALL) – we were facing a dark era in our nation’s history, but now I had a word to explain it and a way to define it.

And trump still went beyond the definition of Kakistocracy to create something worse: a hellish almost-dictatorship based on fearmongering against non-Whites, refusing to lead during crises that wrecked our society, and committing domestic and foreign faux pas that can take generations to repair. All of that seemed to sap the will and psyche of nearly every person I knew, myself included.

I am reminded of the Harry Potter series, when it was prophesied that the Dark Lord Voldemort would return, more terrible than before. How Rowling depicted it with Voldemort achieving a political coup with his lackeys seizing control of the Ministry of Magic, by showing the damage done by the racist, ignorant stances that Voldemort imposed on the Wizard community. You might wonder why an author would allow the villain of her series to actually win, even for a book or two, but it makes literary sense: Our heroes – and the readers following them – have to learn just what the hell is at stake for the world they’re trying to save if they fail. You need to show just how bad it could get under the misrule of the Big Bad, so that everyone else would realize the good things they are fighting for.

And with trump as the Big Bad, we saw for four years just how bad it could get under his rule or the rule of anyone who hates and fears as much as he does. We saw what we needed to do once he was out of power, what needs repairing in our nation so that we can become the better angels of our nature in our future.

So to that, we can look forward to a few things (depending of course on what tricks and disasters trump and his cultish followers have planned to disrupt Biden’s arrival as the new President of the United States).

We can look forward to a federal government restocked with employees and leaders who actually care about their jobs, the impact they’ll have on the citizenry, and with a level of competency that ensures things should and will get done.

We can look forward to a return of sensible policy initiatives, towards the economy and towards the environment, that got sidetracked during trump’s misrule. We should see action taken towards better wages, better job security, more employment opportunities, things geared toward growth rather than mere profits going into the pockets of billionaires who don’t need more money. We should see action taken towards renewable energy sources, cutting carbon emissions in ways that can profit us, realigning our energy markets to be more secure and focused on long-term growth rather than short-sighted greed (goodbye, coal companies).

We can look forward to legal reforms, cleaning up the corruption in law enforcement that has been threatening poor ethnic communities for decades, with more accountability for police departments riven by racism and brutality. We can look forward to more resources for social aid to help reduce the stresses put on our communities that have made policing harder for cops.

We can look forward to a focus on education turning away from for-profit greed, away from questionable charter school systems that weakened accountability and failed more families than helped. A renewed focus on education to make sure more Americans are trained and ready for the jobs we need to fill in this decade, well into a 21st Century that needs more tech awareness and skill.

We can look forward to a Biden administration that ought to respond better to crises and manage our nation’s needs. A Biden administration that ought to follow through on a lot of promises the Democrats made – forgiving personal debts like college loans for example, and helping families with housing and employment funds – that would benefit not just the younger generations but ALL Americans struggling to survive both a pandemic and the darkened remnants of trump’s broken dystopia.

We should look forward to a Far Right media that will obviously unleash their rage and fear on a new Democratic world, but a Far Right Noise Machines that’s more in disarray than before as their focal point and spiritual object of adoration (trump) gets kicked from the stage (and towards the nearest courthouses where civil and criminal charges await him). We can look forward to a more self-aware Democratic party that knows they need to fight back now against that noise and to challenge every lie and misdeed the Republicans will unleash to keep their Far Right Narrative going.

We can look forward to another round of Republican gerrymandering and warfare on American voting rights, as their desperation to delay the inevitable demographic shift away from older (dying) conservative voters towards younger (reaching voter age) liberal voters. If there’s anything the Biden administration and the Democratic Congress need to do, it’s fight every bad state map the Republicans are bound to draw up to unfairly favor their own party over the rights of the voters to have genuine choices to vote for. Guaranteeing every American’s right and power to vote should be a major policy push for the Democrats, and breaking the suppressive tactics of the Far Right a must.

We can look forward to two years of heavy spiritual and verbal fighting against the Republicans, twisted by their greed and lust for power. We can look forward to a midterms election that STILL requires massive voter turnout by Democrats to ensure the Republicans never get near federal power for the next ten generations.

Welcome to the eternal struggle, America. We’re fighting for your soul and your safety against the Dark Lords that would rather feed their own greed and satisfy their own cruelty towards the rest of us.

And while that all seems unsettling and serious and dangerous – as we’re heading into a civil war of sorts between the MAGA trump worshipers and honest governance – we are looking at brighter and happier days. We have causes and reasons to fight FOR, in terms of rebuilding the United States and creating a better future for our children and families. These are good things, things that matter, things to defend and things to create.

These ARE good days ahead. Never lose hope we’re building a better America, everybody.

Thank you, Paul, for your thoughtful essay!

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Reader Interactions

68Comments

  1. 1.

    Raven

    January 20, 2021 at 1:22 pm

    Our neighborhood RGB group celebrating!

  2. 2.

    eponymous

    January 20, 2021 at 1:24 pm

    Thank you for this. And for a moment of levity, one of the Capitol guides, narrating the official inaugural feed, just said “is it too soon to say that the President will make many phone calls and have many meetings?”

    Signing! Using actual pen.

  3. 3.

    Mary G

    January 20, 2021 at 1:26 pm

    Lovely essay, Paul. I, too, was new to the word kakistocracy when this all started. It was much worse than I expected, but of course I didn’t realize most of the Republicans would be quite so brazenly corrupt.

  4. 4.

    waspuppet

    January 20, 2021 at 1:27 pm

    … his destruction of a decent spring football league …

    Never forget that not only has Donald Trump filed at least six bankruptcies, not only has he failed at selling Manhattan real estate, but he failed at selling steak, casinos and football to Americans.

  5. 5.

    lamh36

    January 20, 2021 at 1:28 pm

    wherever JC is he’s able to post to twitter…LOL

  6. 6.

    Lavocat

    January 20, 2021 at 1:29 pm

    Thank you, Paul. The first thing we need to do is to restore reality. Death to alternative facts!

  7. 7.

    rumpole

    January 20, 2021 at 1:29 pm

    One literary and historical addendum: in both the harry potter books (and 30s germany) the bad guy comes back.

    He always comes back.

    The next time, he’ll be better prepared.

  8. 8.

    West of the Cascades

    January 20, 2021 at 1:30 pm

    Loving to see on the “official” inauguration feed the view of Joe, Kamala, Nancy, Chuck, and Steny chatting with one another in the President’s Room in the Capitol. Let’s get to work!

  9. 9.

    Baud

    January 20, 2021 at 1:30 pm

    Nice work, Paul.

  10. 10.

    Amir Khalid

    January 20, 2021 at 1:30 pm

    @waspuppet:

    he failed at selling steak, casinos and football to Americans.

    He compensated for these failures by playing posing as a successful businessman on TV.

  11. 11.

    Punchy

    January 20, 2021 at 1:30 pm

    So….who’s Q’s new savior?

  12. 12.

    eponymous

    January 20, 2021 at 1:34 pm

    I swear I saw a little thought balloon over Dubya’s head “thank god I’m not the worst one anymore…”

  13. 13.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 20, 2021 at 1:35 pm

    @rumpole:

    One literary and historical addendum: in both the harry potter books (and 30s germany) the bad guy comes back.

    Alas, let me add another addendum:  In hindsight, the whole Voldemort/Death Eaters thing was about British class politics, not bigotry.  Rowling is pretty vile.

    @Punchy:

    I believe I may have mentioned, they will drop Trump faster than anyone would believe.  While they believed he still had a chance to crush the people they hate, they were all in and he was a god to be worshipped.  Now he has failed white supremacy, and he’s about to find out their loyalty was always transactional.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    January 20, 2021 at 1:36 pm

    @Raven:

    ?

  15. 15.

    Matt

    January 20, 2021 at 1:36 pm

    We’re fighting for your soul and your safety against the Dark Lords that would rather feed their own greed and satisfy their own cruelty towards the rest of us.

    Guaranteed there will be folks on here by June pushing “look, those hippies just BROKE a WINDOW so we have to partner with the Dark Lords in the name of Law and Order”

  16. 16.

    Baud

    January 20, 2021 at 1:37 pm

    Does anyone know if that NSA guy made it in?

  17. 17.

    Kelly

    January 20, 2021 at 1:37 pm

    Mrs Kelly and I decided to wait until supper to open the champagne. 10:30 on the Left Coast and we haven’t finished our coffee.

  18. 18.

    mali muso

    January 20, 2021 at 1:38 pm

    Very well stated, Paul.  It feels like we are waking up from a long nightmare.

    Watching the live-feed, I am just loving Officer Eugene Goodman being such a central figure today.

  19. 19.

    dexwood

    January 20, 2021 at 1:42 pm

    @Raven:  We’ve been invited to a small, safely distanced champagne at sunset gathering of neighbors this evening. Organized by the teacher who played the national anthem on his trombone from his front porch after Biden was sworn in.

  20. 20.

    Brachiator

    January 20, 2021 at 1:42 pm

    Great essay, Paul.

    We can look forward to a federal government restocked with employees and leaders who actually care about their jobs, the impact they’ll have on the citizenry, and with a level of competency that ensures things should and will get done.

    I am really encouraged by the quality of Biden’s picks for officials and advisors.  We have a fighting chance to get good stuff done.

  21. 21.

    lamh36

    January 20, 2021 at 1:43 pm

    @PattyTalorico

    Poignant moment: While Joe Biden gave his inauguration speech, a lone man in a uniform knelt at the Delaware grave of his son Beau.

    https://twitter.com/PattyTalorico/status/1351946472527433731

  22. 22.

    Spanky

    January 20, 2021 at 1:43 pm

    @Baud: Frankly, I doubt if he’ll ever make it back out again.

  23. 23.

    West of the Cascades

    January 20, 2021 at 1:44 pm

    @mali muso: The live-feed cameras lingering on the Senate chamber doors made me start crying again, thinking that just two weeks ago — if not for Eugene Goodman’s quick thinking in the archway just to the left of those doors — we might have had a massacre in there. So wonderful to see him be recognized today.

  24. 24.

    Chyron HR

    January 20, 2021 at 1:44 pm

    @Matt:

    Don’t feel bad, you have 4 whole years to stockpile anti-Biden memes from 4chan to post “from the left” in 2024.

  25. 25.

    Punchy

    January 20, 2021 at 1:45 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: but doesnt the fantasy need — nigh, require — an authority figure who can affect arrests and trials and executions?   Otherwise, what good is “Q”‘s bullshit posting to them?

    I guess Im not good at the art of fuckdumbery.

  26. 26.

    Old School

    January 20, 2021 at 1:45 pm

    @Punchy:

    So….who’s Q’s new savior?

    Seems like they are still working that out.  Some are pushing the “Biden is part of the plan” angle and some are saying to go back to your lives.  I’m sure other saviors will be proposed.

  27. 27.

    Baud

    January 20, 2021 at 1:46 pm

    @Matt:

    Guaranteed there will be folks on here by June pushing “look, those hippies just BROKE a WINDOW so we have to partner with the Dark Lords in the name of Law and Order”

    LOL you think it’ll take us until June.

  28. 28.

    Ken

    January 20, 2021 at 1:47 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: he’s about to find out their loyalty was always transactional.

    From everything I’ve heard, that’s his own concept of loyalty, so maybe it won’t surprise him. Who knows, perhaps somewhere in the howling void under his narcissistic shell, he’s known that for months now.

  29. 29.

    West of the Cascades

    January 20, 2021 at 1:47 pm

    Eeeew, McCarthy presenting the inauguration photos to the President and Vice President. STFU unless you say “I apologize for inciting sedition two weeks ago and for my lies since the election.”

  30. 30.

    mali muso

    January 20, 2021 at 1:48 pm

    @West of the Cascades: He very likely saved the republic.  Or at least, saved us from a lot worse chaos and turmoil.  His quick thinking and bravery deserves all the accolades.

  31. 31.

    Benw

    January 20, 2021 at 1:49 pm

    The last defense against fascism is the people. A historic number of Americans stood up this time and said “not here”.

    we’ve a lot to fix and the Republicans are still anti-democracy at their core, but we – the Democratic voters – saved American democracy. And we can do it again, together.

  32. 32.

    gene108

    January 20, 2021 at 1:49 pm

    @waspuppet:

    but he failed at selling steak, casinos and football to Americans.

    Trump did not fail at selling the USFL to America. He bankrupted the league by getting into a bidding war with the NFL for talent.

  33. 33.

    WaterGirl

    January 20, 2021 at 1:49 pm

    @lamh36: Because I haven’t already cried enough today…

  34. 34.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 20, 2021 at 1:53 pm

    @Punchy:

    doesnt the fantasy need — nigh, require — an authority figure who can affect arrests and trials and executions?

    Yes, which is why a whole lot of them are crashing into depression and disillusionment.  Their fantasy has died, and they don’t have the thing they need to keep it going.  Some will be crazy enough to successfully move the goalposts, but the big chunk of MAGA who were in it for the desperate hope white supremacy would win the day are having to face that they have been failed.

    @Ken:

    perhaps somewhere in the howling void under his narcissistic shell, he’s known that for months now.

    Sorta.  The way it works is, he’s always terrified that he’s a loser and requires constant external validation to reassure himself.  When that external validation stops, he is going to be left alone with the voice of Fred Trump.

  35. 35.

    WaterGirl

    January 20, 2021 at 1:54 pm

    Am I the only one who noticed that Biden gave a shoutouts to the Senate Majority Leader and Minority Leader, and to Nancy Pelosi – but I didn’t hear him mention McCarthy in the House.  Did you say that and I just missed it?  Or was that intentional since McCarthy is STILL perpetrating the lies?

  36. 36.

    Punchy

    January 20, 2021 at 1:55 pm

    @Old School: Haha!  “Go back to your lives”.  That’s some funny shit.

    Next Q post:  “Hey….uh….about this whole thing…ya know?  Welllllll, yeah, about that.  It started as a joke that got wildly out of control, and now we’re bored with it and the main character just quit the show…..so…thanks for the merch purch, turn off the server on the way out, and have a good one with your wife/cousin.  Peace out, StevenM”

  37. 37.

    Brachiator

    January 20, 2021 at 2:01 pm

    @lamh36:

    Poignant moment: While Joe Biden gave his inauguration speech, a lone man in a uniform knelt at the Delaware grave of his son Beau.

    That is so touching.  And human. Unlike someone I will not mention.

  38. 38.

    geg6

    January 20, 2021 at 2:02 pm

    @Kelly:

    Hell, I’m in the eastern time zone and no champagne for me until dinner.  We’re going to eat a little later than usual and enjoy food and drink during the concert tonight.

  39. 39.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    January 20, 2021 at 2:03 pm

    I think I just saw the tea party parade past the Capitol steps.

  40. 40.

    West of the Cascades

    January 20, 2021 at 2:04 pm

    Army … Navy … Air Force … Marines … Colonials … Fife & Drum Corps (love the silly walk) … how come Space Force doesn’t get to march in the review? Did I miss them?

  41. 41.

    Kelly

    January 20, 2021 at 2:07 pm

     

    Of all of the powerful words Abraham Lincoln left us “the last full measure of devotion” always brings me tears.

  42. 42.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 20, 2021 at 2:07 pm

    @West of the Cascades: they were gonna fly in formation but their jet-packs didn’t come yet

  43. 43.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    January 20, 2021 at 2:09 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Steve Carell probably fucked it up somehow, but delightfully.

  44. 44.

    Lyrebird

    January 20, 2021 at 2:11 pm

    @West of the Cascades:

    @mali muso: A yes to the accolades!!

    I was googling earlier to find photos of him escorting the President-Elect and couldn’t find any, hoping to find more soon.

     

    @Frankensteinbeck: re: Rowling, although I disagree with her on plenty, I’ve been having very similar thoughts to Paul’s.  She helped kids recognize the signs of the kind of evil Trump practices.  He does not just represent evil, he does evil.

     

    Paul Wartenburg if you’re reading these, I look forward to someday getting back to Florida and maybe sometime ever joining a Balloon Juice meet-up near you!

  45. 45.

    Lyrebird

    January 20, 2021 at 2:12 pm

    @West of the Cascades: Their flag was there represented on the platform at least.

  46. 46.

    Old School

    January 20, 2021 at 2:13 pm

    @Punchy:

    https://twitter.com/JessReports/status/135194872725933670

  47. 47.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    January 20, 2021 at 2:13 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: I believe I may have mentioned, they will drop Trump faster than anyone would believe.  While they believed he still had a chance to crush the people they hate, they were all in and he was a god to be worshipped.  Now he has failed white supremacy, and he’s about to find out their loyalty was always transactional.

    Indeed, Trump should have read up on D.C. Stephenson, leader of the Klan in the ’20s when it was at it’s height.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._C._Stephenson

  48. 48.

    waspuppet

    January 20, 2021 at 2:16 pm

    @gene108: No, he bankrupted the league by moving it to the fall to directly compete with the NFL, thinking that the NFL would buy him off by letting him buy a team, which he’d already been rebuffed from doing (because even NFL owners were like “You’re an asshole piss off”).

    There was an ESPN 30 for 30 all about it, and the death knell of the league was the pure essence of Trumpism: They sued the NFL, and the jury agreed, but only awarded the league $1 (automatically trebled to $3). The reason? The USFL didn’t actually play any fall games and show that the NFL had damaged them in any way. They just changed their schedule and immediately ran screaming into court.

    Trump, being Trump, literally couldn’t grasp this. He said the jury didn’t award them any money because Trump was so rich he didn’t need it.

  49. 49.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    January 20, 2021 at 2:17 pm

    @waspuppet: Only Trump can make the NFL look sympathetic.

  50. 50.

    PaulWartenberg

    January 20, 2021 at 2:18 pm

    Water girl, John, everyone here at BJ, THANK YOU for allowing me to share my thoughts this Inaugural Day

  51. 51.

    PaulWartenberg

    January 20, 2021 at 2:20 pm

    @West of the Cascades: Space Force doesn’t match, it teleports.

  52. 52.

    StringOnAStick

    January 20, 2021 at 2:22 pm

    I’ve watched or listened to these ceremonies with pride and contentment but I never cried tears of joy at an inauguration before.  I definitely did today.

  53. 53.

    RandomMonster

    January 20, 2021 at 2:24 pm

    @WaterGirl: I noticed that omission, too. Couldn’t tell if it was deliberate. I have to think it was.

  54. 54.

    Lyrebird

    January 20, 2021 at 2:26 pm

    @Lyrebird: Ok here is one still shot from later, via Twitter

     

    I thought it was him in the tan dress coat, but I wasn’t sure.

    What a hero!

  55. 55.

    WaterGirl

    January 20, 2021 at 2:29 pm

    @RandomMonster: I am so happy to hear that.  I was afraid he had mentioned McCarthy and I just hadn’t heard it.

  56. 56.

    PJ

    January 20, 2021 at 2:31 pm

    @WaterGirl: I noticed that too.  I’m pretty sure that was a deliberate omission, since McCarthy opposed his certification as President and pushed the lie that he lost the election.

  57. 57.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    January 20, 2021 at 2:33 pm

    @Lyrebird: It’s very small leap from a cabal of wizards who survived their own deaths to the Q-anon narrative that society is secretly controlled by shape shifting space lizards here to eat human children. There is a common theme here; the bad people aren’t people at all but monsters in disguise with supernatural powers and do evil things purely for the sake of evil. Harry Potter with it’s simple, two color narrative is something I can easily see a lot of MAGA heads would be big fans of.

    Heck, even the climax of the Potter books were the heroes storm Hogwarts and Voldimort is defeated by a kid, everything is happy, role credits, sounds an awful lot what the rioters expected to happen on 1/6.

  58. 58.

    HumboldtBlue

    January 20, 2021 at 2:46 pm

    Officer Eugene Goodman, promoted to acting deputy House sergeant at arms, arrives at the inauguration of President Biden and VP Harris.

  59. 59.

    HumboldtBlue

    January 20, 2021 at 2:52 pm

    @PaulWartenberg: THANK YOU

  60. 60.

    lurker

    January 20, 2021 at 3:07 pm

    @WaterGirl: Thank you for keeping the lights on for the blog today – always helpful to have someone dependable when something comes up…

  61. 61.

    lurker

    January 20, 2021 at 3:13 pm

    @waspuppet:

     

    @gene108:

    Seem to recall reading somewhere that the lawyers for the NFL were worried about how that case would go at trial and how it was going initially.  Then Trump got on the stand and they were able to use his performance to turn the jury against the USFL.  Will have to look around, but that sticks in my memory from a discussion of the case that came out or got rehashed in the last couple of years.  Sounds like he basically bragged about himself and the USFL, and essentially torpedoed the damages theory/theories.  That followed Trump convincing the USFL owners to switch to the fall and then sue the NFL.  Which confirms that Trump really did destroy the USFL himself.

    And that behavior fits pretty well with everything we saw in the campaign and presidential term.  Glad that is over.  Have to now keep working to make sure it does not recur.

  62. 62.

    misterpuff

    January 20, 2021 at 3:29 pm

    @gene108: Trump did bankrupt the league but his worst move was forcing the antitrust trial (which the USFL won) but since the amount awarded was a buck, well, 3 dollars when trebled, the NFL had no reason to merge them. And so Trump folded and shut down the NY Generals and the league collapsed.

    His only goal of purchasing the Generals was to gain admittance to the NFL Owner’s Club, not to build a rival to the NFL. Took his ball and skulked home.

    Check out the 30 for 30 on the USFL, he was the same 35 years ago. Spoiler: FULL OF SHIT

     

    Edit: See waspuppet was there before me. Salutations, Sir.

  63. 63.

    raven

    January 20, 2021 at 3:51 pm

    @dexwood: These women are all faculty.

  64. 64.

    WaterGirl

    January 20, 2021 at 4:02 pm

    @lurker: You are most welcome!

  65. 65.

    Nicole

    January 20, 2021 at 4:38 pm

    Man, you’re so right about that feeling of being on hold for the past 4 years.  It’s going to be so weird, and so great, to feel like things will move forward again.  I don’t know if we’ll have another victory like the ACA, but I hope so.

    Wonderful piece; thank you for writing it!

  66. 66.

    Miss Bianca

    January 20, 2021 at 6:33 pm

    @lamh36: 

    Damn. It’s dusty in here again.

  67. 67.

    PaulWartenberg

    January 20, 2021 at 7:21 pm

    @lurker:

    Yes, I saw that too. trump’s own testimony nuked his own lawsuit. The part about where he bragged he had a secret meeting with Pete Rozelle where the NFL Commissioner promised him a team and called trump a ‘great guy’ and stuff. The narcissism, it burned…

  68. 68.

    Veronika

    January 21, 2021 at 1:15 pm

    When I first learned the word Kakistocracy, I thought, “My cats could do a better job being president than trump.”  That would be a Katocracy or Felinocracy.

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