so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

~Williams Carlos Williams


There is a certain economy to the man’s mouth. It stretches and contorts in ways that, at least for myself, are beyond atypical and, as such, are unrepresentative of a normative, well-adjusted human oral cavity. Of course, what spews from said mouth also deviates from what we’re used to from leaders, at least in the America I used to know and the Western world I know through popular media, journalism, and personal experience.

&, it’s this grotesque spectacle, the glaring spout, the gratuitous, giving shit-hole that I’m so fascinated by. For 5+ years, from this perversion of lips, comes the distortion of norms, institutions, morals, policies, us.

So, there it is, the mouth as synecdoche.

As multiple psychologists, Trump family members, former high-ranking gov officials, theologians, ethicists, and work-a-day folk, like myself, have noted, he is a malignant narcissist. Research indicates such narcissism is rooted in deep, abiding insecurities. His demagoguery is reminiscent of the kind found in Europe in the 1920’s and 1930’s, during the Weimar Republic. As many historians and psychologists have noted, Hitler, the biggest fiend from this time, had failed to realize his desires as an artist. In many respects, he failed to live in his dream and, as those same historians and shrinks point out, he sought validation through rally, revolt, and eventually war.

As a parallel, if Trump had love and compassion in his early life – as many reports suggest he did not – it would shine through in his actions now. If he had felt full, secure, and confident, he wouldn’t be so clearly troubled and that insecurity wouldn’t bleed into where we resist. If he *just* felt good about himself.

So much depends
upon

a little red
lipstick

Hence this: