Of guts forsworn or found

It's notable, I think, how the American 

President's perversion has triumphed im-

portantly in the culture of competition

for his Office. I don't refer to that

rich lode of illegality and legal bribe-

ry for which we trace our roots to col-

onial times. I refer to the shape-shift-

ing custom of changing the race, itself,

in serial changes of identity along the

way. As we study notional entrants from

the other Party, in the lists for the

pending tournament, we watch ostensible

leaders fretting openly and nervously

over whether to opt for the trident or

the mace, the short sword or the lance

in defining themselves. This visible

fear for one's own hide is genuinely

new, it seems to me, as a testament to

the power of misrepresentation of who-

ever they might actually be, when not

being themselves. Is there no gift for

inspiring others, in this most urgent

obligation of resistance to distortion?

What armor is better than who one is,

against an opponent of no core at all?

This, the mayor of South Bend has pos-

ited with the most unsettling impunity.

You'd think a winner could do as well.