Evil Clowns in Office

For reasons inexplicable to me, we all try to evaluate the processes taking place on the political Olympus as the most complex chess game. Rarely, when the situation seems as dramatic as possible, do we forget about chess and instead see an ancient Greek tragedy—the confrontation between a worthy Hector and Achilles. At first glance, it seems the best among the best—smart, strong, brave—are fighting for the right to improve our lives, executing moves beyond the capabilities of any mere mortal.

However, any careful observer quickly realizes that behind the palaces, the motorcades, the private security, and the seemingly tragic grandeur, a daytime soap opera is hidden. Yet, lately, I see a completely different picture. There is no chess game, no heroes and gods, not even a soap opera. There is only a lame, disgusting farce.

Typically, this farce is veiled. Power-driven individuals skillfully hide their true nature. But time and time again, events occur that strip the masks away entirely. The recent presidential debate was precisely such an event.

I didn't expect anything from two obviously outdated figures except uncontrolled aggression and meaningless boasting. The reality fully met my expectations and hardly merited further consideration. The truly interesting events started after the debate. Two main camps of reactions emerged among the so-called political and economic elites: sheer "panic among the supporters" versus the delusion that "one failed night means nothing."

Regarding the panic, I have to ask: Really? Did you honestly not expect that a weakened, buffoonish figure would perform so catastrophically? The fact that today's so-called "elites" were genuinely shocked speaks volumes about their limited mental capacities. We are not dealing with calculating masterminds; we are dealing with remarkably shortsighted individuals who actually believed their own daytime soap opera. Among the "panickers," there was one particularly amusing category—those who seriously called for the old man to withdraw his candidacy. Where were you when he shouted "I want, want, want"? Why didn't you appeal to his patriotic feelings then? Why did you blindly contribute hundreds of millions to his fund? These questions are rhetorical, but they highlight the utter intellectual poverty of the elite.

If we have the courage to face reality, we will see the utter ordinariness of the candidates and the debates. Today, we are witnessing a traditional, repetitive struggle for feudal power based purely on factional interests. Evaluating today's events through the lens of the English Wars of the Roses (the rivalry between the Yorks and Lancasters), everything becomes crystal clear: the undisguised hatred of the candidates towards each other, the unconditional support from their inner circles, and the selection of leaders based not on common interests (everyone has forgotten what Res Publica means), but on tribal loyalty.

We boast about living in a republic where power comes from the people, not from God or royal bloodlines. But the bitter irony is that the moment the people got the power, their first instinct was to recreate a feudal blood-feud. We simply replaced royal banners with party colors.

For a long time, I wondered why 330 million people couldn't find better candidates than modern, geriatric incarnations of Nero and Attila the Hun. But then a darker suspicion crept in: it’s not that we failed to find better leaders. We were actively looking for exactly this—the modern, comical reincarnations of Nero, Attila, and Spartacus. We searched for them, and we found exactly what we wanted.

I will not end this with a generic, optimistic call to "demand better leaders" or "engage more deeply in democracy," because further reflections are painful. But I fully share Kant's opinion: "If the truth shall kill them, let them die." So I will just say it: we are not passive observers of this clown show. If we really think about it, a terrifying realization emerges. These old, malicious clowns actually represent us perfectly. We, as a society, are aggressive, hateful, and merciless. We choose such people as our representatives because they perfectly reflect our own unstated, dark aspirations.

We don't have bad leaders holding a good society hostage. We have exactly the leaders we deserve. The evil clowns in office aren't an anomaly of the system; they are the ultimate mirror of our own societal rot.