Frank Schneiger

The Purge Frank Schneiger

No one could keep up with the news. For many, it was hard to even know what was " news." And, buried beneath the daily barrage of inflammatory statements and tweets, were the ongoing destruction of the nation's institutions, vast corruption at the highest levels, the cultivation of hatred, and recklessness that had isolated the United States and posed the danger of a major war. In Washington and elsewhere, there was a widespread sense of foreboding, a sense that "this can't go on," as a mentally ill narcissist presided over an administration led by incompetents, sycophants, militarists, extremists and self-dealing criminals. "This can't go on." But it did. Congress, under the firm control of reactionaries, cynics, racists and a handful of out-and-out fascists, took no action. Talk of impeachment or invoking the 25th Amendment went nowhere. The courts, fearing attacks on their legitimacy or aligned with the reactionaries, largely stood on the sideline. The lies of the president's semi-official cable news network and other far right outlets kept the true believers on the reservation, just as long as the search for scapegoats continued unabated. The base held. In the end, only one option remained: the unthinkable. These narratives take the reader on a step-by-step journey through the unthinkable, a path along which many scores are evened, often through a process that can be summed up in a single word: Purge.