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Of Kings and Swords
Folklore and science seldom arrive at precisely the same spot at precisely the same time.
When they do, those looking for truth should pay close attention. The science in this case is political science — -with due respect to a not insignificant number of people who claim that politics and science are different domains with little to offer each other.
The time is January 6, 2021; the place is Washington, D.C.; the identity of the king is not yet decided. The aphorism being tested is:
If you strike at the king, you had better kill him.
The exact words contained a bit more starch, put there by the young nation’s transcendentalist poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson. While Emerson favored freedom and opposed slavery — for aren’t those the same position stated differently? — it’s hard to conceive of him as a warrior-poet.
Whether the king is considered to be Sir Donald Trump I or Sir Joe Biden I, he is not, at this writing, dead. If the king is Sir Donald, one result of his survival is playing out in the part of the media tasked to plant the House of Trump’s banner in post-truth politics:
What coup d’état?
I wasn’t scared.
