(no subject)

Even with other executive orders, and the cooperation of a cowardly and corrupt congress, he can't destroy the united states.

He can't round up and deport every person of color in the country. He can't bring back slavery. He can't even repeal the Civil Rights Act.

But he can cause a lot of misery before we get rid of him.

He can cause some heartache and some damage that can never be undone. He can destroy things of beauty and cause others to never come into being. He can't destroy scientific progress, but he can delay it, he can slow it down, he can shift a lot of it to other countries.

And yes, he can, has, and will cause the deaths of more people.

But he can't destroy the world. He can make parts of it less habitable, less enjoyable, more corrupt, and more deadly. He can cause some increase in misery and homelessness and death with his own acts of petty evil.

He's not all-powerful. He isn't Sauron. If anything, he's Saruman. And not Saruman the White, or Saruman of Isengard. He's Saruman hiding up in Bag End. He's burned Michel Delving and chopped down the party tree, and it's past time to scour the Shire.

Center of Pestilence, Part 2.

1296: Toni had attempted to explain the paradox using a metaphor involving a tent pole, but he hadn’t really understood it.

Spoiler: The moon was a quarter million miles away doing its own thing without them.

1297: “Let’s let them hang out there for a bit,” Toni said, “We can go out and check how the moon’s doing.”