This election is tight. That's the problem.

Donald Trump is a demonstrated "fascist to the core." His rhetoric sounds exactly like Adolf Hitler's. About half of Americans tell pollsters they'll vote for the fascist. For the Hitler impersonator. That's the problem.

Does -- can -- the program, 3 Chords & the Truth, go forward in a fascist country? I don't think so. There will be other priorities, namely, either fight or flight. Trying to ignore evil -- killing one's conscience with the excuse "I'm not political" is not an option that allows you to look in the mirror every morning.

So, we have come to what just might be the Big Show's not-very-long goodbye. Going on as normal -- even by the loose definition of normal we've had this past decade -- will be impossible, as least for me. Your mileage may vary, but be warned that the risks to your soul in the face of a Trumpian "normal" are unacceptable.

I SPENT much of my young life in Louisiana observing and living a version of that reality during Jim Crow and in the wake of Jim Crow. The America of Trump 2.0 would be even worse, and it would have the weight of the entire federal government and military behind it.

And that is our choice. It's either "a new way forward" under Kamala Harris . . . or the abyss.

That it's entirely possible Americans will choose the abyss points to the real problem, of which Donald Trump's rise is merely a symptom. The last decade has pointed out the terrifying likelihood that the United States' real problem is more akin to societal -- civilizational -- collapse.

Every institution is amid a full collapse, and the void has been filled with distrust -- which is not irrational by any means -- alienation and boiling anger. And demagogic psychotics like Trump know exactly how to exploit what ails us.

Feed your demons, feed Trump. Feed Trump, feed our demons.

The end result is the grave. It would not be a peaceful death.

Boy, this doesn't sound like a pitch for this week's edition of a show that's supposed to entertain. No, it doesn't. On the other hand, 3 Chords & the Truth never has been just about entertaining you. It's also been about something bigger. It's been about trying to make you think, too.

Well, we stand at the corner of THINK and DON'T THINK -- or at least, if you do think, don't let anybody know what you're thinking.

I can't live that way. The Founding Fathers didn't think anyone could live that way. You shouldn't accept living that way.

And if you think electing the fascist won't crush your freedom and come after your very soul, you're a damn fool.

Don't be a damn fool. Do listen to the Big Show; it's as good as ever this week.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all -- for now. Be there. Aloha.

This could be the end of the world as we know it. I don't feel fine.

I am old enough to know what American fascism is like, having grown up in the deepest of the Deep South in the 1960s and '70s. I am old enough to have been threatened, by my parents, with being sent to "the n***er school" when I acted up -- as if that legally were possible then.

Having grown up that way informs who I am. Having spent a lifetime trying to dig myself out of that fascistic black hole -- and if you don't think Jim Crow was fascism, open up a history book, why don't you -- informs who I am even more. It also informs what 3 Chords & the Truth is . . . every damn week.

That doesn't mean the Big Show isn't fun. It is. But, trust me, it's a damn high-wire act.

And here we are, a week and a half out from the most consequential presidential election of my lifetime. And fascism is on the ballot. That's because, as it turns out, a lot of Americans are. . . .

That does not surprise me. I'm a Southerner, after all.

There's not much more I can say about that, so I won't. I'll let the music do the talking from here on.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come hear the music play
The Big Show's a cabaret, old chum

Come to the cabaret 

(Boots clicking on the pavement en masse. . . .)

Put down the knitting, the book and the broom

It's time for a holiday
Life is a cabaret, old chum
Come to the cabaret

Come taste the wine
Come hear the band
Come blow your horn, start celebrating
Right this way, 3 Chords & the Truth's waiting

What good's permitting some prophet of doom
To wipe every smile away?

(Voice on the PA speaker at the political rally down the street
rails against scum, vermin, the enemy within. . . . )

The Big Show's a cabaret, old chum
So come to the cabaret. . . .

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. While you can. Aloha.

Here's a truth bomb for you: I've kinda been dreading this show, No. 666.

Six hundred sixty-six. 666. Mark of the Beast. That's some seriously bad juju.

When you enter this neighborhood, you don't know what will happen. You do know it will not be good.

While the music on this portentous edition of 3 Chords & the Truth is just as exceptional as ever, it did not take long for the god of hellfire to show his sulfurous self. That's bad.

AS IT TURNS OUT, 6-6-6 is not the only way to spell "mark of the beast." God preserve us.

Listen and learn, my friends. Listen and learn. Do not let this happen to you, especially on Nov. 5.

Like I was telling you, the music this week on the Big Show is great -- really, really great. But I must tell you that you're going to have to endure some things to get there. I would suggest you arm yourself with some garlic, some holy water, a crucifix . . . and perhaps a Kamala Harris yard sign.

Yeah, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Thou hast been warned. Hold thy soul, and thy family, close to thy heart. The Enemy lurketh, seeking the destruction of souls . . . and nations.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Dear, there's never anything on the television, just Donald Trump saying crazy things and doing his best Adolf Hitler impersonation.

Let's listen to 3 Chords & the Truth instead. 

I am so old, I remember Godwin's Law -- if you resort to calling someone a Nazi on the Internet, you lose the argument. I miss those days. I miss the days when not only weren't there that many Nazis on the Internet, but there wasn't one of the two major candidates for president holding Nuremberg for Dummies rallies from sea to shining sea.

How in the hell did we get here?

Why in the hell do I feel compelled to bring this up on a show -- on 3 Chords & the Truth, where the focus ought to be fun and great music, both without limit or limitations? It's because regardless of how the hell we got here, we got here nevertheless.

In other words, if you like the Big Show, listen while you can. I wish I were kidding. I am not.

The Big Show always and everywhere is greater than the Big Lie, but it is not assured that the Big Lie won't prevail, with all that it portends for the future of this country. How this all turns out is entirely up to you. Vote.

In the meantime, enjoy the music -- it's fabulous -- and the much needed distraction.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

If you're anything like me, this damn country -- or what passes for this damn country anymore -- may have finally broken you.

I feel tired. Sick. Sick and tired.

The best I can manage this week is to get by. How am I doing? Doing.

How is 3 Chords & the Truth going this week? It's going. Fortunately for us all, it's high functioning even when it's just going and just doing.

YEAH. That.

You know what? If you're not disturbed, down in the dumps, sick and tired and just managing to hold it all together when one of America's two major political parties is talking like actual Nazis, demonizing like actual Nazis, tweeting like actual Nazis, holding Nuremberg for Dummies rallies like actual Nazis and vowing to govern like actual Nazis, I'd like you to answer one question.

What the hell is wrong with you? Have you been paying attention?

Get a grip and get disturbed. Then vote to make it stop.

Meantime, we have a stunningly diverse program put together for this week's Big Show. It's amazingly good for just getting by.

The marketing, obviously, not so much. I've always been too much of an open book for my own self-promotional good, alas.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Listen, we're in a little blue dot in a redneck state -- one that used to not be all that bad, actually.

But now it is. And especially this year, that can get, how do we say, depressing AF.

Still, you have to do 3 Chords & the Truth. Every damn week. Your keel has to be even.

So, sometimes you need a little somethin' somethin'. I forget what the directions on the label said, but I figure I'm good if I take more than one and fewer than 10.

I figure I'm good if I take more than one and fewer than 10.

I figure I'm good if I take more than one and fewer than 10.

Good, I am if take, I do, more than one and fewer than . . . I forget. Better take another one.

It's a good Big Show; it's a laid back show. Show. Mellow. Cool!

Good is the music. Mellow is the host. Copacetic is the vibe.

I figure I'm good if I take more than one and fewer than 10. Ten. An interesting number, that.

Because one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do. The 0 makes it unlonely. Yes, it does.

It's  3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Well, at least we don't have little messages before the late news saying "It's 10 p.m. Do you know where your cats and dogs are?"

Yet.

Every damn week for the last nine years or so, whenever I'm confronted with writing another little missive for another episode of 3 Chords & the Truth, I have to think of something to say amid the crazy. And You Know Who has prompted the fruitiest of the Fruit Loops in America today.

Now, it's "They're eating the cats. They're eating the dogs." You Know Who floated that bit of crazy during the presidential debate, no less.

What in the Wide World of Sports is your average, marginally sane person supposed to do with that level of bat shit?

To maintain my marginal level of sanity, I make merciless fun of it. So we're breaking a bubbling-under the Top 40 future smash hit on the Big Show this week. It, unsurprisingly, is from that unfathomably popular group, The DJT Music Explosion.

They're exploding something, all right.

Let's just hope it doesn't end up being the United States of America.

That said, insert the usual description of the awesomeness of this week's show, because that generally doesn't change a whit.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

It's good to be here in Sioux City; my best fans are here in the city of the Siouxes.

What? Oh.

As I was saying, I love Omaha. Omaha is, they tell me, an Indian word for the land of the Omahs. And apparently they laughed a lot . . . they laughed a lot. But not like Comrade Kamabala Biden, who should not laugh ever again. So annoying. So annoying.

And how about that 3 Chords & the Truth on the computer machine . . . or on your smartphone? Great music on the show, but a very poor host -- very biased. And what is a Mighty Foovog?

Mighty Foovog. It sounds like something I caught when I was going through my own personal Vietnam in the '70s; it took two or three Shots in the Ass -- I had a very good doctor then, very quick to give you an Ass Shot. His Ass Shots didn't hurt as much as they could have . . . Ass Shots can be so painful, so painful.

BUT THE Shots in the Ass got me back in the battle. I prefer the battles where if things go bad -- but things don't go bad for me, only if people are being very unfair. Things can go so bad when the fake news and all the haters are being so unfair. I preferred the Vietnam where you sometimes had to get a Shot in the Ass instead of getting shot in the face. Or getting shot in the chest.

Both very bad. I don't understand why you'd want to volunteer to get shot in the face. Faces are very important. I saw a guy once try to eat a hamburder without a face -- he didn't have the face . . . can hamburders have a face? That's a question for some of the great minds in this country to work on. Very big Question.

He couldn't eat the Mickey D's because if you don't have a face, you don't have a mouth.

Now that thing they call the Big Show would be a lot better if that very unfair host didn't have a mouth. Just play the music and keep quiet -- shut up and spin the tunes, I say. But he has some great music on there if you can get past his Being a Communist. Very biased, very unfair.

I LIKE music. Music is good to play when you're doing battle in your own personal Vietnam.

Did you ever notice that they generally play very poor music in the doctor's office when you're in there for a Shot in the Ass? Very poor music. But what can you expect from all the Commie Musicians out there?

You've been a very wonderful crowd. They're telling me I have to wrap this up because we're running behind schedule, and I have to be in Omaha in a couple of hours. But you just stick around, listen to the tunes. Some very excellent tunes today, so I am told.

One more thing, and then I'm ditching this burg. . . .

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Did you have a friend who, in a roundabout way, is why you do what you do today?

Was that friend, by chance . . . a radio station?

As it happens, I am among that geeky subset of folks who can answer yes to that. My radio friend's name was WLCS, also sometimes known during various eras as the Big Win 910 or the Big 91. It made up a big part of the soundtrack of my youth and, sometimes, it was the bright spot during some dark days.

If you appreciate 3 Chords & the Truth, there are a small number of the radio stations of my youth in Baton Rouge, La., that you can thank. WLCS is at the front of that list.

FORTY YEARS ago today, the Big 91 faded into the mists of history. Now it lives only in the memories of those of us who are, as they say, "of a certain age" . . . and as part of the Big Show.

WLCS was, I'd argue, a higher form of social media than what we call "social media" today. Oftentimes, today's social media is downright antisocial. The radio of my youth actually brought people together. The media of today often drives people apart.

I REALIZE this might come off as the whining of an old man, a geezer complaining that things absolutely were better back in the day. I am from the Deep South; that tends, if one is honest with oneself, to immunize against silly nostalgia.

But some things were better. The Big 91 was one of those things. I have it to thank for this thing we call 3 Chords & the Truth.

And, like a friend who has slipped this mortal coil, it lives on. It lives in our memories and in our hearts, and -- in a way -- it lives on right here.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.