That reality does not erase legitimate differences between left and right. It simply raises a different question: who benefits when citizens become so consumed by fighting one another that they stop paying attention to the people holding the matches?

Sorry Charlie, but you works for us, not the other way around.

Elect moderates. I don't care if they carry a D or an R. Get away from the extremes. Flush MAGA down the toilet. Dump the wokes in a landfill. Look for people who want a functional government — leaders who understand that America is a member of the world community, not its boss. We are powerful enough to guarantee mutual destruction. Why are we too weak to simply get along?

The only way independents and moderates get a checkbox is if we force it into existence. Not by waiting for permission. Not by hoping one of the two parties decides to represent us. By showing up, making noise, and refusing to be invisible any longer.

The President of the United States works for us. He has no reason to fear us — unless we are not on his agenda. Unless what he has been doing was never in the best interest of the Americans he swore to serve.

Maybe some reporter should just ask him directly. Why are you so afraid of us? What did you do that makes you need four inches of glass and snipers on the roof between yourself and the people you work for?

"This legislation would guarantee that the trillions of dollars potentially generated by A.I. are used to improve the lives of all of us — not simply to make the richest people in the world even richer."

If the rule of law applies to ordinary citizens it applies to everyone.

Or it applies to no one.

Pick one.

The collar changes the problem.

A dog that spent its life running wherever it wanted is not suddenly going to become obedient because it found itself at the end of a rope. It's going to pull. Snarl. Snap. Tear up everything within reach. Not because it has changed, but because it hasn't.

When all is said and done the only person who will actually believe his version of history is Trump himself.

That's part of the illness.

This is about today. Right now. With a sick old man spending his remaining energy screaming at everything he doesn't like on his own little social media platform — there is not a chance in hell he is simultaneously running the most powerful government on earth.

So who is?

Inquiring minds want to know.