Charisma
They shouted and they clapped,
and for the photographers
he gave those big, gratuitous smiles.
But even though they played that up in the pictures
I still find it hard to understand
why they supported him.
What had he done for them
except get their sons and their brothers
killed in Afghanistan?
It must have been sort of the same
with Pericles, in Athens, at the start
of the Peloponnesian War.
Except that he probably wrote his own speeches.
And had a lot of charisma.
So they went to war
and that was the end of their empire.
Am I being overbearing? Excessive?
We shrug. What’s not to comprehend?
It is so easy to analyze from a distance.
Perhaps I should compare him to a Hitler.
Though I don’t think he was really evil.
Only another instance of stupid.
But it had, in any case, the same result,
and for those who come thereafter
there is only the cleanup of a mess.
And it goes on.
What we need is Hercules with a giant broom.