It has been exactly one year since the American populace, in a collective fit of what can only be described as terminal boredom, decided to hand the keys of the kingdom back to a man who views the Constitution as a particularly inconvenient napkin. To the surprise of absolutely no one with a functioning cerebral cortex, the resulting 365 days have been a masterclass in democratic deconstruction. The ‘experts’—those delightful, tweed-wearing fossils who spend their lives cataloging the decay of civilizations they are too pampered to save—are now officially ‘stunned.’ They are clutching their pearls so hard they’re likely to cause a localized shortage of calcium. They tell us democracy is on the ‘brink.’ My dear, over-educated simpletons, democracy didn’t just reach the brink; it took a look at the abyss, checked its social media mentions, and did a swan dive.

In this first year of the second term, we have witnessed a speed of ‘consolidation’ that would make a third-world junta blush with envy. The administration has moved with the grace of a wrecking ball in a glassware shop, dismantling federal agencies as if they were Lego sets owned by a child they particularly dislike. The Right cheers this as ‘slashing the deep state,’ blissfully unaware that the deep state was the only thing keeping their water drinkable and their bridges from collapsing like a cheap card table. Meanwhile, the Left responds with its signature brand of performative hysteria, organizing marches that accomplish nothing and writing op-eds that are read only by other people who already agree with them. It is a symphony of the stupid, conducted by a man who thinks ‘checks and balances’ are things you do at a failing casino.

Let’s look at the ‘purging’ of the civil service. We are told this is about ‘accountability.’ In reality, it is about replacing boring, competent bureaucrats—people who actually knew how the plumbing of a superpower worked—with a legion of red-capped sycophants whose primary qualification is the ability to nod until their necks snap. Independent watchdogs have been fired with such frequency that the position should probably be renamed ‘Temporary Target.’ When you fire the people whose job it is to tell you that you’re stealing, it’s not ‘efficiency’—it’s just streamlined larceny. But please, tell me more about how this is a victory for the ‘common man,’ who is currently watching his civil liberties being traded for a tax cut that wouldn’t cover the cost of a mediocre steak.

The deployment of federal force in ‘blue cities’ is the ultimate punchline to this cosmic joke. We have a federal government that treats American citizens like an occupying army, while the local leaders of those cities remain trapped in a paralysis of their own making, unable to decide if they should fight the ‘fascism’ or just form another subcommittee to discuss the optics of fighting it. It is a race to the bottom where everyone wins a prize made of lead. The persecution of political enemies and the targeting of immigrants are treated as entertainment for a base that has replaced its moral compass with a television remote. The cruelty is the point, but the stupidity is the engine.

And what of the ‘capture of a foreign leader’ or the blatant leveraging of the presidency for profit? In any other era, these would be the final chapters of a history book titled ‘How It All Went Wrong.’ Today, they are merely Tuesday. The news media, meanwhile, is treated as a convenient punching bag. They are ‘startled’ by the attacks, yet they cannot stop staring at the car crash because the ratings are just too good. They are the addicts complaining about the quality of the heroin while begging for another hit. They document the ‘stifling of dissent’ while wondering why their subscription numbers are dropping as fast as the national IQ.

Finally, we have the ‘trampling of academic freedom.’ The intellectual class is horrified that their sanctuaries of thought are being invaded by the barbarians. Perhaps if they hadn't spent the last few decades turning those sanctuaries into echo chambers of irrelevance, someone might actually care. But no, the scholars will continue to write their reports about the ‘authoritarian scale’ and the ‘speed of moves’ while the walls crumble around them. We are watching a civilization commit suicide by a thousand self-inflicted tweets. Democracy isn't being murdered; it’s being neglected to death by an audience that would rather watch the spectacle than save the stage. Congratulations, America. You’ve reached the one-year mark of your own funeral, and you’re still arguing over who gets to sit in the front row. It would be tragic if it weren't so profoundly, hilariously pathetic.