Tyranny of the Asses

Donald Trump went to Mexico
to meet privately
with President Enrique Peña Nieto

and it was just as successful
as people other than Donald Trump
thought it would be.

At a joint news conference
following the meeting

he backtracked on his oft-repeated promise
of making Mexico pay for a border wall

which also happens to be
one of his very few points
of actual policy

such as it is

clarifying that the two
had discussed a wall

but that it was not yet decided
who would pay for it.

Then Trump flew back to the States

and said to a rally in Phoenix
“Mexico will pay for the wall
believe me

100 percent
they don’t know it yet
but they will pay for the wall.”

At least in the end

Trump got to piss off Mexico
and help ruin Peña Nieto's reputation

with historian Enrique Krauze
saying he had made
an "historic error"
by inviting Trump

elaborating that “You confront tyrants.
You don’t appease them.”

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

The Challenges of Global Interdependence

Throughout the years
most of the Clinton Foundation's donors

have given the organization
less than $250.

Fewer than a quarter of one percent

the list of whom
being freely available on their website

have given $100,001 to $250,000
in lifetime contributions.

And on the first page of that list
is a "Donald J. Trump".

It is to be presumed
he'll cut ties with them
once he takes office.

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

The Deranged-er Zone

(Apologies to Kenny Loggins)
(Sung by Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton)

What's "alt-right"?
Why Ms. Crooked
worried 'bout me?

Just 'cause I cater to whites
who like their own supremacy?

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

Coloradon'ts

In Jefferson County Colorado

there is an office
where a 12-year-old
named Weston Imer

is in charge of coordinating volunteers
and getting out the vote
for Donald Trump.

The officially listed coordinator
is his mother Laurel

who says
of her son's weighty duties
that only get weightier

every time Trump opens his mouth

"You have a responsibility
to your children to teach them."


This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

Shrinking 'Paigns

Paul Manafort
the Trump campaign chairman

who was hired to replace manager
Corey Lewandowski
after he resigned

has now quit

for reasons probably completely unrelated

to the discovery
by government investigators

at Manafort's office in Kiev
the capital of Ukraine

a line in the ledger
indicating that Manafort accepted $12.7 million
in undisclosed cash payments

from former President Mr. Yanukovych’s
pro-Russian political party
between 2007 and 2012

and the fact that Donald Trump
will always refuse to be
anything like "managed".

Now who will be left
to man the fort?

(Because it was going so well.)


This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

The Wrong and Violent Type

For a man
who craves attention

at all times

no matter the cost
and especially if there is a cost

to what could loosely be called
a reputation

it may be notable

that Donald Trump
has only just begun airing

general election television ads.

Maybe soon
we'll finally get to see the man

being completely comfortable
in his own skin.

In this controlled environment
the candidate

should have no problem
with demonstrating his self-declared "single greatest strength"

of "temperament."

(Just as long
as any speaking parts
are removed before airing.)

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

Hate Me Five Times

Donald Trump
cannot contend with the fact
that American voters

would dare use
his "The Apprentice" catchphrase
"You're fired"
against him

even though
he wants just one "Trump was right" 
giant coronation bash

and does not want
to be president

nor with the feeling of embarrassment
at blaming his loss
on unprecedented conspiratorial actions

on their part. 

Said the candidate

"We're going to watch Pennsylvania.

Go down to certain areas
and watch and study

and make sure
other people don't come in
and vote five times."


This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

Words Are Loaded Pistols

A US Secret Service official
has reported that "there has been
more than one conversation" 

with Donald Trump
since the candidate on Thursday

said at a rally
that maybe "the Second Amendment people"

could prevent Hillary Clinton from appointing
Supreme Court justices
who favor gun control.

Of course Trump denies
the meeting ever took place.

Said the former head of the CIA
retired Gen. Michael Hayden

"You're not just responsible
for what you say.

You are responsible
for what people hear."

But that won't help a candidate

whose brain hears everything he says
and turns it into

"I'm the greatest
so shut up."

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

Unplanned Concession

Planned Parenthood
in its infinite wisdom

has conceived of
so to speak
another way to ruin America

in its launching
of the non-partisan campaign
"My Vote, My Voice"

to make voters
out of the people most affected
by voter suppression laws

and who are regularly
most in need of the services
that the organization provides

including youth
the poor
and people of color.

Volunteers in 45 states

will set up "action" tables
outside of Planned Parenthood health centers
and throughout these communities

where they will register voters

educate them
about their state's voter ID laws

and of course
remind them to vote
in November.

Unfortunately very few of these people
are likely to vote
for the Republican candidate

who wants to defund the organization.

(So unfair.)

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

What a Feminist Looks Like

President Obama
has written an essay

for Glamour magazine
explaining why he identifies

as a feminist.

He expresses gratitude
that his tenure as president

shortens his commute to "45 seconds"
and thus lets him spend
more time with his daughters.

He says that the experience of fatherhood
has allowed him to be

a direct witness
to the "enormous pressure girls are under
to look and behave
and even think a certain way"

even as they become successful

noting the particular challenges
faced by women of color
including his wife Michelle.

He concludes the essay
with the reminder
that "It's never been just about the Benjamins.
It's about the Tubmans too"

and that
"when everybody is equal
we are all more free."

Meanwhile Donald Trump
is on the sidelines

confident in his knowledge
that the key to solving sexual harassment
in the workplace

is for women to change jobs.

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.

Sacrificial Voting

Though incomparable to those
of the Muslim solider Humayun Khan

who died in the act
of protecting the lives of his comrades
from a suicide car bomb

to be completely fair
to his own self-assessment

Donald Trump has made plenty of sacrifices

the most notable being
those traits of dignity
honor
grace and poise

as well as even
the loosest grasp on reality

or contrition in the face of wrongdoing
or dumbsaying.

This notable addition
to the pile

may even lead
to Trump voters

sacrificing their right
to make terrible decisions.

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.