THE TRUMP VARIANT

The longer a highly contagious virus loiters in an area, the more people are going to be infected with it. And the more folks come down with the disease, the more the virus is going to mutate. The more mutations come down the pike, the more likely it is that something really, really bad is going to happen.

Simple mathematics.

The virus doesn't have a plan. It doesn't know what it's up to. Mutations just happen. Every time a copy is struck, there's a chance something will go wrong and the code will change. As Forrest Gump once pointed out, you never know what you're going to get.

The next version of the virus could be ten times as contagious and twenty times as deadly. And there's a bonus: The more infectious it is, the more opportunities for future, even nastier mutations.

But viruses are not only example of this pattern. Take Donald Trump (please).

The man is an inept, corrupt, vindictive, lying bully. He mocks the ill. He mocks the disabled. He's so stupid, he thinks he's a genius. Take away his voluminous, gas-filled ego, he'd be nothing but a puddle of hairspray and bronzer. He's what they call a big fat nothing burger.

But he could be worse.

The man was the crappiest president we ever had, and after January 6—the culmination of the Big Lie—he became the crappiest American in the history of the country. And he's still going strong, dumping out lie after lie.

But it could be worse.

Folks are lining up to follow in his shaky footsteps, folks who want to be the next Donald Trump. Folks who desire not just to emulate, but to surpass the man in corruption and lunatic lies.

New, more destructive variants of Donald Trump.

The man has provided the model and molded the environment for an even deadlier strain of authoritarian leader.

Right now, Trump is willing to risk the destruction of this country to assuage his wounded ego.

His successor might be looking to sell the whole fricken planet down the river.

(And yes, I know: Trump, the climate change denier in chief, has already taken an arrogant shot at that target.)

As I like to say, if it ain't one thing, it's five things.

Buckle up, boys and girls. It's going to be a bumptious future.