We begin with some scorekeeping. This is the latest entry in the On The Potomac series that began in 2017:

Vichy On The Potomac

Glengarry Glen Ross On The Potomac

March Madness On The Potomac

Freedonia On The Potomac

Moscow On The Potomac

I had almost forgotten several of the entries. They all have one thing in common: the madness of Team Trump.

1951’s Quo Vadis is the second of three film versions of a novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz. It’s a sword and sandal movie that’s memorable for two reasons: It was a big hit that rescued MGM from financial oblivion and Peter Ustinov’s electrifying performance as the mythic Nero.

I say mythic Nero because I’m aware that the real Roman Emperor has gotten a bad rap from earlier generations of historians. Notwithstanding this song title, he didn’t fiddle while Rome burned:

The violin wasn’t around until the 10th Century and Nero was a 1st Century kinda guy. He didn’t saw the fiddle, he plucked the lyre. Trump’s only instrument is his big mouth: Nero had his lyre; Trump *is* a liar.

Nero may not have fiddled while Rome burned, but he was a monster and proto-gangster who whacked members of his own family. Does that make him worse than the Kaiser of Chaos whose actions have only led to the deaths of strangers? Discuss amongst yourselves.

President Pennywise may not have whacked relatives but he’s burning down the world economy with his nutty tariff spree. He seems to have confused tariffs with sanctions. Tariffs are typically placed on products, not nations. Sanctions are placed on nations such as Iran or Russia for bad economic or political behavior. The Trump tariffs are really a device to force countries to grovel and bend the knee to Mad King Donald.

If that sounds crazy, that’s because it is. Confirmation comes from a different sort of Neronic and downright moronic conduct by the Insult Comedian: his shakedown of Big Law. Trump spent 90 minutes in a meeting with the senior partner of Paul, Weiss. That’s how this president spends his time, Trump voters: running an extortion racket.

Extortion is what these fakakta tariffs are really all about. The Kaiser of Chaos is melting down the world economy to gratify his ego and need to be the center of attention at all times. The mythic Nero was equally thirsty.

Back to Quo Vadis, the movie. It pits the mythic Nero against Robert Taylor as a stolid Roman general back from conquering countries hither and you. He falls in love with the gorgeous Deborah Kerr who is a member of a new religious sect, the Christians. That leads to windy speeches by Finlay Currie as Simon Peter. Those windy speeches in turn lead to this:

While there’s no evidence to support the whole feeding Christians to the lions thing, sending people to Salvadoran prisons is analogous. They’re being scapegoated by Team MAGA without a hearing or evidence other than tattoos. I am not making this up.

Contemporary evangelical Christians are cheering on the arsonist. It’s unclear why they support a man who is destroying their economic well-being with his attack on Medicare, Social Security, and their 401 kays. During the campaign he claimed that there was no downside to imposing tariffs. He was lying. Anyone surprised?

Trump’s fellow convicted criminal Peter Navarro is driving the tariff train. Unanimity among Trump’s advisers on this Neronic plan to burn down the world economy is unlikely. In fact, Reich Chancellor Musk sent his kid brother into the fray to criticize his Kaiser:

LOVE today’s multiple tweets by Musk’s brother Kimbal trashing Trump personally for his stupid, nutty tariffs. As I’ve said for months of the key difference between Musk and all the other Trump courtiers: he’s actually successful, has his own public following, is 70X as rich—does not need Trump.

— Kurt Andersen (@kurtandersen.bsky.social) 2025-04-08T03:28:07.793Z

Is there about to be a crackpot crackup between the two thirstiest men in the world? It wouldn’t surprise me. Of course, Trump is likely to charge Elon an exit fee if they break up. Make that exit tariff. FYI, we no longer publish anything from Twitter/X. Hence the Kurt Andersen skeet. Reich Chancellor Musk can go fuck himself.

The voters were forewarned about the moronic and Neronic madness that would engulf the country if the Kaiser of Chaos returned to office. But they couldn’t be bothered to follow the campaign and witness his cognitive decline and descent into madness exceeding that of his first  term. They must have been watching WWE wrestling or some such shit. We’re wrestling with the mess they made. It’s unclear how we get out of it. Thanks, you stupid motherfuckers.

The Insult Comedian has never known economic hardship. He’s not the first president to come from great wealth: Joe Kennedy made Fred Trump look like a piker. But JFK possessed something that the 78-year old madman never has, empathy. That’s why he burns things down. If it doesn’t effect him directly, it doesn’t matter. That was the case with the mythic Nero too:

It’s fitting to post a picture of a cartoon Nero in a post about a cartoon villain. Thanks, Trump voters.

The penultimate word goes to a quote from the last word:

“The Roman promoters really did things right.
They needed a show that would clearly excite.
The attendance was sparse so they put on a fight
Threw the Christians to the lions, it sold out every night

Give the people what they want
You gotta give the people what they want
The more they get, the more they need
And every time they get harder and harder to please

Give ’em lots of sex, perversion and rape
Give ’em lots of violence, and plenty to hate
Give the people what they want”

The last word goes, yet again, to The Kinks: