On the morning of 16 December 1944, German guns opened up Operation Herbstnebel, Autumn Mist, Hitler’s counter-offensive designed to smash through the lightly held Ardennes, cross the Meuse and take Antwerp, isolating the British Army and fracturing the alliance. It didn’t quite work out that way, but life has a strange way of unfolding. An enlisted man in the 106th Infantry Division, the Golden Lions, was taken prisoner, along with many hundreds of others, and sent back to Germany. His name was Kurt Vonnegut, and he was in Dresden when it was firebombed. Vonnegut was put on a detail collecting the burnt bodies, and the result was Slaughterhouse Five, required reading to this day. So you never know if a seeming catastrophe is in actuality a once in a lifetime chance for success. Is Donald Trump’s catastrophic several weeks where he fell ten points behind Clinton in the national polls? Or is this the catastrophe that propels him to the presidency? Is this Austerlitz or Waterloo? We will know the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
The Donald, rocked back on his heels
Once confident that all his deals
Turn out to much advantage him
But now he’s face with sink or swim
He’s in the big leagues now my friend
And we shall see how it will end
He’s up against the reigning champs
The Dems have staffers in their camps
Who know how campaigns should be run
Know what it takes to see them won
Contrast the Donald’s solo flight
That sees him knifeless in this fight
His only chance is to convince
The voters that it’s been long since
An honest man has held the reins
And felt the economic pains
Of honest folk who’ve lost their jobs
And sickened by the hostile mobs
That chant that whitey’s got to pay
For what was done one yesterday
We need a campaign smartly ran
But can the Donald be that man
Can Donald take us to the dance
We need the miracle of chance