Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

State of the Union—or state of Capitalist decay?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
12 Mar 2025
🖨️ Print Article
Donald Trump State of the Union
Photo: ABC News

“Every man for himself
and the devil take the hindmost.”

Something’s soothing, lobotomizing, about the snotty
Voice flooding from Fox-boxes. Something’s
Lobotomizing about an ignorant comedian coming to
Kill—but bombing—yet, still killing …

Something’s soothing about Jumping Jack Fascists—
Springing up at every absurd utterance and
Thunder of rattling rubbish. Their hand bones
Fracturing from clapping so damn loud—so long …

Something’s soothing about Jumping Jack Fascists
Springing up like they got the Holy Ghost! Fits of
Ecstasy applauding poor people used as props—
Mascots—human shields for class war’s unpopular policies

Something’s soothing about Jumping Jack Fascists
Springing up, sane-washing a lipsticked pig. And face-
Lifting lies about capitalism’s impossible promises to
The People …

Forked tongue tour de force— False from beginning to
End. 1hour, 40 minute Mussolini masterpiece. Il DOGE
Smashed Dr. Goebbels’ Guinness Book of Records for
Orwellian wizardry: misinformation/disinformation/1/2 truths/big lies.

Barren make believe desert. Echo chamber of hollow mockery—
Hypocrisy, humbuggery/thuggery, treachery, treason, truth-less-
Ness and alternative facts where up is down. Bad’s good. Worse
Is better. Woke's worrisome/and straw’s spun orange into fools gold …

Leaning in, listening to bosh-laden blizzards of fabrications—
Falsifications— bleached bone white lies—but not eating the
Dogma does cause trauma. Trauma of two car crashes;
Three boxing matches; And four NFL and hockey games …

Blitzkrieg! Warp speed war on the working-class—
Moving fast! Breaking things! Things shoe leather, steel spines,
Blood and grit won working people long, long ago.
Things we long to make more muscular, more robust. And for all …

© 2025. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet; BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can Vote for his work at GoFundMe and PayPal.

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • A Racial Reckoning at Doctors Without Borders
    Mara Kardas-Nelson, Ngozi Cole, Sean Campbell
    A Racial Reckoning at Doctors Without Borders
    26 Sep 2021
    The Nobel Peace Prize winning organization Doctors Without Borders has been accused of racist policies which privilege so-called ex-pat workers from North America and Europe over local medical
  • Abusing Migrants While on Horseback Fits With the Border Patrol's Long History of Brutality
    Sarah Turberville, Chris Rickerd
    Abusing Migrants While on Horseback Fits With the Border Patrol's Long History of Brutality
    26 Sep 2021
    Such cruelty warrants a congressional investigation—not only into the specific actions in Del Rio but, more importantly, into systemic problems within Border Patrol that allow such abusive cond
  • Claudia Passport
    Lola Olufemi
    Claudia Jones: A Life in Search of the Communist Horizon
    26 Sep 2021
    This is the foreword to the new edition of Marika Sherwood’s Claudia Jones: A Life in Exile (Lawrence Wishart, 2021).
  • CLACS meeting in Mexico
    Arnold August
    CLACS: A Significant Step Toward the Inevitable Replacement of the OAS
    26 Sep 2021
    The recent Community of Latin American and Caribbean (CLACS) meeting was a continuation of the effort to end U.S. domination through its Organization of American States apparatus.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Covid Funds Spent on Police and Prisons
    22 Sep 2021
    Systemic racism and weak movement politics allow states and cities to spend relief funds on police and jails. 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us