Have you seen this photograph from a football game in Iowa, between the in-state rivals, the University of Iowa, and Iowa State?

Look at the man. You don't see his face, but can you feel his fury, his anger, his rage?

This isn't a kid.

This is a grown man.

And there he is, the 45th president of the United States

and his full Trumpian regalia for a football game.

There is never a moment where the American fascist furor is not in that uniform.

It is the cloak of his authority, his vestments of power.

But to understand that picture, to go deep inside of it, a picture worth many, many, many thousands of words, I'm going to tell a story.

It's a story about a bus.

And these three men, all United States senators, John McCain, Lindsay Graham, and Ted Kennedy,

from a campaign that wasn't so long ago on the calendar, but exists in a different epoch in American history

and in American life.

This was John McCain's iconic campaign bus,

the straight talk express.

What made it different is McCain actually talked and engaged with reporters on it.

McCain would talk to them about literally anything.

There was no question off limits. It was rambunctious,

entertaining, and could be funny as hell sometimes. The reporters were back there to write stories.

McCain's job was to try to seduce them, and he was very, very good at it. Don't get me wrong. He could be furious with the media, with the press, and specifically with reporters who covered him. But never

once did he threaten them with imprisonment or execution. He didn't want to lock up the media. John McCain's campaign in 2007 had collapsed.

He had begun the year as the Republican frontrunner, but by July 4th the campaign had collapsed.

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