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

Ol’ Schmo ‘negotiates’ Us a trillion dollar deal— We started with TEN…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
31 May 2023
🖨️ Print Article
Ol’ Schmo ‘negotiates’ Us a trillion dollar deal—  We started with TEN…
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden (Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Ol’ Schmo ‘negotiates’ Us a trillion dollar deal—

We started with TEN…

“It’s morally wrong to allow

a sucker to keep his money.”

—W.C. Fields

 

Great grand bargainer—Drone Ranger-
Slick Willy-style ‘negotiator.’ ‘Debt ceiling’
debater—‘fiscal cliff’ navigator— Ol’ Schmo
plays Harry Houdini. His hands are always tied—
on The Peoples’ needs!

Call it cruel Kabuki Theater/Silly Sinema—
slapstick, or whatever, with a West Virginian
Munchkin.
Corporate tax butchering! Elite tax ‘breaks!’ Weapons
of Mass Destruction! Bankrolling/co-signing for Apartheid
State Slaughter of the Day! Ol’ Schmo’s ever clever ‘across
the aisle’ acrobat!

Remember how he had Anita Hill’s back—
Strom Thurmond’s stiletto?
Remember his paw prints all over Long Dong Silver,
AKA Thom-ass Clarence, and Spinnin’ Ginni madness?

Ol’ Schmo ‘negotiates’ pistols pointing at
Our foreheads.
And he’ll rush out War House screaming, “I was
Robbed—had ‘my' money in this pocket and
Your money in that pocket. They got your money!!!”

He’ll spout mush-mouthed platitudes. Snap selfies. Slide
into a luxury getaway car. Track elephant excrement/donkey
dung to Delaware,West Virginia, Arizona, General Dynamics,
Raytheon, Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Northrup-Grumman…

© 2023. 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.

Joe Biden
Austerity
Race to the Bottom

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


More Stories


  • x
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Somalia: On the Front Lines with Somaliland
    04 Aug 2026
    "During the last week of July, I traveled to the front lines of Somalia’s unresolved border conflict with Somaliland, the Somali secessionist state now recognized by Israel but not by
  • x
    Anthony Rogers-Wright
    The Commodification of Social Justice: (Or, Saving the Data Center Subject from the Elite Capture of the Climate Industry)
    04 Aug 2026
    There is near unanimity of opinion against data centers in the U.S. But elitist and compromised environmental groups and the climate industry should not lead this fight. 
  • x
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    What’s with a Pomade Man’s testosterone obsession?
    04 Aug 2026
    "What’s with a Pomade Man’s testosterone obsession?" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence
  • x
    Julia Wright
    A Tribute to Johanna Fernandez
    04 Aug 2026
    Johanna Fernandez left a powerful and revolutionary legacy through her scholarship and activism.
  • x
    Stevie Wilson
    When I Heard of the Passing of Johanna Fernandez
    04 Aug 2026
    Johanna Fernandez touched many lives through her scholarship, activism, and belief that people themselves can change history and be "the ones we've been waiting for."
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us