Pull up a chair. I’m Beth Arnold, and this is the audio edition of The Trump Rungs of Hell: How Trump and His Collaborators Descended from Appetite to Treachery.
The idea began as satire: Donald Trump and his collaborators descending, rung by rung, through a modern American version of Dante’s Inferno.
But satire becomes difficult when the truth is already this grotesque—and when what is happening to the country is too dark to be exaggerated very much.
So this piece borrows the architecture of Dante’s Inferno to trace America’s descent—not through nine circles, but down nine rungs, from the surrender of moral judgment to the betrayal of the republic.
It’s dark territory. But there is also something clarifying about naming exactly where we are, how we arrived here, and who helped carry us downward. And let’s just enjoy the concept of karma.
Thank you for joining me.
Let’s descend!
P.S. I’d love to see SNL take it on. 🤞🏻😉
Thank you for listening—and for continuing to descend into the political cosmos with me, even when the scenery is infernal.
I’m especially grateful to my paid subscribers. Your support gives me the time and freedom to research, write, record, and keep telling the truth as clearly—and occasionally as wickedly—as I can.
And to everyone who reads, listens, comments, and shares these pieces: you help carry the work beyond this little corner of the world.
Please subscribe if you haven’t already, and share this piece with anyone who may still be standing on one of those upper rungs, wondering how much farther America can fall.
yes, please tip me a cup of coffee
Until next time, take care of yourselves—and hold fast to the truth.
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