As I try to make sense of the current U.S. administration, the analogy that keeps coming to mind is cancer. Cancer starts out as a small anomaly, but then can quickly grow within the body, often with fatal consequences.
The divisiveness, toxic racism and astonishing economic destructiveness of this administration parallels the effects of cancer. A once reasonably healthy body politic has been taken over by a particularly virulent and dangerous mutation.
I was particularly struck by the ugly attack on the late Rob Reiner, who was not only a brilliant and beloved filmmaker, but also, in his non-professional life, a kind, generous, and deeply engaged American citizen. This fits the pattern.
After all, one of the ways that a cancer destroys the body is to attack healthy cells.