I wonder if Donny’s mother read him fairytales at bedtime.

He seems to be living in a Grimm world: he is the raunchy old king, surrounded by fawning courtiers, accepting the attention of the young prince to whom he reluctantly married his daughter but relying more on the machinations of his cruel, crafty chief advisor, who stands just behind the throne, whispering twisted tales that the king, a leering smile on his pasty face, will roll out as absolute fact and law of the land.

Bannon is the Lord Vizier to our stupid but dangerous monarch. He’s obviously got the king wrapped around his little finger, even managing, just a few days into Donny’s reign, to get himself appointed to the National Security Council, while the distinguished Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff found himself shown the door.

The Muslim ban, the privileging of Christians…this is right out of the Crusades, which were of course a formative background for the European fairytales. In my childhood, I read the entire Andrew Lang series over and over, so I recognize the playbook well.

The king, who lives in a gilded palace up on the hill, is timidly informed that the people are not happy with the high taxes, endless work and low living standards they have to endure to keep him and his knights in feasts and armor.

He roars back and sends his goons out to knock some heads.

Sullenly, the people go back to work and the king goes back to carousing with the courtiers and sleeping around with all the women in the castle.

When the knights get restless, he sends them off on quixotic quests like fighting dragons–or Muslims in the Crusades. I know this was an earlier time, actually the time of good King Arthur. But Donny seems to have conflated these periods (no surprise, he obviously wasn’t paying attention in history class). Now, as in medieval times, it’s Christians against Muslims. And maybe the Jews will be next, although the king’s Jewish son-in-law may be able to deflect the monarch’s attention elsewhere.

Already in the first week we’ve heard of the return of the CIA “Black sites,” where people can be disappeared for interrogation. Here we have the Inquisition rearing its ugly, vicious head again, complete with medieval-style torture chambers.

The king and his henchmen aren’t worried about retaliation by the people. They know they hold all the cards: fabulous and endless wealth; a vast network of spies and informants; military might enough to crush any resistance at home or abroad; and an impregnable castle with a wide deep moat and a drawbridge, guarded by the toughest soldiers day and night.

But this is not a fairytale world, Donny. We are not living in medieval Europe. You are not a king—you can’t rule by edict. Your relatives, including your sainted mother and your current wife, came to this country as immigrants precisely because in this country, we have laws that safeguard the rights of all the people, not just the rich and powerful.

Somewhere along the line you seem to have forgotten this basic fact. You have become so deeply corrupted that you can no longer discern between the racist lies of Bannon and the truth enshrined in our Constitution, that in this country all people are free and endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

No, we don’t live in a perfect union. The Constitution has been a work in progress, and will continue to need updating to reflect our modern understanding of right relations among people, nations and our planet.

But we will not be dragged by you and your billionaire cronies back into Medieval times. We will not be carpet-bombed by edicts designed to shock and demoralize us.

We see right through you, Donny. You’re wearing no clothes, dude.

And we’re watching you. Thousands of us spent their Saturday afternoon and evening out at the airports protesting your idiotic, counterproductive “Muslim ban.”

“Flash mob” protest at JFK airport, 1/28/17

A courageous federal judge, Ann M. Donnelly, was the first of what I’m sure will be many judges to uphold the laws of our land and show you, in no uncertain terms, that you are not a dictator—you serve at the will of the people.

You did not come to the White House with a popular mandate, despite your pitiful attempts to twitter out your pathetic “alternative facts.” You are skating on very thin ice. There is already, one week in, a strong movement to impeach you rumbling up from the grassroots. The lawyers are preparing their briefs even as we speak.

You may live in infamy as the president with the shortest term in history. You’ll go back down into your swamp, braying and snorting belligerently all the way no doubt, leaving us with your other evil advisor, Pence.

At least Pence is someone who lives in the modern world, not a fairytale fantasy. I don’t think he’ll be so quick to send brutish threats ricocheting around the globe, though it’s clear he’ll do his best to bring women to heel at home.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all humans are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…as long as that pursuit does not harm others.

Donny, why don’t you go home to your tower and let Melania read you your bedtime story.