Donald and Melania Trump were standing on the “up” escalator, which had stopped moving as soon as they stepped on to it. Pretty funny, but Trump wasn’t laughing.

“He’s one of them sociopaths,” said my neighbor Swamp Rabbit as we watched the video. “He don’t laugh at nothing except when somebody he don’t like breaks their neck or something.”

The escalator malfunction was at the United Nations, not long before Trump started to make a Hitlerian speech and found his teleprompter wasn’t working. Later, predictably, he insisted the escalator and teleprompter failed because of “sabotage” and ordered an “immediate investigation.”

“This was symbolism, not sabotage,” I said. “The gods are trying to tell Trump he’s just an evil clown who won power because Americans were too angry and confused to understand that electing him for a second time might be the kiss of death for the American experiment.”

Swamp Rabbit shook his head and reached for his beer. “Okay, but what you mean by symbolism? Sometimes an escalator is just an escalator.”

I sighed. “An escalator is a symbol. Remember when Trump rode the escalator at Trump Tower with Melania ten years ago? It was the gods signaling that the time was right for him to become a major threat to civilization. But this time the gods used an escalator to tell him he’s an irredeemable jackass, the world has had enough. The escalators are like bookends.”

Swamp Rabbit scowled. “You must have been one of them English majors. Symbols don’t mean nothing. What you’re saying is just wishful thinking.”

“You’re probably right,” I replied. “But it doesn’t hurt to make a wish.”

Footnote: The escalator and teleprompter malfunctions turned out the be the fault of Trump’s lackeys. Predictably.