Lincoln's Revulsion

On my approach he slowly drew his feet in from the different parts of the room into which they had strayed...

He gathered his evasions up
    And vague dissimulations
From various quarters, this lap pup,
    And rose to take his nation’s
Trust in his hands, as newly sworn
    To be a judge pro forma
On the high court—robes to adorn
    This lackluster brainstormer.

His confirmation hearings showed
    His wile in execution,
For, questioned, he unfailingly strode
    In skilled circumlocution
Along a tepid, nether ground
    Not either this nor that way
With clarity precise, profound,
    But dull aristocrat way.

I thought of Lincoln, he who hewed
    An axe in rail-splitting,
Whose words strove never to occlude,
    With care their target hitting,
And what a contrast this buffoon,
    Neil Gorsuch, sly, presented,
Little more than a party goon,
    Mendacity undented.

With subterfuge and camouflage,
    Threat, bullying, intriguing,
Integrity whole-cloth mirage
    With crooks and shysters leaguing,
He found himself considered for
    Egregious elevation,
So answered every senator
    With—vague dissimulation.

Soon, all the lies will coalesce,
    Albeit of omission,
And mediocrity undress
    Itself of vain ambition,
Then will the truth be broadcast: here’s
    A clown passing as judge
With jurisprudence in arrears
    And wallowing in sludge.

How Lincoln would abhor the man
    Who filled a stolen seat,
A cipher and a charlatan,
    Commingler and a cheat,
And rue the day democracy
    Was sundered, worsely for such
A raging mediocrity
    As Justice Neil Gorsuch.