S2. Chapter 13: The Slow-Drip of Fascism

Lloyd Dobler uses the Tao Te Ching to make sense of a tragedy in Washington DC: a National Guard member killed, another critically wounded, and a political system that turned grief into ammunition before the scene was even cleared. 

Lloyd traces the scapegoating of Afghan refugees, Trump’s threat to “permanently pause migration from all Third World countries,” and the creeping authoritarianism that arrives not with a bang but a slow-drip leak no one bothers to patch.

What follows is a guided meditation through the Tao Te Ching Chapter 13— a chapter that warns that success is as dangerous as failure and hope as hollow as fear. Lloyd isn’t a guru; he’s stumbling through the same chaos as the listener. But together, they try to find balance, humor, perspective, and a sliver of humanity in a collapsing empire’s ER.

A dark, comedic, meditative reflection on fear, compassion, and what it means to see the world (and each other) as ourselves.

Transcript

Welcome back for chapter thirteen.

I’m Lloyd Dobler, and this is The Tao of Lloyd, the podcast where I take the Tao Te Ching one chapter at a time and aim it at the United States, a patient in the collapsing empire’s ER running on 3% battery and bad decisions.

So… let’s talk about the national guard members shot, with one dead, in Washington DC. In days of old, that would have been the news cycle firing a starter pistol into our cortisol glands.
But that was before Columbine, before Sandy Hook, and before Trump floated down the escalator in Trump Tower to announce he was running for President the first time. But in the United States we have grown so used to shootings that the national fight-or-flight reflex now mostly just hits “snooze.” Combine that with the unique adrenaline hangover of the Trump era, where every story feels like the hundredth sequel in a franchise that refuses to end and it’s like we’re all trapped in a political version of Groundhog Day directed by Alfred Hitchcock, where the monster reveal is just America taking off its mask, and where every door creaks ominously because it’s another constitutional norm collapsing.

Here’s what happened:
A former CIA-linked Afghan man opened fire near the White House, shooting two National Guard members. One of them died. A “CIA-linked Afghan,” meaning one of the thousands of allies who once helped the U.S. at great personal risk, and now gets reduced to a three-word label that absolves us from dealing with the blowback of our foreign policy.

A tragedy.
Full stop.
Human beings harmed, a life lost, a family shattered. A twenty-year-old member of the national guard, Sarah Beckstrom is dead. And Andrew Wolfe, 24, is critically wounded. Why? The National Guard are in DC because Trump is trying to manifest fascism the way some people manifest parking spots: visualize it, speak it into existence, and surround yourself with enough uniforms that the universe gets the hint.

And before the smoke had even cleared, before anyone could remember that grief isn’t supposed to be instantaneous political currency, President Trump posted on social media, quote, “I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover, terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions … Only REVERSEMIGRATION can fully cure this situation. Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for — You won’t be here for long!” Trump wrote.

 “permanently pausing migration from all Third World countries,” … even by empire’s usual standards is a lot of pauses for a country that’s never once hit the pause button on bombing the places it now refuses help from.

And there, in the middle of the political crossfire, sit tens of thousands of Afghan refugees. People we invited here through Operation Allies Welcome, people who risked their lives to stand beside U.S. forces, now being treated like a bargaining chip in a dystopian congressional poker game.

Because nothing says “land of the free” like punishing the people who trusted you.
Nothing says “home of the brave” like panicking at the existence of the very allies you promised to protect.

and with that noise swimming around your skull, lets prepare for the reading. For the meditative stillness.

(Bell chime.) tone shifts, ultra calm:

Settle in. Get comfortable.
Close your eyes.
or don't.
I mean I'm not your spiritual advisor.
Or am I?
Consider closing your eyes? 
I mean what have you go to lose?
I mean, unless you are listening to that one guy online explaining who really killed Charlie Kirk and why; or you are destroying the health insurance lobby so we can finally get true national health care for all, or you are releasing the unreacted Epstein files
I mean, just go ahead and close your eyes start the journey within
breathe in through your nose.
Good
And breathe out through your nose like you’re exhaling on the cold mirror of a country trying not to see what it’s become.
Good.

This is chapter 13 of the Tao Te Ching.

Success is as dangerous as failure.
Hope is as hollow as fear.

What does it mean that success is as dangerous as failure?

Whether you go up the ladder or down it,
your position is shaky.
When you stand with your two feet on the ground, 
you will always keep your balance.

What does it mean that hope is as hollow as fear? 
Hope and fear are both phantoms 
that arise from thinking of the self. 
When we don't see the self as self, 
what do we have to fear? 

See the world as your self. 
Have faith in the way things are. 
Love the world as your self; 
then you can care for all things

(Bell chime.)

LLOYD:
and that concludes chapter 13 of the Tao Te Ching. 

You can open your eyes if you closed them.
Or keep them shut.
Honestly, it might be safer to keep them closed, you know metaphorically.

Chapter 13 tells us that success is as dangerous as failure and hope is as hollow as fear, which sounds impressive rolling off the tongue, doesn’t it? Very “ancient mystic on a mountaintop” energy but honestly: half the time I don’t know if the Tao is warning me, comforting me, or politely suggesting I stop spiraling in public.

\\The Tao wants us to stand on the ground instead of climbing the ladder, which is beautiful in theory, but I’ve spent most of my adult life climbing emotional ladders that aren’t even nailed to the wall. So I’m not preaching from enlightenment here. I’m more like the guy at the hardware store asking: “Hey, does anyone know which ladder doesn’t collapse when you breathe near it?”

And then there’s news out of DC: a tragedy turned into a political weapon in record time.
Fear broadcast.
Refugees blamed.
A dead soldier turned into a campaign talking point.
And Trump soft-launching fascism like it’s the new iPhone.

And here I am, trying to find Taoist wisdom in the screaming void, while also checking my pulse every ten minutes because the news keeps inventing new ways to make my eyelid twitch.

Chapter 13 says hope and fear are phantoms that arise from thinking of the self.
Which is probably true.
But also… have you tried not thinking of yourself lately?
It’s hard.
I’m doing my best.
My best is inconsistent.

The Tao says: See the world as your self.
And I want to!
I really do!
But some days “seeing the world as myself” feels like a liability.
If I saw Afghan refugees as myself, I’d protect them.
If I saw the National Guard kid who died as myself, I’d mourn her, not militarize her memory.
And then I’d storm the fucking White House and kick Trump’s ass to the curb.
If I saw the country as myself… I’d probably schedule an intervention.

So here’s the practice, for you and for me:

When the next crisis hits, and the next one is already stretching and doing vocal warm-ups in the wings, waiting for its cue to enter stage left like young Lin Manuel Miranda who just like his country is young scrappy and hungry and is not throwing away his shot, notice what hits you first.

Hope?
Fear?
That familiar urge to bury your head in a family sized bag of cheese filled combos? 
Cool.
Same.
Just don’t let that be the whole story.

Then ask:
Who’s being dehumanized right now?
And what would shift if I saw them as myself — on one of my better days?

That’s the balance Chapter 13 is talking about.
Not enlightenment, just noticing.
Not perfection, just perspective.
Not guru energy, just trying again.

And I’ll see you next time, to try again, in chapter 14.

From the edge of empire and the center of the self,
this is The Tao of Lloyd.