Frankly, I think y'all are working the wrong Yeats poem. The Second Coming gets trotted out as often as September 1, 1939:
"Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;"
et cetera, et cetera... But what made Yeats a visionary was the poems he wrote when he wasn't trying to be a visionary. Like this one:
"... how can you compete,
Being honor bred, with one
Who were it proved he lies
Were neither shamed in his own
Nor in his neighbors' eyes?"
It's nearly perfectly predictive of Trump's "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters..."
For those who may be skeptical, video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC16c98hDPc
Meanwhile, incredibly, I just heard a Chinese woman on the radio saying some folks in her country are questioning the very idea of democracy, since democracy seems to lead to people like Trump. Transcript isn't up yet, here's a link to the four minute piece:
http://www.npr.org/2016/08/01/488274...-u-s-election#
Crazy stuff...
Best,
Bill