My take is that if he knew what he was doing, he would never have gotten into this position. To my mind, he’s very seriously misjudged the public reception to his grab for power.

I think he’s hoping to buy time, to see if he can salvage his position. I doubt that buying time will work for him, though, as his coalition is likely to fall if he’s seen as weak and vacillating.

This gives me hope that he’s between a rock and a hard place. Though who knows, he’s survived a lot of upheavals before.

Gotta check this out.

Cry “havoc!”, and let slip the dogs of war.

They stunned her, and stripped off her garments,

And lastly,

They stuffed her in a kind of pod;

And it was then that Millicent Frastley

Was sacrificed to THE INSECT GOD.

• Edward Gorey

You could say he was a … Felonious Monk?

Looks very similar to the gold “wizard hats” that date to the same era, mostly found in Germany and France:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Gold_Hat

They are also covered in calendrical symbols.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Gold_Hat#/media/File%3ABerlin_Gold_hat_calendar.jpg

I was a junior, so I guess it was!

Even more tangential anecdote: whoever mixed the music for the one high school dance I attended put “Excitable Boy” on the playlist … and I think I was the only one who noticed how inappropriate that was! 😄