WIRTW #755: the 'seuss' edition

ChatGPT continues to amaze me with what it can do. Last week, I asked it to write a parody of "Green Eggs & Ham" about tariffs. You can read that story — called This Tariff Sham — over on LinkedIn.

This week, I decided to take it a step further: "Can you write a story in the style of Dr. Seuss's 'The Cat in the Hat' about the rise of authoritarianism in the United States and the increasing threat to the rule of law posed by the current Trump administration?" Then, I asked it to illustrate the results in a complete children's book. The results? Simply stunning. Read the story below, or download the fully illustrated book here.

* * *

The Man in the Red Tie
A Cautionary Tale in the Style of Dr. Seuss

The sun wasn't sunny. The news made us frown.
The Rule of Law seemed to be sliding down.

We sat in our house. We felt anxious and stuck.
We read every tweet and just whispered, "Oh… yuck."

Then THUMP!
Something boomed like a cannonball blast.
We turned to the screen — and he strode in fast.

He wore a red tie, too long and too wide,
With a smirk on his face and a puffed-out pride.

"I am the Man!" he said with a grin.
"I'll make us all great by just keeping me in!"

He stomped and he shouted, he pouted and screamed.
He flattered the rich and he schemed while they beamed.

He scolded the courts, he mocked every norm,
He said, "I alone will reform the reform!"

He fired the watchdogs who'd barked at his lies.
He said, "Loyal dogs are the very best guys."

He told folks in uniforms, "Do what you must.
If I tell you it's legal, then you know it’s just."

He roared at the press and he called them "fake."
He branded all truth as a liberal mistake.

He built up a wall, not just out of brick—
But out of division, and anger, and schtick.

He courted the chaos, the proud and the cruel.
He said, "I don't care — I make the rule!"

And some folks just cheered, "He tells it like so!"
(Though what "so" was… they weren't sure they'd know.)

But the skies grew darker, the air full of dread,
As the books stayed closed and the laws grew dead.

Then came the Day — the one we all feared.
The vote loomed large, and the stakes had cleared.

Would the people still matter? Would ballots be true?
Would justice be blind, or just red, white, and blue?

Then YOU stood up tall — yes, you, in that chair!
You said, "This is still our Republic to care!"

"The law is not his — it belongs to us all.
It's strong when we stand, and weak when we fall."

You voted. You marched. You wrote and you spoke.
You called out each lie. You challenged each joke.

And maybe, just maybe, the tide turned again—
The Rule of Law held, with paper and pen.

Now kids, let me tell you — remember this day.
Democracy isn't just kept safe by what we say.

It's guarded by people who act when things tilt,
Who patch up the cracks before freedoms wilt.

So the next time a man comes to town with a grin,
And says, "I alone can make your side win,"—

Say, "Thanks, but no thanks. We've read this old plot.
We're the People. We matter. Like it or not."