9 December—Painful as it is to admit, Donald Trump has from time to time spoken the truth. And one of his notably and undeniably veracious and accurate observations is that “the American dream is dead.” Of course that’s because with his ascendance to tyrannical omnipotence the American dream has died and been resurrected as the American nightmare.

To celebrate the first American nightmare since you name it, then, here’s a folk song that Trump’s fellow dictator Vladimir Putrid probably knows by heart and may even croon to his mistress. It’s a popular old Russian ditty called “Steppe and Steppe All Around” (“Степь да степь кругом,” “Step da step krugom”).

The steppes, you’ll recall, are essentially the Russian equivalent of the North American prairie, vast, grassy with relatively few trees, hot summers, and cold winters; and in the 1950s and ‘60s the steppes were the Soviet Dust Bowl.

“Steppe and Steppe All Around,” like not a little of the world’s folk music, is rather melancholic, in this instance about a coachman who’s freezing to death and asks his friend to give his horse to his father and tell his young widow to find another husband. We aren’t told the backstory, but it must have something to do with a typically harsh winter in the steppes.

So forget about the sad story and enjoy the beautiful music: