This week in the saga

Tuesday morning he addresses a foreign crowd directly and tells it to keep going and to take over its own institutions, to write down the names of the killers, and that help is on its way. Thursday morning a broadcast reports that a protester will not be executed after all, and he says it is good news and hopes it continues. That afternoon the threat turns inward: if a state will not stop the people obstructing his officers he will institute the Insurrection Act. Thursday evening the Board of Peace is announced, the greatest and most prestigious board ever assembled. That night a woman from a country his navy has just taken apart hands him her Nobel Peace Prize as a gesture of mutual respect. And Friday he returns to the state, where the governor and the mayor have totally lost control and are being rendered useless.