Getting Specific About the Part of Hell Dante Reserved For Politicians Like Manchin and Sinema

Here's a little detail to add to your wishes that Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, some Democrats, Donald Trump and almost all of the GOP rot in hell.

They come from my researching Dante Alighieri's book The Divine Comedy, perhaps the most detailed act of revenge ever written, since, in it, he skewers countless foes he encountered in his life.

Dante, reserved the last (9th) circle, the circle of treachery in Hell, or, as he called it, Inferno and within that deepest circle was Judecca, the deepest abyss, , for "sinners against those who only wished them well, who are so completely immersed in their crime that no other display of humanity is possible. I'd say that applies perfectly to politicians who betray their constituents, who gave them their power and, often their wealth.

This is the same deepest part of hell where Dante put Lucifer, frozen in ice, his beautiful wings replaced with bat-like leathery things eternally flapping to no avail in his efforts to escape. But the more the mwings flap, the colder the deepest part of hell gets, preventing any possibility of thawing. The ordinary mortals-- don't even have their heads out of the frozen terrain, unlike other sinners who at least have their faces exposed. They are frozen, immobilized, locked for eternity in certain postures. I can imagine Manchin and Sinema locked in a posture with their faces raised up, lips puckered as they were kissing the behinds of the also assigned to hell corporate and billionaire sinners who brought out the greed and betrayal in them.

Judecca is named after Judas, betrayer of Jesus.

Dante also described another pocket in hell, the fifth bolgia of the eighth circle, for people who committed the sin of "barrotry, or graft-- the selling of political favors. This one is filled with boiling pitch, watched over by farting demons who make sure the rules are followed. The rules? Stick your head out of the boiling pitch and you get thrown back in head-first, by the pitchfork-wielding malebranche demons.

Speaking of a world-celebrated book that celebrates the myriad ways to skewer sinners, writing this article reminds me of when I was walking home from junior high with my friend Stan. We were discussing how war criminal Adolph "I was only following orders" Eichman had been sentenced to die and what would be an apt method of execution. I came up with putting him in a sealed chamber, standing, then gradually filling it with acid. Oy. That's nasty, but the guy was a monster and I was a kid with an imagination.

What kind of hell would you put politicians in, and let's throw in hypocrites who lead or pretend to practice the teachings of Christ, Muhammad, or other religious founders.