Photo by Nathaniel St. Clair
Donald Trump claims to be good at making deals; what he is actually good at is gaming the system. He is even better at selling snake oil. The snake oil he sells is himself.
He was so good at it last year that he has now become a clear and present danger – to people around the world and to the vast majority of Americans, especially Muslims, Hispanics, people of color, people who don’t conform to prevailing gender norms, and women.
He is also a danger to the rule of law and to the basic rights and liberties of all but the filthy rich.
He is a danger to the planet as well, and to world peace.
And he is a bumptious buffoon, a joke. This, as he would tweet, is “very sad.”
The American public enabled him; now it is up to that public to disable him and, as much as possible, to undo the damage he has already done and will do before he quits or is impeached or, God forbid, rides out his term until the next election.
First, though, the public has to get smart.
H.L. Mencken famously said that “no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”
He had a point, in just the way that, for example, Ambrose Bierce did when he said that “war is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.” These are witticisms, however, not statements of fact.
Lately though, Mencken’s quip is close to becoming literally true – now that the allegedly beneficent deity has turned Trump lose upon us.
But only part of…