Can’t Take a Hint

I’ve never totally understood why it hasn’t been more obvious to a larger number of people.

I think I’m grasping the dynamic of standing one’s ground—it’s what the different sides have been doing since Trump descended from on high. Still, over time, it surprises me that support for policies and for the person himself hasn’t eroded further than it has.

If for no other reasons than Trump’s personality and demeanor, many have thought since the outset that he would be a flash in the pan—he’s shallow, self-involved, lazy. We’ve apparently underestimated how far anger and vindictiveness could carry him, along with the racist whispering and Savior complex, and the cadre of misfits and sycophants feeding him sound bytes and offering up the daily dose of compliments and kudos that feed his narcissism. Not to mention the Playbook.

It’s been ten years of a perfect storm—even when he was out of office! Think of the army of attorneys he’s had to employ. Think of how badly he wants victory at any cost. Not victory in an unwarranted war, or over nagging domestic challenges, but victory for himself, in any form—whether it’s someone else’s Nobel Peace Prize, or putting his name on buildings, creating his own NIL scheme, tearing down a whole wing of the White House, demeaning people left and right, or in general usurping power and abusing privileges.

Policies—or lack thereof—notwithstanding, one might dare think, “How is it possible for such a vacuous, emptied-souled cretin to hold sway for so long?”

The answer lies, in no small part, in an unsettling reality: he’s had help. He’s got “friends” in high places who think he’s either a business genius or a sap who’s easy to play. There’s a whole cadre of alternate universe thinkers who possess a horrifying vision for America, and they see Trump as the one through whom they can extend their reach.

He and a cadre of Republicans will denigrate Democrats for holding up funding for DHS, but the reality is that he long ago planted the seeds of peoples’ opposition to the draconian measures that have become a hallmark of this administration.

He often reaps what he sows, but he never learns.