The Politics of Despair

I admit, I whipsaw around as to what motivates Trump. Is he a massive narcissist? Is he a cunning plutocrat? Is he a parochial xenophobe? Is he the hapless puppet of Russian oligarchs? Is he willing tool of them? Is he a rabid neocon warmonger? Is he an anti-government iconoclast looking to line his own pockets along the way? Is he a racist white nationalist with a fondness for the Bad Old Days? Is he an idiot holding a loaded pistol? Is he a fiendish genius with the keys to the kingdom?

Is he simply Loki in an unattractive disguise, spreading mischief and/or evil? Puck putting on the ass’ head himself, playing chaos-bringer and chortling about what fools these mortals be?

I think the greatest danger of someone like Trump, who not only pushes buttons in all directions, but positively delights in doing so, is that people will get so fed up they just throw up their hands and say, “I can’t even,” and walk away from confronting him and his cohorts, walk away from reminding not just themselves but others around them that this is not normal, and this must be stopped, walk away from the processes in place to do something about it (including voting come November to kick the political legs out from under this dolt).

Despair is the greatest enemy. Because Trump has just enough followers who are wildly enthused about (cherry-picked aspects of) what he does, that unless people stand up to him he will continue to, not just let it all burn to the ground, but heave cans of gasoline into the fire, all the while smirking from whatever the source of joy he finds in doing so.

Trump Says U.S. Will No Longer Be ‘Piggy Bank That Everybody’s Robbing’
At the end of a contentious meeting of the Group of Seven nations, Mr. Trump railed about what he called “ridiculous and unacceptable” tariffs on American goods.

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