THE WALKING TRUMP

I need to develop a new morning routine.

For the last several weeks, either at home or on the road, and with coffee in hand, I pour over a handful of beloved websites in order to find new material to fuel my outrage and disbelief about the Trump Ascendancy. We all have had plenty of time to orient ourselves to this bizarre shift in the political landscape – but we haven’t. We remain incredulous that a wealthy blowhard and high-profile asshole who clearly knows so little about political process and policy is on what appears to be a fairly clear path to the Republican nomination, and, possibly, the White House.

By the time I get to cup number 3 I am apoplectic. Something’s gotta give.

Alas, I fear I have become the old fool I have always dreaded becoming. I still believe what someone says is important, that telling the truth is important, that publically rendered statements must be factually born out, that we must be vigilant is safeguarding constitutional democracy from the xenophobia and nationalism that nearly destroyed Europe in the last century, that self-identified Christian evangelicals care – or should care – about the character and conduct of their public heroes.

Silly wabbit.

It finally occurred to me this very morning. I am getting off on the same simmering anger and discontent which has created The Walking Trump – the horde of disaffected and really pissed off voters who feel as though the America they thought they were living in has slipped out of their grasp. This is an addiction to Hate Porn. And, like every effective populist in political history, Trump has seized the day, almost effortlessly, by saying, “It’s THEIR fault!”

Hey, don’t knock it. That strategy put Hitler in power not too terribly long ago. And we all know how well that turned out.