When he was a host on an Emmy-nominated show, he claimed that the fix was in when he didn’t win.  People laughed and moved on. 

When he entered the political arena, he used the street-fighting techniques he learned from his mentor, the relentless lawyer Roy Cohn.  His opponents were “Little” Marco, “Lyin’ Ted”, and “Crooked Hillary.”  He and his publisher friend David Pecker paid for stories so they wouldn’t become public knowledge and introduced a new phrase into the public lexicon—catch and kill.  Pecker’s minions also cooked up stories about his opponents—Ted Cruz’s father killed JFK, Hillary was terminally ill, etc.

America had never seen a national political character like this.  He mocked his opponents, showed little grasp of the issues, but had the bombast and ability to stir up a crowd by the airing of grievances.  A snake-oil salesman of the first order, his failed businesses included Trump Steak, Trump Vodka, Trump Mortgage, and Trump Airlines. He filed for bankruptcy for Trump Plaza and for the Trump casinos. He had to pay $25 million to the students duped by his claims in Trump University.

According to Wikipedia, “From the 1970s until he was elected president in 2016, Donald Trump and his businesses were involved in over 4,000 legal cases in United States federal and state courts, including battles with casino patrons, million-dollar real estate lawsuits, personal defamation lawsuits, and over 100 business tax disputes.”

Then, against all odds, he lost the popular vote but won the electoral college vote and became President.

His term in office was one of chaos, roiled with staff turnover and random initiatives that he often gleaned from his favorite TV hosts. He did manage to do the bidding of the arch-conservative Federalist Society and put three of their hand-picked choices on the Supreme Court. This court then overturned Roe v. Wade, the statute that had legalized abortion for the past 50 years, creating more chaos throughout the country as each state’s laws reflected the various restrictions or freedoms women could have in managing their health care.

Trump was not re-elected, but true to his playbook, refused to accept defeat. The coup de grace  came on January 6, 2020, after an elaborate scheme by his inner circle to declare the Presidential election invalid had failed. He summoned his followers to Washington, D.C. and told them they had to “fight like hell” and then unleashed them on the U.S. Capitol. 

Thousands of his rabid followers smashed windows, attacked policemen, and barged into the Capitol, ransacking the sacred seat of our national government and  chanting “Hang Mike Pence.”  It was a scene unlike any other in American history.

Now a convicted felon, Trump is continuing his campaign and is the presumptive Republican nominee for  President.

This is a true mystery. 

He speaks the politics of grievance to the masses, while protecting billionaires.

He speaks of a failed America. I don’t see a failed America. I see a big, beautiful nation where millions of us live in peace with our neighbors, no matter their race, religion, or sexual orientation. We are a tolerant people who know that the American dream is still alive.  Do we have problems? Sure, we always have. But we always have worked to try to remedy them, to move toward the light.

We are a good and great people.  We deserve leaders who understand and believe that.