Four levels of horror

Photo: Gage Skidmore.

Each of these operate independently of one another:

1. Half of the United States voted for that campaign.
2. Trump is driven only by ego, and that's a proven possible road to dictatorship.
3. Discourse poison will continue, this time from the bully pulpit.
4. He's 100% liar. His statements have 0% meaning. We have no idea where this goes.

That last one is a bigger deal than folks outside the media and government may think.

Folks outside these professions often say politicians lie, but that's only half right. Most politicians abide by a loose but real standard. One reason the government establishment and mainstream media were so in tank against Trump, more than his dangerous, repulsive and predatory words and actions, is they realize that his complete disregard for truth is fundamentally incompatible with democracy. And Trump has proven, to those watching, that it's far, far easier to fully abandon truth than they had hoped.

As long as the waters flow

Do we know anything about Maria Strehinsky, the only woman who seems to be doing much of anything on the Atlantic's masthead? Because this trick of constantly hiring female writers to tell hard, politically incorrect truths about gender roles has been feeling a little -- how to say? -- Cowboys and Indians.

The masses

It's natural to assume that a crowd of people will behave like water or an amoeba or a nest of ants, creeping and probing until it discovers a path. But a human crowd isn't focused on discovery; it's focused on desire. It's goal-oriented, like a lightning bolt or a cobra. When an event occurs -- a spreading rumor, an opened gate, a shouted order -- each individual calculates what effect it will have on his or her immediate personal objectives and the crowd reacts suddenly and unpredictably.

The best way to control a crowd of humans is therefore to never present it with new information.