Sign of the times? Donald Trump can’t even reliably win one of these things anymore, though not for lack of trying. Last week he was runner-up to astronaut Lauren Sánchez (39.7 percent to 25 percent): it seems no amount of high-profile ineptitude can compete with being rocketed into space for a few minutes aboard your fiancé’s you-know-what-shaped space toy. Third place went to Kristi Noem, Homeland Security’s poseur-in-chief. (She’s the one in the flak jacket, eyebrow pencil, and gold Rolex.) But keep an eye on fourth-place finisher Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose unearned self-confidence, compulsive embrace of bad information, and dangerously powerful bully pulpit have made him a recurring A.W.I. contender.
Another round? Sure. But first:
