Today marks the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding. And where do we start? We find ourselves under the truncated thumb of a real-estate huckster and former reality-show host who, among other destructive acts, leveled the East Wing of the White House without approval. (You try doing that in your neighborhood!) His vision for its replacement, as we all know, is a $600 million gilded ballroom that wouldn’t be out of place in a Russian period drama.
Trump has also ordered up his giant Arch of Triumph—an oversize self-tribute that would make Napoleon blush. There’s the Justice Department led by MAGA acolytes and vigilantes, and the mind-bogglingly vast and blatant web of corruption benefiting Trump family and “friends.” Not to mention a conga line of billionaire tech, real-estate, and finance plutocrats paying feasance to a faux populist in exchange for contracts, pardons, and sundry favors. We could go on.
