As an intellectual failure, Donald Trump has a vast following of grammar school grads, who can identify with the knowledge gap and reject the smart elitism of their successful liberal enlightened neighbors. It’s a not-so-apparent contradiction that has blindsided the well-meaning, comfortable 10% with retirement accounts, which of course, makes sane, useful conversation nearly impossible.  

The inability to read, as a class distinction, turns fact, or alternate fact, into entertainment, while unequal opportunity morphs into anger, which is how democracies crumble. Picture a bull shark and a monkfish discussing who eats the flounder. Then spill some blood in the water.  

Donald J., praising Jeffery Epstein, his friend and neighbor, said, “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy… He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” Given their record, it’s difficult to ignore the implication. He molested little girls, and could get away with shooting someone “in the middle of Fifth Avenue.” 

Concubines, wives and mistresses are basically interchangeable and replaceable, something evangelicals seem to ignore. Would you leave him alone in a room with a child? He was a great consumer of abortions, until he wasn’t. To assume he sees a constituency other than himself is a monumental illusion.  

The doctor, whose office belonged to Fred, wrote the note, advancing a “Bone Spur” exemption, which allowed Donald to avoid the inconvenience of servitude and to cheat at golf. “Which foot,” you might ask? “Can’t recall,” he says. Dodging the draft “proves I’m smarter than everyone else, a genius, in fact.”  

The employer of a man I know signed a Trump real estate deal, and was, in turn, defrauded. “An oversight on my part” the cheated man said. Defrauded a second time, he said, “Once should have been sufficient” Holding the Guinness record for bankruptcies and lawsuits does suggest something irregular.

General Mattis called the former president “a threat to the Constitution.” Naturally, Donald called himself smarter than a general. Our commander in chief conflated the 23rd Amendment with the 23rd Psalm, and 23 pardons.  

A 127,000-pound, 43-seat Everyman personal jet is a basic necessity, and like yellow hair, should not be mistaken for arrogance. “I’m more brilliant than Jesus,” he said. “Fascists [like Proud Boys] are also good people.” “Hang Mike Pence.” “Inject Chlorine Bleach…or Hydroxychloroquine.” A 14-word vocabulary and 3-word sentence enable repetition, which is more effective than fact. 

Prof. William T. Kelley, 30 years at the Wharton School, was quoted as saying, “He was the dumbest, goddam student I ever had…a fool.” Can Donald name two countries that border the U.S.? Theoretically, yes. “Friends” say he has “possibly never read a book…” That’s alarming to some or refreshing to others. There’s a shared pride in not knowing how to read a stop sign, or who might be buried in Grant’s tomb.  

If you alter the definition of bigot, he might not be one. Note 19,000 misstatements in four years. Perhaps, a fact-checker fact-checker would get to the truth. What happened in the Moscow Ritz-Carlton? The rumors are obscene; the possibilities practically treasonous.   

His Supreme Court could be confused with a Trump Corporation, exempt from indictment. That’s speculation, of course. A simple, reliable, reusable defense: Accuse the accuser of the same infraction. “Just find 11,780 votes.” Elevate the utility, value and power of hate. Kim Jong Un, another great guy, can pardon himself. 

His niece, Mary L. Trump, Doctor of Psychology, calls Don a “delusional psychopath,” and “dangerous.” Or disregard what he is, since image is everything.  

It may not be accurate to say he threw his dog off the Trump Tower roof. As far as we know, he has never liked dogs. Insensitivity, however, would not be surprising. At 19, he was gifted $19 million, which made him 30, like Lincoln. 

Meanwhile, decency is free and available to anyone. Reasonable Republicans have a choice, a decision to make. Restore the Party or subjugate themselves and promote the Mussolini-model, thus placing democracy in a perilous position. 

Were half these allegations proven false, there’s always the other half. Unfortunately, persuading anyone of anything is next to impossible.  

Alec Lyall

Middlebury