Those who seek literary or cinematic references for the rise of Mr Trump only elevate the clown into a proper harlequin. Trump’s origin is closer to the gutter, PT Barnum and his nineteenth-century circuses, which passed off coal dust as gold to unenlightened and uneducated commoners. Barnum staged minstrel shows, including minstrelized versions of Shakespearean drama. Mr Trump’s orange-face, fright wig, and malapropistic stump speeches are straight off the minstrel stage.

Pundits wonder whether Evangelical Christians will continue to back Trump in light of his “locker room banter.”  What they are really asking is whether people who believe dinosaurs were on the ark need to justify their support of Trump.

The current responses to neoliberalism are right- and left-wing populism and a curious resurgence of mercantilist ideas. No wonder neoliberals continue to sleep well at night.

It goes with out saying that political, economic, and cultural mercantilism is backwards.

Re “Oldchella“: Nothing wrong with old people making music. It happens in symphony halls nightly.