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Barbarity in the age of Trump

Trump’s Stalinist roots: Making personal loyalty the measure of all government, as Donald Trump does, was tried in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin. Many are worried about the return of the “Big Lie” — they’re worried about the wrong thing. Trump doesn’t respect the independence of any institution around him. There is only one Trump scandal: The myriad Trump scandals can obscure the fact that they’re all elements of one massive tale of corruption. “There’s a common New York root to all of it. But it’s also somehow a story about early 21st century plutocracy, media barons like Murdoch, foreign kleptocrats like the ones who seem to have bought into Trump and channeled his rise to power toward their goals”. Dana Milbank on the Banana States of America: We’re living in a tyranny of buffoonery.

Why it matters when the president calls people, even violent gang members, “animals” (and more). Trump has a selective criterion for calling people “animals” — one guess what it is. The Trump era is a renaissance of half-witted intolerance. “Foster care or whatever”: Cruelty is the defining characteristic of Donald Trump’s politics and policy. Roger Cohen on the moral rot that threatens America. Talia Lavin on credulity and barbarity in the age of Trump. Theorizing about the Trump administration has become our national pastime. How to survive Trump’s presidency without losing your mind.