“There Is A Providence That Protects Idiots, Drunkards, Children, And The United States Of America”
Whatever becomes of Donald Trump -- he's been declared done any number of times since 2015, remember -- it's worthwhile to keep in mind the remark attributed to Bismarck in this post's title. There's nothiing unique about Trump as a Republican. Abraham Lincon was regarded as an uncouth, insurgent, and divisive figure throughout his political career. The insurgent Republican tradition continues through Coolidge, Nixon, Goldwater, Reagan, and Newt Gingrich. In that context, there's nothing really new about Trump. I've tried to explain this to my Ivy League schoolmates to no avail. They won't even listen when I try to tell them how similar he is to Harry Truman. As Bp Robert Barron puts it, we've been here before, My friends want to maintain a picture of Trump independently whipping the population up into a frenzy of xenophobia and racism, ignoring the fact that legal immigrants and minorities support him in unprecedented numbers. The reality is that T...