Revisiting (myself)

It's not often I turn back the pages, but I did this morning. For no good reason, I turned up this old post from December of 2015, forever-ago, at the outset of the Reign of Trump, although I didn't recognize back then how dominating it would become.

Sort of scary. He's only gotten worse. 

How Time chose Andrea Merkel for the 2015 Person of the Year is understandable (quick, who was Andrea Merkel again?). Keeping the European Union afloat was a task that required superhuman skills (well, requires because dissolution is still a possibility). What's more, in a year of massive displacement of populations, her determination to admit thousands upon thousands of Syrian refugees must seem to most Americans, most Republicans at least, and, post-San Bernadino, all Republican Presidential aspirants, perfectly insane. (dissolution, immigration--the more things change. . .well you know the adage).

Truth be told, to homebody Americans, Person-of-the-Year Merkel couldn't hold a candle to the U. S. of A's ace noisemaker (colossal understatement), Donald Trump, who single-handedly sucked the oxygen out of newsrooms all year long. When the Donald declared his candidacy, Jon Stewart turned green right there before our eyes because The Daily Show's veteran host had already announced his retirement. The opportunity to skewer Trump made Stewart wilt in envy. (Stewart retired, threw in the towel, but couldn't help himself and returned, part-time)

Of course, at that moment, no one believed Trump would triumph as he has. Right  now, most polls have him at double the strength of any one else. In fact, Texas's Ted Cruz is in second, a man who reportedly is disliked by most of the people who know him well and has basically been drafting behind the Trump phenom. (Cruz? Can't place him right off. Wasn't his father involved in the Kennedy assassination?)

Trump has destroyed Jeb Bush, just as he destroyed Wisconsin's Scott Walker, both of whom pundits with significant Washington cred once upon a time simply assumed would be front-runners. (Talk about a footnote--Scott Walker?)

The fact is, no one totally understands how the Donald has done what he has (no change there), and these very words are proof of the fact that people--me too!--can't stop talking about him (yup). The accepted wisdom is simply that the Donald Trump has tapped into something that no one else has, some vein of something almost radio-active in the electorate. (yup)

If the common wisdom is accurate, then living in American democracy is far more precarious than I would have guessed a year ago. (yup) After two long years of almost total government inaction and hostile bickering  that most claim to be more acidic than it's ever been (are you kidding? back then, too?), it's no surprise that people are sick to death of the way things are (nope).

Still, the numbers are daunting. A new CNN poll, just released, claims 75% of Americans are "dissatisfied with the way the nation is being governed," while 69% claim to be "at least somewhat angry." (little change there)

Trump's base is with those angry people, and especially with those people. Among Trump's millions, 97% are dissatisfied. That's huge.  And he's scoring at what?--40% of the Republican electorate. 

(That's really incredible, but it's not new. Those percentages are similar to what they were at the end of 2014. Check out these numbers:

So the vein of radio-active sentiment Trump has discovered and so successfully tapped into, something no one else had as efficiently, is simply downright angry Americans, people totally at odds with the system, the culture, the entire American pageant as we know it today. Let me just repeat that one more time. Among Trump's loyal followers, 97% believe are "dissatisfied" with life as we know it in America. (Not much has changed, although perhaps the true believers are somewhat fewer.)

Maybe it's a good thing that Mr. Trump has uncovered this seething mess, but it's greatly unsettling to have to believe so many Americans really despise "how things are." That's immense disenchantment. (I  haven't seen it, but apparently the movie Civil War scares the bejeebees out of most of those who've seen it.)

"Democracy is the worst form of government," said Winston Churchill, "except for all the others."

What Trump has discovered and exposed and nurtured is something apparently no one else has--real palpable dissatisfaction with the way things are. It's there. In spades. (Once, this may have been news; today, cliche.)

I don't care what anyone says, that it is, is scary. They're following a man who once told reporters he could not remember ever asking forgiveness. That's really scary. (Nope--nothing's changed.)

I'm not among that 97%. I greatly prefer Andrea Merkel. (Ha! ha! very funny.)