No Government, No Newspapers

Jefferson famously quipped that he would rather have newspapers without government than government without newspapers.

It is clear that for the Trumpenproletariat, newspapers don't matter.  In a "post fact" or "alternative fact" world, what use have these fine Americans for things like information?  They have their guts, and their guts tell them that Trump is awesome and doing great.  How do they know?  Because Trump tells them he is doing great.

We can take some solace that this willful ignoramuses represent a minority of the population.  But not much solace.  As long as there is a sizable number of geographically important morons who think with their gastrointestinal tract, we will be due for a great many more Donald Trumps and Louis Gohmerts and Michelle Bachmans.  Democracy reveals who we are, and the revelations coming from Trumpistan just get more and more frightening.

Martin Longman is right that we are incapable of surviving four years of a man who manifests clear - and I mean crystal freaking clear - signs of mental illness.  There have to be quite a few Republicans in Congress who are concerned about this imbalanced and unqualified clown ruining their party.

But if his supporters are looking at the first week through a lens that ignores things like fact and context, the GOP risks alienating the very rubes who install them into office in the first place.

Of course, if he goes through with things like his idiotic plan to levy a 20% tariff on Mexican goods to pay for, and I quite Vicente Fox here, "that fucking wall," then we will likely lurch into a period of stagflation that will be hard even for those who get their news from their gastric lining to ignore.