The Final Solution: All in the Family

The problem with Trump is that the more mistakes he makes the more he fits into the role for which he’s loved, by those who love him. He literally defies gravity to the extent that despite the unfoundedness of his non-sequiturs—such as the recent accusation that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower—he only gives his followers more of what they want. He’s like Falstaff. His foibles only make him more endearing to his constituency. “I could shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters,” he declaimed during the campaign. As long as he loses his cool and starts tweeting he’s going to get applause. The gravitas of his accusations is besides the point. The more epic the blunder, the more empathic he becomes. Trump’s big hurdle will come when he starts making sense. At that point he's likely to leave many of his followers behind. Trump has been compared to many demagogues, but as a television personality the character he most closely resembles is Carroll O’Connor’s Archie Bunker from the 70’s sit-com All in the Family—a title that might be well applied to the present White House. Actually Archie himself resembles Jackie Gleason’s Ralph Cramden on The Honeymooners. Both characters pulled at our heartstrings, even as they walked away with their tails between their legs. The question isn’t when Trump is going to act presidential, rather what's going to happen if he stops behaving like a buffoon and blowhard? That’s when his ratings will really start to plummet.